Jane Colston > Brown Rudnick LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Brown Rudnick LLP Offices

Brown Rudnick LLP
8 CLIFFORD STREET
LONDON
W1S 2LQ
England
Visit website 020 7851 6000 020 7851 6100

Jane Colston

Jane Colston photo
+44.20.7851.6059 [email protected]

Work Department

Litigation & Arbitration

Position

Partner

Career

Jane Colston is co-practice group leader of the Firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group in London.  Her practice focuses on complex and high-value commercial banking, contract and tort disputes as well as company, shareholders and partnership disputes. Jane has acted in numerous complex fraud cases and has extensive experience of forensic investigations, most of which have involved working with teams of investigators and accountants, and coordinating lawyers in multiple jurisdictions to trace and freeze assets. She has managed numerous cases involving freezing, proprietary, search, disclosure, gagging, imaging and delivery up injunctions as well as breach of confidence and privacy claims. Jane is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.

Jane has acted in numerous cases where millions to billions of pounds have been at stake including involving states. Jane therefore has a deep technical knowledge but also real experience of how to run these cases successfully.

Jane has substantial experience of acting as a supervising solicitor appointed by the Courts of England and Wales in regard to the execution of search, imaging and door-step delivery up orders and leads Brown Rudnick’s Supervising Solicitors team. Jane also lectures on topics including the impact of artificial intelligence on the legal and insolvency professions at international conferences such as those hosted by the International Bar Association, C5 Fraud Asset Tracing and Recovery, the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and INSOL Academic Group, INSOL Asia Hub and SGRI (SMU).

Jane serves as Diversity, Equity & Inclusion partner (“DEI partner”), along with her counterpart Chelsea Mullarney in the New York office. As a DEI partner, Jane works alongside the director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to develop and implement the Firm’s strategy for maintaining an inclusive work environment. In this role, Jane is a visible champion for the Firm’s efforts to recruit, hire, develop and promote diverse and women lawyers, and actively engages Firm leadership to ensure equity and inclusion remain strategic business priorities.

Jane’s passion for inclusion extends beyond her role as DEI partner to her practice and external activities. Since 2016, Jane has organized the Firm’s Women in Business speaker series, bringing together women lawyers and business professionals from across industries to discuss their careers. Jane also serves as the diversity & inclusion officer for the International Bar Association’s Litigation Committee and has spoken at several diversity-related conferences on topics related to inclusion in the legal profession.

Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Jane trained and then qualified into Hogan Lovells’ litigation department. She then joined Baker & McKenzie. In 2004 she co-founded the litigation boutique Masseys which was described by The Times as “go to” for banking disputes. It merged with Stewarts in 2010.

Education

University of East Anglia – LL.B. Law

Lawyer Rankings

London > Dispute resolution > Banking litigation: investment and retail

(Leading partners)

Jane Colston – Brown Rudnick LLP

Drawing on extensive international experience, Brown Rudnick LLP is regularly called upon to act against major financial institutions, multinationals and sovereigns, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Securities claims under section 90 and 90a of FSMA are another area of expertise for the ‘talented and dedicated’ team. Jane Colston co-heads the group, boasting an established fraud practice, alongside Neill Shrimpton, who brings extensive offshore litigation experience to the team. The practice was strengthened with the addition in November 2023 of ‘bright, pragmatic and direct’ Derval Walsh, an expert in investment and retail banking disputes. Jessica Lee and Robin Pickworth, who joined in October 2023, are other key contacts in the team.

London > Crime, fraud and licensing > Fraud: civil

(Hall of Fame)

Jane Colston – Brown Rudnick LLP

Combining cross-border civil fraud, criminal and regulatory expertise, Brown Rudnick LLP‘s London practice is consistently engaged to act in major fraud disputes involving significant international features, such as the actions of individuals who are based in overseas jurisdictions. The practice can also boast complementary expertise in asset tracing and recovery, as well as experience in pursuing and executing domestic and international search orders. The London litigation and arbitration practice group is co-led by the ‘legally, strategically and technically astute’ Jane Colston, whose track record includes numerous cases involving freezing, proprietary, search, disclosure, gagging, imaging and delivery up injunctions, and Neill Shrimpton, whose experience includes litigating cases at all levels of the English courts, as well as in the BVI and before the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. The practice further includes ‘excellent fraud lawyer’ Robin Pickworth, an October 2023 hire from Armstrong Teasdale; digital asset disputes specialist Jessica Lee; and Joanna Curtis and Theodore Elton, who both act in civil fraud cases.

London > Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: premium

Boasting an impressive clientele of high-net-worth individuals and multinationals, Brown Rudnick LLP regularly acts against major financial institutions. Jane Colston is a go-to litigator for fraud cases and leads the team alongside ‘very experienced commercial litigator’ Neill Shrimpton, who regularly handles disputes under Section 90 of FSMA. Jessica Lee boasts particular expertise in disputes related to digital assets. Theodore Elton is another name to note, as is Katy-Jade Church. The wider team has been strengthened by the recent additions of reputation law specialist Charlotte Harris; banking and finance dispute-focused Derval Walsh; fraud and private client specialist Robin Pickworth; and Paul Feldberg, who heads up the firm’s white collar defense practice. Thomas McDonnell has been promoted to counsel.

Lawyer Rankings

Top Tier Firm Rankings

Firm Rankings