Caroline Ford
Partner
Branch Austin McCormick LLP
Lawyers
Charlotte Catto
Associate Solicitor at Branch Austin McCormick LLP, representing clients with both corporate and personal immigration matters.
Charlotte advises entrepreneurs and businesses on setting up in the UK or expanding their reach from overseas to access opportunity within the UK market. With a particular interest and success under the start-up/innovator, global mobility routes and skilled worker/sponsorship routes.
Her experience includes family reunion applications, EEA and nationality applications and applications outside the Rules. As a private client practitioner, Charlotte has worked closely with the family department, including on a complex surrogacy matter involving securing status for a minor.
She represents clients globally, including from the EEA region, UAE, Oman, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, South Africa, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Efrat Shemesh
Efrat has substantial experience in all UK immigration matters and has been dealing with complex business related matters, UK nationality law and high-profile immigration cases since she started her practice in this field in January 2016.
She has significant experience dealing with business clients, as well as asylum seekers and vulnerable individuals. She acts for EEA nationals and other nationals from all over the world such as Pakistan, India, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, UAE, USA, Canada, Yemen and Israel.
Efrat qualified as a solicitor in 2020.
Elliot Hammer
Elliot is a Partner of the firms and leads the Employment Department at Branch Austin.
Elliot is a seasoned litigator in the employment field, able to represent high profile clients in the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal, High Court and Court of Appeal. Elliot’s legal practice consists of all manner of Equality Act claims (discrimination, victimisation, harassment, equal pay etc) and whistleblowing claims including automatic unfair dismissal and detriment claims.
He has experience acting for and against high profile parties including political parties, international banks, hedge funds and NHS Trusts.
He is also often instructed in commercial litigation matters, notably in the food & beverage industry.
Elliot is also a New York attorney-at-law, previously being principal lecturer for a New York Bar Review company.
Eugene Matveichuk
Partner
Gorkem Ozsoy
Senior Associate Solicitor
Hal Branch
The team at Branch Austin LLP deal with a wide range of commercial disputes both nationally and internationally often involving breach of contract claims or breach of fiduciary duties. Hal Branch heads the team with over 30 years of experience and specialises in high value cross border disputes and complex financial claims in addition to director and shareholder disputes. The team has been recently further strengthen by Joe McCormick and Tatyana Talyanskaya joining from Rosenblatts as partners.
Harender Branch
Head of Corporate Commercial Department, dealing with a wide range of corporate work, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, reorganisations and restructuring, commercial agreements, joint ventures and corporate governance issues. Harender also provides non-contentious employment-related advice.
Harender’s clients are based in the UK and overseas and much of her work has a cross-border element.
Harender’s client base comprises high net worth individuals, entrepreneurs, professional partnerships and private and public companies. Her work stretches across a variety of sectors including healthcare, fashion, logistics, media, professional services and real estate.
Harender has been ranked as a leading lawyer in legal directories and prides herself on providing excellent client care.
Joe McCormick
Joseph is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution team. He is a solicitor advocate with Higher Rights of Audience and represents clients involved in disputes, as well as investigations and regulatory matters, involving all forms of dispute resolution. He was highly commended for Solicitor of the Year in the Law Society Awards 2021, with judges noting his “highly creative and tenacious approach”. Testimonials include that he is “very impressive”, “seemed to have approached the case from every possible angle”, “has great strategic insight” and “is excellent with clients” (feedback provided to Legal 500, 2023).
Joseph typically represents clients involved in complex, high value, commercial litigation and international arbitration, often involving multiple jurisdictions, covering breach of contract, negligence, fraud, unfair prejudice, freezing and disclosure orders, misrepresentation and breach of trust. Industry sectors include financial services, media, pharmaceuticals, energy, mining and commodities.
John Pegg
Associate Solicitor
Joseph McCormick
Joseph is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution team. He is a solicitor advocate with Higher Rights of Audience and represents clients involved in disputes, as well as investigations and regulatory matters, involving all forms of dispute resolution. He was highly commended for Solicitor of the Year in the Law Society Awards, with judges noting his “highly creative and tenacious approach”. Testimonials include that he is “very impressive”, “seemed to have approached the case from every possible angle”, “has great strategic insight” and “is excellent with clients” (feedback provided to Legal 500).
Joseph typically represents clients involved in complex, high value, commercial litigation and international arbitration, often involving multiple jurisdictions, covering breach of contract, negligence, fraud, unfair prejudice, freezing and disclosure orders, misrepresentation and breach of trust. Industry sectors include financial services, media, pharmaceuticals, energy, mining and commodities.
Martin David Donoghue
Partner
Miriam Spero
Partner and Head of Private Client
Saika Alam
Saika heads the Family Law department at this respected Central London practice. She has more than 25 years experience in representing spouses, cohabitees, same sex partners, civil partners, parents, and grandparents. Saika adopts a “full service” approach so that her clients are not compelled to instruct separate solicitors to deal with different aspects of their case. There will sometimes be a cross over in a client’s case between the client’s financial claim and a child arrangements application. Saika has the advantage of being able to represent her clients on all aspects of their cases with a joined-up approach so that the consequences of settlements or orders on child arrangements for example can be considered in conjunction with orders and settlements in a financial case. Her extensive case load includes but is not limited to the following:
Divorce and dissolution of civil partnerships
Legal issues affecting cohabitees, same sex couples and civil partners
Financial disputes between spouses and between cohabitees including disputes over second homes at home and abroad, business interests and property portfolios, pensions, and investments
Wealth protection – nuptial and cohabitation agreements and trust deeds
Arrangements for the children including dealing with urgent child abduction cases, relocation, and other cases with an international element.
Domestic Abuse
Parental Orders in cases of Surrogacy and Adoption Orders
While the focus of Saika’s practice is financial claims on divorce including claims with an international dimension, her broad experience ranges from advising clients on complex cases with significant assets at home and abroad to more straightforward matters such financial disputes involving a family home or one or two properties. Her clients come from diverse backgrounds from high-net-worth entrepreneurs, bankers, professionals, academics to small business owners and stay at home mothers.
Sarita Ghere
Sarita is a Senior Associate Solicitor in the Property department.
She deals with residential property related matters for private individuals, property developers and private limited companies. She has over 14 years’ experience of dealing with all types of property including leasehold sales and purchases, lease extensions and buy to let transactions. Over the years she has acted for many high-net-worth individuals.
She has experience of dealing with all mortgage lenders and secondary lenders with both high street and specialist lenders.
Sarita acts for landlords dealing with the legal aspects of estate management and worked with developers to set up new development sites.
Subir Karmakar
Partner
Tania Austin
Partner and Head of Property
Tatyana Talyanskaya
Partner in the Dispute Resolution department, representing domestic and international corporate clients and high net worth individuals in disputes concerning fraud, breach of contract, misrepresentation and breach of trust. Tatyana has advised clients in High Court litigation and in arbitrations under the rules of world-renowned arbitration institutions, including the LCIA and ICC. Her experience ranges across multiple sectors, such as banking, construction, manufacturing, hospitality, fintech and entertainment. Tatyana is a Solicitor-Advocate with Higher Rights of Audience.
Tatyana also advises in relation to regulatory matters and investigations, including sanctions risk and compliance.