Our lateral partners
Over the course of 2024, we made a series of lateral partner hires to grow and strengthen our Firm:
Banking & Finance
James Walton
joined our London office as a partner within the Banking and Finance team. James joined from Edwin Coe and specialises in debt finance, with a focus on real estate finance and litigation finance. He has over 25 years’ experience advising lenders, borrowers, loan servicers and debt sellers/purchasers on distressed and non-distressed loan transactions. Much of his work centres around new loan originations, as well as buying and selling loans and loan portfolios, and working with clients to extract value from their acquired portfolios. James advises on loans originated across all sectors, including development loans, residential, student accommodation and later living.
Philip Withey
joined our Cheltenham office as a partner in the Banking & Finance team. Philip joined from Womble Bond Dickinson UK LLP, where he was a Partner specialising in banking and finance since 2007. He has extensive experience advising both lenders and borrowers on a range of acquisition, asset, structured, development and project finance transactions. Philip also works with key clients on issues relating to derivatives trading, regulatory matters, secondary debt trading, restructuring and sub-participation.
Corporate
Ahmad Anani
joined the Doha office as a partner and Head of Capital Markets and Regulatory for the Middle East. Ahmad is regarded as one of the leading corporate, regulatory and capital market lawyers in the region. He was previously a Partner and Leader of Legal Business Solutions at PwC Legal (Doha) since 2022. Prior to that, he was Office Managing Partner for Addleshaw Goddard (Doha). Ahmad also manages a Sports Consultancy and Management business backed by Aspire Zone Foundation, a Qatari Government sports conglomerate to promote and invest in sporting events across the world, complementing the Firm’s sports offering across Europe and the Middle East. Ahmad advises clients across the GCC region and beyond, and he works closely with our existing corporate teams in Bahrain and Dubai.
Giles Dennison
joined our London office as a Partner within the Firm’s Corporate team. Giles was previously a Partner at Eversheds Sutherland and Head of its International TMT M&A Group. Giles is a renowned corporate lawyer with over 25 years’ experience advising on transactional and project work including public and private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, shareholder agreements and multi-jurisdictional group reorganisations, as well as general corporate governance and advisory matters. While he advises clients across a range of sectors, he has a particular focus on transactions in the technology sector.
Shirley Fu
joined our Hong Kong office from SF Lawyers (KPMG’s affiliated law firm in Hong Kong where Shirley was the founding partner) and specialises in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and both corporate and commercial matters. She also has over two decades of experience advising on complex corporate and commercial transactions in China and across Asia. She generally advises private and public listed companies and private equity clients on all types of transactions, including M&A, restructuring, and joint ventures, as well as general corporate matters, from corporate governance, directors’ duties, and shareholders’ rights, to listing rules and compliance. Shirley is also well-versed in employment, data privacy, technology, and intellectual property laws. She was dual qualified as both a lawyer and an accountant, and has legal qualifications and expertise in Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area, China, Australia, England & Wales, New Zealand, Cayman Islands and BVI.
Alexis Karim
joined the London office as a Corporate Partner, from DWF. Alexis specialises in private company M&A, as well as private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) work. His client base includes both mid-size, large and growth corporates, PE and VC sponsors, family offices, management teams and investee companies. Alexis’s practice spans a number of sectors, most notably healthcare and life sciences, financial services and technology.
Dispute Resolution
Peter Brabant
joined our Singapore office as an International Arbitration and Investigations partner. Peter has almost two decades experience acting for multinational clients across Asia Pacific, and he has advised on some of the most contentious and complex disputes and investigations across the region. He has expertise in resolving energy and construction disputes, as well as investor-state arbitrations relating to energy transition and decommissioning. Peter has also advised clients across the full range of investigations and compliance related matters ranging from anti-bribery/corruption, incident response and fraud to cybersecurity and anti-trust.
Frédéric Dereux
joined our Paris office and was the former Managing Partner of Gowling Paris. He has over 25 years’ experience as a commercial litigator, and a proven track record of resolving contractual and commercial cross-border and domestic disputes for French and international companies. He has a renowned practice in the automotive industry and is regarded as a leader in the sector, having acted for numerous Tier 1 companies, industrial groups, and component suppliers to major automotive manufacturers on issues relating to the negotiation, performance and termination of contracts and commercial relationships.
Nicola Jackson
joined our Dubai office from Clyde & Co as a Partner in the Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency Disputes Team. Nicola specialises in insolvency-related disputes and advisory in the UAE, and in commercial and financial disputes before the DIFC Courts. Nicola advises creditors, debtors and insolvency practitioners on a wide range of insolvency-related matters before the DIFC, ADGM and onshore UAE Courts, including advising local and foreign office holders in their capacity as such. She has been in the Middle East since 2009 and has acted on a number of seminal insolvency and restructuring cases in the region, including Awal Bank – of which Charles Russell Speechlys is the Liquidator – TIBC, Abraaj, Gulf Petrochem and NMC Healthcare.
Employment
Dan Pollard
joined the London office as a partner in our Employment team. Dan advises on a broad range of employment law issues including corporate transactions, business protection, corporate governance, HR policy and strategy, board room disputes, high-value employment tribunal claims and international HR projects. Dan joined from global employment boutique Littler.
Financial Services Regulation & Funds
Richard Ellis
rejoined the Firm’s London office as a partner within the Financial Services Regulation & Funds practice, from McDonnell Ellis. Richard is a well-established financial services lawyer with a wide-ranging regulatory practice. Day to day he advises on the nature and scope of UK financial services regulation and regularly assists clients with the FCA authorisation process. His client base encompasses exchanges, multilateral and organised trading facilities, proprietary trading firms and investment managers.
Charlotte Hill
joined us as a partner within the Financial Services Regulation & Funds team. Based in London, Charlotte joined us from Taylor Wessing where she was Head of the Financial Services Regulation & FinTech Group for over five years. Charlotte has extensive experience in providing international regulatory advice on both FinTech and other financial services regulation matters. Her client base is broad ranging from international conglomerates to specialist boutiques and includes FinTech and crypto firms, online retail marketplaces, investment platforms, investment managers, brokers and banks. She advises clients internationally and is an expert on the Rules and Regulations of the FCA and PRA.
Private Client
Jonathan Burt
joined our London office as a partner within the International Private Client team. Jonathan joins from Harbottle & Lewis and brings over 30 years of experience advising international entrepreneurs and business and wealth owners. Prior to his time at Harbottle & Lewis and Baker McKenzie, Jonathan was Managing Director at Barclays Bank’s Wealth Advisory group. Jonathan is an expert adviser for UK resident non-domiciled individuals and their assets and trust structures in and outside of the UK. His clients typically have a connection with the UK through tax residency, citizenship or domicile, or invest in UK businesses or real estate.
Amira Shaker-Bortman
joined our London office as a partner within the Firm’s International Private Client team from McDermott Will & Emery. Amira has over 15 years’ experience acting for ultra-high net worth individuals, family offices and respective investment holding companies on corporate transactional and advisory matters. Her primary area of focus is advising on complex, cross-border investment structuring and wealth management, as well as acting for clients on the acquisition of high-value assets and financial instruments in Europe, the US and the Middle East.
Private Client (International Tax)
Kurt Rademacher
joined our Singapore Office from Butler Snow as part of a new international tax team of US-qualified attorneys. The team provide US legal advice to clients based in Asia who have business or personal interests or interaction with the US and need integrated, locally sourced advice on the applicable tax considerations. Kurt is a seasoned professional in international wealth transfer planning. He represents ultra-high net worth families and family-controlled businesses across the world with respect to US federal income, gift, and estate tax issues.
Ivan Lu
also joined our Singapore Office from Butler Snow as part of our international tax team of US-qualified attorneys. Ivan represents high net worth and ultra-high net worth individuals and families with respect to estate planning. He has extensive experience representing US-connected families in the Greater China region and Southeast Asia. In addition to estate and tax planning, Ivan frequently assists clients with IRS compliance and disclosure, and guides them through various IRS disclosure programmes.
Real Estate
Nick Burt
joined our Cheltenham office as a partner in the Real Estate team, and principally works on national projects and matters. Nick joined from Trowers and Hamlins where he was Head of Strategic Land and a Partner for more than five years. He has significant experience advising clients, including landowners, promoters and developers, on the acquisition, promotion and disposal of development land. Whilst his practice is primarily focused in the house building and regeneration market, he also represents clients in corporate real estate, as well as leisure and retail sectors. His expertise also extends into a mix of commercial development work and advice to land owning clients and estates.
Rafe Courage
joined as a partner in our London office. Previously at Gateley Plc, his work includes conditional development/sale agreements involving complex planning, site assembly, vacant possession, infrastructure and work obligations. Rafe is experienced in negotiating sales, planning and/or revenue overage agreements, commercial lettings, complex infrastructure/energy (CHP) arrangements, Joint Venture documents and share purchase agreements for corporate real estate acquisitions. He also leads on real estate development procurement and partnership schemes.
Kim Lalli
joined our London office as a partner in the Real Estate team. Kim joined from Wedlake Bell and brought many years of experience of all types of real estate development transactions, covering both acquisitions and disposals. She has advised on the acquisition and disposal (including disposal strategy and advice given throughout the development stages) of residential and mixed-use developments, with some development values exceeding £500m. She also deals with strategic land transactions (including promotion agreements and options), and the disposal of build to rent and affordable housing.
Andrew Ross
joined our London office as a partner in the Real Estate Disputes team. Andrew joined from Travers Smith, where he headed up the Property Disputes offering. Andrew has significant experience acting for clients in all manner of property disputes, ranging from rights of light disputes at central London developments, to shooting and fishing rights on country estates. He has acted for property funds, landlords, tenants, developers, professional sports clubs and many other types of clients.
Tax
James Stewart
joined our London office as a partner within the Corporate Tax and Incentives team. James joined from Sheridans, where he was a Partner for two and a half years. He is a Chartered Tax Adviser and has advised clients on the tax aspects of a broad spectrum of real estate transactions (both commercial and residential), including direct sales and acquisitions, corporate real estate transactions and real estate finance. James also brings experience in venture capital and structuring-related advice spanning income tax, corporation tax, and stamp tax implications of various structuring matters.
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