Consultant Senior Lawyer focusing solely on Charity and Not for Profit Organisations. Wide breadth of experience in the Third Sector including a number of years in house for a large international charity as sole in house counsel and Company Secretary gaining considerable knowledge and experience of running a global charitable organisation and the many challenges faced by the sector. Advises charities at every level from large global organisations, local charities, community organisations and private family charitable trusts. Has also undertaken advocacy work for the sector before Government and regulatory bodies at both domestic and international level. With his mix of legal and operational experience in the sector, he is able to effectively advise on a broad range of issues and acts for many clients as their trusted advisor being called upon as a sounding board for Trustees, CEOs and Senior Executives. Committed and passionate about the work of his clients, he takes an interest in their work aiming to striking a careful balance between mitigating risk and facilitating their work to fulfil their mission in the advice he gives.
Simons Muirhead Burton
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Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution team. Andrew advises clients on commercial disputes, property disputes and regulatory issues. He acts for clients in a wide range of sectors including property, leisure, insurance, shipping and sports. His clients include insurance companies, property developers, hoteliers, ship owners, sporting talent and their agents.
Senior Associate in the Media and Corporate and Commercial departments at Simons Muirhead & Burton LLP. Blaise advises clients on a broad range of commercial issues in the media and entertainment sector, primarily surrounding the development, production, distribution and exploitation of all forms of content, including feature films and television programmes in traditional media and on digital media networks. Her clients include production companies, publishers, artists, talent agents and photographers. She has particular experience in advising on the sale and acquisition of companies in the media space and investment arrangements for new companies.
Senior Associate. Advising on all production, finance and distribution arrangements within the film and TV industries.
Partner. With more than 25 years’ experience James specialises in all aspects of employment law. He works closely with HR Directors and Managers as well as in house Counsel. James also represents Executives and their interests.
Lara is a highly experienced family lawyer and mediator. She joined Simons Muirhead & Burton as the youngest partner in the firm and has been an integral part of the success and growth of the family team. Lara specialises in all areas of family law, specifically complex high net worth divorces with international elements. She also has a wide range of experience dealing with private law children cases, including applications for child arrangement orders, leave to remove from the jurisdiction and specific issue orders. She is well known for her robust approach and ability to take hold of cases which have been ongoing for some time and turn them around to achieve successful outcomes for her clients. She has an excellent manner with clients. One client recently said the following about her: 'In what feels like an inhuman process, Lara is a rare human. Calm, reassuring, and consummately professional.' She is an experienced family mediator and is in the process of working towards her accreditation. She has been praised by clients for her 'thoroughness and empathy'. Lara was named a Rising Star in Spears Family Law Index 2015 and has been nominated for the last three years as Family Lawyer of the Year by CityWealth.
Partner and Head of Media Litigation. Recent major libel and privacy actions include Danny Simpson v MGN, PJS v Newsgroup Newspapers Limited and Andrew Mitchell MP v News Group Newspapers (’Plebgate’). He is a recognised specialist in crime related media work including libel, privacy, contempt and production orders. He also acts in political party and trade union election disputes. Other high profile clients include The Sun/Sun on Sunday, The Times/Sunday Times, Mirror/Sunday Mirror, Vice Media, Channel 4, BBC and other broadcasters. He also acts for online channels, production companies and high profile individuals.
Head of employment, team of 15 fee earners. Acts on behalf of a number of significant public and private sector organisations. He has particular expertise in the area of discrimination and in addition to considerable experience of defending complex and sensitive cases, he provides in-house training and coaching to senior managers/directors. He is an accredited CEDR Mediator, UN approved investigator/trainer and is on the Lexis Nexis Butterworths expert panel. Makbool also heads up the consulting arm of the firm which provides business strategy and human resources solutions.
Specialising in all aspects of landlord and tenant ,commercial and residential property law and transactions for plcs, corporate, charity, trust, estate and private clients, especially in the media, arts and leisure sectors. Large transactions last year included the purchase of a multi-million pound Docklands Site.
Partner - specialist in Finance and media, particularly film, TV and IP, some deals: advised Fred Berger (the producer of LA LA Land) on his latest film entitled “Teen Spirit.” She is one of Coutts’ external lawyers advising on finance matters.
Stephen is a leading practitioner in media and commercial litigation, and in sports litigation/regulatory matters. He is also recognised for his expertise in forensic and investigative work. Before entering the law, he gained a broad experience base as a journalist, a parliamentary researcher, and an editor. His previous experience equips him with a wider perspective on the role of legal issues within the larger context of commerce and public opinion. In the Legal 500 Stephen has been hailed as ‘one of the best forensic solicitors, with a great nose for a case’. He has also been noted for his tenacity and for being ‘sharp as a whip’. He has acted for a wide range of clients, including TV channels/ production companies, a Premier League football club, film finance companies/film makers, celebrities/celebrity management companies, US labor unions, national and local newspapers, book publishers and the government of a South Pacific state.
Tessa joined Simons Muirhead & Burton as a Senior Associate in September 2017 from Farrer & Co. Tessa advises on all issues arising from relationship and marital breakdown. She has been involved in a number of high profile cases and acts for a broad range of clients, many of whom work in the entertainment industry and others in the financial sector, medicine and farming. Tessa acts for a number of international clients and has a particular interest in Franco-Anglo cases. Tessa has worked on a great deal of Schedule 1 Children Act cases in the last year, acting for both domestic and international clients. Tessa also advises on private law children disputes, and has considerable experience in applications for leave to remove a child from the jurisdiction. Tessa regularly drafts complex pre- and post-nuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements. Tessa is a Resolution trained family mediator and a member of Resolution. She is an experienced mediator and is always keen to explore non-court options with her clients. Tessa’s clients praise her empathetic style and technical legal ability.