Excello Law

Charities, Social Enterprise and Business & Corporate

Qualified - 1994

Vanessa is a commercial lawyer with 20 years’ experience, 13 of which have been spent as a partner in leading London law firms. She has established and grown corporate/commercial departments and sat on the management board overseeing the running of the firm with particular responsibility for finance and HR strategy.

She has acted on transactions ranging from multi-million pound international acquisitions to business start-ups. She particularly enjoys working along-side owner managers helping them grow and develop their business.

Director and Company Secretary, Women of the Year Lunch Managing Director, Awen Consultants Limited Company Secretary, Latitude Leisure Limited

In addition to being a qualified solicitor, Vanessa also holds the Corporate Finance Qualification from the Institute of Chartered Accounts in England and Wales.

Vanessa is the author of “Due Diligence: A Practical Guide”, she speaks regularly at national and international conferences on business law and is a visiting lecturer for the University of West of England Law Faculty. She is also a feature blogger for Jordans, the company formation agent and legal publisher, on issues affecting SME businesses.

In addition to her experience in running law firms, Vanessa is herself an entrepreneur. In response to the recession, she set up Across the Board, a practical governance advisory service aiming to maximise performance and minimise risk within organisations. She has run an investment network matching businesses with sources of funding and in collaboration with ActionCoach she helps management teams get “investor ready”. Vanessa is also a director of the Women of the Year Lunch and its associated charity which recognises the achievements of women across all sectors at an annual lunch.

Vanessa is married and divides her time between London during the week and her main home in the Brecon Beacons of Wales during the weekend, when she spends time with her husband and the family pets. Away from work, she is passionate about rugby, following Wales and the Cardiff Blues. She enjoys walking her deerhound dogs in the Brecon Beacons as well as following the art and music scenes in Cardiff and London. Since her husband is an archaeologist, she spends the rest of her spare time visiting piles of rocks and ruins.