Weightmans LLP

Nigel Adams

Nigel Adams is a Partner in Weightmans’ nationally recognised Catastrophic Injury team, based in their London office. Nigel brings deep expertise in defending high-value, complex and sensitive personal injury claims involving life-changing and catastrophic injuries. He also advises on policy coverage and indemnity issues, when required and has extensive experience of criminal defence work and inquests. He has more than 37 years’ experience. Nigel’s work covers a broad spectrum of catastrophic injury matters, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord damage, polytrauma, FND/FCD, amputations, claims involving psychological insult, secondary victims and also fatal accident claims. He also has extensive experience of dealing with claims that are fraudulent or exaggerated. He advises major insurers, specialist sports and motor insurers, MIB, public bodies and corporates, guiding cases from the very outset of investigation through to trial or resolution, with an emphasis of identifying core issues at an early stage. Nigel is particularly skilled in developing early resolution strategy, managing medical complexity and overseeing rehabilitation and case management pathways. Nigel is valued for his highly analytical approach and excellent case preparation: he breaks down medical, liability and evidential issues, clarifies key risk areas and identifies pragmatic, commercially viable solutions. He communicates clearly and works collaboratively with clients as well as the injured parties’ representatives to deliver the best possible outcomes. He ensures that litigation plans reflect both legal risk and real-world client priorities. Nigel’s leadership on catastrophic injury matters is grounded in the firm’s purpose — to See the Possibility — helping clients navigate complex claims and to find ways to achieve outcomes and manage costs that align with their objectives. Areas of expertise include: Catastrophic and large-loss personal injury; Brain and spinal injury; Amputation and severe orthopaedic trauma; Fatal accident and dependency claims; Motor, employer liability (EL) / public liability (PL), and high-value litigation; Complex liability, medical investigation and expert evidence; Rehabilitation, case management, and cross-disciplinary working; Inquests; and Policy coverage Nigel is recognised for fostering strong relationships with insurers, claims handlers and technical teams to include providing training and strategic support. Nigel is committed to continuous professional development and thought leadership. He has contributed to publications on catastrophic injury and fraud, shares best practices and mentors rising talent within the firm.

Kirsty Adamson

Kirsty is a technically skilled, highly competent solicitor, offering advice to well-known businesses such as Camerons Brewery Limited, BGF, Northumbrian Water Limited and Crafter's Companion Limited on matters including acquisitions and disposals, private equity investment, general company law matters e.g. corporate governance issues, compliance and shareholder agreements. Kirsty has experience in acquisitions and disposals of private companies with both local and national presence. Kirsty also advises on private equity investment, including dealing with early stage investment or subsequent supplementary funding, advising both venture capital funds and companies. Kirsty has further demonstrated her business acumen within the Financial Services sector, advising on a number of mergers and acquisitions. Kirsty has contributed content for two publications aimed at the Financial Services sector. How are advisers adapting to a changing environment? and, more recently, Fintech -Embracing the future, adapting to innovation. Demonstrating a mature commercial awareness, Kirsty understands the environmental pressures facing the legal industry and is aware of the changing needs of the client. Delivering above and beyond the level of service the client expects, Kirsty's pride in her work ensures she goes that extra mile to understand the needs of the client and their business and enables her to deliver a service that is truly supportive of the client's objectives and the desired outcome. It is testimony to Kirsty's legal ability that the sectors she has advised so early in her career make up an enviable list and include banking and financial services, education, utilities and energy, leisure, technology, healthcare and construction. Kirsty's growing reputation within the market was recognised when she was named the North East's Emerging Dealmaker of the Year for 2019 at the Insider Dealmakers Awards and enhanced further by Legal 500 in which she was cited as "definitely one to watch."

Shaheen Akhtar

Shaheen is originally from the North-East of England where he trained in a regional firm. Shaheen qualified and joined Weightmans as a Solicitor in 2007 as a Public Sector lawyer. He progressed to Associate and became a Principal Associate in 2019. Shaheen is a firm leader in Legal Operations and Service Delivery and has held managerial roles since 2014 to date. Shaheen is well known as a Public Sector and Commercial Insurance lawyer. His work predominantly covers high value personal injury claims from almost all areas of the public and private sector. Shaheen has a particular expertise in relation to:• All types of EL/PL claims • Novel highways claims including subsidence and property damage claims• Utility liability • All aspects of housing disrepair claims• Assault claims involving service users with special needs in the education and care settings• Stress at work• Claims validation and potential fraud• Contribution, recovery and multi-party claims Shaheen has provided training to clients on all aspects of liability, quantum and pre and post issue processes.

Saira Ali

Partner - EPI Leeds, London, Manchester & Birmingham

Marc Allison

Marc is segment head for owner managed businesses. Marc provides a wide range of advice in relation to corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, MBOs, finance, investments and general company law matters. In addition to being segment head, Marc also heads up our franchising team, having completed almost 100 franchise-related M&A deals over the last five years. In addition to working for a national law firm, Marc also spent over four years working in-house for a listed company.Marc’s main clients are owner-managed businesses, however, he also works for a number of larger businesses and PLCs.With a strong emphasis on building solid relationships with clients, Marc’s focus is on providing specialist value-added advice, in an efficient and cost-effective manner, with regular and clear communications with clients.

Rebecca Alton

Rebecca completed a training contract at Weightmans and qualified into the Birmingham Healthcare team in 2016. She handles a mixed caseload of clinical negligence claims, including some fixed fee work and high value claims, which vary in the types of dispute and value. She has been involved in work covering all aspects of clinical negligence, including; group claims, associated claims to inquests, litigants in person, claims with media interest and claims with multiple defendants. Rebecca also assists partners with high value, catastrophic injury matters, including brain injury claims.Rebecca has gained invaluable experience and understanding as to the needs of the client, as she has worked in-house at a number of NHS Trusts on secondment.

Katy Ames

Katy is an established member of the professional negligence and insurance disputes team. Katy advises on a variety of complex construction-related professional negligence disputes, including claims against architects, contractors, surveyors and engineers. Generally, Katy acts in high-value, multi-party, cases and works closely with insurers, insureds and brokers to secure pragmatic results. Recently, Katy’s work has focused on claims involving a number of large, corporate approved inspectors and, in the wake of the Grenfell Tower Disaster, claims in relation to cladding and façade defects. In addition, Katy also advises insurer clients on policy coverage matters and the terms and application of professional indemnity insurance policies. Katy advises insurers on issues such as: late notification; breaches of policy conditions; the duty to provide insurers with a fair presentation of the risk on inception/renewal; and applicable exclusion clauses within the policy. Katy recently spent 14 months on secondment to an international insurer, where she was based within the London professional indemnity team.

Dewi Ap-Thomas

Dewi Ap-Thomas is based in Liverpool and was appointed Regulatory and Litigation Director from April 2025.Having trained at Weightmans in 2006 and qualified in 2008, Dewi has worked in the Regulatory Department and was promoted into the Partnership in 2017.An experienced health & safety lawyer, Dewi has been ranked for a number of years in Chambers and his reputation with peers and clients continues to grow. He specialises in work in the criminal and coronial jurisdictions.In recent years, his main focus is assisting public sector health organisations in post-death investigations, managing regulatory enforcement action and representing clients at inquests. He has represented clients at hundreds of inquests around the country, involving the most sensitive of baby death cases to article 2 hearings to workplace deaths (the inquests into which are assisted by a jury).He provides advice and representation to a range of household-name clients such as: Shell UK Oil, E.On, Merseytravel, Cammell Laird, Cheshire East Council, Mouchel UK Plc, Kimberly Clark Ltd, Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council, Emcor UK Ltd, Blackpool Coastal Housing Ltd, and Stonyhurst College.As a former Executive Committee Member of the Health & Safety Lawyers Association for many years, he was involved in shaping the Guidelines on Sentencing for Corporate Manslaughter and continues to regularly present to a number of regional health & safety focus groups and public sector forums.In addition, Dewi has experience in environmental, trading standards, food safety and other regulatory enforcement work.

Julia Appleton

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Advisory

Jasmine Armstrong

Jasmine is manager of the Birmingham Healthcare team.Since 2001, Jasmine has provided specialist advice managing clinical negligence claims for NHS Resolution. Her practice spans general healthcare advice dealing with inquests, best interests assessments for children and adults; CQC interventions; deprivation of liberty issues; data security and information governance issues for NHS Trusts and other healthcare providers.Her good understanding of the clinical and resource pressures ensures her advice is pragmatic and robust.She trains colleagues and clients, educating healthcare staff upon aspects of healthcare law including claims, inquests and the implications this has upon safety and learning drawing on her wealth of experience of clinical claims.She leads on changing culture by using innovative dispute resolution techniques to resolve claims as early as possible.

Kulraj Arri

Kulraj has over 20 years' PQE all gained in leading City of London law firms. He specialises in construction and complex property damage, professional liability, product liability and commercial litigation. He regularly acts on behalf of insurers and companies in both defending and pursuing claims. In addition to court disputes, Kulraj has extensive experience in dealing with arbitrations, mediations and adjudications. Notable cases The Buncefield litigation – Acting on behalf of French oil company with regard to the largest explosion in peace time Europe.

Carole Atkinson

Carole is a partner in the Private Client team at Weightmans. Recognised in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame, she has practised as a family lawyer for over 35 years and was appointed as Deputy District Judge in 2001.She is highly regarded for her exceptional client care skills and her pragmatic approach to family dispute resolution and is consistently recommended and recognised in Legal Directories: Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a leader in her field. She has been described as a family lawyer who "makes the so-called 'magic circle' firms look ordinary." Her clients have included household names and celebrities as well as fellow professionals. Many of her clients are recommended to her by QCs and other lawyers and professionals.She regularly lectures and writes articles on topical family law issues and has appeared on radio and television to discuss and to advise on family law issues and recent developments. Her approach to family law is a sensitive yet proactive approach to dispute resolution with the aim of achieving a successful outcome for each client in a cost-effective manner.Carole is an active member of Resolution, a trained collaborative lawyer and trained Resolution mentor.Carole is recognised as a "Top Recommended" family lawyer for high-net-worth individuals in The Spear’s Family Law Index 2024.Carole is part of the winning team named Family Law Firm of the Year at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards, and Highly Commended at the British Family Awards 2024.

Marie Atkinson

Legal Director - Motor Multi Track & Technical

Adam Baker

Adam is an experienced solicitor in the field of aviation litigation. His practice encompasses a broad spectrum of aviation work. Areas of particular interest and specialism include complex Commercial Court claims, General Aviation claims and claims involving a German language element (he originally studied Economics and German at university). Adam holds the following aviation-related qualifications: EASA Fixed Wing Private Pilot Licence EASA Helicopter Private Pilot Licence BHPA Club Pilot Paragliding Licence British Gliding Association Solo Gliding Certificate Ratings completed on fixed-wing aircraft include: Class Rating Flying Instructor (Single Engine Piston aircraft) Night Rating IMC Rating Multi-Engine Rating Aerobatics Rating Seaplane Rating (Canadian) Other courses completed on fixed-wing aircraft include: Complex aircraft conversion course Three axis microlight conversion course Tailwheel conversion course Bush and mountain flying course Farmstrip Flying Course Digital (glass) cockpit conversion training (Garmin 1000) Adam has considerable experience of flying light aircraft in the United Kingdom and the United States, and has also flown in Canada and France. He has logged time on the following aircraft types: Fixed wing Cessna 150, Cessna 152, Cessna 172, Piper PA28-140, Piper PA28-161, Piper PA28-181, Diamond DA40, Piper Arrow, Pitts Special, Piper Cub, Ikarus C42, Grumman GA7 Cougar, Aero AT3 and Jet Provost. Helicopters Guimbal Cabri G2, Robinson R22 and Aerospatiale Gazelle. In order to enhance his knowledge of commercial operations and jet aircraft, he has, in addition, completed the following training: Jet Orientation Course on a Boeing 737-800 simulator 30 hours on a Boeing 737-800 simulator, including simulated Line Orientated Flight Training 7 hours on Airbus A320 simulator, including simulated in-flight emergencies This training is particularly useful in terms of understanding accident reports, evaluating witness evidence, retaining experts, considering expert evidence, briefing Counsel and developing novel aviation-related arguments throughout the life of a case.

Daniel Baker

Legal Director - Real Estate

Mark Baker

Partner - Real Estate London

Luiza Balan

Luiza is a Legal Director specialising in construction and building safety disputes. She is also the Leicester regional office head.Having started her career as a trainee at Weightmans over a decade ago, Luiza advises employers, contractors and consultants on complex claims, contract management and dispute resolution across the built environment. She has experience in pursuing subrogated and third-party recoveries, including securing early contributions. As Regional Office Head for the Leicester office, Luiza leads the team while maintaining a strong client-facing practice. Known for her approachable style, she partners closely with clients to resolve disputes efficiently and to put robust risk management strategies in place. Outside of work, Luiza is a mother of two daughters and a passionate advocate for accessibility as a SEN parent. This personal perspective drives her commitment to creating inclusive and supportive environments, both in the workplace and beyond.

Antony Ball

Partner - family

Chris Ball

Chris joined Weightmans in 1994 and has spent his career acting for insurers and self-insured clients across various sectors.Chris is now responsible for the development of solutions for the motor insurance market to ensure clients get the best results on their claims and are able to plan for future challenges.Chris is also a member of various trade associations such as FOIL, CPT, FTA and RHA.

Simon Ball

Simon is a leading practitioner in the field of European and cross-border insurance and personal injury law, with particular expertise in French accident law. He is responsible for the management of defendant insurance litigation in the UK on behalf of 30+ European insurers in France, Spain, Belgium, Greece and Bulgaria. He has acted for insurers in many of the leading cases on applicable law and the Rome II Regulation including before the European Court in the case which decided the date of application of the Regulation: Homawoo v GMF. Simon is highly regarded for his sensible and commercial approach to defending claims, while always striving to ensure that claims are settled for a reasonable amount when conceded but equally prepared to fight cases on liability where there is a good defence. With excellent communication skills (in English and French with a working knowledge of German and Spanish also) and having a detailed understanding of his client’s own systems of law, Simon can explain how a matter will be handled by a UK court by reference to the insurance company’s expectations of the litigation process. Simon has worked in the field since 1992 when he joined Pierre Thomas Law, and he became a partner in 2000, and has carried out the roles of Practice Director and Managing Partner from 2015 until he joined Weightmans as a Partner in 2023. Simon is a member of Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) including the European Sector Focus Team Institute of European Travel Law (IETL) where he is a board member and is active in the organisation of the IETL’s annual conference Sample cases Achieved a settlement by agreement at £14.5 million, on a claim pleaded in excess of £20 million, for the French insurers of a lorry driver, after he collided with Claimant’s vehicle on a French autoroute. Damages fell to be assessed according to French law. Successfully defended a ski instructor in a claim brought by a victim with catastrophic injuries; this is the leading case on QOWCS in relation to third party claims decided by the Court of Appeal (Wagenaar v Weekend Travel Ltd Serradj) Acted for the French insurers of a driver in a claim where a victim who suffered brain damage received damages of £9.885 million

Michael Balmer

Partner - Regulatory Core

Deborah Bannister

Deborah qualified as a solicitor in 1999 and has worked in healthcare litigation for nearly 18 years — six years as a claimant lawyer and the last 12 years as a defendant lawyer.She became a partner in 2009 and is a nominated partner for both clinical and non-clinical claims. She advises and trains organisations in respect of all aspects of healthcare and related areas of law and practice including governance and risk management. She is the deputy client relationship partner for a number of our key public sector clients.Deborah has managed all types of clinical negligence claims in the last 18 years covering the majority of medical specialisms: including cerebral palsy and other birth injuries, neurological damage, fatal claims, surgical error, misdiagnoses and delayed diagnosis. These claims have ranged from those that are relatively straight forward to those of maximum severity, complexity and value. In the last 12 or so years, the focus has been on the high-end claims but she has responsibility for the day to day training and supervision of the junior members of the team who focus on the work of more limited complexity and value.Deborah manages group actions on behalf of clients to include all aspects of strategy, regulatory implication, risk management, organisational improvement and co-ordination with external agencies such as CQC and media. She is currently involved in a maxillofacial group action involving 138 claimants which requires a tailored approach in order to save time and costs. A claims handling agreement has been agreed with the claimant’s various representatives. The claims are handled in a very specific way to ensure knowledge sharing between all those working on the claims and to ensure that the approach is perfectly consistent on each matter.Deborah is trusted by the NHS Resolution to provide sensible opinion and a pragmatic approach to novel situations. She has worked with the NHS Resolution Chair and Director of Claims on a historical complaint arising out of alleged clinical negligence that occurred 11 years ago. The litigation was resolved some years ago but the family have continued to be persistent in their desire for what they see to be justice. Their complaints involve multi agencies and involved previous panel solicitors. Deborah has conducted a case review and advised the Chair and Director of Claims upon a strategy for resolution and has worked with the Director of Claims to deliver the strategy.Deborah has wide experience of working in house in NHS Foundation Trusts, working closely with Chairs, Chief Executives, Chief Finance Officers and wider boards. Specific responsibilities have included:- Re drafting core constitutions to ensure legal and statutory compliance following the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and to ensure suitability to take the organisation forward in light of significant pipeline projects, advising governors and board in respect of significant transactions, redrafting and implementing new Board Assurance Framework, liaising with and submitting returns to CQC and Monitor, co-ordinating the production of the Quality Report and preparation of the Annual Report, commissioning / liaising with external consultants to undertake reviews in respect of compliance, co-ordinating complex internal enquiries involving the instruction of external experts and overseeing unannounced regulatory inspections. She also has experience of working in house in respect of complaints and claims.Deborah has been the Business Centre Manager for the Birmingham Healthcare team since 2006 responsible for all aspects of the day to day running and supervision of the team, ensuring consistent high performance and adherence to client service level agreements. From 1 May 2017, she is responsible for service delivery across all our healthcare litigation offering.Deborah is ranked in Chambers and the Legal 500.

Daniel Barchet

Partner - Planning and Construction

Anne-Marie Barnes

Anne-Marie is a Principal Associate in the Corporate team, based in the firm’s Manchester office. Anne-Marie qualified as a solicitor in 2015 and joined Weightmans in 2018. Anne-Marie advises on a full spectrum of corporate matters, with a particular focus on M&A work. Alongside share sales and purchases, she has extensive experience in group reorganisations, equity investments, asset sales, shareholder arrangements and buy-outs, as well as advising on employee ownership trusts (EOTs). Anne-Marie also assists clients with shareholders’ agreements, PSC requirements, and general company law issues. Anne-Marie is experienced in navigating complex transactions and delivering commercially focused solutions that support clients’ strategic objectives.Anne-Marie acts for a diverse range of clients, including owner-managed businesses, national and international corporates, GP practices, care homes, tech start-ups, financial services organisations, and insurance brokers.Transactions Anne-Marie has acted on include:• The sale of Caunce O’Hara Insurance Brokers Limited to Markel Capital Holdings Limited.• The purchase by Kreiss SIA of C Neil Dowson Limited.• Stephens & George Limited acquisition of the Pensord Group

Richard Bate

Richard heads the private wealth team nationally. He is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and the Law Society private client section. He has broad experience of working with clients from various backgrounds having worked in large commercial practices and smaller high street firms.Richard advises clients on all aspects of estate planning including wills, trusts, family investment companies and probate matters. He has a particular specialism in tax mitigation and assisting business owners and those with more complicated family arrangements and asset structures with succession planning and wealth protection. He is a professional trustee on numerous family trusts, acts as an attorney for elderly clients and has been appointed by the High Court as an independent administrator in complex contentious probate matters.Richard works closely with the firm's Owner Managed Business and family teams and often with accountants and independent financial advisors to ensure that clients receive broad-based holistic advice.Richard is a regular presenter of estate planning seminars for companies and local authorities. He is used to working with lawyers in different jurisdictions to achieve clients' objectives and has presented on UK succession and taxes law at legal conferences in Europe.Richard is recognised as a “Top Recommended” Tax Lawyer in The Spear’s Tax Law Index 2024.

Becky Baty

Becky qualified in 2000 and joined Weightmans in 2001 working in the large loss and catastrophic team.She is currently an associate in the motor team specialising in defending civil claims for compensation against insurance companies and handles claims up the value of £500k.

Hannah Beddis

Hannah joined Weightmans in April 2017 and became a Partner in 2023. Hannah is a key member of the commercial and municipal insurance casualty team.Hannah has extensive experience of handling litigated EL/PL claims with a strong focus on public sector clients, working primarily for local authorities and insurers. She handles claims across the wide spectrum of local authority risk.She has a keen interest in mental health in the workplace and has a specialism in handling stress bullying and harassment claims from initial notification through to trial/settlement. She successfully advised the defendant in the case of Akay v Newcastle University [2020] EWHC 1669 (QB) where the claim was struck out as an abuse of process in light of previous Employment Tribunal proceedings.She also has a keen interest in highways claims, she advised the local authority in the Court of Appeal case of Kim Ali v City of Bradford MDC [2010] EWCA Civ 1282 relating to deposits on the highway.Hannah is a regular speaker at external events such as ALARM and IOG meetings. She regularly delivers a wide variety of training seminars and provides risk management advice to clients and has worked with a major insurer providing advice on claims handling strategy.

Henry Bermingham

Henry is a public sector specialist with over 20 years' experience in advising public sector bodies.He specialises in social care claims, highways, human rights, occupiers' liability, employers' liability, stress, public rights of way and 'power and duty' cases. His work includes recovery of indemnities under outsource contracts and contributions from abusers. With particular experience in CSE (Child sexual exploitation), he is used to 'press cases' and is media trained.Chambers & Partners describes Henry as "an experienced personal injury solicitor with comprehensive knowledge of litigation concerning public sector bodies", while The Legal 500 notes that he is known for "his expertise in social care work involving historic abuse and deprivation of liberty".He was President of the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL) in 2008. He is an active contributor to ALARM, speaks and writes regularly on public sector issues.Notable cases: CGH v K (a school) 2005, Claims arising from CSE Operations (2008-2015), The Employers' Liability Trigger Litigation (2012 UKSC-14), The Midlands Section. 20 Litigation.

Jano Bermudes

Legal Director - Commercial National

Danielle Best

Legal Director - Specialty Core

Neil Bhan

Partner - EPI Leeds, London, Manchester & Birmingham

Jacqui Bickerton

Jacqui is a Principal Associate and Market Affairs Lawyer, based in Liverpool.With over 30 years’ legal experience in catastrophic injury, fraud, and civil litigation, she now focuses on providing strategic market insight and forward-looking legal analysis to support the firm and its insurer clients. Her role centres on translating complex legal, regulatory, and claims developments into clear, actionable intelligence for the insurance sector.Jacqui has a particular interest in public and constitutional law and regularly delivers thought leadership and training on legal risk and its broader market implications. She previously played a key role on Weightmans’ Brexit Committee, advising on regulatory change and its impact on clients.Bringing deep technical expertise together with a strong market-facing perspective, Jacqui is known for her ability to horizon scan emerging risks and engage with the trends shaping the insurance landscape.

Nathan Bilton

Partner - Commercial National

David Birch

David is the lead for our NHS Secondary Care and Commissioners Sector. Since 2010, his work has been focused upon supporting health and social care organisations, charities and insurance clients in relation to a broad range of topics, including inquests, investigations, mental capacity, Court of Protection proceedings, best interests, consent, confidentiality, CQC regulation, complaints, candour, commissioning responsibilities, safeguarding, information governance (GDPR, FOIA, etc.) and treatment under the Mental Health Act.When undertaking his work David has benefited from close working with a variety of organisations, his secondment work at NHS Trusts, and his experience working within insurance companies and for a Lloyds broker.David frequently represents organisations and their staff at inquests (direct instructions and insurance-funded). He has provided advice and support to professionals appearing before a variety of courts and tribunals and has provided guidance in relation to independent inquiries, high profile inquests and criminal investigations.The majority of David’s work is focussed upon supporting care providers with the lawful delivery of care, within the NHS and the independent sector (including care homes, supported living and domiciliary care). Some examples of his High Court and Court of Protection work include a 'looked after child' (with challenging behaviours and psychosis) where the court was considering the appropriate placement and care package, the withdrawal of treatment from a patient in ICU, and the court’s consideration of the pregnancy of a woman with the mental age of a two year old.David regularly delivers training courses to clients and their staff. Some recent topics include Inquests, The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), Applications in the court of Protection, Excellence in statement and report writing, and the Duty of Candour.

Rosalind Bird

Legal Director - Healthcare London

Roger Bishop

Roger qualified as a Solicitor in 2007 and joined Weightmans in March 2018 as an associate based in the Birmingham Office. He was made a Principal Associate in 2019.Roger is part of the local government and energy & utilities teams at Weightmans and has over 18 years’ experience in dispute resolution and litigation, acting for public sector clients.He has extensive experience advising and dealing with a broad range of public liability and statutory compensation claims, with a particular focus on the water sector, and specialises in handling claims for damage to the highway network and properties as a result of the escape of water and waste from undertakers assets, natural flooding, tree roots and invasive species.He has considerable experience of handling statutory claims for damages under the Highways Act, Water Industry Act and NRSWA, and in common law nuisance.Roger acted for the successful party in the Court of Appeal case of Vernon Knight Associates v Cornwall Council 2013, involving property damage caused by highway flooding and has recent experience of handling high-value claims for substantial damage to a highway and a claim for damage to multiple properties in excess of £4m.Roger also has experience dealing with an array of claims brought under the 6 pack regulations, OLA and negligence and routinely advises on the potential for civil liability for matters at inquest.As part of his work, Roger is experienced in drafting pleadings and advices; has experience of dealing with injunctions; participating and advising in ADR, including mediation and JSMs; and taking matters to trial and on appeal when appropriate. Roger has presented at seminars and webinars and regularly delivers training to clients.Roger has been recognised in the Legal 500 and is part of the International Desks team for Germany and the Netherlands.

Stephen Blair

Formerly of RadcliffesLeBrasseur, Stephen is a member of our corporate team.Stephen’s clients include turnaround businesses, private equity firms, sports manufacturers and retailers, property companies, marketing and management consultants, IT and leisure and entertainment.Stephen’s specific areas of expertise include private equity, restructuring, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts, joint ventures, business start-ups and company formations.

Rebecca Blythe

Rebecca is a partner in the Large Loss team based in Liverpool. Rebecca is also client relationship partner for a big insurer. She is experienced in all areas of law relating to personal injury claims and specialises in large loss and catastrophic injury claims including traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, amputation claims, fatal accident and chronic pain/subtle TBI/functional neurological disorder claims. Rebecca has worked for numerous large insurers and the Motor Insurers Bureau and has longstanding experience of providing non indemnity advice and currently works for a large car rental company. She is particularly experienced in defending fraudulent/exaggerated claims prevalent in the fast-growing area of chronic pain/STBI/FND.Rebecca works with multiple municipal and corporate insureds with large reserves and is adept at developing good relationships with all levels of customer.

Tom Boulton

Tom specialises in health and safety law and regulatory compliance. Having previously prosecuted on behalf of HSE and various Local Authorities he joined Weightmans’ Regulatory team in the Birmingham office in 2016. Tom is a determined litigator with a proven track record in regulatory matters including Health and Safety and Road Traffic offences. Tom tenaciously defends clients who find themselves under investigation. Since joining Weightmans Tom has developed a growing reputation for successfully defending individuals and organisations (both public and private sector) in relation to a full range of health and safety and regulatory offences. Testimonials (Legal 500 - 2023) “Tom Boulton has a calm and level-headed approach towards his cases which provides his clients with reassurance in challenging circumstances.” “Tom Boulton has always been very focussed on helping his clients get the best advice they could so that they understand the challenges facing them and can act from a position of informed choice. I was impressed that Tom went beyond providing the traditional provision of high-quality legal advice following incidents. He also identified areas where clients could improve their practice and manage risks better to avoid future incidents or to mitigate their impact. In doing so, he sought input from relevant engineering risk management experts so that his client got the best possible combination of engineering and legal advice.”

David Bowman

Legal Director - Litigation National

Emmett Boyce

Emmett joined Weightmans in 2005 and qualified as a solicitor in 2008. Until October 2018 Emmett specialised in all aspects of motor fraud. He also held various management roles and provided training to clients. Emmett has represented major UK insurers, national and international logistics, transport and utility companies and local authorities. He also has experience in sanctions and recoveries. Emmett also has experience in non-fraudulent personal injury local authority and motor claims.In terms of motor fraud, Emmett has extensive skills in claim investigation, all aspects of litigation to trial and dealing with organised fraud. He delivers an excellent experience for clients at the transactional and operational levels.Emmett is now a professional support lawyer in the Knowledge Management team based in Liverpool.

Charles Boyne

Charles provides advice to insolvency practitioners helping them to recover and realise assets of the insolvent company or the bankrupt for their creditors, often in foreign jurisdictions as well as within England and Wales. Charles acts for UK and cross-border banking institutions enforcing security against both corporates and individuals.Charles has considerable experience in relation to obtaining and enforcing worldwide freezing/proprietary injunctions, international arbitration awards, provisional liquidations and presenting winding-up petitions.Charles has extensive experience of running a cross-practice team on pre-pack administrations, liquidation sales, LPA Receiver appointments and formal administrations.Charles often advises directors in relation to their duties in times of distress and acts for companies in seeking restructuring solutions, often within an international context. He also has a wealth of experience in disputes relating to finance and insolvency.Charles has acted for a metropolitan council on the acquisition of a care home business in distress under tight timescales alongside our corporate healthcare team whereby CQC consent was rapidly obtained.Charles also works on director and officer policy instructions and works closely with our insurance colleagues.Charles has also been instructed by the Insolvency Service in relation to progressing director disqualification proceedings and public interest winding up petitions and advised on the first compensation order application under the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986.Charles is ranked in the Legal 500, with clients noting the following:"Charles Boyne offers clients both the benefit of his extensive litigation experience and a hefty dose of common sense. A truly hands-on partner, Charles is a robust and determined litigator, while remaining approachable and collaborative in his approach to his team.”“Charles Boyne is just great — client focused and commercial in his approach.”

Andrew Brammer

Andrew Brammer joined Weightmans in April 2019, to become the lead lawyer in the Midlands regulatory team. Since qualifying in 1996, he has developed an enviable reputation as a specialist regulatory lawyer.Working for national and international organisations across multiple sectors, Andrew’s practice focuses on protecting businesses and key decision makers during criminal investigations, prosecutions and inquests.He has defended hundreds of clients against regulatory bodies like the Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency and Local Authority Trading Standards teams.His polished but practical style enables him to advise at all levels and he has been described as "highly experienced and impressively robust" and is known for his "tactical astuteness" and "excellent attention to detail".Drawing on his knowledge and experience, clients regularly call upon Andrew to offer in-house training and compliance management support.Andrew’s expertise in contentious health and safety and environmental law has been recognised by legal directories for over a decade and he is cited as being a "Leading Individual" by the Legal 500 for his health and safety work.

karyn Brannigan

Admitted in 1994, Karyn has been a partner since 1999 and joined Weightmans in April 2011.Karyn works for insurance and corporate clients, the latter including multinational public limited companies and small businesses. Karyn has considerable experience in dealing with all types of personal injury litigation, principally product liability, employers' liability, and public liability claims.Karyn heads up the product liability team within Weightmans. She advises in respect of legal, commercial and reputational issues in connection with recalls. She deals with claims of all values, including low-value claims where the need for expertise in brand reputation is required.Claims come from a wide variety of sectors but Karyn has specific experience of claims within the retail, food and drink, manufacturing and automotive sectors.Karyn is a member of FOIL (Forum of Insurance Lawyers).

Alison Brennan

Alison is a Legal Director in the Liverpool healthcare team and qualified as a solicitor in 2010, joining Weightmans in 2012 and has dealt with clinical negligence claims across several specialist fields along with secondments to NHS Resolution.Alison deals with a range of complex high value and sensitive claims, including addressing complex clinical issues in cases relating to spinal injuries, paediatrics, orthopaedic and gynaecology including baby deaths. In addition, her caseload includes high-value cases in spinal injury and stroke medicine, along with sensitive psychiatric and suicide claims.Alison has a background in the health service as a nurse holding a dual qualification in paediatric and adult nursing. She has worked at a senior nursing level and therefore has significant knowledge and insight into the demands on the health service, along with a particular focus on clinical governance and patient safety. Alison remains committed to patient safety and continues to work with trusts, clinicians and teams to learn from and address patient safety issues through presentations and discussing specific topics, along with organising large events on this subject. She is also regularly instructed to assist trusts with complex complaints and serious incident investigations, taking a thorough, open and transparent approach in the way that she works with clinicians and liaising with families including other stakeholders.

Richard Briggs

Richard joined us in February 2021 and was promoted to Partner in May 2022, having previously been a partner at Browne Jacobson. He has worked for NHS clients for over 16 years. He advises healthcare clients in connection with their clinical negligence claims. He is experienced at resolving claims efficiently and fairly, and in helping our clients learn from them. His caseload ranges across all medical disciplines and includes the most complex and severe claims.On joining the team, he took on a retiring partners’ case load and the review of our processes for managing prelitigation screening instructions which are of significant volume across the country. He has revised the working practices, set up a dedicated team, and uses client’s delegated authority to approve advice to provide a nationally consistent product and service. His leadership in this regard whilst continuing to work on complex high value claims is worthy of recognition.

Helen Brown

Helen is the National Head of Weightmans Public Sector and leads a team nationally across 10 office locations.Helen is a public sector litigator with over 30 years' experience in dealing with the full spectrum of public sector claims. She has acted for numerous public sector clients and insurers over the years and the depth of her practice provides her with a unique insight into the ever-changing world of public sector claims and the challenges the sector faces in defeating and containing these. As a long-standing practitioner, Helen has dealt with the full spectrum of claim types and has in-depth expertise in social care, HRA, stress, bullying and harassment. Helen has undertaken a number of key roles within FOIL, both within the sector focus teams and nationally, given her experience and keen interest in the ever-changing landscape. She currently sits on FOIL’s National Committee.

Mark Burch

Mark joined Weightmans in 2014 as the then Head of Commercial Recoveries. He has previously been an in-house lawyer at Barclays Bank plc, Head of Regional Debt Recovery for Eversheds and, prior to joining Weightmans, worked within the Debt team at Pannone. Mark has experience of handling secured and unsecured public and private sector volume debt recovery, particularly complex defended actions, but now specialises in the use of insolvency procedures (Winding up petitions and Bankruptcy petitions) to assist in the collection of debt. He also has considerable experience of marketing, client care and management issues associated with volume debt collection within law firms. Mark brought with him a very loyal commercial client base which includes the Radius Group of companies, Murray Metals Group companies, the NWF Group and companies within the Johnsons Group, all of whom he still acts for today. Mark also represents a number of debt collection agencies who are well known members of the Credit Services Association. He also acts for a number of local authorities who utilise his knowledge and expertise in insolvency to collect various taxes and other debts. Mark has been recognised as a leader in the field of debt recovery and noted as such in both The Legal 500 and The Chambers UK Guide. He has provided clients with training on all aspects of the cost-effective use of the legal process in the credit/collections arena. He has recently acted as an invited expert on a Liverpool BPC course, involving His Honour Judge Neil Cadwallader and District Judge Samantha Johnson.

Helen Burnell

Helen is a Principal Associate in our Health and Care team based in our London office, providing support across the national health team. Helen has significant experience in providing advice to health providers and commissioners of care. Helen has developed a practice specialism in Court of Protection and Inherent Jurisdiction matters. She has acted in a number of cases involving Serious Medical Treatment cases, end-of-life care, safeguarding and the interface of the Mental Capacity Act and Mental Health Act. Helen’s experience has included urgent, high-profile matters, including those requiring close working with inter-agency partners. She has particular expertise in cases involving deprivations of liberty and the relevant legal frameworks to be applied.Helen also advises on matters relating to NHS Continuing Healthcare, patient care matters which have complex and difficult family dynamics and cases where safeguarding may be an issue.

Mike Burns

Mike trained with Withers and on qualification in 1993 joined specialist London shipping firm More Fisher Brown. Mike joined Weightmans as a partner in May 2006.Mike’s expertise includes the carriage of goods by sea, charterparty and bill of lading claims, hull and P&I insurance, cargo recoveries, freight liability, multimodal transit, CMR and yacht claims. Mike has a related non-contentious practice including vessel sale and purchase and drafting contracts of carriage.Mike is ranked in The Legal 500 as a 'Leading Individual'.

Richard Burrows

Richard Burrows is based in Liverpool and joined the firm in 2011, where he completed his training contract.Richard joined the disease team in 2014. He handles a mixed case load of fast and multi-track claims for some of the firm's biggest clients, specialising in claims for asbestos-related injuries and noise induced hearing loss.Richard was chairman of Merseyside Junior Lawyers’ Division between 2015 and 2017, and is now on the young professionals’ group committee of the Insurance and Reinsurance Legacy Association (IRLA).

Saul Burton

Saul is a Legal Director in our Sports team. With a background in defendant litigation including personal injury, human rights and data protection, Saul specialises in high value and complex sports claims with a focus on catastrophic injuries arising out of motorsport incidents, neurological damage from concussive injury, player-on-player assaults and injuries suffered during competitive games, horse-riding accidents, and disciplinary & regulatory disputes. Saul acts for national and domestic governing bodies, schools and colleges, professional and amateur sports clubs, and private companies in a wide range of sports including football, rugby, numerous motorsport disciplines, horse riding, athletics and mountain biking. In addition to sport, Saul maintains a busy practice dealing with claims arising from data breaches, with particular interest in those that include claims for unusual psychiatric injury.

Jenny Byfield

partner - Billing & Revenue Assurance

Lisa Cain

Lisa qualified as a solicitor in 2004 and is a Legal Director in the large loss team. She has over 20 years' experience of defendant personal injury work.She joined Weightmans in 2007 and specialises in handling catastrophic injury claims for insurers. She has experience in dealing with cases involving fatalities, traumatic brain injuries, amputations, spinal injuries, multiple orthopaedic injuries and chronic pain. She also advises on indemnity and coverage issues.Lisa is praised by her clients for grasping the issues at the outset and achieving good early settlements by working collaboratively with claimant’s solicitors.

Rebecca Cairney

Rebecca joined Weightmans in 2012 and is a Partner in the employment, pensions and immigration team, based in Liverpool, specialising in employment law.She handles a diverse caseload of complex and sensitive claims with a particular expertise in worker status and objective justification of discrimination matters. She also provides advice on a range of issues including conduct, sickness absence management, performance and capability, as well as intricate matters such as restructuring exercises, TUPE, equal pay and Trade Union activities.Rebecca works with a wide range of clients from a variety of sectors including social housing, transport and logistics, education and healthcare services.She is an experienced advocate in the Employment Tribunal, regularly representing clients on discrimination and unfair dismissal claims.Rebecca hosts the Employment Insights podcast and has written articles for HR Focus and Employment Law Journal. She is also a member of the Liverpool Law Society Employment Law Committee, contributing to a number of Government consultations, and the Employment Tribunal User Group. She is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA).

Theresa Carling

Theresa is a Partner specialising in employment based in our Newcastle Office.Theresa Carling is a partner in the employment law team and has specialised in this area since qualification in 2006. Highly experienced in all aspects of employment law, she is a strong litigator and formidable opponent in tribunal cases, bringing this background to inform a pragmatic and commercial approach to advice which clients appreciate. Her extensive experience in this area means that she can offer strategic and practical advice to clients, particularly those in the owner-managed sector where she is recognised as a trusted adviser for many long-term clients across all sectors particularly including manufacturing, construction and technology.Her experience includes complex and multi-party employment claims with criminal or civil litigation features, collective redundancy, changing terms and TUPE consultation processes, and she particularly specialises in senior exits and disputes, and cases involving discrimination. Clients enjoy working with Theresa as she offers sound and pragmatic advice and is always solution focused.

Damian Carter

Damian's specialism is resolving complex commercial and corporate disputes, and he has over 25 years' experience. He acts primarily for owner managed businesses, corporates, entrepreneurs and high net worth individuals.Damian has experience of a wide range of commercial litigation matters with a particular emphasis on high value corporate disputes. Damian's caseload includes claims for breach of contract, warranty claims, shareholder actions, board disputes, insolvency, fraud claims, partnership disputes, banking litigation, intellectual property disputes, defamation claims, commercial agency disputes, restraint of trade, regulatory matters, contentious probate claims, property disputes and professional negligence actions.Damian also has considerable experience in working with clients to create innovative and flexible funding arrangements for litigation claims, enabling companies to leverage claims as a potential asset.Damian has extensive experience in conducting proceedings in the specialist divisions of the High Court including the Business and Property Courts. Damian's work includes emergency applications for injunctions and expedited trials. Damian is an exponent of alternative dispute resolution and has successfully resolved many claims for his clients at mediation.Damian is recommended in the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.Part of the winning team of Manchester Legal Awards 2022 for Litigation Team of the Year.

Sarah Cartlidge

Partner - Motor Credit Hire

Joanna Carty

Joanna qualified as a solicitor in 2010 having trained with Weightmans. She acts for police forces and public authorities in relation to a wide range of issues. Joanna specialises in police malfeasance claims and judicial review. In particular, she regularly acts in claims involving areas of particular sensitivity such as claims involving undercover officers, CHIS (covert human intelligence source) handlers and intelligence; those with reputational issues for clients and multi-action claims involving a number of claimants such as complex protest claims and claims involving issues that affect police forces nationally. For example, the police overtime claims litigation.

Susan Carville

Susan is a Principal Associate in the Liverpool motor team. She qualified in 2004 and joined Weightmans in 2005 having qualified into a large North West claimant personal injury firm. Susan manages her own motor caseload and has extensive knowledge of motor claims litigation.

Paul Caslin

Paul Caslin is a Principal Associate in the Private Wealth team at Weightmans, based in Liverpool. Paul is a fully qualified member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and the Lifetime Lawyer Association, reflecting his specialist expertise in dealing with wills, trusts and estates. Paul provides comprehensive tax planning to individuals who require specialist advice for ensuring that their personal affairs are in order during their lifetime and on their death. He drafts bespoke Wills and Trusts, Lasting Powers of Attorney and, where necessary, Advance Directives to achieve his clients’ objectives which might include asset protection, inheritance tax (IHT) mitigation and safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries. Paul assists Executors and Administrators with the procedural aspects required to obtain a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration to a deceased’s estate from the District Probate Registry, including dealing with IHT400 Returns, identifying and claiming appropriate IHT reliefs & exemptions and facilitating the payment of any IHT to HMRC. Paul advises Personal Representatives and Trustees on how to administer Estates and different classifications of Trusts (including those with nuanced or cross-border elements) in a manner that is appropriate, constructive and tax-efficient, including their reporting and filing obligations to HMRC and the Trust Registration Service .Paul prides himself on his client centred, solutions focused approach and his work is recognised across the leading legal directories. He is ranked in The Legal 500 as a Recommended Lawyer (2024 & 2025) and is recognised as a Rising Star (2024) and Leading Associate (2025) for Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate. He is also ranked in the Chambers & Partners High Net Worth Guides as a Recommended Lawyer (2024 & 2025) and recognised as an Associate to Watch (2024 & 2025).

Victoria Cassidy

Victoria has recently returned to Weightmans having spent four years working in a local authority as a Senior Solicitor for litigation and Safeguarding and then as the Special Educational Needs Team manager.Victoria completed her training contract in local government and has over 25 years of litigation experience specialising in public law matters relating to child and adult protection, community care, mental health and education. Her career has been spent supporting local authorities dividing her time between managing a caseload of complex litigation and providing advice to senior managers and decision making panels. She is familiar with the respective statutory duties of public bodies, their governance arrangements and their decision making processes.Victoria enjoys case analysis and problem solving and promotes mediation as an alternative, cost effective method of dispute resolution. She had delivered training to a variety of different audiences on the operation of the Mental Health Act, the Mental Capacity Act and the Children and Families Act. She has advocacy experience in the Court of Protection, the Magistrates, the Family Court, the First Tier Tribunal (Health, Education and Social Care) and the County Court.Victoria constantly strives to develop her legal knowledge and understanding and has post graduate qualifications in mental health law, local government law and is currently completing her LLM.She works on the local government adult and child out of hours’ emergency advice line.

Tina Chander

Tina Chander is an established leader in employment law with 17 years’ post-qualification experience (PQE) and dual qualifications as both a barrister and a solicitor. Known for her strategic, commercially grounded approach, she has built a distinguished career advising employers and employees on the full spectrum of employment law issues.As Partner and Head of Employment at her previous role, Tina also held the role of Business Practice Lead, managing multiple legal teams and supporting cross-disciplinary commercial and corporate matters where employment law considerations played a critical role.She has acted for a wide range of clients — from SMEs to major national and international companies — on complex, high-value and business-critical matters including discrimination claims, unfair dismissal, whistleblowing, equal pay, redundancy and restructure processes, senior exits, and strategic TUPE/business transfer transactions. Tina has also chaired cross-border grievance and disciplinary investigations, and is experienced in providing advocacy before the employment tribunal.Tina’s standout contribution to public legal awareness was recognised in 2023, when she won the inaugural “Influencer of the Year” award from Warwickshire Law Society for her impactful “End Workplace Bullying” campaign, which resonated widely with both employers and employees seeking cultural change in the workplace.Her reputation is further reinforced through her recognition in both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners, reflecting strong market and client endorsement of her expertise.In addition to her legal practice, Tina regularly delivers training programmes for HR teams, directors, and business owners across the UK, and frequently speaks at external events on emerging employment law issues.Tina is also a respected national media commentator, having been featured in The Times and The Guardian and contributing expert analysis on BBC Radio. Tina has also featured in popular magazines — Harper’s Bazaar and Grazia and commented on numerous cases in various HR magazines.

Elaine Chapman

Elaine joined Weightmans in 1989, qualified in 1994, and was made a partner in 2001. She specialises in large loss and technical claims. She has been involved in severe brain injury cases, paraplegia and tetraplegia cases, amputations and other severe limb injury cases. Elaine has vast experience of dealing with all the issues that may arise in these cases, including care, statutory funding, rehabilitation and accommodation. She is Weightmans' nominated rehabilitation champion. She has spoken at a number of conferences on the subject of rehabilitation and had several articles published. She has vast experience of dealing with both the medical and vocational aspects of rehabilitation. Elaine has also been recognised for her contribution to the law after judges at the Law Society 'Highly Commended' her efforts in the AWS Legal Business Woman of the Year category. She has previously been crowned Best Woman Solicitor Managing a Medium-Sized Practice by the Association of Women Solicitors.

William Childs

Formerly of RadcliffesLeBrasseur, William is a Partner in our health sector team. He advises clients in relation to disciplinary, regulatory and criminal investigations and prosecutions in the healthcare sector.As one of our team of advocates, William frequently appears before statutory regulators, disciplinary panels and coroners. William deals with professional performance, conduct and health concerns. His caseload consistently includes challenging cases which involve complex clinical and legal issues many of which are the subject of media interest. William is one of the many partners in the department ranked for professional discipline in the legal directories.

Hannah Clark

Legal Director - Commercial National

Andrew Clarke

Andrew is Regional Office Head of the Leicester office and a partner in the Local Government team based in our Leicester office.Andrew acts for many local authorities, police and fire services, housing providers and education establishments across the country in relation to a wide range of issues.Andrew specialises in complex, high value, multi-party litigation and has significant experience of stress, bullying, assault and harassment claims, as well as flooding, subsidence and highway winter maintenance claims. He is also regularly instructed in relation to data loss and information management as well as social care and abuse claims.Andrew represented the successful Chief Constable in an undercover police officer stress case — AB v Chief Constable of X Constabulary [2015] EWHC 13He regularly delivers bespoke training at national and regional level.

Mike Clifford

Mike leads our national Corporate Health and Care practice. Mike has a proven track record of nearly 20 years leading teams in the delivery of legal services across the health and care sector. Mike has substantial experience of providing corporate and commercial legal advice on health and care mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, financings and re-financings, outsourcings and partnerships. He acts for major corporates, private companies, and investors on their M&A, joint venture, due diligence and re-organisation activity.Mike also leads the firm’s work with national and international law firms and equity houses on investments in or including UK health and care businesses. Our health and care team acts for, among others, public and private providers of care homes, domiciliary care, acute care, specialist diagnostics, community care as well as General Practitioners, Dentists, Pharmacists and other providers of Primary Care services. In addition, it acts for providers of care such as including UK based health and care businesses and assets.

Andrea Cohen

Andrea joined Weightmans in March 2018 and is a Legal Director in the Compli team, Weightmans' bespoke regulatory consultancy service for the legal sector, advising on all aspects of regulation, compliance, risk management, disciplinary matters, including defence work for solicitors before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, claims and complaints handling. Andrea also delivers training on a wide range of areas, most recently on AML, professional ethics and regulatory obligations, and regularly speaks at both national and local Law Society conferences.Andrea qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and specialised in commercial litigation, with a particular focus on bringing professional negligence claims. She is a founder member and Chief Executive of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association (PNLA). In 2006, Andrea moved into the management team of a Top 100 law firm, developing a niche expertise in risk and compliance. Following five years in her own risk and compliance business, and Head of Risk and Compliance and Training Principal at a law firm, she moved to Weightmans, where she continues to advise clients on a range of issues from setting up new law firms, retainers, policies and procedures, AML obligations and concerns and carrying out independent AML audits, to disciplinary investigations. Andrea acts for solicitors, including partners, employees and entities, from sole practitioners to ABSs.One client wrote to our Managing Partner to say: “Andrea has a professional, engaging manner and she provided high quality advice and documents backed up by an understanding of what the regulator would require… she has been an outstanding support to my business, and I shall not hesitate to work with her again.”In addition to her position in the PNLA, Andrea is a member of The Law Society Regulatory Processes Committee, the Manchester Law Society Regulatory Affairs Committee and COLP and COFA Forum, and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Professional Negligence. She has a monthly column in a number of Law Society publications and is a contributor to Practical Law.

Caley Collins

Caley specialises in commercial property and provides legal services for clients who have large property asset portfolios within the retail and logistics sectors.She advises on all commercial landlord and tenant transactions as well as dealing with freehold acquisitions and disposals. Caley has completed a secondment within a client’s in-house legal team and assisted with strategic property decisions within the business.

Emma Collins

Emma heads the Services for Individuals segment at Weightmans, which includes the private client and family teams, advising individuals on both their personal and professional affairs. The family team has been consistently ranked in the Northwest Top Tier of the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners as a team which "has a 'strong, reliable and intelligent team that looks to achieve the right result for the client'."With over 30 years practising exclusively in family law, Emma is regularly instructed by her fellow solicitors, members of the bar and the judiciary, as well as many other professionals including consultants and accountants. Business owners frequently instruct Emma in cases involving complex corporate structures and interplay between trusts, offshore investments and pensions, appreciating her commercial understanding and approach to business issues within relationship breakdown. Her caseload regularly involves multi-million pound asset bases.Emma advises on all aspects of relationship breakdown — divorce, dissolution of civil partnerships and cohabitation, as well as pre and post nuptial agreements, Inheritance Act claims and matters relating to the children of the family. Emma has particular expertise in factually and legally complex financial remedy and cohabitation claims including those involving on and offshore trusts.Emma is committed to finding dispute resolutions for her clients in a constructive and sensitive manner which is most appropriate for them, whether that is outside court through round table negotiations, mediation, collaborative practice, arbitration or other process or within the court arena.Clients describe her as 'professional, caring and highly skilled'.Emma is a long-standing member and former chair of the Resolution Publication/Drafting Committee, contributing to such publications as the Consent Order Precedents, Separation and Prenuptial Agreements and Cohabitation Agreement precedents. Most recently she contributed to and wrote the introduction for the Cohabitation Separation Agreement Precedents. She is also the author of the Inheritance Act chapter in the Resolution Family Law Handbook, most recently contributing to the third edition in 2020 with colleague Lottie Tyler.Emma is an active member of the Resolution Cohabitation Committee which advises on the law and best practice as well as lobbying government for positive change in family law. She is an accredited family specialist on the Resolution Panel (Advanced Financial Provision II and Cohabitation); a trained collaborative lawyer; a Resolution trained mentor and the former treasurer of Manchester Area Resolution.Emma speaks at a variety of seminars and networking events for fellow professionals, business people and others.Emma is recognised as a leading individual by independent legal directory Legal 500 and ranked in Band 1 by Chambers & Partners.Emma is also acknowledged as a "Top Recommended" family lawyer for high-net-worth individuals in The Spear’s Family Law Index 2024.Emma is part of the winning team named Family Law Firm of the Year at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards.

Tom Collins

Tom is a Partner in the construction and engineering team. He advises clients in both the public and private sector. He is co-head of the team and responsible for managing the team nationally.Tom is named as a Leading Individual in the Legal 500 and ranked in Chambers and Partners. Clients have said he is "An exceptional lawyer who provides clear and consistent advice. Tom Collins has the ability to deal with complex issues and highly technical matters and translate these into a clear, concise and logical form when presenting a case" and that "Tom has a combination of encyclopaedic knowledge and reassuring demeanour; he brings his intelligence to the case. In a complex case he would see the wood from the roots. Unflappable!"Tom has 20 years' experience in advising on dispute resolution. He regularly advises clients across a broad range of sectors and industry disciplines. He advises in relation to all construction-related disputes including claims for extensions of time, loss and expense, applications for payment, final account disputes and defective works/allegations of negligence.Tom has acted in a number of adjudications ranging from payment disputes and claims for extensions of time to more complex and substantive negligence claims. He has also been involved in, and advised on, the other most common forms of dispute resolution such as arbitration and litigation. He regularly advises in relation to, and participates in, alternative dispute resolution including mediation.A large part of Tom's practice is dispute avoidance and as part of that, he regularly provides ongoing day to day strategic project advice with senior-level contacts at client organisations. In addition, Tom has previous experience of advising on claims for breach of warranty, misrepresentation and injunctive relief.Tom also advises on the drafting of construction agreements. He is familiar with all the major standard forms of contract and advises in relation to amendments to those standard forms. He also advises on the drafting and negotiation of supporting and associated documents such as professional team appointments, collateral warranties and bonds.He delivers training to clients on key issues affecting their business relating to the construction industry. This includes delivering seminars to trade bodies and on matters such as building safety, recent case-law and innovation. He has written a number of articles which have been published in key sector publications including in the Construction Law Journal.

Simon Colvin

Simon leads the firm's environmental law team and is also head of the firm's energy and utilities sector. He is also closely involved in the development of the firm’s ESG programme (internal and external).Simon is client relationship partner for several leading energy, utility, and resource/waste clients. That role gives him unique insight and understanding of the pressures and requirements that operators in those areas are subject to.He works closely with those clients to understand what is important to them and how we can help them to achieve their goals.

Josh Conroy

Josh is a Partner based in Manchester who specialises in high value, complex, chancery litigation in the High Court.He deals primarily with unfair prejudice petitions, share sale disputes, restrictive covenant and restraint of trade cases, partnership disputes, professional negligence claims and other complex contractual claims arising out of commercial disputes.Josh has particular experience and expertise in defending Judicial Review claims and bringing injunctive proceedings, as well as a developing expertise in advising upon claims brought under the Public Contract Regulations 2015, where he has acted for a number of health trusts, police forces, universities and other public bodies.Part of the winning team of Manchester Legal Awards 2022 for Litigation Team of the Year.

Sarah Conroy

Partner - Litigation Management

Lee Cook

Partner - Large Loss 2

Sally Cook

Sally is a Legal Director in the Private Wealth team at Weightmans LLP and is based in the Manchester office. Sally is a fully accredited member of STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), the Law Society Private Client Section and The Association of Lifetime Lawyers (formerly Solicitors for the Elderly). Sally also sits on the Manchester Law Society’s Private Client section committee. Sally qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and joined Weightmans LLP in 2018, having left her role as Head of the Private Client department at her previous firm. Sally has practised solely in the field of Private Client since qualification and she has extensive experience in advising clients in relation to their estate planning, including the preparation of Wills, Inheritance Tax planning, the creation of and the onward administration of trusts and the preparation of Lasting Powers of Attorney. Sally has a particular interest in the administration of estates, and often deals with high value, complex estates on behalf of both professional and lay executors.

Andrew Cooper

Ian Coppell

Ian is a hugely experienced solicitor, specialising in occupational disease cases with particular interest in noise induced hearing loss and hand arm vibration claims.Ian has successfully defended to trial industrial deafness cases. He also has successful Court of Appeal experience in deafness claims. He handles litigation on behalf of insurers and has acted for many major companies principally from a legacy viewpoint/FSCS.

Richard Corran

Richard’s expertise is in dealing with substantial, complex litigation matters, predominantly in the Chancery Division in the High Court. He has a deserved reputation for excellence in handling shareholder disputes, public contract procurement challenges and complex contractual issues. Richard has particular expertise in seeking injunctive relief to protect clients’ interests on a pre-emptive basis.After over 30 years’ experience of dealing with commercial contentious matters, Richard moved to the Knowledge Management and Library team in 2024. He now supports the litigation departments in achieving excellence in litigation practice.

David Cottam

Partner - Large Loss Leicester & Leeds

Mallory Coxe

Partner - Corporate

Mark Crabtree

Former partner of Ford & Warren solicitors, Mark has extensive experience of commercial property law, especially with regard to landlord and tenant issues, estate management and mortgages.Mark has worked in the real estate field for 23 years since qualification in 1992. Mark has overseen the disposal of over 300 properties for one client in the last two years. Mark also led the team that successfully tendered for the Environment Agency's regional property work at Ford & Warren solicitors.He deals in all aspects of commercial property, including disposals and acquisitions, acting for lenders and landlord and tenant matters. He has particular expertise in the licensed and leisure industry.Mark manages sophisticated reporting and recording systems which are tailored to the client's specific requirements.

Laura Creasy

Laura joined Weightmans in 2008 and became a Principal Associate in 2020. She handles claims for defendant organisations and their insurers, specialising in the area of EL/PL litigation. Laura has a particular focus on construction claims and those involving logistics clients. She acts for organisations in a number of sectors but particularly in the built environment and logistics sectors for which she is a key handler for a number of global clients. Laura also has experience in handling group litigation and cross border claims.

Ian Critchley

Ian is a partner with over 20 years' experience in dealing with healthcare matters, specialising in clinical negligence litigation. He has advised NHS Trusts and NHS Resolution throughout that time and is the client partner for several NHS Trust clients in the North West.Ian manages a wide caseload of high-value, complicated and sensitive claims on behalf of NHS Resolution including maximum severity birth injury claims and has settled numerous cases by way of periodical payment orders (PPOs).He also has particular expertise in surgical claims and cases involving spinal injuries, brain damage, amputation, the delayed diagnosis of cancer and orthopaedic injuries. Many of Ian’s cases involve complex medical and quantum issues. Ian has also dealt with highly sensitive cases on behalf of NHS Resolution involving significant publicity, including the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust group action claims.He adopts a sensible and pragmatic approach to managing claims in order to achieve a fair and reasonable resolution for all parties. He has substantial experience of various alternatives to litigation, including mediation.Ian has also lectured to NHS Trusts on a variety of issues including risk management, consent, duty of candour and the clinical negligence litigation process. He has assisted with patient safety projects and is responsible for managing all day-to-day aspects of the large healthcare teams in Liverpool and Manchester, including various NHS Trust secondments.

Andrew Cromby

Andrew has over 30 years' experience in commercial litigation and dispute resolution including High Court proceedings, injunctions, domestic and international arbitrations and mediation.He acts for UK and international clients on a broad range of commercial and contractual matters including shareholder and joint venture disputes, breaches of contract and warranty claims, the enforcement of contractual obligations, maintaining confidentiality and terminating commercial relationships. Andrew is an accredited Mediator and has been described in leading independent directory Chambers UK as someone with the “ability to steer a clear, sensible course through very troubled waters.”He has a particular expertise in partnership disputes and acts for Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) and professional partnerships (solicitors, accountants, financial services businesses, doctors and dentists) as well as for outgoing partners on individual and team moves.He also specialises in enforcing and resisting restrictive covenants and advising partnership management on constitutional and management issues and procedures.Andrew has been ranked for two decades as a leader in the field of partnership law in independent directories Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500.

Sean Crotty

Sean is a Partner in our Commercial team who leads Weightmans’ Digital, Technical and Data team. He advises many high profile clients within the private sector (ranging from SMEs to listed companies) and public sector (including Police Authorities, NHS Trusts, local authorities and universities) on a wide range of strategic and complex data, IT, media, entertainment, commercial and intellectual property issues.Sean is ranked as a ‘Leading Individual’ by Legal 500.In 2016 Sean was awarded the Legal Services Provider of the Year at the TIGA Awards in recognition of the excellent work provided by his team in the field of interactive video games.Sean’s team (ranked by Legal 500) has also been recognised as a leader in its field, advising major clients in the private and public sector (see above) on a number of data related data issues ranging from GDPR compliance to strategic dataflow contractual frameworks, including complex international data transfers (particularly post-Schrems II and Brexit).

Jill Dalkin

Ben Daniel

Ben is our Transaction and Advisory Director. He deals with all areas of employment law for a wide variety of clients in both public and private sectors.Ben is an advocate, regularly appearing in multi-day Employment Tribunal Hearings, and also conducts the advocacy in appeal cases at the Employment Appeal Tribunal.He has specialist knowledge from 20 years' experience in the transport sector, including road haulage, rail and bus passenger transport. He is particularly involved in the management of industrial disputes with clients across the transport sector. Ben also leads client management development seminars in the field of employee relations with the emphasis placed upon 'the right to manage'.

John Darnell

John has almost 20 years' experience in property litigation, with several high profile wins in the Court of Appeal. John concentrates on commercial property disputes with particular specialism in business lease renewals and lease termination issues. His longstanding clients include PLC retailers, local Councils and Universities. John is also team manager of the Property Litigation Department.

Fiona Davidson

Fiona heads the Liverpool family law team and manages the renowned national family team at Weightmans across our offices. She is recognised by Legal 500 as a Leading Individual in family law in the North West having over 25 years’ experience dealing exclusively with family law issues.Fiona specialises in divorce, financial settlements and children law issues arising out of relationship breakdown with particular expertise in complex divorces involving company, partnership and trust issues.She has a significant practice in pre and post marital agreements and cohabitation agreements, as well as a wealth of experience in dealing with children cases, particularly involving international relocation.Fiona is known for her strategic and focused advice in delivering results for clients. Her understanding of the needs of clients enables her to offer a first-rate and bespoke service to her clients resulting in regular referrals from fellow professionals including barristers and other members of the legal profession.Former clients include high net worth individuals, businessmen, entrepreneurs, medical and dental professionals, sports and media personalities.Fiona is keen to offer alternatives to litigation with a child centred and amicable approach to separation. She is a trained collaborative lawyer; she chaired the Merseyside collaborative law group for over six years. She is an active member of Resolution and sits on the Merseyside Regional Committee for Resolution. She also sits on the Liverpool Law Society Family Committee helping to shape local family law issues.Fiona is recognised as a leader in her field in both independent legal directories, Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, being described as ‘technically excellent; really approachable and able to build a real rapport with clients, who trust her implicitly’.Fiona is part of the winning team named Family Law Firm of the Year at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards.

Benjamin Davies

Benjamin trained with Weightmans and was promoted to Partner in 2024 in recognition of stellar progression in terms of both client service and client relationship management.Clients are consistently impressed by Benjamin’s calm and effective professionalism, with a ‘can do’ attitude which leads to palpably improved results for clients. With over 13 years’ experience of debt recovery at Weightmans, Benjamin has acquired a full range of technical and client relationship skills.Benjamin’s primary workload focuses on a broad range of contentious and non-contentious contractual disputes, acting on behalf of public bodies, corporate and individual clients, with extensive experience advising and litigating Consumer Credit Act Agreements, having acted on behalf of a number of financial institutions since 2009.Whilst also having extensive experience in unjust enrichment claims, specifically pension salary overpayments and recovering monies from the Estates of deceased individuals, Benjamin provides operational management for the national insolvency and recoveries team.

Graham Dean

Graham has been with Weightmans since 2006 and brings over 20 years' experience in handling disease claims to our national disease unit. He specialises in asbestos related disease claims and acts for many well known run off/legacy insurers providing them with strategic advice. He also regularly deals with NIHL, dermatitis and VWF claims and heads up the Liverpool disease team.He has handled several high profile and widely reported asbestos cases over the years, as well as test case litigation for defendants and their insurers. In addition to this he has presented seminars on the subject and has had articles published in the legal press. He is also the author of a section in Occupational Illness Litigation.

Paul Debney

Paul qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and has specialised in disease and personal injury claims since then, joining Weightmans as a Partner in 2008.His disease experience includes: asbestos related diseases, asthma, biological exposure cases including Legionnaires disease, chemical poisoning including neuropsychiatric injury, occupational cancers, cumulative back and other repetitive strain type injuries, noise induced hearing loss, vibration related injuries and work related upper limb disorders. Paul has particular expertise in relation to fraudulent claims, speaking regularly on that subject.Paul has been to the Court of Appeal several times, including Court of Appeal mediation and is currently instructed in a Supreme Court Appeal.He is client Partner for personal injury claims to a number of global manufacturing companies and a major UK and European logistics company.

Tania Derrett-Smith

Tania is a Partner in the family team based in Birmingham. She has over 15 years' experience in all areas of family law.Tania is a Partner in the family team based in Birmingham. She has 25 years' experience in all areas of family law, providing clients with a pragmatic, tailored, robust and effective approach to resolution whilst never losing sight of the client's priorities and objectives. She focuses on achieving constructive solutions outside court where possible as well as through traditional litigation. Her ability to handle sensitive cases with both empathy and commercial awareness is recognised.Tania's areas of practice include divorce, pre and post-nuptial agreements and arrangements for children with particular specialism in financial consequences arising as a result of a relationship breakdown. Considerable experience in cases involving family businesses, generational wealth, trusts, property portfolios in the UK and overseas together with pension sharing.Cases of note include a client attracted away from a magic circle firm with assets over £125million, case involving complex trust issues, disputes regarding post-separation accrued wealth, overseas property and a private law children matter with serious allegations of radicalisation.Tania is a member of Resolution and a trained collaborative lawyer.Tania is part of the winning team named Family Law Firm of the Year at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards.

Chris Dexter

Partner - Healthcare Manchester

Amal Dhesi

Partner - Real Estate Manchester and Leeds

Chris Doran

Chris specialises in all forms of construction and engineering disputes, both international and domestic, and risk management advice, including final account disputes, claims for extensions of time, prolongation and LADs, defective design by both engineers and contractors, defective workmanship and negligent procurement and management of projects.Chris also has considerable experience in advising insurers in connection with the management of Building Guarantee claims, advising on policy response and advising and pursuing recoveries, and has frequently writes and speaks on developments on Building Safety.Clients include contractors, construction professionals, developers, national health service trusts, housing associations and insurers of construction risks.Chris has been ranked as a leading lawyer by Chambers (London, Construction – Suppliers) and previously named by Legal 500 in relation to construction disputes.

Caroline Doyle

Legal Director - International Private Wealth

Victoria Duddles

Victoria is both a solicitor and Fellow of CIPD and advises on all aspects of employment law across a range of sectors. This includes advising on redundancy and reorganisations, TUPE, changing terms and conditions, discrimination, disciplinary matters and contractual issues. Victoria has experience of representing clients at Employment Tribunal.Victoria regularly creates and presents employment training courses on a wide variety of employment law topics. She is responsible for developing and maintaining the employment law website for the firm’s HR Rely clients.Victoria also sits on Birmingham Law Society’s Employment Law Committee.

Stewart Duffy

Formerly of RadcliffesLeBrasseur, Stewart is a Legal Director in our healthcare team. Dual-qualified in medicine and law, Stewart’s specialist work involves professional and systems regulation including data protection and judicial review.Stewart advises professionals, public bodies and private sector organisations on a range of regulatory issues. His work encompasses professional disciplinary proceedings, regulatory compliance, primary care contractual disputes, governance and data protection advice.As well as publishing on medical topics, Stewart has published on a variety of legal topics including healthcare disciplinary and employment law and powers of detention on public health grounds.Stewart has a medical degree and MD from Trinity College, Dublin and spent a number of years in hospital practice. He then went on to study law at University College Dublin and re-qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales having been called to the New York State Bar. Stewart holds a Certificate in Data Protection Practice from the Law Society of Ireland.

Nathan East

Nathan East is Head of Public Bodies at Weightmans. He was previously Head of Emergency Services, a position he held for seven years before becoming Head of Public Bodies in 2024.Nathan advises Police and Crime Commissioners, Chief Constables, police forces, national policing bodies, fire and rescue authorities and ambulance trusts on major projects, governance, collaboration arrangements and strategic estates matters.He is recognised for advising on complex and high-profile matters where legal, operational, commercial and reputational considerations intersect. His practice spans nationally significant programmes, emergency services collaboration, governance reform, commercial projects, organisational change and major capital developments. Nathan regularly advises PCCs, Chief Constables, chief executives, estates directors and project boards on matters critical to the future delivery of policing and emergency services.Nathan is particularly known for helping clients deliver complex projects and navigate challenging governance issues. He has extensive experience advising on innovative collaboration structures, operationally sensitive matters and strategically important estate programmes across England and Wales. His work frequently brings together major projects, governance and commercial considerations to support long-term transformation and service delivery across the policing and emergency services sectors.Nathan's areas of expertise:Major projects and programme deliveryStrategic governance and organisational reformPolice and emergency services collaborationSection 22A Police Act arrangementsCommercial contracts and procurementJoint ventures and LLP structuresStrategic estates and asset transformationHeadquarters, training and operational facilitiesCovert property and security-sensitive projectsPublic sector transformation and organisational change

Emma Eccles

Partner - Large Loss 4

Deborah Edwards

Deborah has over 27 years' experience in occupational disease litigation, specialising in asbestos work and complex high value disease claims. She has led in group actions, and provides strategic advice on claims clusters. Her clients include public bodies, insurers, FTSE 100 and SMEs. Deborah regularly speaks at conferences, and provides training to clients.

Martin Edwards

Previously head of employment and HR at Mace & Jones, Martin specialises in all aspects of employment law and has appeared as an advocate before Employment Tribunals nationwide, as well as before the Employment Appeal Tribunal. He is regularly consulted by private and public sector organisations seeking fast and practical advice on high-profile business transactions, ranging from corporate mergers to European and premier league football transfers.Martin is a specialist in providing strategic advice in high profile and sensitive cases.Martin’s clients include many solicitors, barristers’ chambers and household name companies based throughout the UK, as well as multinationals. He regularly acts for a wide range of public sector clients including education establishments, NHS Trusts and Local Authorities.He is consistently recommended by Independent Legal directories such as Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a leading individual.

Victoria Edwards

Legal Director - Casualty Commercial 1

Karen Elder

Legal Director - Litigation National

Cat Ellis

Partner - EPI Leeds, London, Manchester & Birmingham

Robert Emmett

Partner - Family

Martin English

Martin qualified as a solicitor in 2009 and joined the regulatory team at Weightmans in September 2014. Martin's specialism is representing organisations, insurers, NHS Trusts and individuals designated Core Participant status in public inquiries or Interested Person status at inquests. He has used his excellent knowledge and understanding of the inquisitorial process for both public inquiries and inquests to represent clients in cases involving major incidents, fatal road traffic collisions and major health & safety incidents, as well as on numerous healthcare inquests involving complex medical care. He conducts a significant proportion of his own advocacy, including Article 2 ECHR, multi-week, multi-party and jury inquests. He has managed and advocated cases of complexity as well as great sensitivity, some of which have attracted regional, national and international media attention. Martin also represents individuals and organisations in the magistrates and crown court in respect of the full spectrum of road traffic, regulatory and criminal offences (from speeding to homicide-related offences). He has had notable success in securing acquittals on complex and technical points of law. He has independent LEXCEL quality accreditation for providing advice and assistance at interviews under caution and providing advocacy assistance in the magistrates court.

David Evans

A 26 year track record in the area of personal injury and associated areas, working with major insurance companies Zurich and MIB.

Mark Evans

Mark previously spent time working as a claimant personal injury lawyer, having qualified as a solicitor in 2003, but since joining Weightmans in 2013 he has dealt exclusively in defending personal injury claims for insurance companies, commercial businesses and local authorities. Mark specialises in all types of fast-track and multi-track industrial disease litigation, with a particular interest in work related upper limb disorders and hand arm vibration syndrome. He is part of our Midlands disease team based in our Leicester office.Mark provides training in various issues surrounding industrial disease claims both externally and as part of in-house sessions. Mark has significant trial experience, particularly in relation to issues of limitation.

Sian Evans

Sian qualified as a solicitor in 1990 and joined Weightmans as a partner in 2007. Sian is sector lead for housing and she is also a partner in the property litigation team. She specialises in all aspects of property litigation, both commercial and residential, in the High Court, the County Court, the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) and Upper Tribunal.Sian also acts for a wide range of housing associations, stock transfer organisations and fully mutual housing co-operatives. Sian has specialist knowledge of housing management issues including possession cases based on convictions, breach of tenancy terms and anti-social behaviour, anti-social behaviour injunctions (with and without notice), general estate management issues including exchange, abandoned properties, squatters and disrepair. Sian appears regularly as an advocate in the county court.Sian also has a wealth of experience in commercial property litigation. She is also skilled in all forms of alternative dispute resolution and has had noted success in mediations.Sian is recommended in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 as a leader in her field. She is also a contributor to the Which Guide to Renting and Letting and is a current member of the Law Society’s Housing Committee, having been the Chair between 2011-2014. She is an accomplished external speaker on housing and landlord and tenant issues.

Edwina Farrell

Edwina leads the primary care team at Weightmans and advises GP practices, individual partners, local medical committees and those who work with them.She has a broad experience in the way in which general practice and its finance operates and as such is able to bring a holistic approach to GP partnership business, property and dispute work. She is ranked in the Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 directories as a medical partnership expert and is widely recognised as a specialist NHS GP advisor.Her work includes partnership formation, retirement, mergers and other contractual arrangements such as partnership contract variations as well as some practice disputes. She has been involved with collaboration projects with health and emergency service providers.Edwina is widely known for negotiating robust and 'GP friendly' property transactions especially in connection with landlord and tenant matters. This includes significant experience 54 Act renewals and in LIFT transactions for GPs together with new development work and section 106 contributions.Edwina has written many articles in medical practitioner press in relation to service charge issues for GPs. She has assisted GPs and LMCs nationally in relation to demands by landlords for unsubstantiated claims and provides training sessions and seminars in respect of partnership premises and core business. She is known as an effective public speaker, encouraging practices to understand the law as it relates to their business. She is regularly invited by LMCs to present to their members.She is described by clients as "approachable, supportive, knowledgeable and tenacious," and Chambers and Partners note that clients praise her ability to "provide timely responses and sensible advice in easy-to-understand language."Edwina leads on NHS Trusts' estate matters representing these clients on a variety of complex property matters and estates strategy and rationalisation in keeping with the government agenda for collaboration within the public sector and working at scale. She oversees and manages work in relation to large property portfolios and property management generally. Having spent 14 years in local authority property teams, she is familiar with public sector processes.In addition, she has worked on estates and joint venture projects for emergency services clients and supports the Weightmans' emergency services team in this respect, undertaking a large level of landlord and tenant matters, as well as providing general property advice.Edwina and her colleagues offer GPs and other primary care professionals 20 minutes of free legal advice through our GP advice line.

Rachael Fawcett

Rachael joined Weightmans in 2010 and qualified as a solicitor in 2015 before becoming a Partner in 2024.Rachael is based in our Liverpool office and deals with a wide variety of public liability and employers' liability claims on behalf of local authorities, schools/universities and academies, housing associations and other public sector organisations across the country.Rachael has particular expertise in defending claims made against housing providers including personal injury claims brought under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Defective Premises Act 1972 and the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. Rachael also works closely with the firm's property litigation team handling claims, providing advice and training on housing condition claims where there is a personal injury element. Rachael regularly provides training to insurers, housing providers and local authorities on housing claims.Rachael also deals with data protection claims made against public sector organisations.Rachael regularly delivers training for clients and speaks at various events on related topics.

Lewis Fearon

Lewis joined Weightmans in 2010 and began his costs career in 2011.Lewis has experience in all areas of costs claims and since 2013 has specialised in industrial disease costs.Lewis deals with a varied caseload of industrial disease costs claims and also supervises the team. This role involves providing internal training, managing team targets, meeting directly with clients and attending client audits.

Sarah Finnigan

Legal Director - Specialty Core

Sam Flew

Partner - Healthcare Regulatory Management

Felicity Flint

Felicity is a Principal Associate in the health team in Birmingham.Since 2009 she has dealt with employers' and public liability risk pooling cases for NHS Resolution and various NHS Trusts throughout the country. Felicity deals with fast and multi track personal injury cases. She has a particular interest in fraud, third party assaults and bullying and stress claims.

Matthew Foden

Matthew is a principal associate based in our Liverpool office within the local government and police team who specialises in defending actions against the police.Matthew represents a number of police forces, including the Metropolitan Police Service, British Transport Police and Merseyside Police, advising on employers' liability and public liability claims including actions for false imprisonment, assault, malicious prosecution, misfeasance in public office, negligence, workplace stress, and claims under the Human Rights Act and Equality Act.He additionally advises various police forces and NHS Trusts on Data Protection matters; and advises police forces on wide-reaching judicial review applications.Matthew has undertaken secondment work within police force legal departments, providing day to day advice on operational matters to officers on duty.

Julie Ford

Partner • Regulatory Healthcare Advisory

Andrew Forrest

Andrew is a Fellow of the CIPD and has a masters’ degree in Human resource management and industrial relations. His experience covers both the public and private sectors and includes: Tribunal advocacy, consulting and negotiating with trade unions, training, mediation, seminar presentations and advising on employment law. Andrew joined Weightmans in October 2010 from EEF (now Make UK) where he was the HR and legal leader for the Midlands.

Martin Forshaw

Partner - Casualty Management

Peter Forshaw

Peter joined Weightmans in September 1997. He became a Partner in 2005. He is the firm’s technical lead for casualty, overseeing the handling of all EL, PL & product liability claims for insurers and corporate entities across the firm’s various offices.Peter continues to handle claims, specialising in the area of EL/PL personal injury litigation, for defendant organisations and their insurers. He also has a particular focus on drones across a wide range of sectors, advising clients on their uses, risks and the regulatory framework in which such technology operates.He has written for a number of publications including Post Magazine, Insurance Times, Insurance Day and trade press, as well as national newspapers in relation to such issues, providing thought leadership and best practice advice to the market. He is also a highly regarded speaker at training events on such issues.Peter acts for clients in a number of sectors but particularly in the retail, logistics and manufacturing sectors in respect of which he is nominated handler for a number of global organisations.In addition, Peter specialises in defending theatre owners and production companies in respect of personal injury claims arising in the fields of theatrical production and live performance. In this regard, he is nominated on a number of schemes for brokers and insurers.In 2006 Peter qualified as a mediator with the Academy of Experts.He is also Weightmans’ CSR partner, strategically leading the firm’s fundraising, pro bono and community initiatives for which the firm has been shortlisted for a number of awards over recent years.Peter is a member of FOIL, a member of the Liverpool Insurance Institute Council and in his spare time, he acts on a pro bono basis as Hon Gen Solicitor for an arts-based charity in the North West.

Jennifer Forster

Partner - Motor Multi Track & Technical

Mickaela Fox

Mickaela has over 27 years’ PQE and became a Partner in 2005. She specialises in solicitors’, accountants’ and valuers’ indemnity claims and regulatory work, as well as dealing with a range of matters often involving novel issues — for example, defending arbitrators and dealing with insurance advice and disputes involving sporting bodies. Mickaela has acted for a number of top legal firms and has an established reputation for her skill and expertise in the conduct of complex, high value cases. Clients describe her as ‘incredibly dynamic and resourceful when fighting their corner’.Mickaela has acted for a number of large national firms and is well regarded for her skill and expertise in the conduct of complex, high-value indemnity cases. Over the years she has advised on all types of lawyer’s liability claims, including claims involving complex trusts arrangements, taxation, banking, property, fraud, group litigation, consumer protection, personal injury/clinical negligence and, in more recent times, cybercrime.Mickaela is frequently retained to advise on coverage issues pertaining to professional indemnity policies. She is also acts as a consultant to law firms who require compliance advice as part of the Compli team. She was responsible for the launch of the firm’s risk management consultancy service for lawyers and has been instrumental in the development and growth of Compli.For many years Mickaela has chaired the Liverpool Law Society’s Regulatory Committee. In that role she has been responsible for preparing the Society’s responses to consultation papers issued by the SRA, including those setting out fundamental changes to the way the profession is regulated.

Quentin Fox

Quentin is a Partner in the professional risks team in the London office. He specialises in professional negligence and construction claims, almost always acting on behalf of insurers. With over 30 years’ practice in this field, he has particularly extensive experience in the following areas:claims against clients in the construction industry, architects, engineers, M&E consultants, surveyors, quantity surveyors, project managers, asbestos consultants and design & build contractors (he is a qualified Adjudicator);complaints or claims against financial advisers and IFA networks; andinsurance policy coverage disputes.He also regularly handles claims against other professions, such as estate agents, insurance brokers, solicitors and accountants. He deals with complaints made to the Financial Ombudsman Service against insurance brokers, insurers, IFAs and the like.He acts for a broad range of Lloyds’ syndicates and company market insurers, including AmTrust, Argenta, Argo, AXA Insurance, CFC, Chaucer, Collegiate, IGI, Markel UK, Markel International, MMI (part of Zurich), Nexus, RiverStone, Tokio Marine HCC and Vibe/R&Q.Quentin is recognised by the principal legal directories. Recent comments include: "Quentin Fox has the rare combination of being technically good whilst at the same time being commercially and strategically sound"; "Quentin Fox 'quickly spots the practical difficulties in disputes, and takes a robust line with opponents"; "Quentin has a healthy reputation in the professional indemnity sphere and primarily acts for large insurers. He is admired by the market for his experience and strategic and practical approach to cases”.

Wendy Fox

Legal Director - Large Loss 2

Marianne Frall

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Advisory

Pamela Freeland

Pamela is a partner in Weightmans’ national Speciality Team. She specialises in professional indemnity claims and regulatory matters across many professional disciplines including: - accountants -insurance brokers -IFAs -surveyors -health and safety consultants -administrators and liquidators -architects -civil and geotechnical engineers -fire engineers -solicitors -barristers -property managers and care home operators. An experienced negotiator and litigator, Pamela manages and resolves high value, complex and multi-party disputes. She provides advice and guidance at all stages of a dispute – be that during the initial phase when a client is conducting preliminary investigations for an anticipated dispute or up to and including resolution via mediation, trial, adjudication or arbitration. She adopts a commercial and pragmatic approach to dispute resolution and regularly leads negotiations conducted in person and/or remotely and via mediation. She has conducted cases heard in the High Court, Technology and Construction Court and the Business and Property Court. She is also experienced in dealing with disputes referred to adjudication and arbitration. Pamela sits on the ILG Professional Liability Committee, which comprises members from across the globe. They produce articles and provide guidance on relevant issues across multiple jurisdictions. Pamela has a leading role in the firm’s multi-disciplined team of experts who deal with all aspects of claims against Directors and Officers or business entities. She project manages such claims, acting a key point of contact when input is often required in a number of areas such a regulatory, insolvency, ESG and cyber security. She also acts as monitoring counsel for insurers on claims where individuals and /or entities require separate legal representation. Pamela is also instructed to provide advice on policy coverage across several classes of business including professional indemnity insurance, Directors and Officers/ Management liability insurance, Business Interruption Insurance, Contractors All Risk insurance and EL and PL insurances. She regularly produces articles relevant to professional indemnity and policy coverage and provides training to clients and industry bodies. Pamela is ranked as “Up and Coming” in Chambers and Partners 2025 and as a “Next Generation Partner” in Legal 500 2025, with a client testimonial in the latter referring to her as the “cream of the crop”.

Rachel Fung

Legal Director - Regulatory Police

Michelle Garlick

Named by one client as "The Rockstar of Compliance", Michelle is head of Weightmans' award-winning Compli service which advises the legal sector on all aspects of regulation, compliance, risk management, professional discipline and claims and complaints handling. Michelle qualified as a solicitor in 1992, specialising in professional negligence litigation, and joined Weightmans as a Partner in February 2008. She is also the firm's MLRO. Over the years, she has advised and represented many hundreds of lawyers and legal businesses on their regulatory obligations and disciplinary investigations and is known for her pragmatic, commercial and supportive approach. Michelle is the author of The COLP's Toolkit, a Law Society best-seller (currently in its third edition), and co-author of The Good Risk Law Firm, published by the Solicitors Journal. She is a well-known speaker and commentator on the legal circuit and sits on the editorial committee of the Law Society’s Legal Compliance Bulletin. Michelle was extremely proud to be elected as the President of Manchester Law Society for 2019, having been a council member of Manchester Law Society for six years and chair of its regulatory affairs committee and COLP and COFA Forum. During her Presidency, she launched the Manchester Law Society Access to the Profession Hub to help improve Diversity and Inclusion in the legal sector and she appears in the Manchester Power 100 list 2019 of most influential people in Manchester.

Elizabeth Gibbison

Elizabeth (Ellie) Gibbison is a Partner in the Private Wealth team, based in Weightmans Newcastle office.Ellie is proud of working and leading within award winning teams, her collaborative ethos, and unwavering commitment to client service (spanning across family and friend circles, and for whole lifetimes), and technical excellence. She feels it is an honour to work with all manner of clients to protect the things they love for those they hold dearest. This spans from those famous, such as professional football players and fashion designers, through to those who are ultra high net worth eminent business people and those who are elderly and vulnerable and everything in between. Ellie is also proud of the wider private client community she is privileged to be part of at a time where much change is afoot in the private wealth space which she is lucky to be at the fore of as national co-Chair of the Private Client and Estates Committee at The Law Society.Ellie prides herself, too, on working closely with clients’ wider advisory teams, internally (such as within our corporate team) and externally (including financial planners, accountants, and land agents) to deliver holistic, forward-thinking wealth and succession planning solutions.

Sam Gittoes

Sam is our Head of Service Delivery for Motor. She has 23 years' motor litigation experience, 15 of which have been at Weightmans. Sam transitioned from a fee earning role to one of management over a number of years, now overseeing the operational side of the motor department and ensuring that we are providing an excellent service to our clients. Sam works collaboratively with our business support teams to innovate and consistently improve our claims handling processes, developing internal and external reports that give us the ability to provide insight and analysis into market trends and portfolios of business for our clients.Having worked in the motor insurance sector for over 20 years, she has seen a lot of changes across the industry. Sam is driven to look for ways to improve our people through development and our processes through advancements in technology, to drive efficiency and effectiveness for our service delivery.Sam has developed insight and market knowledge as a result of her involvement with a number of key clients over the years.As well as sitting on a number of client steering groups, Sam has recently joined the firms Environmental, Social and Governance steering group to help shape a sustainable future for the next generation.Sam was promoted to Associate in 2013, Principal Associate in 2019 and Partner in 2021.

Simon Goacher

Simon joined Weightmans in February 2013 to head up the Local Government team. Formerly head of legal and democratic services at Cheshire West and Cheshire Council, Simon Goacher has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in local government law spanning almost two decades.He has led on significant projects including an innovative housing stock transfer at Wirral Council and on the promotion of a private Act of Parliament. He was awarded the title of Local Government Young Solicitor of the year in 2006. As Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer at Wirral Council, Simon was the lead legal adviser for key projects including regeneration schemes in New Brighton and Birkenhead.In 2009, he was appointed Head of Legal Services and Monitoring Officer of the newly created Cheshire West and Chester Council. This involved the creation of a single authority from four councils. Simon has been a member of the projects boards for a number of major projects including the creation of Council-owned companies, as well as significant outsourcing and regeneration projects.Simon is a go-to adviser for authorities on significant governance and vires issues throughout the country including carrying out independent reviews on sensitive and high profile issues.He is a leading practitioner on member conduct and has carried out a number of significant investigations on behalf of local authorities into the behaviour of elected members.

Simon Gomersall

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Professional Discipline

Christopher Graham

Chris is our Regional Office Head in Newcastle upon Tyne and Lead Partner in our employment law team.He has over 25 years’ experience advising commercial and public sector organisations on all aspects of employment law. He has a very broad range of experience, involving almost all applications before the Employment Tribunal and particular expertise in business protection, unlawful discrimination, outsourcing (TUPE) and industrial action.Chris also has substantial experience protecting businesses from unlawful competition, misuse of confidential information/database recovery and insider fraud. He runs actions for injunctive relief and has a particular interest in technology, extending to protection from cyber-threats. He is experienced in securing Freezing Orders and contempt applications, as well as directors’ duties more generally. Chris has developed a significant practice involving partnership as well as shareholder disputes.As Lead Partner, Chris manages the relationships with number of our significant clients and, as Regional Office Head, has responsibility for local engagement, diversity and CSR.In 2022/23, our Newcastle office won Large Law Firm of the Year in the Northern Law awards and Chris won Lawyer of the Year.

Bob Granger

Bob joined the firm in 2017 as Group Finance Director, following 13 years as Finance and Retail director at Lakeland based in Windermere. As FD Bob was instrumental in the transformation of Lakeland into a digitally focused and international business. During his ten years as retail director, he had line responsibility for 68 stores and 1200 colleagues, and the team were consistently recognised by customers as one of the leading UK brands for customer service.Bob's career spans retail, technology, hospitality and professional services. Whilst at Vodafone Bob held roles in Group Finance and ultimately as the head of finance in the UK technology division, where the business spent over £1bn p.a. building and operating the UK mobile network.At PWC Bob qualified as a chartered accountant and spent two years as audit manager, gaining exposure to a range of audit, corporate finance and tax assignments.His appointment at Weightmans is his first in the legal sector, and his 25 years experience in a wide variety of other businesses bring a fresh and commercial perspective to the firm.People, values and winning through effective teamwork are of fundamental importance to Bob's approach.

Anne Green

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Professional Discipline

Dominic Green

Formerly of RadcliffesLeBrasseur, Dominic undertakes a broad range of commercial litigation work. Dominic is particularly renowned for his expertise in contentious media and entertainment law.Dominic represents a variety of clients in the media and entertainment industry, including music and publishing companies, actors, performers, musicians and artists.Dominic’s particular expertise in media-related litigation and commercial disputes includes:intellectual property (copyright, trademarks and patents);contractual disputes, including sponsorship and merchandising;breach of confidence; anddefamation.In addition, Dominic frequently acts for a wide range of companies in commercial litigation matters and for the healthcare sector in media-related disputes.

John Gregory

Partner - Planning and Construction

Angela Gregson

Partner - Corporate

Jon Gregson

Jon joined Weightmans in 2005 and is a Partner in the employment, pensions and immigration team in Liverpool.He specialises in high value, complex respondent employment tribunal litigation and leads the teams acting for Royal Mail Group Ltd and British Airways Plc.Jon has broad experience in both non-contentious and contentious employment law advice. He provides policy and operational advice to FTSE 100 clients on a range of issues, including diversity, sickness absence management, performance and capability, misconduct and contractual issues.He is an experienced Employment Tribunal advocate and regularly undertakes advocacy at Employment Tribunals and has also appeared at the Employment Appeal Tribunal.Jon also carries out a Product and Innovation Partner role for the firm; sitting at the intersection of the client, legal operations and innovation sectors and using his experience to help evolve and develop market-leading and technology-driven solutions for both clients and also our legal teams. A disability discrimination decision-making tool designed and implemented in collaboration with Royal Mail has been shortlisted and came as a runner-up in the Managing Partner Forum Awards for Best People Initiative.Jon is a regular trainer at both Weightmans' legal seminars and also in-house training sessions for clients. He has also had articles published in the legal and HR press.He is also a well known and high-profile personality within the legal LinkedIn community and has spoken widely on the issues of personal branding and profile for lawyers and law firms.

Andy Griffiths

As Business Change Director, Andy is responsible for the overall delivery of business change at Weightmans.He leads a dedicated team of project managers and business analysts engaged on a variety of projects throughout the firm.Andy and his team are continually and actively looking for ways to enhance the Client experience — always seeking to add value and deliver tangible benefits.Andy is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Six Sigma methodology is just one of the approaches used by the team when seeking to review and re-engineer processes. Looking at everything we do, how we do it and how it can be improved.Andy oversees consistent and effective project management nationally and is a certified AgilePM practitioner. He also forms part of the operations board responsible for portfolio management of projects and priorities.As a qualified solicitor, Andy has, in the past, acted for a number of local authorities specialising in the defence of public and employers' liability claims. He also has experience of operations management and team management during his time at Weightmans which is used to good effect in his current role.Andy joined the firm as a trainee in 2001, qualified in 2003 and became a partner in 2009. Andy splits his time between our Liverpool and Birmingham offices.

Patricia Grinyer

Patricia heads the firm's banking and finance team and advises on all aspects of financial services. She provides advice to banks and borrowers on bilateral and syndicated facilities. She has particular expertise in public sector finance. Key clients include Santander, AIB Bank plc, Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and the Midlands Engine.This year Patricia has provided key strategic advice on the impact of Brexit for European Structural Funds. She remains lead adviser to the North West JEREMIE Fund, a £150 million European Fund.As one of the few solicitors nationally who acts on the establishment of European Structural Funding schemes, establishment of legacy funds and utilising public and private sector money to create funding platforms for SMEs, this year Patricia has successfully won pitches to act for various fund managers in connection with their bids to be appointed to the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and the Midlands Engine.Patricia has continued to provide advice nationally for borrowers and lenders on syndicated and bilateral banking documentation. This includes advising Sertec Group on the multi funder and syndicated finance loan on a transaction which resulted in Sertec Group becoming a £250 million turnover business. This involved advising on all aspects of funding, including syndicated finance facility, property finance and invoice discounting. The debt finance included debt from numerous jurisdictions including the UK and Hungary.Patricia has continued to pitch and win work for mainstream banks including Lloyds Bank Plc and Allied Irish Bank (AIB).

Asad Hadadi

Kate Hall

Legal Director - EPI Liverpool

Peter Hall

Peter is a rising star who qualified in 2003 and joined Weightmans in March 2013 as part of the Semple Fraser merger. Peter's background is in real estate litigation, including business lease renewals and terminations, dilapidations claims, tenant insolvency, applications to assign or sub-let, boundary and right of way disputes, Land Registry adjudication proceedings, restrictive covenants, rent reviews, lease forfeiture and general property management.Peter has experience of bringing successful claims against negligent professionals such as solicitors, surveyors and accountants. He believes in the merits of ADR and has conducted a number of successful mediations. Peter is also a long-standing volunteer supervisor at the University of Manchester Student Law Advice Centre.

Nichola Halpin

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Advisory

Jen Hankinson

Jen is an experienced Real Estate partner based in our Manchester and Liverpool offices. Jen has extensive experience in the housing sector with particular expertise in residential development and regeneration programmes. She is recognised both by her clients and in legal directories as a leading expert in her field. Jen has been working in the Housing sector for 17 years. Jen’s in-house experience (5 years) at the outset of her qualification has given her great insight into the workings of RPs and their requirements. Jen brings invaluable experience in housing and regeneration matters such as:Development transactions – from pre-bid stage through to post-acquisition and scheme set-up; inc. forward funded schemes, s106 acquisitions, golden brick transactions, land led schemes, joint ventures, options/conditional contracts, overage provisions and large-scale estate regeneration schemesSales and acquisitionsStock rationalisationsSection agreements – infrastructure and planningLeases – commercial, residential and REIT linked (supported / independent living)Shared ownership site set-up and plot sales – including in-house team training and triageHome ownership aspects such as RTB/RTA; staircasing and re-salesStock transfer and portfolio acquisition, sale and chargingBespoke training – for instructing clients and their BoardsStrategic development programme adviceDeveloping and implementing a legal framework (when in-house) With her career spanning both in-house and law firm positions, Jen brings commercial acumen, expertise in housing policy and a broad knowledge of the sector to her new role. Jen has significant housing and regeneration experience and is highly regarded by clients for her “extensive knowledge of the housing sector”

Philip Harding

Phil qualified in 2009 and joined Weightmans in July 2013 as a solicitor before becoming an Associate in 2017 and subsequently a Principal Associate in 2019. He currently manages a team in the Casualty department.He handles a wide variety of public liability and employers' liability claims for a wide variety of clients in both the public and private sectors and has a particular specialism in highways claims made against local authorities.He successfully acted for the local authority in the widely discussed matter of ‘Heath McCabe v Cheshire West & Chester Council & BAM Nuttall Ltd’ that looked at questions of misfeasance and non-feasance and powers vs duties.

Samuel Harland

Sam is a partner in the healthcare team and specialises in healthcare law and product liability. Sam advises NHS Trusts, NHS Resolution, the Department of Health, and private practitioners on a wide range of health related legal services with a particular emphasis on resolving disputes. Sam has handled cases with values exceeding £10 million and with attached periodical payments.He is recognised as a practical lawyer and has a reputation for dealing with disputes pragmatically and sensibly. He is an advocate of alternative methods of dispute resolution and manages the Global Resolution Scheme on behalf of NHS Resolution.Sam has a niche specialism in claims arising from disease infection following blood transfusion and organ transplant. He advises organisations on consumer protection law and has represented the NHS and Department of Health in group actions.Alongside his healthcare case load, Sam deals with public and administrative law and is instructed by a significant core participant in the Infected Blood Inquiry.Sam regularly presents to NHS organisations on safety and learning issues.

Simon Hartley

Partner - Property Litigation Liverpool & London

Louise Harvey

Louise Harvey is the Team Manager of our Plots Department. She is experienced in leading teams that deal with large volume transactions; ensuring legal services are delivered on time and within fee. Louise is constantly looking for innovative ways to improve our legal services; making use of technology and systems to deliver outstanding client service. Being at the forefront of the residential plot sale and part exchange offering, she is tasked with understanding client requirements, monitoring residential market trends and resourcing according to demand at any particular time. She is also an experienced landlord and tenant real estate lawyer having acted for large national retailers and assisting with the transactional aspects of the portfolio management.

Louise Hawkfield

Partner - Niche Costs

Chris Hayes

Chris Hayes is a Partner in the HR Rely team based in Liverpool. He specialises in supporting SMEs and Owner Manages Businesses with day-to-day HR and employment law advice.Chris is an employment law specialist focused on advising SME and owner-managed businesses on day-to-day workplace issues and strategic people decisions. His practice is built around delivering commercially grounded advice that aligns with each organisation’s operational goals while clearly setting out legal risk and available options. He is known for adopting a strongly commercial and pragmatic approach, ensuring that business objectives are met wherever reasonably possible, with risk levels carefully assessed and explained at each stage.He takes a solutions-focused and prevention led approach to employment law. His priority is early intervention by identifying and addressing workplace issues before they escalate into formal disputes or Employment Tribunal litigation. This reduces cost, management time, and reputational exposure for clients. Where claims do arise, he provides full tribunal defence support, offering continuity of service from initial advisory stages through to formal proceedings and resolution. This is often comforting for clients to ensure that the finer details of each matter are not lost in translation.His experience includes complex disciplinary and grievance matters, senior exits, executive terminations, and negotiated settlements, including cases involving directors and shareholdings. He regularly advises at board level on restructuring exercises, growth strategy, and sensitive workforce change, translating legal exposure into practical commercial choices.Chris is widely regarded by clients as calm, methodical, and measured, particularly when handling emotionally charged employee relations issues. He is collaborative in style, working closely with business leaders and HR professionals to understand each organisation’s structure, culture, and risk appetite before tailoring advice.In addition to advisory and dispute work, Chris delivers in-person training for businesses, HR teams, and board-level stakeholders. His training covers core HR and employment law topics as well as current legal developments and regulatory updates, delivered in a practical, hands-on format designed for real-world application and decision-making.He is also a strong advocate of legal technology and modern service delivery. He actively promotes the use of artificial intelligence and document automation to improve efficiency, consistency, and client experience, ensuring legal support is delivered in a contemporary and accessible format.

David Hayes

Partner - Corporate

Kieran Hearty

Kieran joined Weightmans in 2016 and is a Legal Director in the large loss and technical claims team, specialising in defending civil claims for compensation against insurance companies and the Motor Insurers' Bureau brought by, or on behalf of, claimants who have suffered catastrophic and life-changing personal injuries. He was admitted to the roll in 2014 and has over 10 years of litigation experience.Kieran deals with a broad spectrum of claims which include severe traumatic brain injuries, amputations and spinal injuries resulting in paralysis and has experience with motor claims and employers' and public liability cases involving complex liability, technical and indemnity issues.

Leah Heatley

Partner - Litigation National

Joanna-Louise Hector

Joanna is a principal associate, with over 9 years' experience in defending personal injury claims for insurance companies, commercial businesses, local authorities and the NHSLA. Joanna specialises in all types of multi track and high value industrial disease litigation, with a particular interest in hand arm vibration syndrome, work related upper limb disorders and asbestos related conditions. She is part of our Midlands disease team, based in our Leicester office. Joanna has previously spent time working in-house for a major international insurer.Joanna is a regular speaker and provides training in various issues surrounding industrial disease claims both externally and as part of in-house sessions. Joanna produces and edits our monthly Disease-i publication as well as regularly writing stand alone articles.

Gail Heighton

Gail is based with the Midlands occupational disease team, specialising in noise-induced hearing loss, HAVS, WRULD, dermatitis, occupational asthma and asbestos-related disease claims. She is also part of the Weightmans’ fraud team.

Catherine Hendy

Catherine qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and joined Weightmans LLP as a solicitor in the corporate department in 2015. Catherine specialises in a broad range of corporate work including share and asset acquisitions and disposals, mergers, management buyouts and management buyins, debt and equity investment work, group reorganisations and restructures, shareholders agreements, joint ventures and general company and commercial advice. Catherine has acted for a broad range of clients including owner managed businesses, national and international corporate clients, institutional investors and management teams.

Charles Heppenstall

Formerly a partner of Ford & Warren solicitors, Charles has wide experience in all aspects of litigation including indemnity disputes, fraudulent claims and high value / catastrophic injury claims with a value up to £5 million. He also has experience in the handling of claims of the utmost severity, valuing at £10 million+.His specialism is in road traffic/motor claims, particularly those involving brain injury and chronic pain/invisible injury. He also has experience in handling high-value EL and PL claims. In addition, he has developed a name for himself in the industry as a specialist in the defence of credit hire claims, and in 2000 was part of the team that took (successfully) leading case Ketley v Gilbert to the Court of Appeal.

Bob Hetherington

Bob joined Weightmans in 1994 and has been a partner since 2004. He specialised in litigation for local government clients and was Head of Local Government Litigation before becoming Head of Management Information in 2010.He is responsible for the provision of Business Intelligence and Management Information to the firm’s clients. This incorporates liaison with clients on market analysis, the provision of key performance statistics, risk management and advice around data management and delivery.Bob’s role also covers the production of internal management reports to enable strategic business and planning decisions and performance reports to ensure the quality and consistency of our client services.Bob has a MBA in Legal Practice Management from Nottingham Trent University.

Alistair Hewitt

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Professional Discipline

Mandy Higgins

Mandy is an immigration lawyer and has over 18 years’ experience in her field.She is experienced in both immigration and employment law so can provide seamless advice on the cross-over between the two areas.Mandy is experienced in providing global immigration solutions to large multinational corporations from a wide range of sectors including logistics, healthcare and technology.With extensive immigration expertise in the education sector, Mandy advises universities, colleges and independent schools and assists with all aspects of compliance, risk management and strategy.Mandy advises on the full range of UK immigration and nationality law matters and has particular expertise in sponsorship, compliance with sponsor duties and the prevention of illegal working regime.Mandy regularly delivers training for businesses on various immigration topics. She is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) and the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA).

Morris Hill

Morris joined Weightmans in 2007, having previously spent 10 years working for in-house local authority teams, latterly as a Principal Solicitor. Morris specialises in all aspects of public law, with a particular emphasis on social care, healthcare and education. Morris regularly acts for local authorities in matters relating to child protection and children with disabilities, adult protection and best interests determinations, applications before the Court of Protection, general community care obligations, ordinary residence disputes, mental health law, commissioning and contractual arrangement and charging. He advises local authorities and individual schools on school organisation, exclusions and admissions, SEN provision, school transport and general strategic advice. His healthcare clients include hospital and mental health trusts and ambulance services to which he provides general healthcare law advice, particularly in relation to mental health/capacity law, consent issues and provision of and withdrawal of treatment. Morris also has an interest in all aspects of public and Human Rights law and information governance. He frequently advises his public sector clients on responding to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and their obligations under data protection legislation. He also regularly provides training to lawyers, clinicians and other medical staff and local authority officers. Morris has been recognised for a number of years as a ‘Star Associate’ and ‘notable practitioner’ by Chambers & Partners in the category of Court of Protection: Health & Welfare (Public Sector Clients). He also sits as a Fee-paid Judge of the First-tier Tribunal (Health, Education & Social Care Chamber). Morris has acted in a number of reported and important cases, including: HH v Carmarthenshire CC & Ots [2023] EWCOP 18 (whether the same judge can make best interests decisions in respect of more than one person) Fixsler v Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust [2021] 4 WLR 123 (withdrawal of life sustaining treatment) An NHS Trust v ZA [2021] EWCOP 39 (below the knee amputation) Surrey CC v NHS Lincolnshire CCG [2021] 2 WLR 805 (claim for restitution/NHS Continuing Healthcare) A Local Authority v H (No.2) [2019] 2 WLUK 767 (capacity to have sexual relations, but not contact) R (Paul Worthington) v HM Senior Coroner for Cumbria & Others [2018] 12 WLUK 124 (challenge to Coroner’s conclusions) R (City of Wolverhampton Council) v South Worcestershire CCG & Shropshire CCG [2018] EWHC 1136 (Admin) (responsible commissioner) In The Matter of Human Fertilisation Embryology Act 2008 (Case M) [2016] Fam Law 1089 (declaration of parentage) HM Senior Coroner for Cumbria v Ian Smith [2015] Inquest LR 235 (application by Coroner to quash previous Coroner’s decision) GP v Deby City Council [2012] EWHC 1451 (consultation with NR) Wirral Borough Council v Salisbury Independent Living [2012] HLR 25 (meaning of ‘person affected’ for the purposes of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000) A Local Authority v H [2012] 1 FCR 590 (the test for capacity to enter sexual relations) R (RH) v SSHD & Wigan BC [2010] EWHC 2414 (age assessment) R (Broster & others) v Wirral BC [2010] EWHC 3086 (Refusal to provide Personal Budgets) DCC v KH [2009] (CoP) (Use of standard authorisation to return to placement) R (Culkin) v Wirral Independent Appeal Panel [2009] ELR 287 (school exclusion) W PCT v TB & S MBC, CW NHS Trust & W MBC [2010] 2 All ER 331(Mental Health Act 1983 / Mental Capacity Act 2005) R (F & Others) v Wirral BC [2009] BLGR 905 (community care / Supporting People Programme) R (Manchester CC) v St Helens BC & PE [2009] WLR (D) 319 (ordinary residence dispute) R (St Helens BC) v Manchester PCT [2008] Times, October 6 (NHS continuing healthcare) St Helens BC v PE & JW and Manchester PCT [2007] 2 FLR 1115 (best interests under the inherent jurisdiction) E v Channel 4 V Channel 4 & News International Ltd and St Helens BC [2005] 2 FLR 913 (injunction/declaratory relief) R (on the application of Haggerty & Others) v St Helens BC [2003] HLR 69 (care home closure) R v Dr Finnegan & DE ex parte Wirral Health Authority and Wirral BC [2001] MHLR 66 (effect of quashing order on MHRT decision) R v Chief Schools Adjudicator, ex p Wirral BC [2001] ELR 574 (challenge of decision of the adjudicator) R v (1) Wirral BC (2) Governors of Elleray Park School, ex p B [2001] ELR 266 (special educational needs) R v Schools Adjudicator, ex parte Metropolitan Borough of Wirral [2000] ELR 2620 (challenge of decision of the adjudicator)

James Holman

James joined Weightmans in 1989 and has 30 years of experience representing legal professionals in litigation and regulatory matters. Over the last 15 years, he has developed the firm’s risk management department, becoming Compliance officer for Legal Practice (COLP) in January 2013, a full-time role since 2018.Currently reporting to James are the firm’s Legal Counsel, MLRO, DPO, Information Security and Business Continuity Manager, Audit Manager and Supplier Manager. James is our MLCO and ultimately responsible for our PI insurance programme, Lexcel, ISO27001, ISO22301 and all interactions with Regulators and Ombudsmen. James helped design our Audit and risk committee and sits as an advisory member. In 2022, he was appointed General Counsel and took up a position on the Board as strategic head of risk.

David Holt

David is technical lead for large loss, cross border and technical motor claims, having headed up our large loss and technical team for over 20 years.He specialises in catastrophic injury claims and in MIB claims, cross border claims and non-indemnity insurance work advising insurers on policy wording and on liabilities to third parties under both the Road Traffic Act 1988 and Art 75. He has dealt with the full range of catastrophic injury claims including claims of the utmost severity, spinal injuries (paraplegics/tetraplegics), amputations and serious head injuries.

Denise Holt

Denise joined Weightmans in 2009 and qualified as a Legal Executive later that year. She went on to qualify as a solicitor in 2016.Denise works in the casualty department, dealing predominantly with claims against local authorities and schools/academies. She has a local authority background having previously been employed for many years by Liverpool City Council.Her most notable case thus far is Halton Borough Council v Daniel Eric Condron (2015) in which she brought successful contempt of court proceedings which resulted in a prison sentence for Mr Condron for a false personal injury claim.

Laura Honeybourne

Partner - Regulatory NMC

Sarah Hopwood

Sarah is a Partner and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives with over 18 years’ experience in dealing with healthcare matters, which include advising on and defending clinical negligence cases, as well as catastrophic and sensitive personal injury cases, for NHS Resolution and other private insurers.Sarah is the Team Manager for the Birmingham, Cardiff, and London Healthcare teams and undertakes a significant amount of supervision and development of colleagues’ technical knowledge.Sarah handles a wide variety of clinical claims, ranging from injuries of maximum severity right through to those which are more relatively straightforward. She also has a particular interest in group litigation, being involved in a group action of over 138 claimants for maxillofacial injuries, and fundamental dishonesty with a notable case: Sammut v Dudley Group NHS FT (2019, QB) a dishonest claimant had her whole clinical negligence claim dismissed and the defendant secured a property charge for their wasted costs which was later discharged in full.She also supports clients on a range of legal and regulatory issues as well as media, reputational management, patient safety and learning, disclosure duties and the duty of candour. Sarah’s breadth of knowledge and experience in respect of both clinical negligence and personal injury has proved invaluable to healthcare clients and she is known for her robust approach, whilst also demonstrating an understanding of the sensitivities of dealing with seriously injured claimants.Sarah developed and launched Remedy, our market-leading outsourced healthcare complaints handling service. She has collaborated with patient safety and governance colleagues and clients to use the data and knowledge from this service to inform new practices for the client.

Gabrielle Hough

Gabrielle is a principal associate in the large loss and technical team and specialises in defending civil claims for compensation against insurance companies and the Motor Insurers' Bureau. The claimants in these claims are almost always catastrophically injured with injuries ranging from severe traumatic brain injuries, amputations and severe spinal injuries resulting in paralysis. The quantum aspect of these claims invariably reaches the millions and, in light of the alteration to the discount rate, the highest reserved cases are currently circa. £30 million.She deals with motor claims as well and employers' and public liability matters and have experience in cases involving complex liability and technical and indemnity issues.

James Hough

James qualified in 2004 and has been at Weightmans since 2005. He handles non-clinical negligence related claims against NHS Trusts/NHS Resolution, including EL/PL, slips, trips, falls, manual handling and assaults. With the NHS having one of the largest workforces in the world, the claims can vary. James also acts for Markel with their social care claims which link well with the NHS related claims.

Lewis Hough

Lewis is a Legal Director working in the Weightmans Police Team based in our Liverpool office. He joined Weightmans as a qualified solicitor in 2012 and has a wide range of experience in handling civil claims.Lewis advises police forces across England and Wales regarding a range of civil liabilities including false imprisonment, assault, malicious prosecution, misfeasance in public office, negligence, data protection issues, and claims under the Human Rights Act and Equality Act. He regularly deals with Judicial Review claims issued against police forces and local authorities.Lewis also frequently handles high value personal injury claims brought by police officers for stress at work or arising from serious accidents sustained on duty.In recent years Lewis has handled a number of high-profile, complex cases involving public order incidents and protests. He has also successfully handled large group litigation of national importance such as the claim brought by over 400 Royalty and Specialist Protection Officers against the Metropolitan Police for unpaid overtime and allowances totalling approximately £25 million - Prior & Others v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2023] Civ 32.

Anthony Howarth

Anthony qualified as a Chartered Legal Executive in 2019 having joined Weightmans as a senior conveyancer in June 2016. He has gathered over 20 years of residential conveyancing experience in the Yorkshire Region. He takes a particular interest in technological and legal developments in relation to conveyancing practice.In addition to a varied caseload of private client files, Anthony has also recently been engaged in the purchase of a portfolio of properties for the London Borough of Newham together with the Compulsory Purchase of a substantial number of Properties for the London Borough of Enfield.

Sarah-Jane Howitt

Sarah-Jane focuses on driving profitable growth and delivering standout communications with responsibility for client relationship management, new business creation and internal and external communications activity.She joined Weightmans in 2006 as Director of Business Development and Communications. In 2014, she became the firm's first non-lawyer Business Services Partner. She has over 30 years' experience gained in marketing and business development roles within professional services firms. She has an MBA and is a CIM Chartered Marketer.Her team's success has been recognised with several awards – the Lexis Nexis Legal Award for Business Development (2025), two Drum Gold Awards (2024), the Client Management Award at the Legal Week Innovation Awards (2016), the Innovation Award at the Association of Proposal Management Professionals Awards (2013) and the Law Society Excellence Award for Marketing and Business Development Team of the Year (2010).Sarah-Jane was named in the NW Insider Women 100 List 2014 and Women of Influence List 2015.

Yvonne Hudders

Yvonne is a Legal Director in the casualty team and is based in our Birmingham office. On joining Weightmans in 2009, Yvonne brought extensive experience of acting on behalf of local authorities. She specialises in defending employers' liability and public liability claims on behalf of local authorities, housing associations and educational organisations across the country.Yvonne regularly provides training for clients on a variety of topics and often lectures at national conferences.Yvonne is a member of FOIL (Forum of Insurance Lawyers). Admitted as a solicitor in 2006 and a Fellow of CILEX in 2000.

Paul Hughes

Partner - Motor Multi Track & Technical

Roland Hutchins

Roland is a partner in Weightmans' corporate team. Based at the Liverpool office, Roland has over 20 years’ experience in dealing with mergers, acquisitions and disposals; corporate finance; private equity investment and joint ventures. Roland has particular expertise in advising clients on non-transactional corporate and company law matters including group structures; corporate governance; share structures and reorganisations. Roland has also accumulated considerable experience advising mid-tier corporates, working closely alongside general counsels and assuming a role of trusted adviser in respect of corporate governance and structure in addition to advising on commercial contracts including supply of goods and services, agency and distribution, terms of trade and intellectual property licensing.Roland’s diversity of skills and respected judgement has seen him appointed to the role of in-house legal counsel for Weightmans from May 2021. Prior to taking on the legal counsel role, Roland was responsible for the operational management of the corporate team nationally across London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds.In addition to his role as in-house legal counsel, Roland continues to provide legal advice to some select clients of the firm comprising owner-managed businesses and mid-tier corporates operating in the manufacturing, logistics and retail sectors.

Ross Hutchison

Ross is a Legal Director in the Employment, Pensions and Immigration team having qualified in 2009. Ross works with the spectrum of employer types from corporates to public bodies on all issues of employment law.In relation to employment he:Strategic and practical solutions to clients in relation to their industrial relations issues particularly around industrial action, collective bargaining and Trade Union negotiations.Solutions to senior team disputes, on-boarding and exits.Guidance on the appropriate way to handle complex human resource issues including (but not limited to) overlapping internal processes and entrenched individuals.Support for all TUPE related issues and complex restructuresClients with guidance on the interaction between employment law and Data Protection/GDPR including on data breaches and the compilation of privacy notices.Regular training sessions for clients with a clear focus on the issues which matter to them in their industry.

Isabelle Inskip

Isabelle Inskip is an associate in the banking and finance team and has acted on matters for borrowers, local government entities, banks and other commercial lenders in relation to real estate finance, development finance and acquisition finance matters.Isabelle works closely with the wider corporate team leading on the finance element of transactions including corporate acquisitions, management buy outs and corporate restructures.

Bronagh Irvine

ronagh is a Principal Associate solicitor in the Specialty Team of Weightmans. Bronagh advises on professional indemnity claims pursued against a diverse range of professionals, with a particular focus on complex construction-related disputes. Bronagh is regularly instructed to defend claims against architects, contractors, surveyors and engineers. In the wake of the Grenfell Tower Disaster, these instructions often relate to high-value multi-party claims arising from cladding and façade defects. As well as defending claims, Bronagh regularly advises insurers on insurance coverage and the terms and application of professional indemnity policies. This advice often deals with notification, applicable exclusions, the duty of fair presentation and breach of policy conditions/obligations. Bronagh has recently spent 12 months working in the claims team at an international insurer, where she dealt with a varied portfolio of claims under Professional Indemnity and Management Liability policies.

Sarah Irwin

Sarah is a Principal Associate in our litigation team based in our Liverpool office. Sarah specialises in the defence of professional indemnity claims pursued against a diverse range of professionals in both the construction and legal sectors. Sarah is regularly instructed to defend claims against architects, project managers, engineers and surveyors, including high-value multi-party cladding claims. She also defends claims against solicitors and barristers arising from a wealth of underlying subject matters including disputes concerning family law, litigation, criminal proceedings, conveyancing and the administration of estates. Sarah also advises on extensive policy coverage issues such as the terms of property damage insurance policies, professional indemnity policies and non-damage business interruption extensions. She has experience of acting in complex claims before the High Court along with dealing with various means of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation and adjudication.

Karl Jackson

Karl is head of our built environment segment. He specialises in all aspects of commercial property law including commercial and residential development, landlord and tenant and acquisitions and disposals. Karl is also an acknowledged expert in the field of urban regeneration, dealing with complex and high-value projects for both the public and private sectors.Karl specialises in city centre regeneration and is an acknowledged expert in the development market with active public and private sector clients. He advised Greater Manchester Arts Centre on the new development of HOME at First Street Manchester. It is the largest arts centre outside of London. Karl is the client relationship partner for Manchester City Council, Co-operative Group, Peel Group, Bruntwood and Pets at Home. Karl has recently been instructed by Manchester City Council in connection with the redevelopment of Oxford Road Railway Station in Manchester.Karl is consistently recommended by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners as a leading individual.

Victoria James

Victoria started her career in costs in 1996 and joined Weightmans' costs team in 2012 as an associate.Victoria has experience in all areas of costs and currently specialises in disease cases.Victoria also provides training and support to clients on costs management, rule changes and implementation of costs strategy.

Emma Jeffries

Emma Jeffries is a Principal Associate and costs lawyer within the niche costs team in Weightmans which is a specialist team dealing with high value, complex costs litigation. Emma has a vast experience of dealing with both claimant and defendant costs issues to include costs arising from catastrophic injury claims; clinical negligence, professional negligence (construction) and commercial litigation. As well as providing advice and assistance at the conclusion of claims, Emma engages with clients from the outset to ensure that appropriate costs estimates and reserves are set as well as dealing with costs management during the litigation as and when required.A regular provider of client training, Emma provides bespoke training sessions for Insurer Clients as to issues of costs and costs management and is a member of the Association of Costs Lawyers working party dealing with the responses of the Industry to fixed costs reforms proposed by the government.

Ciara Jenkins

Ciara is a Principal Associate in the employment, pensions and immigration team.Ciara advises employers on the full spectrum of employment law. She works across a number of sectors, and has significant experience in the retail sector.

Steve Johns

Steve is an experienced infrastructure and major projects specialist. Working across the public and private sectors, he has an excellent track record of supporting clients in the successful delivery of large scale public projects.Steve is expert in the complex contracting and financing arrangements required for such projects, and has substantial experience of guiding authorities through the often lengthy regulated procurement process necessary for these schemes. He has worked on projects involving passenger transport, renewables, energy from waste facilities, highways and street lighting, schools, social housing, hospitals and emergency services facilities.Amongst other things, throughout his career he has advised on long-term PFI/PPP projects. More recently, this has included advising on issues arising from operational schemes, such as dispute avoidance and resolution, refinancing, major variations and early terminations. Steve regularly provides training to clients on procurement law and contract management in the context of major projects.

Alexandra Johnstone

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Advisor

Richard Jolly

Richard is the national head of our health sector practice and has overall responsibility for leading on the delivery of legal services to existing and new health sector clients. This entails enhancing the quality of the legal services we provide, the development of new products and new markets.Richard sits on the NHS Resolution steering group. This group is tasked with improving KPIs, and identifying how we might best support NHS Resolution in meeting its strategic aims.Richard has been an NHS Resolution Nominated Partner for nearly 20 years for both clinical and non-clinical claims. He leads internally on our non-clinical offering, working closely with NHS Resolution management teams to help them meet the challenges presented by this ever-changing sector.Richard is the client partner for a number of NHS Trusts, focussing on patient safety and helping them identify the learning from incidents, inquests, complaints and claims and how to embed improvements.Richard has become a trusted adviser to a number of healthcare organisations, such as NWAS, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS FT and Tameside & Glossop Integrated Care NHS FT, with the result that Weightmans are now instructed by these Trusts on inquests, and investigations but often on employment, commercial law and property transactions.

Gary Jones

Gary qualified in 1989 with Alsop Wilkinson in London (now DLA Piper). In 1991, he returned to the north and for four years worked at Aaron & Partners in Chester. He moved to Mace & Jones in 1995 and became a partner in the corporate department in Liverpool in 1997. Mace & Jones merged into Weightmans in May 2011.Gary offers a wide range of expertise to a varied client base including owner managed businesses, large corporates, universities and the regional venture finance holding fund North West Business Finance Limited. He advises clients on all aspects of corporate work, nationally and internationally, from starting up, shareholders agreements, mergers and acquisitions, MBOs, joint ventures, private equity, fundraising and AIM flotations.Gary advises local authorities, universities, venture capital funds and public and private companies on State aid compliance. Feedback from DCMS state aid team is that the state aid review letter has been the best and most comprehensive they have to date seen across all the Waves of the Local Full Fibre Projects and has now set a new benchmark on quality expected going forward.Gary is the partner principally responsible for the firm's relationship with Legalink, the international network of 70 independent law firms. Gary has helped lead the Legalink network through its management committee since 2013 and was appointed Legalink Chair for two years from October 2017.Gary is actively involved with the International Bar Association and is a member of the IBA Mergers and Acquisitions Committee and Space Law Committee.

Keith Jones

Keith Jones is an partner based in Weightmans' Liverpool office.Keith specialises in occupational disease claims, principally work related upper limb disease such as HAVS and CTS and NIHL claims. He also deals with and has a wide range of experience in relation to respiratory diseases, repetitive strain injuries and asbestos related conditions.Keith joined Weightmans in 2001 and has been part of the disease Unit from its inception in 2005.In particular Keith has acted for local authorities across England and Wales in relation to NIHL and HAVS cases and manages a team of specialist disease lawyers acting for local authorities and other public sector employers and utility companies.Keith has significant experience and expertise in dealing with claims for local authorities, colleges and other public authorities.Expertise on issues of corporate and successor liability arising from transfer of liability under TUPE and on local government reorganisation.Occupational asthma and other respiratory diseases arising from exposure to various agents.Keith's particular expertise is Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome including tranches of cases involving ground maintenance staff and low level intermittent exposure in light industry successfully defended on the grounds that level of knowledge and exposure was insufficient to give rise to foreseeable risk.Keith works with local authorities and utility companies reviewing their HAVS, health and safety and occupational health referral policies.

Kieran Jones

Kieran is head of our insurance segment and our international programme. A highly experienced litigator who acts for insurers, public authorities and international commercial organisations, he has significant experience in defendant insurance litigation particularly in high value and high profile sensitive cases. Kieran is also actively involved with and sits on the Board of Insurance Law Global, an international network of "best in class" insurance law firms. He is also an Executive Board Member of Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation UK.He is a regular commentator in the insurance and wider press and a frequent presenter. Memberships include the Law Society, Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL), AIRMIC, Chartered Insurance Institute and Insurance & Reinsurance Legacy Association (IRLA).Kieran is ranked in Chambers & Partners UK and a recommended lawyer in Legal 500.

Matthew Jones

Matthew joined Weightmans in 2017 as a solicitor in the real estate team. Matthew advises clients on commercial property acquisitions/disposals as well as asset management and landlord & tenant matters.Matthew has particular expertise in the area of leaseholder enfranchisement, having developed a significant niche practice at his former firm. Matthew has regularly lectured to fellow professionals and property owners on the issues arising out of residential lease extensions and enfranchisement. He is a member of a specialist surveyor's panel of solicitors and regularly receives referrals and recommendations from surveyors, solicitors and other professionals, recognising his expertise in this specialist area of work, as well as being directly instructed by property owners, be they leaseholders or freeholders. Matthew advises landlords and tenants across the country including in central London on:Residential lease extensions (Leasehold Reform Housing & Urban Development Act 1993)Collective enfranchisement (Leasehold Reform Housing & Urban Development Act 1993)Right to manage (The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002)Acquisition of freehold (Leasehold Reform Act 1967)Matthew is accredited by the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners (ALEP) for his expertise and work in the field of leasehold enfranchisement.

Robert Jones

RRob has 29 years' experience in commercial dispute resolution and was national head of the practice area until May 2017. He has extensive experience of complex commercial contract disputes, Commercial Court and TCC work, insolvency matters, partnership disputes, property disputes and ADR. He has undertaken mediations for clients for over twenty years, is a trained mediator and acts for clients ranging from PLCs to SMEs as well as many insurers and financial institutions.Rob specialises in complex commercial disputes including shareholder disputes, intellectual property issues, data protection, professional negligence and probate and trust disputes. He is engaged in helping clients to pursue recoveries (including in the context of unjust enrichment claims) and, to prevent dissipation of assets and to take preventative and defensive steps arising out of employee breach of restrictive covenants and third party dishonesty as well as dealing with the reputation management issues for clients in the local and national press and other media including social media.Rob has also advised on IT issues including compelling the release of significant data being held back by a third party IT provider in a contractual dispute. In respect of professional negligence, he has, for many years, advised insurer clients and their insureds in respect of claims brought against licensed conveyancers and other professionals.He has provided advice to clients in relation to contracts awarded following a public procurement process.In relation to insolvency matters, Rob has experience in dealing with both corporate insolvency actions and all aspects of personal insolvency. He has acted for directors facing claims by office holders and for parties subject to personal guarantees. On RoT claims, undervalue and preference claims and all other manner of corporate disputes.His strong client focused relationships are based upon incisive commercial advice at the outset and regular management information tailored to meet the clients’ requirements and distributed, in addition to individual matter reporting, on either a monthly or quarterly basis.He is listed as a “notable practitioner” in the 2017 edition of Chambers Directory.Robert Jones is 'one of the leading litigators around who has seen and done it all in terms of litigation. Respected by clients and opponents alike and someone you want in your corner if you are facing any heavy and difficult litigation.' 'A strong leader driving a strong team'; he 'grasps issues quickly, and has a pragmatic and commercial approach' - Legal 500.Since 2019, Rob has held the Acritas Star, an accolade given to those identified as a client-nominated, stand-out lawyer in private practice.A recent professional services client commented "A massive thank you to David McGuire and Robert Jones from Weightmans LLP for their efforts over the last few months. I highly recommend these professionals to fight your corner with the peace of mind that you are in a safe pair of hands."Part of the winning team of Manchester Legal Awards 2022 for Litigation Team of the Year.

Stuart Jones

Stuart is our Client Relationships Director. He has over 25 years' experience of employment law, and has an impeccable reputation for commercial and pragmatic advice, particularly specialising in providing advice on commercial situations involving TUPE, reorganisations and collective issues.Stuart proactively contributes to client profitability through analysis of management information and translation of key learning points into corporate training programmes. He is client partner for a range of clients including International Airlines Group/British Airways, Swissport and Mitsubishi Power Europe Ltd /Hitachi Power Systems Europe and deputy client partner for Royal Mail Group plc, in addition to advising other legal firms on their employment law issues.Stuart frequently presents at seminars and conferences on HR issues and regularly contributes to national and local publications.

Leo Jones-Rowe

Partner - Litigation National

Amal Kaur

Real Estate Manchester and Leeds

Catherine Kearney

Catherine specialises in the defence of motor, public and employer’s liability claims involving brain, spinal, amputation, fatal and complex orthopaedic injuries, along with injuries leading to the development of pain disorders.Catherine is recognised as a key lawyer in the UK Legal 500.A substantial proportion of Catherine’s current caseload consists of brain-injury claims (several involving children) where significant issues arise in respect of both liability and quantum.

Rachael Keightley

Rachael is team manager of one of our Liverpool disease teams, dealing exclusively with disease claims including asbestos-related diseases, noise induced hearing loss, HAVS and upper limb disorders. She has been with Weightmans since qualifying in 2013 and has acted for a diverse range of clients including multi-national self insureds, local authorities and the disease legacy market. Rachael has successfully defended claims on grounds of limitation, breach and causation and has been involved in defending a tranche of disease claims against a large insured which has required a detailed understanding not only of the litigation process but also of resolving complex corporate and insurance histories.

Elliott Kenton

Partner - Regulatory Core

Simon Kernyckyj

Regulatory Healthcare Professional Discipline

Natalie Keyes

Natalie has over a decade of experience in both contentious and non-contentious construction law matters.Natalie assists a wide variety of clients, including international, national and regional contractors, sub-contractors, consultants, employers and insurers and has experience across diverse sectors including leisure and educational buildings, infrastructure, energy, groundworks and piling, roofing, mechanical and electrical, lifts and commercial, residential and public developments.Natalie’s non-contentious experience includes review, negotiation and drafting of build contracts, appointments, collateral warranties and framework agreements, particularly using the JCT and NEC forms of contract.Natalie’s contentious/dispute experience includes advising clients in relation to commercial resolution of disputes through negotiation, mediation, adjudication, and, where necessary, Court proceedings, particularly in the Technology and Construction Court and Natalie has experience in the conduct of multi-million pound disputes.Natalie regularly writes legal briefings and legal update newsletters and has presented numerous legal update seminars both to clients and on behalf of other organisations such as the University of Leeds, Constructing Excellence, CECA, ICE, and CIAT.

Aamir Khan

Principal Associate - Real Estate Manchester and Leeds

Tracy Kielty

Tracy has been with Weightmans for 12 years and is a qualified legal executive. She is a team leader in the Liverpool motor fast track team, supervising a team of 7.Tracy has a small case load herself, but spends the greater part of her time supervising individual case strategies for her team and ensuring quality service and delivery by them. Tracy has acted for Veolia for over 10 years.

Angela Kirtley

Partner - Healthcare Newcastle & Leeds

Seray Kitchingman

Seray is a Partner in the firm’s corporate department, based in the London office. Seray specialises in advising on corporate transactions including share and asset acquisitions and disposals, equity investment, group reorganisations, shareholders’ agreements, joint ventures, articles of association and general company law advice.Seray also acts for a number of commercial lenders providing advice on all aspects of secured lending, including real estate finance, development finance and acquisition finance matters.

Rachel Kneale

Rachel leads Weightmans' clinical claims team in London and nationally with Richard Jolly and Deborah Bannister. She is Weightmans' client liaison partner for NHS Resolution and has worked for NHSR (previously NHSLA) since 1997.Rachel is recognised as a leading figure in clinical negligence, ranked by Chambers and Partners. She specialises in the highest value clinical negligence claims including obstetric, neurological and other catastrophic injuries.She has particular expertise in quantum issues and has settled a large number of cases involving periodical payments. Rachel also has expertise in handling group claims, acting in relation to several groups of claims against the NHS nationally.Rachel acts for a number of NHS trusts and organisations across London, the South East and the Midlands, advising and defending on claims against them and as client partner co-ordinates and leads the team of lawyers acting across related areas of the law.Rachel is committed to patient safety and sharing learning from claims through data analysis and insights as well as training.

Anne-Marie Knight

Anne-Marie is a Partner based at Weightmans’ Newcastle Office, who specialises in defending claims against a wide range of professionals. She has thirty years’ experience of advising both insurers and their insured professional clients in this field.Anne-Marie is regularly instructed in claims against traditional professionals, such as architects, engineers, design and build contractors, approved inspectors, cladding designers, asbestos surveyors, building surveyors, solicitors and accountants.She has also advised in relation to claims against emerging professions, such as, process servers, heritage consultants and recruitment consultants and has experience of disciplinary and criminal proceedings and arbitration.In addition to defending claims brought against professionals, Anne-Marie is regularly instructed by Insurers to advise on policy coverage matters.Anne-Marie is again recommended by the Legal 500 as one of the Leading Individuals in the North and has for many years been recognised in Chambers and Partners as a highly ranked and recommended professional negligence lawyer. She has acquired a reputation for hard work, attention to detail and excellent client service delivery.She is an accredited mediator and has successfully conducted many mediations.

Sarah Knight

Sarah Jane Knight is a Solicitor Advocate who leads on healthcare regulatory law in the Birmingham office and has a wealth of experience representing NHS Trusts and private (including not for profit) providers. Sarah has conducted hundreds of inquests for NHS Trusts (including mental health trusts), individuals and care providers. Her experience includes complex medical inquests, restraint cases, prison inquests, representation of the ambulance and 111 services and has experience as an advocate in military inquests.Sarah represented a not for profit organisation in the first prosecution of its type brought by CQC and has represented several NHS Trusts in high profile prosecutions and is considered a leader in the field. She also provides advice on enforcement action including representations against warning notices, notices of proposal as well as appeals to the First Tier Tribunal. As well as providing strategic oversight for Due Diligence reviews from a regulatory perspective. Sarah has an in-depth knowledge of the particular challenges experienced by care providers including residential and domiciliary care settings and she also has considerable experience in Court of Protection proceedings including serious medical treatment cases and best interests decision-making around residency.Sarah has also worked in house as an advocate for a professional regulator and has undertaken both prosecution and defence work in the professional regulatory sector.

Jessica Kraja

Jessica is a Partner in our commercial litigation team who deals with a wide range of high value, complex commercial disputes, including contractual claims, construction-related disputes, corporate disputes (including shareholder claims), professional negligence claims and intellectual property. She also has extensive experience in brand protection, including brand infringement claims and defamation/reputation management. She has expertise in acting for both claimants and defendants in the County Court, High Court (predominantly the Business & Property Courts) both in London and in the regions.Jessica qualified in 2009 and spent some time at a regional practice before moving to an international firm. She is regularly commended for her calm-head, strategic overview and attention to deal. Jessica is regularly involved in all types of alternative dispute resolution and has resolved a number of claims for clients through mediation and without prejudice meetings, as well as Early Neutral Evaluations.She is regularly instructed by a variety of clients including individuals, corporate bodies, insurers and owner-managed businesses. As well as her fee earning role, Jessica also provides operational management responsible for the performance of the national commercial litigation department.Jessica is recommended by the Legal 500.Part of the winning team of Manchester Legal Awards 2022 for Litigation Team of the Year.

Andrew Krausz

Andrew is recognised as a leading practitioner in the Who's Who Legal, specialising in aviation litigation work and handling a broad spectrum of aviation-related claims (including coverage), both in the UK and worldwide.With a passion for all things aviation and with a proven track record in the courts as a "formidable litigator" and a tenacious problem solver, he has a particular interest in defending claims, typically those made against pilots and both GA and Airline operators.Having graduated from the University of St Andrews and completed his legal training at the College of Law in York, he worked as Assistant to the Group Lawyer in the Legal Department of Monarch Airlines. Andrew then trained at Beaumont and Son and spent 13 and a half years in the Aviation Department at Clyde and Co.Andrew has a broad practice that has typically included carrier/operator liability work (including major loss handling worldwide); product liability disputes; coroners' inquests; insurance coverage; and contractual and general commercial disputes. He has also assisted more broadly with regulatory and commercial issues.Andrew is a qualified, current pilot with night rating. He also held a commission in the rank of Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (Training) Branch, for many years, where he had the opportunity to fly a wide variety of aircraft including piston and turbo-prop trainers, fast jets, helicopters and multi-engine types.

Matthew Lake

Matthew is a specialist property litigator in our property litigation team with almost 20 years' experience acting for Local Authorities and Registered Providers of Social Housing in relation to all manner of tenancy management issues.Matthew has developed a particular specialism in defending housing conditions claims. Having previously represented tenants at his former firm in all manner of disputes against landlords, and having been that firm’s Housing Legal Aid Supervisor, this provides him with a tactical advantage when defending claims.

Luisa Lamb

Partner - Large Loss 4

Mark Landon

Mark is a partner in the employment, pensions and immigration team in London who now focuses on leading and developing Weightmans' national client training service and overseeing its risk management services.Mark has a broad range of experience in both non-contentious and contentious employment work. He provides policy and operational advice to public and private sector clients on a range of issues, including all aspects of equality law, handling disciplinary and grievance cases, short and long-term sickness absence management, dealing with poor performance and capability issues, and diverse contractual issues.Mark is an experienced provider of staff training from Board level to the front line. He also lectures regularly to a variety of organisations, including the Royal Society of Public Health's Occupational Medicine course. In addition, Mark is a trustee of the 'Changing Faces' national disability charity, an Honorary Fellow and member of the ethics committee of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Shaun Lavery

Legal Director - Large Loss 3

Linda Lee

Linda is a Consultant, specialising in regulatory and disciplinary law.Linda advises solicitors on a wide range of matters ranging from compliance issues to Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal (SDT) proceedings and acts as an advocate before the SDT.Examples of her work include:Successfully obtaining an order from the SDT directing that the evidence in a case should be heard in private and that the outcome should not be publishedSuccessfully defending a solicitor accused of dishonesty before the SDT in a case relating to information supplied by a litigator to the CourtSuccessfully negotiating a settlement of proceedings commenced against a solicitor in the SDT on terms providing for the solicitor to enter into a regulatory settlement agreementSuccessfully persuading the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) not to act on a complaint brought by an opponent in a complex litigation matter.Linda is a Commissioner and Board Member at the Criminal Cases Review Commission, where she investigates miscarriages of justice and serves as Deputy Chair of its Body Corporate.She is the current Chair of the Law Society's Professional Indemnity Insurance Committee and a past President of the Law Society of England and Wales (2010-2011). A former member of the Law Society Council, she has chaired multiple boards and committees, including the Representation and Regulatory Affairs Boards.Linda has appeared on international and UK television and radio discussing topical legal issues and diversity. She lectures and writes on regulatory matters.In her public administrative roles, Linda chairs hearings for the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service and serves as a Committee Chair and Adjudicator for the Primary Care Appeals Service. She is a member of the Licensing Committee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and is a panel member for both the East West Rail and HS2’s Need to Sell Schemes.Dedicated to supporting her colleagues in the profession, Linda is a former Chair of the Solicitors Assistance Scheme, which provides advice and assistance to solicitors facing disciplinary and professional challenges. Additionally, she is a director of the Incorporated Council of Law Reporting, a Council Member and former President of the Medico-Legal Society, and a former President of the Northamptonshire Law Society.In her judicial roles, Linda serves as a Deputy District Judge (Civil) and an Assistant Coroner for Coventry and Warwickshire, reflecting her extensive dedication to justice and public service.

Edward Lewis

Edward has a deserved reputation as a “marquee name” in cyber and is the preferred choice advisor to many corporations, public bodies, the emergency services and insurers when it comes to matters of strategic, reputational, or political importance involving IT infrastructure, data, technology, media & privacy. He is also one of only a handful of lawyers whose cyber expertise extends to an intimate knowledge of insurance law and the interpretation of cover for cyber-related losses.Under his leadership, the CyXcel team at Weightmans has evolved to become one of the most specialised and experienced cyber risk advisory, crisis and litigation practices in the UK, assisting organisations at all stages and with all aspects of digital transformation.The CyXcel team’s proven track record includes the legal architecture design for some of the largest and most complex data processing and commercialisation projects ever undertaken in the UK. When it comes to cyber incidents, the team has also successfully led the response to some of the most challenging security and data breaches across a range of sectors worldwide — from privacy violations resulting from phone tapping and covert surveillance, to D-DOS and ransomware attacks by organised crime syndicates and drug cartels, statecraft and espionage, as well as destructive network intrusions by hostile actors.Edward writes regularly for mainstream media, is at the forefront of thought-leadership on incident response strategy and directly involved in UK-led efforts to regulate cyber security, solve the challenges posed by systemic risk, and create a cyber cat loss market within insurance. The team recently received national acclaim for their efforts in tackling ransomware gangs after making new law in XXX v Persons Unknown.Legal 500 describes Edward as “Brilliant, an excellent negotiator; bright, commercial, serious and tough”.

Simon Little

Partner - Corporate

Sonia Lopez

Sonia was recognised as a Rising Star in the Legal 500 (2023), specialising in aviation litigation. She advises clients and handles multi-jurisdictional litigation in a broad spectrum of aviation and travel-related work (including complex subrogation) with a particular focus on airline catastrophe, coverage and multi-jurisdictional litigation. Sonia has advised airlines on the most complex PR sensitive claims and regulatory issues, latterly concerning issues arising from the global pandemic. She is a native Spanish speaker and fluent in French and can conduct claims in that language. Currently Sonia is currently involved in Commercial Court aviation coverage litigation following events arising from the invasion of Ukraine for major international aviation insurer clients. Sonia has 24 years’ experience in the aviation sector, having trained at Beaumont and Son, and latterly within the Aviation team at Clyde & Co LLP. Her major loss experience includes the following: Virgin Atlantic G-VSKY, Heathrow, 1997; Kenya Airways KQ507, Douala, 2007; Air France AF447, Atlantic Ocean Accident, 2009; Ethiopian Airlines ET702, unscheduled landing, 2014; Egyptair MS804, Mediterranean Sea, May 2016; Ethiopian Airlines ET302, Bishoftu, 2019

Jon Lord

As a part of the niche costs team, Jon advises the firm and its clients on all legal costs matters in high value and complex civil cases. He regularly attends CCMCs and detailed assessments.Jon is an Accredited Civil and Commercial Mediator.Jon is a costs lawyer and member of the Association of Costs Lawyers and as a former Council Member was head of the Education Sub-Committee. He is also an accredited trainer and delivers both internal and external training.He writes regularly for various legal publications and is a Lexis Nexis costs expert.

Katy Lund

Legal Director - Healthcare Newcastle & Leeds

Paul Luukas

Partner - Insolvency and Recoveries

Ben Mackenzie

Formerly a partner of Ford & Warren solicitors, Ben specialises in all aspects of property litigation and commercial litigation.He is particularly renowned in the licenced and leisure industry in all litigation aspects. He is also consulted by a diverse range of commercial and private clients in all types of litigation

Andrew MacLeod

Andrew joined Weightmans in 2026 as a Partner in the Insurance team. Andrew has over 30 years’ experience in the defence of claims against professionals, including architects, design and build contractors, consulting engineers of all disciplines, surveyors, valuers, insurance brokers and accountants. He has a particular focus on the defence of claims against construction professionals and design and build contractors, as well as contractual issues, both contentious and non-contentious. He is currently acting on several claims involving cladding issues.Andrew also undertakes recovery actions on behalf of insurers and their policyholders, provides coverage advice and represents insurers in challenges to declinature of indemnity. He assists clients in achieving commercially driven outcomes outside the confines of litigation and is well‑versed in the full range of dispute resolution options, including arbitration, adjudication, mediation and court proceedings.

Roddy MacLeod

Roddy deals with employers' and public liability claims. He has particular experience in workplace stress claims both arising out of overwork cases and harassment. He has lectured on the subject of stress and written a number of published articles. He has dealt with over a thousand stress claims involving overwork bullying and harassment and is often instructed pre litigation and even on occasions before a claim has been made. His stress work also includes claims resulting from violent acts such as the Court of Appeal case of Mitchell and others v United Co -Operatives [2012] a case involving shop workers who experienced multiple violent robberies. The successful result was said to have saved the retail industry millions of pounds.Stress is now acknowledged by the Health & Safety Executive to be the most common reason for someone to be off work & is becoming a popular new work stream for claimant lawyers. Stress claims also produce reputational issues for employers especially ones involving allegations of sexual harassment. They tend to be of interest to senior Directors of companies & as such require discrete handling for which Roddy is known.Stress claims can be brought in an Employment Tribunal or the County/High Courts. Roddy has experience of the cross overs between the jurisdictions which can be used to bring claims to a satisfactory conclusion.He has dealt with a number of catastrophic injury claims and in particular, spinal and brain injury cases. In addition, he has a wide experience of Occupiers Liability Act claims, having dealt with the leading House of Lords case Tomlinson v Congleton [2003]which has been used in countless claims subsequently to successfully defend claims against occupiers of land. Subsequently he took the case of Poppleton v TPYAC[2008] to the Court of Appeal. That claim involved an accident at an indoor climbing centre. The successful defence was welcomed by the sporting press as was the result in the potential £6 million pounds claim of Grimes v Hawkins [2011]- a swimming pool case, where the successful defence was described as a life line of common sense.In all his cases Roddy appreciates that it is key to find out what success looks like for his clients. Do they wish to defend to trial or is the disposal of the claim quickly & on the best terms the deninition of success.

Sandra Macmichael

Sandra is a principal associate within the counter fraud group. She deals with low velocity impacts, staged and induced collisions, exaggerated claims, bogus passengers and no knowledge claims. She currently acts on behalf of numerous bus and coach firms. Sandra has had numerous success at court in findings of fundamental dishonesty and applications to set aside QOCS thereby recovering the client’s costs.Sandra also specialises in recovery of monies from claimants whose claims have been struck out, discontinued or lost at trial. This can include charging orders placed on peoples properties, attachment of earnings, involvement of the High Court Enforcement Officers, statutory demands and bankruptcy proceedings.

Charles Maesschalck

Charles is an Associate, qualified as a Chartered Legal Executive (Fellow), with 23 years' experience handling claimant and defendant insurance claims. Charles has worked at Weightmans LLP since January 2017, handling defendant motor claims for a variety of insurer clients

Patrick Malone

Formerly of RadcliffesLeBrasseur, Patrick advises on the full spectrum of private client issues including tax, succession planning, estate administration and probate, trusts and mental capacity. Patrick also assists the contentious estates team and provides private client planning and technical support on high value, complex, contested estates and trusts. Patrick advises UK and non-UK domiciled individuals (often entrepreneurs, landowners and trustees) on all aspects of UK taxation, with particular emphasis on Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax, in the context of succession planning and in relation to specific deals and events. Patrick is well versed in administering a range of multi-jurisdictional taxable estates including those which comprise agricultural and business property. He has a particular interest in administering estates with a contentious element and has acted for independent administrators appointed pursuant to a court order on multiple occasions. Patrick is experienced in advising on the creation and re-arrangement of trusts where families and trustees are looking to protect assets, save tax and create flexible structures that will last for generations. Patrick is a member of STEP, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), and is a member of the International Tax and International Private Client special interest groups.

Clare Malpus

Clare qualified as a solicitor in 1998 and joined Weightmans in 1999, becoming a partner in 2009. Since qualification Clare’s practice has comprised defendant insurance litigation, encompassing motor, employer and public liability claims for a number of insurance clients.Clare specialises in catastrophic injury claims including tetraplegic, paraplegic, traumatic brain injury, amputation, complex multiple orthopaedic injury and fatal accident claims.Clare is a designated Large Loss Partner for AIG Europe Limited. Her caseload includes claims against local authorities and the police, claims arising out of workplace accidents and road traffic accidents.Clare has presented and written articles, most recently in relation to fatal accident claims, and calculating future loss claims.

Alex Marler

Alex handles professional negligence claims, chiefly in the construction sector, including claims against engineers, architects, design and build contractors and surveyors.Alex also advises clients on insurance coverage matters such as policy response and declinature, aggregation and the pursuit of subrogated claims.Alex is recognised by clients for his technical ability, innovation, clarity and pragmatism.

Douglas Marshall

Partner - Commercial National

Penelope Marshall

Penelope is a partner in the local government team in Birmingham and an expert in local authority litigation with particular emphasis on highways, education and social services and high value complex claims. Penelope has advised clients on policy matters as well as claims and has taken part in numerous training events and spoken at local and national conferences.Noted in Chambers & Partners as an excellent lawyer in the defendant personal injury field, Penelope has been commended for her exceptional client-focused approach.

Adrian Marston

Partner - Casualty Commercial 3

Susan Matthews

Susan joined Weightmans in 2015 from a Chartered University where she was Director of Legal and Secretariat (2008 – 2015). As the manager of an in-house legal, student complaints, academic appeals and breaches and information governance teams, Susan was directly responsible for managing and advising on strategic legal, regulatory and compliance risk.Susan currently works with Higher Education institutions to provide legal advice and pragmatic support to University clients on student and staff related legal matters.Susan’s credentials in HE legal practice include:A track record in building collegiate relationships with University central services and in working directly with academic colleagues on legal issues;Wide experience of delivering collaborative projects on a range of University issues.Practical and proportionate adviser on solutions and approaches to legal issues that impact on HE services, organisational performance, external contractual relationships, research projects and University partnerships that have led to or may lead to legal dispute.Developing innovative proposals to support University colleagues to address legal challenges: e.g. legal processes for in-house teams; legal risk assessment; template documents, legal process review, developing and delivering bespoke training.Susan specialises in supporting HE managers on the implementation of solutions in response to legal issues and acting as an addition to the HEI’s team.Susan is the third member of the Weightmans HE team to be recruited from an in-house position.

Simon Mattison

Legal Director - Casualty Commercial 1

Charlie Mawdesley

Charlie is a Principal Associate Solicitor in the healthcare regulation team at Weightmans, based in the Nottingham office.She has extensive experience in managing complex matters, primarily handling healthcare litigation work including inquests, mental health and capacity issues, continuing healthcare disputes and judicial reviews, as well as DOLS and Court of Protection cases.Charlie works with both NHS and independent sector providers/commissioners and insurer clients, to deliver pragmatic and proactive advice, ensuring that clients feel fully supported at all times.

John McArdle

John joined Weightmans in 2008 and is an associate in the employment, pensions and immigration team in Liverpool.He acts for private sector clients including Royal Mail Group Ltd and specialises in complex respondent employment tribunal litigation.John has a broad experience of providing both non-contentious and contentious employment advice to commercial clients, including senior executives. He provides policy and operational advice to FTSE 100 clients on a range of issues, including diversity, sickness absence management, performance and capability, misconduct and contractual issues.He is an experienced advocate and regularly undertakes advocacy at final hearings in the Employment Tribunals.John presents Weightmans seminars and in house training sessions for clients. He also writes articles which are published in the HR press.John is a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Lois McArdle

Lois joined Weightmans in 2006 and has specialised in employment law since qualification. She deals with the full range of employment matters including contracts of employment, performance and capability, employment policy and equality and diversity in the workplace. Lois has a broad experience in both contentious and non-contentious employment advice.Lois provides internal and external training to a range of public and private sector organisations and also undertakes employment tribunal advocacy for clients.Lois carries out pro bono work as a volunteer supervisor at the University of Liverpool.

Colette McCann

Colette qualified as a solicitor in 2012 with experience of handling a wide variety of litigated personal injury claims. She joined Weightmans in 2014 and then specialised in defending occupational disease claims for major UK insurers, local authorities, multi-national self insureds and the disease legacy market with a particular interest in complex corporate histories. Colette currently works in the casualty department handling EL and PL claims for insurers and corporations.

Helen McCann

Helen joined Weightmans in 2000 and is a Principal Associate in the Large Loss team, with over 25 years’ experience in personal injury litigation. Helen’s work focuses on defending high value public liability and employer’s liability claims for public bodies, local authorities, major insurers and their insureds. She has conducted several cases of particular sensitivity due to the nature of the claim and the potential fraud concerns. She has a particular interest in cases involving chronic pain, complex orthopaedic injuries and fraud issues.

Ian McConkey

Ian McConkey is a Partner in the Manchester office of Weightmans LLP.Ian McConkey has over 30 years experience acting for insurers and policyholders in professional negligence disputes, particularly solicitors, miscellaneous professions, directors & officers and policy coverage. Ian also acts for a number of media organisations in relation to a range of disputes, including international issues. Ian is a Solicitor Advocate (Civil), a part-time law lecturer and current President of the Manchester Law Society.

Claire McCracken

Qualified in Scotland and England & Wales, Claire has over 20 years' experience in acting for companies and organisations ranging from PLCs to owner managed businesses, small and medium sized enterprises and private equity houses on general M&A and investment matters.Claire has a particular expertise and interest in health-related work and regularly acts for dental corporates, individual dentists, pharmacy operators, care home operators and audiology clients on M&A work, employee ownership trusts and generally helping them to navigate the cross border differences. Claire heads our Dental and Pharmacy teams across the Firm.Having previously been an international athlete, Claire also has a keen interest in sports law and is part of the Firm’s team that advises sports clients.

Christina McDonald

Christina joined Weightmans in 2007 and is a Principal Associate in the large loss team in Liverpool.She has considerable experience in defending catastrophic motor, employers' liability and public liability claims, for insurers and their insureds and for the Motor Insurers' Bureau.Christina deals with claims involving fatalities, traumatic brain injuries, spinal injuries, complex orthopaedic injuries, psychiatric injury and chronic pain.

Cal McGuire

Partner - CyXcel - Consulting UK

David McGuire

David has specialist expertise in disputed wills, trusts and estates, including will validity claims and challenges, trust disputes, claims involving the administration of estates, proprietary estoppel, Inheritance Act claims, professional negligence claims and disputes involving trustees, executors and beneficiaries.David has extensive court and alternative dispute resolution experience, particularly mediation, and is regularly instructed by a variety of clients, including ultra and high net worth individuals, trustees, charities and other professionals.Directories:Recommended as an “Up and Coming” partner in Chambers and Partners’ High Net Worth Guide.Ranked as a “Next Generation Partner” in the Legal 500 for contentious trusts and probate, alongside our recommended North West contentious probate team.

Owen McKenna

Partner - Real Estate Manchester

Rosanne McNeil

Principal Associate - Regulatory Core

Isobel Michie

For over 30 years, Isobel has represented NHS Trusts and NHS Resolution (since its inception) in defendant clinical negligence claims. Isobel also has extensive experience of defending individual healthcare practitioners, GPs, surgeons and dentists acting for their MDOs and private insurers. Her caseload is very wide-ranging including claims of the utmost severity, including high value birth and adult brain injury periodical payment order claims, spinal claims and other catastrophic high value neurological injuries. These claims involve complex causation issues, sensitive and novel issues and media interest. As well as dealing with the highest value and most complex cases, Isobel also supervises junior lawyers nationwide. She is Weightmans’ NHS Resolution inquest and Human Rights Act claims lead and deals with a large number of Mental Health Act claims, which involve high profile prison, hospital and neonatal deaths. Isobel has group action experience, as well as both extensive trial, ADR and mediation experience. Her advice is pragmatic, robust and commercial, achieving early evaluation and resolution, identifying learning and risk management opportunities. Isobel speaks at sector-specific events on the investigation and clinical negligence process, informed consent and preparing for inquests. Her training aims to understand and identify risk profiles and trends with data, whilst minimising claims and complaints, due to her particular interest in patient safety. In addition, she has experience of defending judicial review proceedings relating to healthcare provision, particularly in the mental health sector. She has also advised on capacity, consent and best interest assessments and withdrawal of treatment cases.Isobel studied medicine at UCLH before converting to law. Her medical educational background makes her ideally suited to forging strong relationships to ensure delivery of the highest quality service to all healthcare clients.Ranked Legal 500 since 2019: Next Generation Partner: “Isobel Manages a significant caseload which includes cases of the greatest complexity. Combined with unrivalled knowledge and experience in this work”. “Isobel Michie is first class, empathetic, sensible with fantastic judgment.” Ranked Chambers Directory 2021.

Louise Miller

Louise leads the Private Wealth team in the Newcastle office and provides advice in relation to wills, trusts and estate administration work across the North of England. Louise provides a fresh approach to helping her clients to put their affairs in order and her goal is to make the process easy for her clients. Louise has been complimented on her ability and willingness to listen. She wants to know what is important to her clients and offers clear, sensible solutions. Louise advises on all aspects of estate planning including wills, trusts, probate, powers of attorney and Court of Protection matters in England and Wales. She works closely with her colleagues in the owner managed business and family law teams to ensure that the advice that her clients receive is complete and that the process, for them, is effortless. Louise has particular experience and interest in guiding trustees and executors through the process of trust and estate administration. She has considerable experience in dealing with high net worth estates and those containing substantial property portfolios.

Suzanne Milne

Suzanne is the partner who heads up the Manchester local government team. She has represented multiple local authority clients in relation to their litigation claims since qualification in 1999.She continues to handle a wide range of complex cases for her local authority clients with expertise in employers' liability, public liability, child protection cases, HRA claims, assault cases, DPA claims, subsidence claims and high value quantum cases. Suzanne also advises on highway codes of practice, risk management and supports client internal departments on processes.In addition, Suzanne is also the national technical lead for Casualty Fraud and heads a specialised team of casualty fraud lawyers which form part of the firm’s successful Counter Fraud Offering. Her fraud clients include leading insurers and insureds for whom she is adept in delivering bespoke and appropriate fraud strategies to achieve optimal fraud outcomes, which, beyond significant financial savings, include formal findings of dishonesty, committals and success in disbanding fraud rings.Suzanne regularly delivers a range of training topics to her client organisations including specific training packages tailored to the needs of individual departments. She also speaks at national seminars on behalf of the local government group and at regional local authority events and conferences.

Dipika Mistry

Dipika is a Partner in the Private Wealth Team and leading the Family Law Team in our Leicester office. Dipika has practiced family law exclusively for 30 years, including running her own practice, and has a wealth of experience in relationship breakdown and divorce. She aims to always minimise her client’s emotional anxieties in this challenging area of law and provide effective and strategic advice from the outset. Dipika is particularly adept in understanding the emotional complexities in matrimonial disputes and the impact this will have on reaching resolutions. Her financial cases involve substantial assets, property portfolio, investments, protecting pension interests and businesses. She also has extensive expertise in issues of domestic abuse, complex children cases involving high conflict, disputed allegations, psychological issues and removal from the jurisdiction and relocation. She is a determined advocate for her clients, and sensitive to their particular needs, prioritising their objectives, and firmly believing in taking a proactive and robust approach to achieve their desired and best outcome. Dipika is a member of Resolution and as a Collaborative Lawyer, and is able to offer this valuable option to deal with matrimonial disputes in a conciliatory and constructive manner. She is a Director of Birmingham Law Society and is a leading Family Law Solicitor in the Midlands region. She has recently dealt with complex cases concerning the arrangements for children, and in particular relocation with one parent. These are difficult and emotional cases for clients which require a detailed analysis of the welfare of the child and living arrangements. Her cases have been further complicated with issues of coercive control, parental alienation and safeguarding issues.

Bill Molloy

ill Molloy is a Partner in the commercial litigation team at Weightmans based in London.Bill previously was Head of Technology and Life Sciences at an international law firm and more recently Head of Commercial Litigation at a leading national firm in London.Bill advises in respect of high value corporate and shareholder disputes; commercial disputes and disputes concerning AI, technology, telecoms and data. Bill has significant experience of large scale technology, telecom and software development projects and associated intellectual property rights in the energy, life sciences and communication sectors. Most of these deals are international principally originating in US, Africa and Asia.Bill regularly represents clients in respect of heavyweight and high-profile commercial litigation and arbitration under the auspices of most of the institutional rules. He has extensive experience of resolving very high value and complex commercial disputes often with a multi-jurisdictional remit and frequently advise on breaches of contract, termination rights, damages and emergency injunctive relief.Bill also has significant experience of expert determination and mediation to resolve disputes.Bill is a long standing member of the Society of Computers and Law ("SCL") and a committee member of the National IT Disputes Committee at the SCL.

Colette Morgan-Ford

Colette is our Head of Construction and is ranked as a ‘leading individual’ in the Legal 500 directory. She has worked in private practice for over 20 years, including 10 years at Pinsent Masons. She has significant experience in dispute resolution and strategic advice in relation to construction and engineering projects. Colette is known for providing clear and direct advice which enables clients to achieve their objectives commercially and cost-effectively.She has represented contractors, subcontractors, professional consultants, employers and developers through adjudication, litigation, mediation and arbitration (both domestically and internationally). Colette has a wide perspective in the sector and has advised on the standard form suite of contracts (e.g. FIDIC, JCT, NEC), bespoke contracts and complex PFI/PPP contracts, including associated step down agreements.

Vicky Morris

Vicky joined Weightmans in 1986 as an articled clerk and became a partner in 1992.She specialises in clinical negligence and deals mostly with high value cases or those with unusual or novel issues. She has advised on various patient safety incidents, including management of a major incident relating to over 1,000 patients.She acted for one of the interested parties at the Mid Staffordshire Public Inquiry and for a major blood service core participant at the Infected Blood Inquiry. She has been involved in a number of group actions.Her particular interests are patient safety, mediation and the strategic management of claims. She is most interested in working with the NHS on initiatives to reduce avoidable harm.

Joshua Morrison

Legal Director - Regulatory Healthcare Advisory

Clive Mottram

Clive is a former general counsel of Severn Trent Water, specialising in water sector law and regulation.He has 35 years’ experience in the water sector, both in-house and in private practice, and has a detailed knowledge of regulatory and operational matters affecting the water industry. Spending just over two decades at Severn Trent Water, he worked on a wide range of commercial and corporate issues and provided specialist advice on the regulatory provisions governing the sector.With 15 years in private practice with a dedicated focus on the water sector, Clive not only works with clients in the sector, but also advises businesses in other sectors looking for advice on water and wastewater law and regulation.Clive is recognised by Legal 500 as a Leading Individual with “…virtually unparalleled regulated water industry experience… an expert in water law”, and is likewise recognised by Chambers as a Band 1 lawyer in the water industry with “an exceptionally detailed knowledge of water law”.

James Muller

James has specialised in regulatory law since 2012, covering all aspects of:Health and safety;Corporate manslaughter/gross negligence manslaughter;Inquests;Fire/building safety;Careless/dangerous driving;Food hygiene/safety; andEnvironmental law.He has a national practice and represents clients throughout England and Wales.James provides advice and representation for companies and individuals throughout the entire duration of regulatory investigations, often being instructed in the immediate aftermath of serious and fatal accidents, and carrying matters through to their conclusion. He has extensive experience of court litigation and trial preparation, and has particular skill in dealing with complex areas of expert evidence.James is passionate about getting to know his clients’ businesses in detail, ensuring that his advice always takes into account the wider impact the matter might have on the business as a whole. He works for all manner of businesses, ranging from multi-nationals to sole traders and individuals, with particular experience in manufacturing, construction, health and social care, leisure, agriculture, food and hospitality, local government, education, emergency services, haulage, waste and recycling, and mining.At the outset of his career, James gained significant experience in the prosecution of health and safety and fire safety cases. Having experience of how such cases are prosecuted gives James a significant tactical edge when defending.James regularly advises clients in relation to fire safety matters and defends companies prosecuted under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. He also advises clients, developers, contractors, designers and those occupying buildings (as accountable persons) in relation to the new regulatory regime under the Building Safety Act.James also carries out non-contentious advisory work for his clients, including advising on health and safety and fire safety requirements and providing training to senior management. He also carries out specialist health and safety and fire safety due diligence in relation to both the firm’s own corporate deals, and the corporate deals of other law firms. He recently advised private equity investors in relation to the health and safety and fire safety implications of its acquisition of a company group operating over 150 care homes.James is currently instructed in relation to numerous complex health and safety cases, including: representing a party in relation to the investigation into a power station collapse, defending a company in relation to a life-changing injury in Berkshire, representing a fire and rescue service in relation to recent high-profile fatalities.He recently defended three managers who were acquitted of health and safety offences relating to a manufacturing fatality in Shropshire; and represented an engineering consultancy in relation to a complex fire safety prosecution (with charges against them being dropped shortly before trial). He also represented a company director in the West Midlands who was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter in relation to a fatal accident at a recycling facility.

Michael Murphy

Michael is a Partner in the corporate and commercial team and leads the Owner Managed Business Sector in Liverpool, having joined the firm in November 2019. Michael advises on a range of corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity and venture capital investments, joint ventures, corporate restructurings and general corporate governance matters. He has particular expertise in acting for owner managed businesses, from inception through to receipt of investment, buy and build strategies and exit. Michael’s experience includes advising listed companies, private companies, private equity houses, management teams and entrepreneurs. Michael is ranked as a Next Generation Partner in The Legal 500, Corporate and Commercial: Liverpool. He is a ranked lawyer in the Chambers and Partners Guide 2025, for M&A in the North West. Michael’s recent work highlights include: Advising the shareholders of Ventcroft Limited in their sale to NKT Group. Acting on behalf of the Management Team of Vivify Venues Limited on their receipt of investment from Arete Capital Partners. Advising the shareholders of MD Insurance Services Limited in their sale to HSB Engineering Insurance Limited, a subsidiary of Munich Re. Acting on behalf of Orange Property Services (Liverpool) Limited in its acquisition of Fit Property Lettings and Management Limited. Advising the shareholders of Tuffx Processed Glass Limited on their sale to and receipt of investment from Alcuin Capital Partners. Advising the shareholders of Design Reality Limited on their sale to Full Support Healthcare Limited. Advising the shareholders of EDP Engineering on their sale to RSK Group. Advising the shareholders of Online Legal Limited in their sale to Blume Acting on behalf of River Capital in their investment in Baron’s (Fylde Coast) Supplies Limited “Michael Murphy - very helpful, commercial and pragmatic. Very experienced. Eleanor Baird - very helpful, commercial and pragmatic.' Legal 500 2025 “Michael Murphy provides excellent pragmatic commercial advice whilst also being extremely good technically. This ethos flows through to Francesca Hillyard, who provides strength through the deal making team.' Legal 500 2025 “Michael is an exceptional lawyer with a down-to-earth commercial and pragmatic approach.” Chambers 2025

Louise Mutch

Louise is a partner in the Weightmans Large Loss team with over 20 years of experience in catastrophic personal injury, including traumatic brain injury, spinal injuries and serious orthopaedic injuries. She leads the Care Technical Units Group. She is outcome focused and pragmatic, while tailoring her approach to meet individual client requirements.

Sarbjit Nanuwa

Team. He joined Weightmans in 2011 having qualified as a Solicitor in 2004 and is a Legal Director.Sarbjit formerly worked in the claims department acting on behalf of insurers defending industrial disease claims. He is an experienced civil litigator and has managed multiple teams.Sarbjit advises and delivers training internally on a variety of operational, regulatory, business risk and compliance issues in particular data protection.

Asema Natha

Asema qualified as a solicitor in 2003 and works in the casualty team in the Leicester office. Asema acts for a number of local autorities, housing providers and educational establishments across the midlands in relation to a wide range of issues. Asema specialises in public liability claims, flooding and winter maintenance claims. She regularly delivers bespoke training for clients and local authority organisation at local and national events.

Anna Naylor

Anna is a regulatory defence lawyer specialising in advising organisations on health and safety, food safety, inquests and public inquiries.She assists clients who are being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive, Local Authorities and Police following serious incidents and she represents clients in inquest proceedings. In 2023 Anna was appointed as a Partner at Weightmans and she is the firm’s External Technical Lead for Health and Safety. Anna is particularly well known for the work she undertakes for the Emergency Services sector and she manages the overall portfolio of police inquests work. Anna is ranked in Legal 500 (Next Generation Partner) and Chambers and Partners (Band 5) for Health and Safety.

Karen Neald

Karen is a principal associate who has experience and knowledge in all aspects of housing management disputes on behalf of a number of housing associations and other landlords and also deals with a number of high-profile commercial landlords.Karen has specific expertise in removal of trespassers, housing disrepair and other housing management related topics.Karen has previously been a leading contact dealing with bulk gas injunctions and other access applications. Karen created a bespoke flow case management system to deal with bulk applications and has provided training and advice to clients on access proceedings and enforcement options as well as other forms of housing management issues. This has been of valued assistance to a number of the departments’ housing landlords.Her experience includes possession, removal of squatters in both commercial and residential premises and disrepair claims as well as injunctive action in matters involving both anti-social behaviour and unlawful eviction. Karen has frequently issued and dealt with trespass matters in the High Court at the Royal Courts of Justice in London for major commercial clients in addition to local courts and transfers up to the High Court as required for enforcement — in particular in urgent matters that have required resolving quickly. Karen has been successful in all of these applications, whether opposed or unopposed.This experience has included dealing with committal applications following breaches of injunctions and undertakings. She has also sought injunction orders on the grounds of anti-social behaviour and regularly advises clients on evidence gathering and preparation of statements and evidence for court hearings.Karen deals with all aspects of housing disrepair for landlords and regularly advises clients on other housing management issues such as rent possession proceedings, succession, mutual exchange, rent increases, home loss payments, unlawful occupation as well as leaseholder issues.Karen also deals with mortgagee in possession proceedings for private lenders and commercial lenders up to and including eviction if that becomes necessary.Karen has also given a number of in-house seminars/training workshops to clients on housing-related topics. Karen appears as an advocate in the county court on anti-social behaviour and other injunctive action, in not only matters of anti-social behaviour but also in relation to access and possession.Her other experience includes dealing with lease extensions of flats and houses, and also notice to purchase freehold titles, as well as being able to deal with lease renewals and court proceedings in relation to lease renewals as required.This also extends to regularly dealing with neighbour disputes including boundary disputes and adverse possession claims of land and has successfully obtained both recovery of land and acquisition of land for both commercial and residential clients.Karen also deals with any issues concerning the Party Wall Act and Access to Neighbouring land, and also has experience in relation to queries on service charges.Karen has successfully obtained anti-social behaviour injunctions, undertakings and exclusion orders against individuals, including orders to exclude individuals from their own homes.Karen has experience in representing landlords in all manner of commercial property disputes including lease renewal proceedings (both opposed and unopposed) dealing with relevant notices and proceedings where required and also in all manner of housing management issues for housing associations and other landlords.

Jessica Neary

Partner - Healthcare Manchester

Oliver Nelson

Oliver's expertise includes advising on all aspects of personal and corporate insolvency, recovery and restructuring, directors' disqualifications, complex debt recovery and commercial disputes.His principal clients are:insolvency practitioners (in their capacity as Trustees in bankruptcy, liquidators, receivers, administrators, nominees and supervisors of voluntary arrangements);banks and other lenders, creditors and debtors including individuals;partnerships; anddirectors of distressed companies

Amy Nesbitt

Amy is an established Partner within Weightmans’ Specialty team. Amy’s practice focuses on insurance coverage and professional liability matters. Most of her clients are insurers, and she also accepts direct instructions from commercial entities, local authorities, and professional services firms. Following a recent relocation from Weightmans’ London office where Amy practised for several years, she is now based in Newcastle but maintains a strong London client base and acts for clients across the country. She acts in disputes concerning all manner of professionals and sectors including construction professionals, surveyors/valuers, insurance brokers, local authorities, and property managers. Amy also has experience in matters involving emerging and miscellaneous professions including beauticians and aesthetics practitioners, agronomists, estate agents, property search providers, notaries public, IT professionals, and providers of digital and automated services. Amy has vast experience advising on contentious and non-contentious insurance coverage issues under Professional Indemnity, Directors and officers, Management Liability, and Officials Indemnity policies. Amy is a practising Barrister and a member of FOIL’s Directors & Officer’s Sector Focus Team. She is frequently commended by clients for her ferocious work ethic – known to “pull out all the stops in a very short space of time” – and has been described by clients and peers as “fiercely intelligent, quick-witted, well-ordered and thorough: a formidable combination that makes her capable of grappling effectively with the largest and most complex of cases”, with her drafting and written advocacy receiving particular praise: “her drafting skills, which she developed during her previous career at the Bar, are particularly impressive and set her apart from her peers. Most importantly of all, her work is characterised by a ‘client first’ mindset.” Notable cases Advising on coverage issues under a D&O policy in the context of a criminal investigation by NHS Counter Fraud Services concerning an alleged conspiracy to defraud the government in relation to a £100m hospital redevelopment project. Acting on a complex coverage instruction for excess layer insurers on an insurance “tower” for a national building contractor regarding cladding-related claims brought under the Third Party (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010 with a combined value of over £100 million. Advising and acting for insurance brokers in the defence of professional indemnity claims and referrals to the Financial Services Ombudsman (FOS) arising from the absence of or limitations on insurance coverage for COVID-19 losses. Acting in a series of complex disputes arising from damage to dwellings caused by the pyrite crisis in Ireland and advising on related insurance coverage issues. Acting in judicial review, declaratory proceedings and related high-profile civil claims against a local authority concerning the adequacy of steps taken to ascertain, communicate and maintain records pertaining to the highway status of the land. Advising on insurance coverage issues under a Professional Indemnity policy in respect of multiple claims against loss adjusters involving elements of fraud. Providing advice on D&O coverage, defence strategy, and monitoring in the context of numerous claims involving employment liability issues.

Nick Newman

Nick is a Partner in the employment, pensions and immigration team, based in the Leeds office.He is skilled at advising company clients, including transport providers, haulage companies, care providers, NHS Trusts, owner managed businesses and many well-known household names, and charitable organisations, on both contentious and non-contentious matters and is praised for providing "invaluable support".Nick regularly deals with Employment Tribunal litigation, including claims of unfair dismissal, discrimination, employment status, wages/national minimum wage, holiday pay, whistleblowing and TUPE. He has appeared in almost all of the Employment Tribunals in England and has also conducted his own advocacy in Scottish Tribunals and appeared in the Employment Appeals Tribunal.Nick provides strategic, tactical advice on various matters such as disciplinary and grievance issues, TUPE, industrial relations, equal opportunities, redundancy processes, restrictive covenants and business protection and contractual disputes. He has advised on large scale matters such as the successful implementation of changes to terms and conditions impacting upon over a workforce of over 1,500 and other complex issues involving high-profile, media sensitive material together with the removal of Company directors.Nick also provides bespoke client training including the delivery of in-house national training programmes.Nick also acts for medium to high net worth individuals, including negotiating settlement agreements with payments up to approximately £500,000.

Peter Newstead

Legal Director - Motor Fast Track & Small Track

Michaela Nicholas

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Professional Discipline

Philip Nicholas

Philip is the Product and Innovation Legal Director for PREDiCT Large Loss. In addition, Philip also handles a varied pre-litigated and litigated high value caseload, including indemnity issues, liability disputes, and complex causation and quantum claimsThe main aspect of his role is being the lead for PREDiCT Large Loss – our augmented intelligence claims handling tool. PREDiCT uses a data driven approach, which augments handler expertise to drive consistency of reserving and decision making, improving claims performance by accelerating lifecycles and reducing overall indemnity spend. Philip’s role sits at the intersection of business operational requirements, product development, and client facing responsibilities.In addition, Philip handles a small caseload of large loss claims. As a member of the large loss team, Philip has considerable experience dealing with cases with complicated indemnity issues and liability disputes. Philip in particular acts for key clients dealing with complex orthopaedic cases, in addition to cases with complicating factors, mild traumatic brain injury, and chronic pain. He is well known for pro-active, commercial and pragmatic approach to claims, to ensure optimal resolution at the earliest possible opportunity.Prior to working in Large Loss, Philip qualified into the commercial insurance team, working on a variety of employers’ liability, public liability, product liability and stress claims.Philip has specific expertise in cycling, e-bikes and e-scooters claims, and has written numerous articles for internal and external publication, and has also provided numerous training seminars and presentations internally, and to external clients. He is also a member of the firm’s internal advocacy unit, and regularly conducts case management and procedural hearings, and interlocutory applications.Outside of work Philip is a keen golfer and wine enthusiast, with a WSET level 2 qualification.

Peter Nicholson

Peter is a partner in the employment, pensions and immigration team, based in the Nottingham office.He advises businesses across a wide range of employment law issues.Peter has extensive experience of Employment Tribunal, Employment Appeal Tribunal and High Court litigation. He advises on complex cases involving departures, restrictive covenants, breach of contract, discrimination and whistleblowing. Peter also has a wealth of experience advising on non-contentious matters.Peter also acts for senior individuals, including negotiating severance packages and settlement agreements.

Rem Noormohamed

Partner - Corporate

Belinda Normandale

Suzanne Nulty

In March 2020, Suzanne returned to Weightmans, where she trained, after 17 years elsewhere practising employment law, predominantly for the Health sector. She continues to provide advice and representation in litigious and non-contentious matters throughout the employment law field. This often includes detailed advice on the full range of potential discrimination and whistleblowing claims, as well as TUPE. Suzanne’s reputation is for a detailed and forensic, yet practical approach, delivered in a straightforward and supportive way.As well as her specialist experience in advising on complex and contentious internal processes, including for doctors’ and senior executives’ contractual and disciplinary cases, Suzanne is well versed in the governance aspects of senior-level public sector employment issues. She also advises on TUPE issues arising in public sector reorganisations. Suzanne delivers bespoke training for clients on subjects such as whistleblowing.

Ling Ong

Ling joined Weightmans in 2008, specialising in insurance and reinsurance litigation with particular focus on coverage disputes and advice. She is Head of our International Desk for Asia.Before joining us, Ling was a partner in the London (Re)insurance team at DLA Piper, and at Barlow Lyde & Gilbert.Ling brings over 30 years’ experience of dealing with London Market issues and is one of the few London Market practitioners who holds an annual Certificate of Compliance in respect of the California Fair Claims Settlement Practice Regulations. She has dealt with a wide range of insurance and reinsurance matters for Lloyd’s Syndicates, and international London Market insurance and reinsurance companies.Ling is very experienced in mediations, arbitrations, and court litigation, having dealt with a number of major market disputes both in the UK and abroad. She is regularly involved in complex losses or claims emanating from jurisdictions in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, North America, South America, and the Caribbean. This has included litigating before the French Commercial Court, the Ontario Court of Justice and Court of Appeal, various US courts, and the Thai Court of First Instance and Court of Appeal.Internationally, Ling is a member of the Reinsurance Working Group for AIDA (Association Internationale de Droit des Assurances), the FDCC (Federation of Defense & Corporate Counsel) and the IBA (International Bar Association). She has spoken at the IBA Annual Conference and was invited by the IBA to contribute the UK chapter for their global COVID-19 insurance project.Within the UK, she is the current President of London Market FOIL, which is the London Market arm of FOIL (Forum of Insurance Lawyers). She is also a member of BILA (British Insurance Law Association).Ling has been recommended for Insurance and Reinsurance litigation by Legal 500 each year since 2008, and for Insurance & Reinsurance in Who’s Who Legal 2024. She was a finalist for Insurance Lawyer of the Year (Women In Insurance Awards 2023/2024).

Alain Orengo

Consultant • Specialty 1

Ian Pace

Ian is a Partner in our employment law team. He provides operational and strategic advice on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law and has a particular interest in whistleblowing, discrimination and TUPE.He is skilled at advising private and public sector clients, including clients in the health and social care, education and insurance sectors. He has considerable experience in acting for NHS Trusts, primary care providers and care homes; he was instructed by a number of Local Medical Committees and care home providers to provide specialist advice on the mandatory vaccination programme, during the COVID-19 pandemic.He regularly appears before the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal and has a strong track record of defending high profile Employment Tribunal proceedings.Ian provides operational and strategic advice on all areas of employment law including:contractual terms and conditions of employment;employment policies and procedures;management and disciplinary and grievance matters;performance and sickness absence management;TUPE and large-scale business reorganisations; andsettlement agreements.Ian regularly speaks at conferences and seminars and provides bespoke in-house training on a range of employment and equality issues.Ian has been recognised by the Legal 500 as a Next Generation Partner.

Richard Palmer

Richard is recognised for his expertise having been highlighted as a leader in the field of professional indemnity and “highly recommended” by Legal 500 for several years. A Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an accredited mediator for the last 13 years, Richard is a skilled negotiator who uses a wide range of dispute resolution tactics to achieve the best results for his clients in complex and high-value disputes.He is viewed in The Legal 500 as standing out for his "straightforward professional advice that is always well researched". In Chambers UK 2010, Richard is described as "an extremely good communicator with an excellent ability to analyse problems and get to the heart of the issue".Richard has chaired several Professional Indemnity Seminars in the City of London, hosted by the Professions & Insurance Group, as well as speaking to insurers and brokers on a wide range of professional indemnity related subjects. Richard was also a guest speaker for the Institute of Money Laundering Prevention Officers (IMPLO) at one of their annual conferences and has appeared in a DVD produced by the North East Fraud Forum on the subject of money laundering.

Samantha Patel

Samantha trained as a Solicitor at Weightmans and qualified in May 2023, having previously spent 8 months with the family department during her training contract and has with over 4 years’ litigation experience prior to qualification.Samantha assists clients with all aspects of family law including:Divorce and dissolution of civil partnerships;Financial remedies upon separation;Cohabitation disputes;Pre and post nuptial agreements;Schedule 1 applications;Disputes regarding private children law; andObtaining injunctions such as non-molestation and occupation orders.Samantha is an active member of Resolution and is committed to dealing with family issues in a constructive and collaborative manner.She was also the Chair of the Leeds Junior Lawyers Division in 2023, which she continues to be a part of.

Stephen Peacock

Steve has spent his entire legal career at Weightmans. He is an experienced employment lawyer and advocate and has previously served as regional office head for Liverpool.Steve has in depth experience of employment law issues arising in both public and private organisations and has a particular expertise in the education sector where he regularly advises a large portfolio of university, school and college clients. Steve also acts for a number of police forces and has comprehensive knowledge of the application of police regulations to serving officers, in addition to advising on complex employment tribunal disputes involving serving officers and civilian employees such as disability, race and sex discrimination claims.Steve handles boardroom disputes, facilitates senior executive terminations and manages employment related project work. He regularly undertakes advocacy at the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeals Tribunal and has a formidable 'win' record.Steve focuses on providing straightforward and practical advice mainly to employers to achieve outcome based solutions.In May 2015, Steve was awarded the Higher Rights of Audience (HRA) qualification. This allows Steve to represent clients as a solicitor-advocate in the higher civil courts throughout England and Wales.The HRA qualification recognises Steve’s enhanced advocacy capabilities and enables him to offer a cost-efficient and complete service for clients.

Sarah Pennington

Partner - Real Estate London

Wendy Perry

Wendy Perry has extensive experience in all types of EL and PL claims in particular disease and counter fraud claims. Noted for having a keen eye for detail her focus is to provide expert technical advice and strategic thinking whilst providing common sense advice to provide both clients and insurers with the best outcome.

Lucy Phipps

Lucy is a Solicitor and Partner in our family law team based in our Leeds office and is Sector Lead for individual services across Leeds and Newcastle. Lucy represents clients both locally and across England & Wales, often appearing in Courts in London, the Midlands and the North East. Lucy adopts a firm approach to her cases to ensure her client’s get fair results. Commended for her ‘legal mind and inner steel’ Lucy will support her client’s in reaching settlements out of court wherever possible, but also represents clients at all levels of the Family Court and has been successful in the Court of Appeal. Lucy has been described as "first rate" and "amazing" by the independent directory ‘The Legal 500’ and is credited by her clients for being realistic, empathetic and a “serious match for her opponents.” Lucy has over 15 years' experience in family law, and specialises in obtaining financial settlements alongside divorce, pre-marital agreements and resolving disputes concerning arrangements for children. She has considerable experience of representing clients in demanding and senior positions such as business owners, corporate executives, professional footballers and media personalities. Her work in financial settlements involves complex corporate and business structures, property and land holdings (including farm and agricultural estates), pension and trust assets. Often working with other professionals such as forensic accounts and business valuers, Lucy has a deep understanding of complex financial arrangements and how best to structure settlement to take fair account Lucy has a particular interest in cases which involve allegations of parental alienation and representing parents where permission is being sought from the court to remove children from the jurisdiction of England & Wales. In 2024, Lucy was elected as Chair of the North & West Yorkshire regional Resolution Committee. Resolution is a community of family justice professionals who work with families to resolve issues in a constructive way. Lucy is part of the winning team named ‘Family Law Firm of the Year’ at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards.

Mark Poulston

Mark heads the pensions team at Weightmans. He acts for private and public sector clients on a wide range of pension law matters including risk reduction projects, amending scheme documentation, the resolution of pensions disputes and the pensions aspects of corporate transactions.Mark has been described by the Legal 500 directory as "having a wealth of pensions experience" gained from over 20 years of pensions practice. He has previously worked in-house for a major pensions provider, gaining practical experience in scheme management and trusteeship.Mark is a Fellow of the Pensions Management Institute, a Chartered Insurance Practitioner and a full member of the Association of Pension Lawyers.

Chris Powell

Partner - Regulatory Core

Gemma Pressman

Gemma qualified as a solicitor in 2008 and joined Weightmans in 2011.Gemma handles a mixture of product liability, public liability and employers’ liability casualty and property claims for a variety of leading insurers, with a primary focus on product liability.Gemma has experience advising large manufacturers across a variety of sectors, including the retail, food and automotive industries, and advises on cross-jurisdictional recoveries where manufacturing has taken place in places such as China.Gemma has worked in the personal injury field since her qualification in 2008, and spent 3 years acting for claimants, which gives her an additional understanding of how litigation operates and the tactics that may be employed. She now acts for various large insurers, including Zurich, AXA and AIG, as well as directly for large self-insured manufacturers.

Jane Price

Jane Price is head of service delivery for casualty claims within Weightmans. She is also operations partner for one of the firm’s major insurance clients.She has extensive experience in defending both EL and PL claims on behalf of both commercial organisations and public bodies.Jane’s focus is upon ensuring that Weightmans' clients receive exceptional service and excellent technical, commercial and strategic advice resulting in maximum savings.

Katie Price

Katie is a Partner (employed Barrister) and Head of Service Delivery for disease and casualty claims. Katie oversees the operational side of the casualty and disease departments ensuring that Weightmans’ clients receive an exceptional service.Previously a tenant at a criminal set of chambers, she has a wide range of experience in multiple areas of law but now handles all types of occupational disease claims including dermatitis, noise induced hearing loss, work related upper limb disorders including hand/arm vibration syndrome, occupational cancers, all asbestos related illnesses and stress related issues. Katie also provides training both internally and externally. Katie takes great pride in her work which ensures she goes the extra mile to deliver a tailored and client focused approach.

Richard Privett

Richard is a Consultant specialising in criminal, regulatory and disciplinary work, acting on behalf of medical defence organisations, medical and dental practitioners, solicitors and other professionals.Richard has considerable experience of cases before the Crown Court and before the panels and committees of the General Medical Council and General Dental Council.Richard is highly regarded for his defence work for healthcare and other professionals. He provides expert advice and representation before the GMC and GDC and in other regulatory and disciplinary proceedings.He has successfully defended criminal cases in the Crown Court and has assisted doctors and dentists under investigation by NHS Protect.

Natalie Puce

Legal Director - Regulatory Core

Deepak Purushothaman

Partner - Corporate

John Quicler

Principal Associate - Insolvency and Recoveries

Will Quinn

Will qualified in 1995, becoming a partner in 2000. He specialises in large loss and technical claims.He acts mainly for MIB, Zurich, AXA Corporate Solutions and Travelers and deals with a whole range of catastrophic injury claims. Will is a member of FOIL and a representative on their specialist Catastrophic Personal Injury group. He is also Client Relationship Partner for AXA Corporate Solutions.

Paul Raftery

Paul has over 25 years' experience through fluctuating economic cycles in advising businesses and their owners and directors on their corporate affairs. Paul’s clients range from technology and entrepreneurial start-ups at one extreme to established private and public companies at the other.Paul advises sellers and buyers on disposal and acquisitions, from strategy and planning stages through to completion. Paul also advises clients on fundraising and investments, group reorganisations and restructuring.In addition to transactional advice, Paul advises owners and directors on their duties and responsibilities and on corporate governance and compliance. Non-transactional advice also includes advice on joint venture and shareholder arrangements and other partnering relationships.Paul regularly advises non-UK companies, listed and private, in relation to their UK subsidiaries and UK acquisition strategy and on cross border acquisitions and joint ventures.Transactions he has acted on in the last couple of years include:the purchase by Sonoco of Plastique Holdings Limitedthe sale of Caunce O’Hara Insurance Brokers Limited to Markel Capital Holdings Limitedthe purchase of Ryan Insurance Group Limited by the Seventeen Groupthe purchase by Composites One Inc of Solvay SA’s European process materials groupinvestment in Flint Global Limited by Growth Capital Partnerssale of Isotopx Limited to Techcomp Europe Limitedsale of Buy to Let Broker Limited to Pivotal Growth limitedsale of Century Logistics Limited to Metro Supplies Group Limitedpurchase by Kreiss SIA of C Neil Dowson LimitedWhilst advising clients across a wide range of sectors, Paul has particular expertise in sectors as diverse as manufacturing, packaging, transport and logistics, insurance brokers, property and construction and professional services.A selection of directory entries confirm what clients and intermediaries say about Paul:Paul Raftery is praised for his 'unbelievable knowledge and expertise” — Legal 500“He has a first-class legal mind and is extremely commercially astute and yet able to explain complex matters to me easily.” — Chambers & Partners“Paul Raftery is always available – day, night or weekends if we need him. He goes that extra mile to get the best deal done for us and again this is backed up by sensible, straightforward and easily understandable advice. He is also backed by a very competent team.” — Legal 500

Sejal Raja

Partner - EPI Leeds, London, Manchester & Birmingham

Bruce Ralston

Bruce specialises in the arenas of sports liability, regulatory & governance, advising insurers, sports governing bodies and sports companies/organisations, and has done for the past 20 years. He is a member of BASL & an affiliate of the ICSA. Bruce recently acquired a postgraduate qualification from Birkbeck in the Governance & Regulation of Sport. He has previously gained accreditation as a mediator from CEDR and an early postgrad in sports law from KCL.

Anthony Rance

Anthony is a commercial litigator who is also sector lead for owner managed businesses in Leeds. Anthony’s commercial litigation practice sees him advise on a broad range of disputes across a variety of sectors. He is regularly instructed to act on disputes arising out of commercial contracts, distressed IT and outsourcing projects, shareholder disputes, franchising disputes, cases involving the misuse of confidential information, restraint of trade disputes and also negligence claims, including professional negligence. He has been involved in many high value and complex commercial cases, several of which have involved reported decisions, and he has been described in the leading legal directories as “very technically able”, “outstanding” and “an experienced and tough litigator”.Anthony also has substantial experience of assisting clients with data breach and cyber incidents and has been praised in The Legal 500 for his “wide-ranging expertise in data theft” and as a “go-to name” for cyber-related disputes.Anthony is also highly experienced in alternative dispute resolution and has represented clients at numerous successful mediations and other forms of structured settlement negotiations.

Jawaid Rehman

Jawaid is the head of our HR Rely service and a partner in the employment, pensions and immigration team. He is also the Regional Office Head in Birmingham. He specialises in equal pay, implementing pay schemes and advising on major restructuring projects. He also specialises in advising Embassies on matters of diplomatic and state immunity and has considerable international experience in this regard. He works closely with leading silks in this area.Jawaid has certain clients for which he manages projects that involve multidisciplinary legal issues. He is responsible for being the point of contact for the client and ensuring that the most appropriate legal expertise is deployed (from real estate and finance lawyers to regulatory and commercial) in the most cost-effective manner. He effectively acts as their in-house counsel, working in total partnership with the client's internal team.Jawaid also advises clients on a more strategic level at project boards at the cutting edge of decision making. He has had many articles published in leading publications such as The Times and People Management.

Duncan Reid

Duncan is well-known amongst the North East business community for providing strong, pragmatic legal advice on a whole range of corporate transactions, including mergers, acquisitions and disposals, as well as private equity and venture capital transactions. In addition to his experience of working in national law firms, Duncan also spent two years working in-house at a leading private equity firm.Specialising in the technology, financial services, waste and leisure sectors, Duncan’s impressive client list includes BGF, LDC, Perwyn, Camerons Brewery Limited, Transmission Dynamics, Broadband Satellite Services, Bluetree, Perspective, Praesto Consulting and SaleCycle Limited.As one of the North-East’s 'go to' lawyers, Duncan’s track record in providing solutions-driven, bespoke advice combined with his ability to engage with clients in a business context, ensures that his clients feel supported at every stage, from instruction through to completion. The loyal client base Duncan has built is testimony to both his professional, approachable demeanour and his ability to provide outstanding advice to business owners who truly value the personal service they receive.

John Riddell

John specialises in police and public work. John and his team cover all areas of police law ranging from litigation to operational advice and police discipline. They act for forces in the Midlands, shire counties and East Anglia.The team also do all types of public work ranging from litigation to core work.

Steve Robb

Steve re-joined Weightmans as a Partner in July 2012 having previously been an Associate at the firm eight years before. He has 22 years' experience acting for a variety of insurers, loss adjusters, local authorities and self-insured companies.Steve primarily defends employers' and public liability cases and has acted in claims of all values across a variety of sectors. He has a particular interest in the legal implications of participation in sporting and leisure activities which carry a degree of inherent risk, such as temporary ice rinks, off-roading and the use of inflatable equipment in nightclubs and at parties. He is one of only four solicitors in the UK appointed to act for an international sports insurer.He also has specialist expertise in handling product liability claims involving a wide range of products, including contamination in food. Steve is currently involved in claims regarding hair colouring products, women’s underwear and defective domestic appliances.

Andrew Roberts

Ranked as a Leading Individual for Commercial Litigation by Legal 500 2024 and a Ranked Individual for Litigation by Chambers 2024, Andrew is a Partner in the Commercial Dispute Resolution team at Weightmans and has over 30 years' experience in handling and resolving commercial disputes and litigation, all of which has been gained at leading national and global law firms in the UK.In recent years, Andrew has led work on a number of significant and complex cases proceeding in the Commercial Court, Mercantile Court and Court of Appeal.Andrew is also National Sector Lead for Manufacturing at Weightmans and a member of the firm's Education Sector group acting as lead Partner for Further Education.Andrew's specialist areas of practice within commercial litigation include:advising in relation to contract disputes (including contract interpretation, enforcement and termination)warranty claims arising from the sale and purchase of companiesshareholder disputes (including claims of unfair prejudice)intellectual property matters (including breach of copyright, trademark infringement and passing off)defamationIT disputesfranchising disputes (including those involving international franchisors)joint venture disputesthe enforcement of restrictive covenants and the protection of confidential informationadvising on claims for compensation by commercial agentsprocurement disputesjudicial review.He is experienced in managing electronic disclosure in litigation proceedings and in advising clients on appropriate and cost-effective strategies for dealing with electronic disclosure.Andrew has helped numerous clients to settle their disputes either before or during litigation by way of Alternative Dispute Resolution and in particular by way of mediation.He is also able to advise on available options for litigation funding.Andrew acts for a broad range of clients including large corporates, owner-managed businesses and private individuals as well as universities, further education colleges, local authorities and charities.Prior to joining Weightmans in December 2013, Andrew spent over 20 years at DLA Piper in Liverpool where he had been a Partner since 2007. He is a member of the Society for Computers and Law.

Laura Roberts

Laura has been advising Royal Mail Group since 2013 and handles a diverse caseload of complex discrimination claims and sensitive unfair dismissal claims.She has experience in discrimination, whistleblowing and performance-related issues together with employment tribunal practice and procedure. She also has particular expertise in holiday pay.Laura is an experienced advocate in the tribunal and has recovered large costs awards through her tribunal representation in recent years.

Leona Roberts

Legal Director - Regulatory Police Core

Marion Robinson

Partner - Regulatory Social Care & Governance

Haydn Rogan

Haydn is a tax partner who provides tax advice and support across all the commercial practice areas. He is a dual-qualified solicitor and chartered accountant with over 20 years' experience advising on corporate, employment and property tax issues.Haydn is recognised as a leading individual in Legal 500 and recommended in Chambers for his commercial and practical tax advice and has extensive experience in advising management teams, companies, private equity houses and investors on a wide range of corporate and commercial transactions, ranging from mergers, acquisitions, reconstructions and disposals to the structuring of tax-efficient joint ventures and investments.Haydn has particular expertise in advising on the design and implementation of a broad range of employee share schemes and equity incentive arrangements including unapproved and approved share option schemes, growth share schemes, phantom options and nil and partly paid shares.In addition, Haydn regularly advises both public and private sector clients on the tax aspects (and tax-efficient structuring) of land and property transactions (ranging from SDLT and VAT to capital allowances and the Construction Industry Scheme), having acted for numerous local authorities, registered social landlords, retailers, developers and private landowners on a wide range of projects ranging from large scale regeneration projects and joint ventures to refurbishment projects and lease renewals and renegotiations.

Rosie Roof

Rosie is a Principal Associate in our corporate and commercial team based in Newcastle.Rosie’s diverse experience whilst acting for many well-known businesses includes a range of complex mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions and general company law matters such as large group reorganisations. Rosie also advises a variety of venture capital funds and companies on venture capital investment transactions.Rosie has a particular focus on the Financial Services, Technology and Venture Capital sectors, achieving outstanding results for the clients she works with.Rosie is consistently credited by clients for going beyond the level of service clients expect. She is willing to go the extra mile to ensure a first class service is given.Rosie continues to impress with both her knowledge and service and was successfully shortlisted for both Rising Star of the Year in the Northern Law Awards 2022 and Emerging Dealmaker of the Year in the North East Dealmakers Awards 2022.

Alan Ross

Partner - Planning and Construction

Robert Rushton

Partner - Healthcare Newcastle & Leeds

Daniel Rutherford

Daniel is a Partner and Head of Emergency Services. He is ranked in the Chambers and Partners UK 2026 guide and leads the only Band 1 defendant police law team in the country. Interviewees reported to Chambers and Partners UK that he works "incredibly hard" and is a "trusted player".Daniel is frequently instructed in high profile, complex and sensitive civil claims and inquests involving police forces. His practice spans claims of national significance, sensitive reputational risk, multi-party litigation, media scrutiny, and proceedings arising from deaths, serious incidents and alleged police misconduct.He represented Sussex Police in the litigation arising from the drone incursions at Gatwick Airport and is currently instructed regarding the civil claims arising from the misconduct of DS Derek Ridgewell. The Criminal Cases Review Commission has referred 15 convictions to the Court of Appeal that resulted from defendants being wrongfully prosecuted following investigations by the discredited British Transport Police officer in the 1970s.Daniel has significant experience advising police forces in high profile inquests and cases involving intense public, media and family scrutiny. He represented Surrey Police in the inquests following the Guildford Pub Bombings in 1974. He represented British Transport Police at the inquests following the Croydon Tram disaster, the terrorist attack at Fishmongers’ Hall and the terrorist attack at London Bridge and Borough Market. This included the representation of PC Wayne Marques GM, who was stabbed on multiple occasions while challenging the terrorists.Daniel also advised British Transport Police at the inquest into the death of Belly Mujinga, which received widespread media coverage following an allegation that she contracted COVID-19 after being spat on by a member of the public.

Joshua Ryan

Principal Associate - International Private Wealth

Michael Ryley

Michael has 40 years of experience advising a wide range of clients on all aspects of employment law. Save for a period of secondment in Tokyo, his career has been based in the City of London. He is recommended by the latest edition of Chambers’ UK Guide.Michael has a particular interest in the employment issues arising on business transfers. He has acted in many corporate transactions and in service provision changes both on the procurement side — for Government, public bodies and for multinational companies — and for service providers, advising on the TUPE implications of outsourcing and major infrastructure projects. Michael gives strategic advice regularly across a range of employment law topics from boardroom disputes to labour relations issues, often with an international flavour. He advised Serco in the landmark discrimination case of Serco v Redfearn, which went to the Court of Appeal.Michael is the author of a number of books including "TUPE: Law & Practice" and “Employment Law for the Construction Industry.”Michael appears in the Thomson Reuters Stand Out Lawyers List for 2025.

Ian Sadler

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Professional Discipline

Neal Samarji

Neal has been an insurance litigation specialist lawyer from the start of his career in 1992. He was head of insurance litigation at Elliotts where he spent 11 years before joining Weightmans in 2003. Neal has significant experience in defendant insurance litigation particularly high value and sensitive injury litigation including catastrophic injuries. Neal's work is divided between his legal practice and managing client relationships where his approach is pro-active and focused in providing solutions and value to clients' needs. Memberships include the Law Society and Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL).

Orla Scanlan

Partner - Casualty Police Claims 2

John Schorah

John was our Managing Partner from 2013 until 2025. Prior to that, he was Weightmans' Commercial Director for 6 years, overseeing the 300% growth in that part of the business during that time. John joined Weightmans having been a CEO of a listed public company in the entertainment industry.During his time on Weightmans' board, John oversaw the firm's acquisitions, opening of new offices, overhauled the partnership remuneration structure and seen the firm's overall revenues rise from £43.8m in 2007 to £100m.Consistently accredited both in the Legal 500 and Chambers UK as a leading individual in corporate work, clients have recognised John as having a "pragmatic and commercially realistic approach", and noted his "extensive experience of corporate transactional, corporate structures and commercial contract work".John's clients range from technology companies and IT suppliers to a variety of private and public sector concerns who outsource the supply of technology and provision of IT services. John has extensive experience in preparing and negotiating innovative contracting arrangements which best fit the specific needs of our clients. He spent 3 years in industry as managing director of a plc technology company so has an authentic perspective of clients’ commercial needs.

Jon Shankland

Partner - International Private Wealth

Jonathan Shankland

Formerly of RadcliffesLeBrasseur, Jonathan heads the International Private Wealth offering at Weightmans and leads our international desk for Dubai and the UAE.Jonathan is a trust, tax and estates lawyer and deals with all aspects of personal estates, wills and tax planning for UK-based and international clients. Jonathan specialises in offering international private wealth advice.Jonathan is ranked as a Leading Lawyer in both Chambers and Legal 500. He also features in CityWealth’s Leaders List and its 2021 list of Top 100 Private Client Lawyers and Jonathan is also ranked in the Spears 500 directory. Jonathan was also recommended in The Spear’s 500 for 2024.Jonathan has a wide and complex client base dealing with high-net-worth private clients with international tax and planning considerations, corporate and trust structuring both onshore and offshore, as well as traditional pragmatic succession planning, tax planning and large multi-jurisdictional probate matters.Jonathan prides himself in the personal service that he provides and counts amongst his client base royalty, leading business figures and prominent families.

William Sharpe

William is a partner in the corporate team in London, advising on company acquisitions and disposals, fund raisings and restructurings for SMEs and companies in the mid market. He has particular expertise in the private equity sector having advised a large number private equity houses and management teams over the last 10 years.William trained at Berwin Leighton and qualified in 1996 before moving on to Olswang in 2000 as part of their private equity team. He joined Eversheds in 2007 as a partner in their London office and then joined Weightmans in May 2010. William read law at the University of Warwick.William's experience covers all areas of corporate law, from advising on early stage fundraisings and investments, to management buy-outs and buy-ins and disposals to flotations and takeovers. He also advises on directors' duties, shareholder disputes and joint ventures. Transactions have ranged from seed fundings to cross border transactions with values in excess of £100 million.

Adele Shortman

Adele has extensive quality experience advising, training and representing SME and Corporate business’ on employee relations and all ancillary employment law issues.Her expertise and insight allied to her friendly manner fosters a very good rapport with clients so she quickly grasps their business requirements, values and culture. She focuses on the key issues. She forensically breaks cases down delivering clear and pragmatic solutions tailored to the needs of your business. She acts for a host of loyal manufacturing and retail brands, blue chip companies and SMEs.Her considerable expertise in the manufacturing and retail sectors, includes assisting them with complex change management programmes, advising, supporting and coaching teams of HR Managers in significant restructures with reputational implications for their business whilst enhancing their brand.Adele is an experienced and persuasive advocate in the Employment Tribunal. She has many successful experiences of judicial and private mediation. Adele regularly leads on bespoke training courses delivered in-company where she is an engaging presenter.Highlights include:- Successfully advising, proactively supporting and coaching a team of HR Managers in harmonising and changing terms and conditions of employment of 10,000 employees. The international brand increased weekend working to 3 in 4 weekends. Removal of bonus payments and introduction of living wage foundation pay resulting in increased staff at business critical times and reducing the overall wage bill;- Advising and supporting and coaching HR in significant restructure to cut 7500 jobs worldwide and 350 jobs in UK with reputational implications for the international brand resulting in a reduction in wage bill;- Successfully managing capability termination of long-standing employee with significant mental health illness and numerous suicide attempts, preventing future grievances and significant liability for disability discrimination;- Successfully settling multiple lurid allegations of sex discrimination which had the ability to adversely affect the reputation of a national business and saving approx. £85K in damages;- Successfully advising and defending unfair dismissal and sex discrimination claims involving a longstanding employee with significant final salary pension loss saving £100k in damages.

Louise Singh

Louise joined Weightmans in 2005 and, after completing her training contract, qualified in 2007. As a professional support lawyer, based in the Liverpool office, Louise provides training and technical support to Weightmans’ employment law practitioners across the country, keeping the teams up to date with the latest legal developments.Louise also has plenty of first hand experience of Employment Tribunal litigation. Her experience includes conducting cases involving unfair dismissal, wages, breach of contract and all forms of discrimination. She has also represented respondents, including Royal Mail Group Ltd, as an advocate in the Employment Tribunal.

Seva Singh

Seva has considerable experience in dealing with maximum severity personal injury cases arising out of all classes of business but predominantly, road traffic accidents, employers' liability and public liability claims. Seva's caseload largely consists of high-value personal injury litigation relating to claims involving severe irreversible brain and spinal cord injury and amputation cases. Seva also handles cases involving insurance contract and indemnity disputes.Seva has been involved in a number of cases involving contentious issues such as the provision of state funding in personal injury cases, periodical payments and indexation and he has presented training sessions to insurers on these topics.Seva has a particular interest in brain injury cases where capacity is in dispute.Seva has also been involved in a number of cases where he has successfully defended Applications for substantial interim payments in maximum severity injury cases.Seva is a trained mediator.

Adam Skelland

Adam is an experienced solicitor who specialises in defendant credit hire.He joined Weightmans in 2016, following a seven year stint at another leading law firm.Adam has extensive experience in defending personal injury and credit hire claims, claims for credit hire from companies, with particular knowledge and experience in claims for replacement taxis.Adam’s noteworthy cases are Lubhaya v Stanley a case involving estoppel and acceptance of zero offers, and Ali v Bayliss surrounding the correct assessment of damages where the claimant is a taxi company or an individual who operates a fleet of vehicles.

Emma Skelton

Emma joined Weightmans in 2008. She qualified as a Solicitor in 2014 and she is an Associate in the Large Loss team. Emma has over 11 years' litigation experience. Emma specialises in catastrophic personal injury including claims of the utmost severity. This includes traumatic brain injury in adults and children, tetraplegic and paraplegic claims, amputation cases and fatal accident claims. She assists Will Quinn with motor, employers' liability and public liability claims involving complex liability, technical and indemnity issues.

Sarah Skinner

Sarah is a Legal Director in the Birmingham office. Sarah joined Weightmans in 2016 and having qualified as a solicitor in 2001, she has over 19 years post qualification experience in clinical negligence and insurance litigation to include cases involving claims validation issues. She specialises in defendant clinical negligence litigation for NHS Trusts and NHS Resolution, advising clients on high value and complex claims within the healthcare sector. She has substantial advocacy experience having been called to the Bar in 1998 and regularly attends Court on behalf of clients.Sarah handles cases of maximum severity to include brain injury, psychiatric damage, neurosurgery cases such as cauda equina syndrome, vascular matters resulting in amputation/stroke cases with values exceeding £10million. She is experienced in dealing with cases involving the vast majority of medical specialisms to include paediatric matters and cases of particular sensitivity.In addition to utilising various forms of ADR to facilitate resolution, Sarah also has extensive trial experience to include complex reported High Court cases. Sarah has successfully defended a number of cases at trial resulting in significant savings for the defendant. Sarah’s advocacy experience means that she is able to work sensitively with NHS Trust factual witnesses to develop their confidence and to prepare them for trial.

Becki Smith

Becki trained as a Solicitor at Weightmans and qualified in 2020, with over 6 years’ litigation experience prior to qualification. Becki assists clients with all aspects of family law including divorce and separation, financial remedies, cohabitee disputes and disputes regarding arrangements for children.Becki is an active member of Resolution and sits on the committees for Manchester Young Resolution and Resolution Merseyside.Becki is part of the winning team named Family Law Firm of the Year at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards.

Blaise Smith

Blaise is a partner in Weightmans' large loss team in Leeds. He handles catastrophic injury and major property damage claims for insurers. He has 42 years' experience in all aspects of personal injury and insurance litigation. He has particular experience in head and spinal injury claims, fatal accidents and policy disputes and fire claims. Blaise was a Medical Working Party member for the IUA UK Bodily Injury Awards Study (2003). Blaise has handled fatal and catastrophic injury claims arising not only from accidents on the road, in the workplace and from defective premises and products, but also from hot air ballooning, gliding, paragliding, horse riding, a miniature train ride and 'welly-wanging'. He also handled multi-party litigation arising out of the Bradford fire, the loss of the Herald of Free Enterprise, the Hillsborough stadium disaster, the Myodil pharmaceutical claims and the Dingle Tunnel collapse. Other notable cases include litigation arising out of the finding of the Middleham Jewel and the fire which destroyed the Football Association’s former headquarters at Lancaster Gate. Other fire claims include sauna, gym, school, restaurant, supermarket, home and factory fires. Reported cases include: Alcock v Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police [1992] 1 A.C 310 (liability for psychiatric injury) Crabtree v Wilson [1993] PIQR Q24, CA (assessing damages for dependency); and Blair-Ford v CRS Adventures [2012] EWHC 2360 (QB) (risk assessment, foreseeability, Compensation Act, section 1) Thewlis v Groupama [2012] EWHC 3 (TCC) ( CPR part 36) Whitehead v Bruce and others [2013] EWCA Civ 229 ( RTA apportionment of liability; Court of Appeal)

Carina Smith

Partner - Family

Lisa Spencer

isa qualified as a solicitor in January 2004 joining Weightmans as an assistant solicitor in February 2004. Her workload is predominantly clinical negligence, dealing with often complex claims. She also has experience of dealing with claims involving care homes, deprivation of liberty, claims involving the Human Rights Act and the Mental Health Act including psychiatric claims i.e. patient suicide and patient assaults on other patients/members of the public.Her clinical negligence work is predominantly multi-track litigated and non-litigated claims. These include failure to diagnose, misdiagnosis, negligence during surgery, failure to provide informed consent, failure to treat and wrong treatment. She has experience in a vast number of medical conditions and expert specialisms with claims including colorectal, obstetric and gynaecology, orthopaedic, paediatric, cardiology, vascular, oncology and diabetes etc. and significant experience in fatal claims and claims involving protected parties.Lisa has experience in managing highly complex and high-value claims including birth injury claims, brain injury in adults, complex injuries involving internal organs (i.e. perforation of bowel, ureter and aorta), failure and/or delay in diagnosing cancer and also complex ophthalmic claims; in regards to the latter she has recent experience in dealing with a highly complex ophthalmic claim which involved a rare (and as yet unknown) genetic complication and arguments involving Bailey v Ministry of Defence which is currently with the Court of Appeal. She regularly deals with claims worth in excess of £1,000,000 and has experience in claims involving provisional damages and periodical payments.

Carole Spiller

Carole has specialised in commercial litigation since qualification in 1996. She has handled a wide range of commercial disputes in that time but now specialises in professional negligence claims particularly on behalf on various licenced conveyancers and their insurers, high value property damage and product liability claims, recoveries work, policy coverage issues and complex contractual disputes. She acts mainly for insurers, individuals, and a variety of large organisations including SMEs and PLCs. She is well regarded for injunctions and has extensive court and ADR experience, particularly mediation.Carole joined Weightmans in February 2007 and now manages the 14 strong CDR team who have been Finalists in The Litigation Team of the Year at Manchester Legal Awards in 2014 and 2015.Carole is recommended in The Legal 500.

Tom Spring

Tom is a Partner in our Leeds office. He is a member of our Insurance segment and forms parts of our Casualty, London Markets and Sports teams. Tom is a specialist in defending claims brought against keepers of animals, in particular in the equestrianism industry. Tom deals with the full array of liability and property claims, particularly against equestrians whether elite sportspeople, horseracing teams, renowned trainers of racehorses, proprietors of livery yards, riding schools, membership organisations or private keepers of horses. He has dealt with the complete range of such claims, from property and contractual disputes to personal injury claims of the utmost severity, including in relation to brain injuries, spinal injuries, orthopaedic injuries, psychiatric damage and cases involving complex conditions in relation to causation such as Functional Neurological Disorder and Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome. He also has significant experience of handling cases involving allegations of exaggeration and fundamental dishonesty.Tom is routinely instructed at both pre-litigation and litigation stages, to advise on liability, quantum, rehabilitation or other tactics and is appreciated by his clients for his sympathy with their reserving and overall claims handling philosophies, ensuring every claim is brought to the most appropriate conclusion at the earliest possible stage. Naturally Tom is au fait with claims made under the Animals Act 1971, and he represented the successful defendant in Dennis vs. Voute Sales [2022] WLUK 360; an important decision in relation to the correct interpretation of s.2(2) of the Act and a case which has been referred to in several significant judgments since.

Melanie Steed

Melanie Steed is a principal associate in the employment, pensions and immigration team, based in the Leeds office.She has acted for all kinds of employers during her career, from large PLCs and household name employers through to owner managed businesses and senior execs.She has particular expertise in the education sector, having joined Weightmans from her most recent role as a senior in-house lawyer at The University of Leeds where she worked hand in hand with her senior management, human resources and governance colleagues to manage a whole range of staff and institutional related issues.Melanie deals with all contentious and non-contentious employment matters, including employment tribunals, employee relations and transactional work.She has a strong reputation amongst her clients and peers for giving pragmatic and commercial advice in a way which is direct and accessible as well as for being easy to work alongside.

Andrew Steel

Partner - Casualty Police Claims

James Stephenson

James is a Partner in the Litigation Team and has over 15 years experience in commercial litigation and dispute resolution dealing with complex and high value cases. James is based in our Liverpool office having worked in the city for the whole of his career.James acts for a wide variety of clients across a range of sectors from owner managed businesses to large corporates and high-net worth individuals.James' practice area focuses on all aspects of commercial litigation including contractual disputes, high value warranty and indemnity claims, shareholder disputes, partnership disputes, professional negligence claims and claims involving urgent injunctive relief.He has extensive experience in dealing with cases in all court forums including the County Court through to specialist divisions of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. James is highly experienced in alternative dispute resolution and has resolved many claims at mediation, extricating his clients from litigation on beneficial terms.James takes a commercial approach when providing his advice with his clients' wider interests and aims at the heart of his overall advice.

James Stevens

James Stevens is a Partner in our Insurance Fraud team, based in Liverpool.James is a Liverpool based Partner who trained and qualified in England and Wales in 2004. He has been specifically focused in the defence of insurance fraud claims spanning a career of 21 years. Based in Weightmans counter fraud team, James is a specialist in a broad spectrum of insurance fraud claims including motor, casualty and property. He has a particular specialism in the defence of high value organised fraud claims and the disruption of professional enablers and has successfully defended organised fraud operations with a value in excess of £3.5 million. He has helped insurers to design innovative data driven solutions and the set up of their own internal fraud processes.He was the lead lawyer in the Azimi Group of cases which is renowned as being the first group of cases to utilise similar fact evidence in order to provide a fraud conspiracy over 88 road traffic accident claims and is renowned in the insurance fraud claims sector for his strategic litigation work resulting in awards of exemplary damages. He has also worked with regulatory bodies and the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department with a view to achieving long terms disruption of organised fraud groups.

Andrea Steventon

Andrea advises on all aspects of commercial real estate law, acting for owners, investors and developers who range from multi-nationals to smaller regional businesses. A large number of her clients are from the manufacturing and industrial sector.She specialises in providing advice on multi-million pound acquisitions, disposals and development agreements for clients in both the public and private sector.

Joshua Stolberg

Principal Associate - Property Litigation Birmingham, Leeds & Manchester

Maryam Storr

Maryam has over 20 years of experience in clinical negligence claims. She qualified in 2004 and worked in claimant clinical negligence until 2006. She joined Weightmans in 2010, became an Associate in May 2013, Principal Associate in May 2019 and Legal Director in May 2022.Her caseload is wide ranging, defending and resolving all types of clinical negligence cases, including claims of the utmost severity (including birth and adult brain injury claims, spinal claims and other catastrophic high value injuries) involving complex causation issues. As well as dealing with the highest value cases, Maryam also deals with cases which involve novel or sensitive issues using mediation where appropriate. Her advice is pragmatic, robust and commercial and aimed at achieving early evaluation and resolution. Maryam is a technical lead in the team and has Supervisory Capacity Approval (SCA) on behalf of NHS Resolution which allows her to mentor other solicitors, approve advice and provide a nationally consistent product and service for the client.

Anthony Sullivan

Anthony is a Legal Director in the large loss and technical claim team of Weightmans. He qualified as a solicitor in 1991 and, after many years advising and representing claimants, he joined Weightmans in 2006.Anthony now specialises in defending civil claims for compensation, against various insurance companies and the Motor Insurers' Bureau, brought by or on behalf of claimants who have suffered catastrophic personal injuries of the utmost severity.He deals with a broad spectrum of claims including those for serious traumatic brain injuries for adults and children, spinal injuries (including tetra and paraplegia), amputations and chronic pain. The areas of law he covers are road traffic accidents, employers’ liability, public liability, occupiers’ liability and product liability.Anthony's work includes dealing with complex liability, technical and indemnity issues. He is also experienced in dealing with public funding issues, reverse indemnities, in-out Deputyships and periodical payments orders. The claims he currently deals with have gross reserves up to c£30million each. Anthony is an experienced advocate and regularly conducts hearings in both the County and High Court.For many years, Anthony was also a team manager and had responsibility for managing 13 catastrophic injury case handlers and their associated secretaries and administration assistants. In that role, he dealt with budgeting, recruitment, MI, ensuring that the whole team provides an excellent service to clients, financial hygiene and many other issues.

Deborah Sullivan

Deborah qualified in September 1998 and has worked in Weightmans' professional risk team throughout her career.She has extensive experience of acting for solicitors in professional negligence claims arising from a wide range of underlying subject matters. Deborah frequently deals with lenders' claims and cases involving complex commercial transactions. She is particularly adept at dealing with document-heavy claims and has successfully handled several matters arising from personal injury litigation involving brain damage and other catastrophic injuries.In recent years, Deborah has drawn upon her considerable knowledge of claims against solicitors to advise other professionals about risk management and compliance issues. She has had a number of risk-management articles published in the legal press and has also dealt with outsourced complaints work and disciplinary issues.

Freya Summers

Freya is a corporate law specialist, advising clients in relation to company law matters. Freya works with a wide variety of business owners and companies advising on a range of corporate transactions including share and business sales and acquisitions, joint ventures, early stage and onward investments and reorganisations. Freya also supports clients on corporate governance matters including reporting, constitutional documents, startup arrangements and shareholder documentation.

Mark Surguy

Mark has over 25 years' private practice experience of advising and representing companies, institutions and individuals in domestic and international commercial litigation, fraud and insolvency cases across multiple sectors.His practice encompasses commercial misconduct, corporate investigations, freezing and search orders, asset tracing and other remedies arising out of suspected fraud, cyber-fraud and civil and criminal wrongdoing.Mark has deep expertise in and knowledge of the workings of computer forensics, digital evidence, data protection and cross-border e-Discovery, and uses leading-edge technology to assist in fact-finding.He specialises in designing pragmatic solutions to novel and complicated problems.

David Tabinor

David is a leading figure in the real estate sector and is account manager for regional and national brands in relation to property transactions and estate management covering the whole of England and Wales.He leads the firm’s sector focus on developer and investor clients. Specialising in land acquisitions and development work, David acts for a number of major clients. He has developed precedents and playbooks to assist investor clients with their asset management and estate portfolios.David is involved in the utilities sector, where he has established a dedicated legal team to service a regional energy provider delivering quality and efficiency across multiple workstreams and locations. He has developed case manager systems combining data capture and management information to service these clients.David has developed the use of Artificial Intelligence technology for real estate clients, employing it for lease analysis and data extraction. His online reporting tool, OneView, has been widely used by clients with larger property portfolios to help manage their estate and legal cases, providing data analytics on performance and trends.

Paul Tarne

Partner - Local Government 4

Helen Taylor

Helen joined in July 2019 as HR director with responsibility for the HR, learning and development and knowledge management teams.Helen is an experienced HR Director who has previously worked at Director level at RSA, Next, Coop Group and esure. In previous roles she has introduced new reward frameworks, developed business culture, focused on developing talent pipelines, introducing leadership development programmes and increasing employee engagement.Helen has a real interest in remuneration, talent development and leadership. She is also a council member at the University of Salford.

James Teagle

Partner - Property Litigation Birmingham, Leeds & Manchester

Sarah Temperley

Sarah has over 25 years' experience of all types of employers and public liability work.She currently manages a team of 14 lawyers in the Casualty department of the Manchester office.She handles a wide variety of employers' liability claims for insurers and self insured, mainly public bodies. Sarah deals with all types of employer's liability claims including industrial disease matters focusing mainly on asbestos related injury cases but including all types of disease.She also has a wide ranging experience handling public liability claims from highway trip claims all the way through to claims emanating from the social services functions of public bodies.

Shauna-Leigh Thompson

Shauna joined Weightmans in 2018 and brings over 7 years’ experience in dealing with debt and asset recovery litigation to the Insolvency and Recoveries team. Shauna’s versatility in the insolvency and recoveries field has enabled her to advise a broad range of clients from government bodies, local authorities, owner-managed businesses, insurers, and corporates across a multitude of sectors (financial services, education, retail, health, hospitality, manufacturing, logistics and construction). Her practice area’s span (un)regulated recoveries litigation (both local and cross-jurisdictional), and insolvency actions (including dealing with instructions to act on behalf of trustees and office holders’ post-appointment). Her extensive experience and technical capability in dealing with matters relating to the Consumer Credit Act, wrongful interference of assets, and title disputes, has meant that she has been a trusted advisor for various clients regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Shauna’s ability to navigate this niche and heavily regulated area has given her a deserved reputation for providing innovative and thoughtful solutions to her clients in this space. Shauna’s tenacious, yet human, approach to litigation has allowed her to successfully deal with complex and/or sensitive claims, including the recovery of assets from deceased estates, unjust enrichment, overpayment of pensions and salaries, Orders for sale and possession of property, and the enforcement of international arbitration awards in the UK. Shauna has a proven track-record in relation to instructions from insolvency practitioners to assist in bringing claims on behalf of insolvent entities. Her involvement is often commenced at the investigatory stage, allowing her to gather and contemplate evidence and inform the likely claims to be brought on behalf of the insolvent entity. She has successfully assisted office-holders in bringing multi-million pound claims for breaches of fiduciary duties, misfeasance, and pursuant to other provisions of the Insolvency Act 1986 (including s127 claims for void payments). Her robust approach to building successful cases has resulted in most matters settling at the pre-litigation stage with favourable terms for the office-holder and creditors. Notable cases Instructed on behalf of a service provider to recover a debt of £120,000 where the defendant had historically alleged a valid defence. Shauna’s tenacious approach to resolution led to full payment of the debt (plus interest and costs) within weeks of instruction. Her understanding of the legal and commercial position enabled her to adopt the most suitable recovery method and execute this on a cost-neutral basis. Acting for a globally established leader in the motor industry, to recover debts and assets arising from breaches of asset finance and consumer regulated agreements, Given the naturally sensitive nature surrounding financial services, Shauna has perfected the balance of a robust approach to recoveries whilst adhering to stringent statutory requirements and Financial Conduct Authority guidelines. Despite the changing and challenging recoveries landscape, Shauna has contributed to the collection of millions of pounds for this client across their portfolio. Promptly achieved settlement following the registration and enforcement of an arbitration award obtained out of jurisdiction (value in excess of £400,000), with the debtor having previously evaded meaningful engagement for over a year. Assisted a local authority in relation to a claim and possession proceedings against the estate of deceased persons for unpaid care fees pursuant where probate had not been undertaken, following Shauna’s instruction and pre-action correspondence, payment was made in full (exceeding £100,000 plus costs). Instructed by a liquidator to assist in claims against a former director in respect of misfeasance, securing settlement and security with a value of over £450,000. Successfully set-aside judgment and struck out a claim brought against a client which was entirely misplaced and without merit, successfully pleading indemnity costs which were awarded in full.

Aidan Thomson

Partner - Regulatory Core

Paul Thomson

Paul joined Weightmans in 2016 and has over 15 years of experience in the resolution of disputes arising from clinical negligence for the NHS and for medical protection organisations. He advises on and manages a wide spectrum of claims for NHS Resolution and NHS Trusts including for brain injury sustained at birth and neurological/spinal injury, neonatal deaths, psychiatric and orthopaedic injury. He has also dealt with a number of sensitive cases involving allegations of non-accidental injury and sexual abuse. He focuses on running complex and high value cases often with complex quantum issues and has settled numerous cases by way of periodical payment orders (PPOs).

Tom Thurlow

Tom is an established member of Weightmans' professional negligence and insurance disputes team based in Newcastle. Although based in Newcastle, Tom acts for clients across the country. In the last five publications of the Legal 500, Tom has been ranked as a Tier 1 "rising star" and described as a "calm and methodical" solicitor with "excellent client care" and "wise beyond his years – a very good lawyer who is prepared to put in all the hours to get to the final article". Considered "very attuned to his clients' needs" and “the go-to name for construction disputes”, Tom is considered by his clients to have “exceptional ability to analyse cases and plan strategies. For the last 2 years, he is also listed in Tier 1 National for Professional Discipline work and described as “very competent in managing a diverse team and keeping the clients focused on the issues”. The mainstay of Tom's current practice involves complex professional negligence construction disputes, with a particular focus on cladding and related façade claims arising in the wake of the Grenfell Tower Disaster. As well as being instructed on the Grenfell Tower Inquiry itself for one of the Core Participants, Tom has also assisted various professionals involved in disputes concerning allegedly defective cladding/façade products, including one of the ‘top-20 cases to watch for 2024’ as well as acting on associated recovery actions. In the Legal 500 2022, Tom was described as "the name to note for this type of work". Alongside this, Tom has a burgeoning practice in disciplinary/regulatory and alternative forums work, and is currently acting on various matters before disciplinary bodies, public inquiries, appeal panels and the Bullock Independent Fire Review. Tom has also recently taken a regulatory prosecution to trial on a previously untested point of law, obtaining a favourable result for the client, and has been instructed on a number of novel, construction-based Judicial Reviews. Tom also continues to be instructed on a broader range of disputes spanning the traditional and emerging professions and is regularly instructed by a wide range of insurers, and other clients.

Philip Tracey

Partner - Casualty Commercial 5

Ben Troke

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Advisory

Tom Trowhill

Partner - Commercial National

David Tuck

David is the head of service delivery for disease claims at Weightmans and has specialised in the defence of all types of occupationally induced disease claims for over 20 years. He specialises in occupational cancer and lung disease claims, especially all asbestos related conditions as well as asthma and work related upper limb disorders. David is instructed regularly by insurers, large corporates and public bodies as well as clients who have no insurance cover and advises clients on Transfer of Undertakings Regulations, corporate liability, associated risk management and policy issues. David has extensive experience in dealing with the transfer of liabilities arising from Local Government reorganisation and in the Further Education sector. He is regularly involved in seminars on these, as well as other aspects of disease litigation both internally and externally.

Robert Turnbull

Robert is an experienced corporate transactions lawyer. His wide range of experience includes advising on mergers and acquisitions deals on buy and sell side for a spread of clients including owner managed businesses, public companies, international businesses and institutions. Robert’s work has covered domestic and international M&A. He also has expertise in private equity transactions, specialising in advising companies on raising development capital and management teams on a variety of management transactions, and also advising in relation to exits by PE investors. Additionally, Robert advises on a broad range of other transactional and corporate structuring matters including joint ventures, shareholder agreements and various investment arrangements. As well as acting for corporate clients Robert acts for entrepreneurs whose corporate activities require legal support. In delivering this he is able to draw on the range of client services that may be required when acting for individuals in the corporate arena including tax and estate planning. Robert’s recent experience has included working with high-growth technology and IT businesses. The business areas of these clients has ranged from tier 1 software development projects to on-line retailers. He also has extensive experience advising R&D businesses. Through work with developing businesses in a wide range of areas, he has a good understanding of the issues and challenges which they face.

Fiona Turner

As a partner with over 30 years' experience, Fiona was recognised as one of the UK’s Top 75 Family Lawyers by Citywealth in 2025. She deals exclusively with family law issues.Having practised in London with leading and innovative family law firms before relocating to Manchester, Fiona has a global practice, dealing with matters for clients wherever they are based — whether in the North West region, London or elsewhere in the UK or overseas.Main practice areas include advising on wealth protection strategies (including pre and post nuptial agreements and cohabitation agreements); divorce and dissolution (including international issues), financial settlements for married and unmarried couples (often involving businesses, land (including farms), trusts and pensions), children law and international relocation cases.Fiona and the team at Weightmans provide a bespoke, tailor-made service for each individual client. Fiona and her team offer a range of dispute resolution options including family mediation, collaborative law, One Couple, One Lawyer and litigation. She is recognised for providing strategic case management and a focused, realistic and discreet approach to clients.Former clients include high net worth and high profile individuals, entrepreneurs, business owners, land owners and professionals.In a case on which Fiona was instructed, the Court of Appeal stated that they had "never seen a financial case of greater complexity".Fiona is recognised as a leader in her field by the Legal Directories and fellow professionals.Fiona is an accredited member of the nationwide family law organisation Resolution and is Secretary of the Manchester Resolution Committee. She is a member of the Manchester Dispute Resolution Group and chairs/presents to a number of other professional groups.She is a co-author of previous editions of Resolution's Good Practice guidance and regularly writes for the national and local press.Fiona is part of Weightmans’ winning team recently named Family Law Firm of the Year at the LexisNexis Family Law Awards.

Lottie Tyler

Based in our London office, Lottie has over twenty years’ experience advising on family law.Lottie is an active member of Resolution and currently sits on the Resolution Standards Committee. She is a Resolution accredited specialist in international family law, children law (disputes between parents or relatives) and complex financial and property matters (high-income households and substantial assets). She has written for the Family Law Journal and contributed to the current edition of the Resolution Family Law Handbook.Lottie finds all aspects of her work as a family solicitor engaging and rewarding. She is particularly keen to find practical solutions to disputes and minimise the impact of separation on children. She is a trained collaborative lawyer and happy to discuss resolving cases through a series of meetings rather than through the court process.

Peter Tyler

Peter is an associate solicitor working in the dedicated disease unit and is based in Birmingham. He qualified in October 2009 and has been practising in the area of personal injury since 2007.Peter acts for insurers handling industrial disease claims and assists with the supervision of other fee earners. He participates in the setting of the strategy for disease claims.He has formed good client relationships and is trusted by them to advise on claim strategies, claimant firm behaviours and legacy risks.

Chantall Ul Haq-Weedon

Partner - Private Wealth

Richard Vaughan

Richard is a Partner in our construction team. He joined Weightmans nearly six years ago from Squire Patton Boggs, where he worked for six years, and prior to that, he spent eight years at DLA Piper.Richard is extremely experienced in non-contentious construction law, and regularly advises developers, energy suppliers, funders, universities, local authorities, emergency services and government in relation to their major projects.He is experienced in all forms of construction contracts including JCT, NEC, Fidic, MF1 and ICheme together with forms of appointment from ACE, RIBA and RICs. He has experience of procurement of construction contracts locally, nationally and internationally.

Philip Vickers

Partner - Real Estate London

Martin Vincent

Martin heads our education team and is experienced in all areas of law as it affects Universities particularly relating to projects, international ventures, collaboration, income generation and procurement arrangements.Martin previously worked at the University of Manchester where he held a senior legal position for nine years. His exceptional experience at strategic, policy and operational levels within the sector ensures that our advice is practical and results-driven.Since joining the firm in 2008, Martin has expanded the firm’s client base in higher education ten-fold. He is client partner for key University clients including The Open University, Lancaster University and Solent University. Martin has exceptional experience advising Universities on collaborative ventures at home and overseas both within the EU and outside. Martin also advises on funding and clawback issues. He has advised on IP portfolio management issues, including IP due diligence, spin out creation and investments.Martin is recognised in the Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners for his work within the education sector.

Peter Wake

Peter trained at Weightmans and qualified in 2003. He became a partner in 2011. He was elected as Senior Partner in 2024.He acts for local authorities across the country, fire and rescue authorities, education establishments and housing providers.Peter has particular expertise in defending professional negligence and human rights claims against social services and education authorities. He also specialises in abuse claims including historical matters, multi-claimant cases and group actions.Peter has a special interest in defamation, privacy and data protection law. He also represents local authorities at inquests, particularly Article 2 inquiries and inquests that involve safeguarding issues, social care and Children's Services departments.Peter also lectures and presents on related topics.

Sarah Louise Walker

Sarah manages the National Private Wealth team at Weightmans. Sarah is a Private Client specialist, who is experienced in all areas of lifetime and post-death tax planning to achieve a positive end result for the client by offering a holistic approach which puts a client’s objectives and needs first. Sarah’s particular interest is in complex trust matters and she has acquired a strong reputation for administering and acting as a trustee on trusts which have had historical issues either in respect of family relationships or compliance. She regularly is appointed by clients as a professional executor and trustee who see her as their trusted family adviser.

Elizabeth Wallace

Partner in the Large Loss team based in Manchester Liz is an experienced advisor handling complex and high value Employers’ Liability, Public Liability and Motor claims for large Insurers and corporates. Liz is head of the Amputation Technical Unit.With over 25 years’ experience, now specialising in large loss and catastrophic injury claims including traumatic brain injury, serious orthopaedic, spinal and fatal accident matters, Liz has a special interest in amputation claims and regularly presents to clients and writes insights.Liz sits on the Manchester Law Society EDI committee with her focus being accessibility for all.

Janet Wallis

Janet works predominantly on personal injury cases for defendant insurers such as Zurich and Gallagher Bassett, as well as a number of direct instructions from local authorities, the British Library and others.She handles a mixed caseload of small claims, fast and multi-track matters includes work on a variety of public and employer’s liability cases; motoring, credit hire, motoring cases; occasional disease/deafness claims, contractual arguments and property damage.

Hannah Walsh

Hannah Walsh is a Partner at Weightmans and one of the UK's leading police lawyers.She is a recognised expert in police law, public sector governance and legal service delivery, leading Weightmans' work for policing across England and Wales.Hannah heads the Firm's delivery of the Police National Legal Services Framework (NLSF), the national framework managed by the Metropolitan Police Service and used by all police forces, Police and Crime Commissioners, the National Crime Agency, and other public bodies. Weightmans is the only Law Firm appointed across all seven lots of the framework, placing Hannah at the centre of the most significant legal services arrangement in UK policing.Having advised police clients throughout her career, Hannah combines legal expertise with a detailed understanding of the operational, political and reputational challenges facing modern policing. She is a trusted adviser to Chief Officers, Force Solicitors, Heads of Legal, Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Executives on matters that are often high profile, business critical and legally complex.Alongside her strategic advisory role, Hannah oversees the delivery of significant volumes of legal work across all disciplines, coordinating teams and resources to ensure police clients receive consistent, high-quality support on everything from routine operational matters and high-volume case portfolios through to nationally significant work and major projects.

Joseph Walton

Joseph is a Principal Associate solicitor in the Specialty Team of Weightmans, based in the Newcastle office. Joseph primarily acts on behalf of insureds and insurers in defence of claims arising out of alleged breach of contract and/or breach of duty. This includes defending claims of negligent design, specification and advice within construction projects and residential builds. Commonly, this relates to claims against architects, engineers and surveyors, as well as design and build contractors. As well as defending claims, Joseph also advises insurers on the application and effect of insurance policy wording, commonly relating to exclusions, notification, mitigation and breach of fair presentation. Joseph has conduct of claims in the County Court and High Court, with experience in the mediation and adjudication of disputes.

Sarah Walton

Sarah Walton is the Managing Partner of Weightmans LLP, a national law firm with global coverage, focused on an unwavering commitment to purpose, performance, and people. A highly experienced corporate lawyer, Sarah provides expert advice on a wide range of corporate and company law matters. She works across a diverse client base, from large corporations to individuals and owner-managed businesses, advising on mergers and acquisitions, disposals, venture capital and private equity investments, joint ventures, group reorganisations, and strategic projects. As Managing Partner, Sarah brings a visionary approach to leadership, with a clear focus on the firm’s purpose-led brand, rooted in the belief to "See the Possibility." She fosters a culture of integrity, collaboration, innovation, teamwork, and respect, ensuring that Weightmans consistently delivers long-term value to clients, colleagues, and communities. Her leadership is distinguished by strategic clarity, inclusive engagement, and a relentless drive to build high-performing teams across the firm.

Peter Ward

Peter first joined Weightmans in 2009, having qualified as a solicitor in 2004. Peter has specialised exclusively in industrial disease claims since qualification.Peter’s disease experience includes:noise-induced hearing loss;hand/arm vibration syndrome;work-related upper limb disorders;dermatitis;occupational asthma; andasbestos-related illnesses.Peter’s caseload predominantly covers higher-value disease matters. He specialises in asbestos matters for mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis and pleural thickening.Peter has pursued cases successfully to the Court of Appeal and has significant trial experience, particularly in issues of limitation. He is predominantly instructed by major insurers and multinational companies.

Kerry Waters

Charlie is a Principal Associate Solicitor in the healthcare regulation team at Weightmans, based in the Nottingham office.She has extensive experience in managing complex matters, primarily handling healthcare litigation work including inquests, mental health and capacity issues, continuing healthcare disputes and judicial reviews, as well as DOLS and Court of Protection cases.Charlie works with both NHS and independent sector providers/commissioners and insurer clients, to deliver pragmatic and proactive advice, ensuring that clients feel fully supported at all times.

Maria Watmough

Maria is a partner in the banking and finance team and has many years' experience advising clients across a variety of sectors. She has a broad range of expertise in negotiating and structuring all aspects of facilities for clients, and working for both lenders and borrowers has enabled Maria to develop a keen understanding of the commercial reasons behind structures and the drafting of finance documentation.Collaborating with other members of the firm from the corporate, commercial, real estate and construction teams, Maria provides advice on all aspects of secured lending, including acquisition finance, real estate finance and development finance.Maria has specialist expertise in the education and healthcare sectors, in particular, loans to fund working capital, acquisitions and developments and several student accommodation projects. She has been instructed on many loans in further and higher education in particular, including to Oxford and Cambridge Colleges. Maria has also advised on loans for numerous care home providers, dental practitioners and pharmacy owners growing their businesses.With an efficient and constructive approach to transactions, Maria advises her clients as to risks on matters as they arise and works together with her clients and other parties to find practical and commercial solutions to those issues.

Lisa Watson

Lisa has over 20 years’ experience in handling all aspects of disease litigation. More recently her experience has focused on stress (bullying and harassment), respiratory disability and cancer cases to include asbestos-related conditions, occupational asthma and a range of cancer cases. Lisa has experience in dealing with TUPE issues that arise as a result of complicated insurance histories involving long tail disease claims for HAVS and deafness and has a strong relationship with her clients providing training, seminars and claim review meetings for her clients.

Chris Webb-Jenkins

Chris has over 15 years' experience acting for social care providers in the public, private and voluntary sectors.His clients include insurers, local authorities, health trusts, housing providers, national charities, domiciliary and residential care providers, and sports governing bodies. As well as defending claims, with particular experience in group actions, he also provides legal advice on all aspects of social care and safeguarding, covering both adults and children.

Polly Wesson

Polly is an Associate in the International Private Wealth Team based in London having trained and qualified in RadcliffesLeBrasseur’s leading private wealth team prior to the merger with Weightmans in 2022. Polly was ranked as one of the 2025 eprivateclient NextGen Leader 2025 and ranked in the Legal 500 as a Leading Associate in personal tax, trusts and probate. Polly advises clients on all aspects of private wealth law, including succession planning, tax planning, trusts, and family investment companies. Polly is experienced in assisting clients with preparing their Wills and advising on their estate and succession planning structures and she takes a holistic approach to estate planning. Polly is mindful of the needs of individuals with high-value, international and otherwise complex estates. Polly specialises in asset protection and generational succession planning for both UK and internationally mobile clients. Polly advises on various personal tax considerations including inheritance tax and capital gains tax and deals with inheritance tax calculations and reporting for individuals, estates, and trusts. Polly assists clients in all matters related to estate administration and probate, including re-sealing foreign grants and liaising with international advisers on the UK probate process. Polly also advises clients on Lasting Powers of Attorney, complex capacity issues and applications to the Court of Protection involving substantial estates. Polly is skilled in dealing with all aspects of the Private Wealth legal spectrum both during the life of clients and on their death. Polly acts for a number of influential clients in the UK and globally including household names, offshore fiduciaries, accountants, banks and wealth advisors. Polly provides clients with high-quality counsel encompassing all aspects of private client law and is a full STEP member, becoming a TEP in January 2025 after being awarded the STEP Diploma with Distinction.

Daniel West

Partner - Casualty Police Claims 3

Jill Weston

Partner - Regulatory Healthcare Advisory

Damian Whitlam

Partner - Healthcare Newcastle & Leeds

Stuart Whittle

Stuart is a true legal innovator, recently described as 'a living Action Man of legal innovation' by industry peers.Having qualified as a lawyer in 1995, he specialised in professional indemnity from then until he became the head of Weightmans' IT department ten years later. Stuart's interest in technology and innovation manifested itself early on in his career when, as part of the last seat of his training contract, he was assigned to work with the then IT Partner. During that time, he built a database to help deal with claims relating to a major piece of litigation and also created Weightmans' first intranet.In 2002, he was promoted to Partner. From 2003 onwards, Stuart became involved in Weightmans' IT, designing, developing and rolling out case management systems across the firm. In 2005, he took on responsibility for Weightmans' IT department and in 2010 was promoted to IS and Operations Director and became a member of Weightmans' Board.Following Weightmans' strategic review in 2017, Stuart was appointed Business Services and Innovation Director with responsibility for Facilities, People and Knowledge, Business Change, Information Management and Technology, Innovation and Risk and Compliance.Stuart regularly presents at events with special areas of interest being around business process redesign - helping lawyers to work smartly in an uncertain market where prices are being squeezed and the quality of the service that is delivered to the client needs to be continually improved.He has a Masters in Information Technology, is a qualified coach, a Chartered IT Professional and a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt.Stuart is a Director of the Legal IT Innovators Group, a not for profit organisation run by and for its members. Stuart also chairs the MatterSphere User Group. In 2013 Stuart was named one of Legal Business's CIO Powerlist. He was nominated for the Lawyer's Business Leader of the Year in 2015 and 2016 saw Legal Week rank him as one of its top 20 Innovators.

Michele Wightman

Partner - Private Wealth

Chris Wilkinson

Partner - Regulatory Police Core

Emlyn Williams

Emlyn Williams is a partner and employment lawyer specialising in healthcare.Emlyn is a well-respected advocate in both the Employment Tribunal and the Employment Appeals Tribunal. He specialises in all aspects of employment law, with particular interests in whistleblowing, discrimination, MHPS and TUPE.Emlyn has a significant reputation in the healthcare sector and heads up our healthcare employment team nationally. His clients also include other public sector bodies, charities and private businesses.Emlyn also has a strong track-record in delivering innovative training programmes and regularly undertakes bespoke in-house training for various bodies including multi-national companies, the NHS, ACAS, CIPD and other professional groups.From December 2014 to December 2015 Emlyn was President of Liverpool Law Society.He was a non-executive Director of Liverpool-based art gallery and charity, FACT between 2015 and 2021.

Lisa Williams

Lisa is a Principal Associate with nearly 25 years in the insurance industry and who began practicing law exclusively in 2004. Lisa has over 10 years' experience in the aviation sector starting out with a boutique aviation law firm. Lisa has provided legal advice and representation to numerous international and global airlines, including a flagship carrier, and their insurers in a range of legal disputes and cases both domestically and abroad, also in claims with multi-jurisdictional elements and cross border issues. Lisa’s has defended airlines and their insurers in passenger and third party injury claims arising out of the Montreal Convention 1999, Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 and Regulation EC 1107/2006, as well as in property damage, baggage, flight delay and denied boarding claims. She is also experienced with advancing and defending subrogation claims on behalf of aviation clients, as well as with commercial litigation, insurance and reinsurance coverage disputes and general aviation claims. Lisa is also skilled in resolving claims pre-litigation, handling “white label” pre-litigation insured claims on behalf of a major UK airline and with Aviation ADR schemes approved by the Civil Aviation Authority, such as the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR). Lisa has been recognised on more than one occasion in the Legal 500 UK as a recommended lawyer for Aviation London, being cited as having 'exceptional work capacity and [being a] commercial thinker' as well as 'approachable, knowledgeable and commercially astute'. Notable cases Handling of the passenger claims in the UK and US emanating from an incident of severe and unexpected turbulence on a commercial flight to Tampa in 2019, generating great media intrigue; Resolving the lost baggage claim in the UK from a high profile "WAG"; Involved in handling the alleged toxic fume claims, arising from a 2019 emergency landing of a A321 in Valencia following the inflow of smoke in the cabin. Incident under investigation by the Spanish Civil Aviation Accident and Incident Investigation Commission (CAAIIC); Successfully rebutting a very commercially sensitive UK Claim for denied boarding and discrimination for a well-known carrier, including liaising with the carrier’s press office to assist with appropriate responses to the media/social media; Defending a major UK carrier from a passenger claiming to have been inappropriately touched and groped during a flight, the subject of which entered the public domain via a blog post; Swiftly dealing with the, ultimately modest, settlement of a passenger claim against a flagship carrier for injury from a bag falling from an overhead compartment which was the subject of a news article in the Evening Standard in 2016; Defending the claims from passenger against a carrier following an alleged aerotoxicity incident, with interest in the US following linked litigation brought in the States involving Boeing; and Representing a carrier in litigation for a high value denied boarding claim for a well-known carrier, involving issues of Human Rights and the Tokyo Convention Act 1967, from a group who were removed from aircraft for disruptive behaviour.

Patricia Williams

Patricia is a Legal Director in the London Large Loss team. Qualifying as a solicitor in 1997, Patricia has over 20 years’ experience of high value, complex, defendant personal injury work, and joined Weightmans in August 2016. Patricia is recognised as a key lawyer in the UK Legal 500, 2020 Edition, in the category: defendant personal injury lawyers in London.Patricia specialises in employers' liability, public liability and motor civil litigation defendant work for UK insurers, acting on behalf of household name companies and local authorities. She deals with a wide range of catastrophic personal injury cases including severe brain injury, subtle brain damage, spinal injury, amputation and fatal accident claims. Patricia also specialises in chronic pain claims.

Matthew Williamson

Matthew is head of our corporates segment and has responsibility for Weightmans corporate clients in the financial services, transport and logistics, manufacturing, retail and leisure, and energy and utilities sectors. He is client Partner for national retailers as well as third party logistics providers.He primarily advises on complex landlord and tenant matters as well as property acquisitions and disposals with a specialism in negotiating overage and clawback provisions.Matthew sits on the property advisory board of the UK Warehousing Association and has recently worked with them and Savills to develop a model form of warehouse lease, 'Standard Property Lease' in order to provide a starting point for the industry when negotiating a new lease of this type of property.Matthew has expertise in the delivery of client contracts and projects, ensuring both Weightmans and the client’s own Key Performance Indicators are met through bespoke IT solutions. He is product manager for Weightmans' ‘One View’ product which enables team members, whatever the practice area, to deliver an excellent service and to capture, measure and report on those items which are important to the client.

Ben Wilson

Ben is a Partner in the Disputed Wills, Trusts and Estates team at Weightmans LLP, based in Manchester.Ben has been ranked in both the Chambers High Net Worth guide and the Legal 500 for a number of years, feedback including:"Ben is an absolute pleasure to deal with. He fights his client's corner and is straightforward and well prepared. He is excellent at finding solutions in a fair, realistic and fuss-free manner.""Ben Wilson will support his client's position right up to the end. He fights for his client."“Ben Wilson is a contentious trusts and probate specialist. One source says that “Ben was very thorough and knowledgeable” and another describes Wilson as “a true delight to work with,” explaining that he is “acutely aware of client needs and always delivers on them. A true star...”Ben acts for beneficiaries, executors, trustees, fiduciaries and third parties on a national and international basis, in a full range of trust, inheritance and probate disputes.Trusts:Ben has significant experience of all manner of trust disputes often with a cross border aspect, including trustee removal and replacement applications, “Beddoe” applications, and construction and interpretation issues.Ben also has specialist experience of acting as a professional trustee, having held a number of trusteeships on a range of high value and complex family and will trusts.Specific examples of Ben’s contentious trust experience includes:Providing written advice on aspects of English inheritance claims to offshore trustees, to assist with their offshore “blessing” application;Representing a beneficiary of a £12m trust in a trustee “blessing application”, finally heard in the High Court in Manchester, achieving indemnity costs for the client;Various successful trustee removal applications including acting for trustees of an unincorporated association valued at around £3m on the successful removal of a trustee, and advising on the subsequent winding up of the trust;Advising SSAS trustees and beneficiaries in a number of SSAS trust disputes with values in £millions;Advising family members of a former African president in relation to complex trust issues. Worldwide trust value in the £100m's.Inheritance and Probate:Ben has specialist experience in a range of inheritance and probate disputes, including bringing and defending claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, challenges to the validity of wills on the basis of fraud, forgery, undue influence, lack of capacity, want of knowledge and approval and lack of due execution.Ben has experience of acting as professional litigation friend, and takes instructions to act as a professional executor. Specific examples of work include:Acting for high profile actress in the successful defence of a challenge to the validity of a family member's will. Substantial costs order awarded in favour of client.Acting for high profile director/producer in the defence of a claim under the Inheritance Act 1975.Jump and Jones v Lister and Forresters Solicitors Limited [2016] EWHC 2160 (Ch). Successfully acting for the Executors and Residuary Beneficiaries in a dispute relating to the interpretation of two Wills, and in related professional negligence proceedings.Acting for a spouse in a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 against her Deceased husband’s Estate. Estate value of £18m, Achieved seven figure settlement.Funding:Ben always adopts a pragmatic and flexible approach to funding, and often acts on a deferred fee basis or Conditional Fee Arrangement (“no win, no fee”), and will be happy to discuss funding options in all cases.

Lorraine Wilson

Legal Director Lorraine specialises in acting for private clients in relation to their estate planning, including the preparation of wills, trusts and lasting powers of attorney. Lorraine has extensive experience in complex probate applications and dealing with the administration of estates. She has a particular interest in cross-border matters and is used to working with lawyers in different jurisdictions to meet her client’s objectives and ensure their worldwide affairs are in order. Lorraine has a wealth of experience working with a range of clients including business owners, elderly clients and those with complex family or financial affairs.As the lead of our trust administration team, Lorraine is a specialist advisor for clients in relation to the creation and administration of trusts to ensure that trustees have fulfilled their legal and tax obligations, and she deals with various aspects of legal and tax compliance.As well as dealing with private clients, Lorraine also leads our team of specialists dealing with recovery from estates work on behalf of local authorities. She also regularly presents estate planning seminars for clients and intermediaries.Lorraine prides herself on providing excellent client care, ensuring that her clients are always given an efficient and professional service, providing regular updates and communicating in language clients can understand. Lorraine is a full STEP member, full accredited member of The Association of Lifetime Lawyers and a member of the Law Society Private Client Section. Lorraine completed her STEP qualification in 2021 and was awarded two STEP Excellence Awards for the highest scoring graduate across the STEP Diploma and in the Administration of Trusts examination. Lorraine has been ranked as an “Associate to Watch” in the Chambers High Net Worth Guide since 2021 and is a “Key Lawyer” in the Legal 500 Rankings.

Catriona Wolfenden

Catriona is Weightmans' Product and Innovation Director and leads innovation and product initiatives across the firm, ensuring that delivery is aligned to the firm’s overall strategy. She works closely with the innovation and product teams, our clients, suppliers and our legal teams to ensure that Weightmans continues to evolve and offers real market-leading solutions.Catriona joined Weightmans in September 2007 following completion of a PhD in medical law and the Bar Vocational Course. She was admitted as a solicitor in October 2011 and promoted to Partner in 2019. Catriona has plenty of first-hand experience of civil litigation as she was a team leader in the costs department and as a Professional Support Lawyer frequently provided strategic know how updates, training and technical support internally and externally for clients.Catriona is regularly interviewed for articles and research projects and frequently presents at legal/innovation conferences on topics related to innovation and future skills. She was shortlisted for 'rising star' at the Legal Week Innovation Awards 2019. Catriona’s team have been shortlisted finalists in over 20 National Innovation awards since 2018, winning the Modern Law Awards 2019 for the 'best use of technology' as a result of a collaborative project with Kira Systems (AI software provider) and the Computer Science Department at the University of Liverpool. They were runner up at the British Legal Tech Awards 2020 for 'Technology Venture of the Year' for an RPA Email filing assistant (EFA) and runner up for the ‘Most Innovative Firm of the Year’ at the British Legal Tech Awards 2022.Catriona has been a director of UKLTA (The Legal Tech Association for the UK) and completed a three year term on the Liverpool Enterprise Partnership Professional and Business Services Board. Catriona is a member of UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowship Panel College.In 2024, Catriona, alongside Weightmans’ chief innovation and technology officer, Stuart Whittle, launched a new book, Innovation in Law Firms: Implementing Successful Projects, packed with insight on how to harness and implement innovation in a law firm. Catriona was included in The Lawyer Hot 100 2025 list.Alongside her work at Weightmans, Catriona has commenced a 3 year Visiting Professorship in the Edge Hill University Business School. As part of this, she will be working with the Edge Hill University School of Law and Criminal Justice to enhance applied research and impact in AI, legal tech and digital business.

Juliet Wood

Juliet originally joined Weightmans as a paralegal in 2005 and qualified at Weightmans into our Large Loss Team. She specialises in technical claims, having also worked in within the Fraud team.In 2019, Juliet transferred to our Insolvency and Recoveries team and developed an expertise in non-indemnity recoveries before transferring back to Motor in 2023.Juliet has 15 years’ experience of dealing with technical issues arising out of non-indemnity claims relating to the Road Traffic Act 1988, its interpretation, and the MIB agreements.She handles cases from small claims track all the way through to multi track, including both property damage claims and significant personal injury cases.

Mark Woodall

Partner - Cross Border

Naomi Woods

Partner - International Private Wealth

Philip Woolham

Principal Associate • EPI Liverpool

Victoria Wright

Victoria has expertise in advising insurers and logistics operators and is known for industry knowledge. She has been handling EL/PL claims for insurers and large self-insureds for over 15 years and leads on technical civil claims for haulage, construction and warehousing clients.

Tony Yeaman

Tony is a partner and heads the NHS Resolution (formerly NHSLA) clinical negligence team. He has extensive experience in acting for the NHS, having specialised in this area since 1986 and having spent six years in-house as one of a team of regional legal advisers.He has managed multi-party group litigation, including the HIV haemophiliac litigation and has advised the NHS on a number of high-profile claims and inquiries. Tony now specialises in managing high-value and complex clinical negligence claims, whilst providing advice on complex healthcare issues such as treatment decisions and risk management.

Ian Young

Ian has over 20 years' experience of personal injury claims from various perspectives. Over the years he has acted for a number of insurer clients on a defendant basis, both in the traditional panel solicitors environment and also in-house for a major insurance group where he ran a team dealing with road traffic claims from first notification to trial. Ian has also spent a number of years pursuing claims on behalf of claimants and has gained the ability to view a personal injury claim from all perspectives.

Abdul Zaheed