Our lateral partners
In 2025, we welcomed 21 lateral partners across the UK, Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
Commercial
Mark Dewar
joined our London office as a Partner from DLA Piper, where he served as Partner and Head of its Commercial Contracts practice, as well as a member of its Global Commercial Contracts Team. He has in recent years also been involved with DLA Piper’s ESG practice. Mark’s practice focuses on the regulation and risk within supply chains of consumer products, including on an international scale. His reputation in the market, and experience across a range of industries, are a strong addition to our capabilities in this arena.
Corporate
Wendy Fong
joined our Hong Kong office as a Partner from Squire Patton Boggs, and has brought with her a wealth of expertise in corporate finance transactions, including equity capital markets, private investments, private equity and venture capital projects, as well as various forms of public and private mergers and acquisitions across Hong Kong and the broader Asian region.
Francis Li
joined our Hong Kong office as a Partner from Squire Patton Boggs. He has significant experience offering counsel on corporate matters to companies in Hong Kong, China, Singapore and other Asian countries, and previously served as a regional investment banker, where he primarily advised on equity capital market transactions.
Ed Morgan
joined our London office as a Partner from Fladgate LLP. With a varied client base ranging across leading asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and high-net-worth individuals, Ed has a strong track record delivering complex transactions across the UK and internationally. He has brought over two decades of experience to the Firm and is highly regarded for his work with investment funds, indirect real estate structures, joint ventures, management arrangements for property investment and development, investment and restructuring, private M&A and real estate acquisitions and disposals.
Annapaola Negri-Clementi
joined our Milan office as a Partner, alongside her team, marking a significant step in the strategic expansion of our Firm's multidisciplinary private capital offering in Italy. Annapaola's experience covers corporate transactions, financial markets and fintech, intellectual property, board advisory roles, and a specialism in art law. Her team consists of a corporate Senior Associate, an intellectual property Senior Associate, and a Senior Art Consultant who provides guidance on collections, exhibitions, and corporate art strategy.
Gustina Singgih
joined our London office as a Partner from Babcock International Group, where she was Deputy General Counsel. She has brought with her a wealth of experience in M&A and joint venture work, as well as a background in advising on complex financing transactions and projects across various sectors, including aerospace & defence and financial services. Gustina is fluent in multiple languages, including Dutch, Mandarin and Bahasa Indonesia, enabling us to better serve our international client base.
Greg Stonefield
joined our London office as a Partner. He was previously a Partner at Eversheds, King & Wood Mallesons and Mayer Brown. Greg advises corporates, financial institutions and sponsors on complex domestic and cross-border corporate finance transactions. His practice spans public and private M&A, equity capital markets transactions (including IPOs, introductions, secondary offerings, block trades and private placements), international reorganisations, joint ventures, private equity investments and broader strategic advisory matters. He has developed a strong international practice over many years, with significant experience across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, in addition to the UK. His work frequently involves navigating multi-jurisdictional regulatory frameworks and transactions in emerging markets.
Tun Zaw Mra
joined our Singapore office as a Partner within the Corporate team. Tun was previously at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP), where he was a corporate partner advising on cross-border M&A and other corporate transactions in the UK, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. Tun has advised corporate and institutional clients across a broad range of complementary sectors, including real estate, renewable energy, technology and hospitality. Tun has helped us grow our regional M&A practice by capturing work generated from outbound Asian capital being deployed in the rest of the world. He has also assisted with cross-selling the rest of the Firm’s capabilities in the UK/Europe and the Middle East, whilst serving our existing clients transacting in Asia.
Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency
Libby Elliott
joined our London office as a Partner and brings with her an exceptional breadth of experience in both contentious and non-contentious restructuring and insolvency, having held senior roles at Dentons, Stephenson Harwood, KPMG and most recently as Managing Director and Head of Risk and Legal at Interpath. She advises on all aspects of corporate restructurings and insolvencies. She has advised on complex and high value cross-border restructurings as well as domestic matters in a whole range of sectors such as retail, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services.
Corporate Tax and Incentives
Vadim Romanoff
joined our London office as a Partner from Clifford Chance, where he served as Tax Director and prior to that he was a Senior Tax Associate at Baker McKenzie. He has more than 17 years' experience across several leading law firms and a single-family office in London, with deep expertise in UK and international tax matters, including the structuring of private investment funds, family offices, and complex corporate transactions.
Dispute Resolution
Maher Al Nashar
joined our Dubai office us as a Partner within the Litigation team. Maher joined us from Clyde & Co where he had been for nearly nine years. Maher is a litigation lawyer with over 30 years of legal experience in the UAE and the Middle East. His expertise relates to the application of local law within the context of onshore commercial disputes, and he supports clients seeking local law advice and litigation strategy across the Middle East. Maher has contributed to pleadings before different courts and jurisdictions across the Middle East region, such as Syria, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bahrain.
Richard Burger
joined our London office as a Partner within our Commercial Dispute Resolution team. Richard joined us from WilmerHale, where he served as co-head of their London Investigations and Criminal Litigation team. Richard has brought with him more than 25 years of experience in complex domestic and international regulatory enforcement and criminal investigations. His experience spans a broad range of areas, including corporate crime, securities enforcement anti-financial crime, sanctions and complex governance issues within the financial services sector. He is a former investigative lawyer with two of the UK’s financial regulators: the FSA the predecessor to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), as well as a former named FCA Skilled Person. He has senior in-house legal experience from a secondment as the Head of Compliance and Legal for a London market insurer. His client and contact base includes financial services firms, in particular in the London insurance market, large corporations and professional services firms and UHNWIs and family offices.
Jonathan Huth
joined our Dubai office as a Partner from Howard Kennedy’s London office, where he was a Partner and Head of the Middle East practice. Before that, he spent four years as a Partner at Kobre & Kim and was previously Senior In-House Counsel at HSBC in London. Prior to that, Jonathan was based in Washington at the United States Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the Enforcement Division. Jonathan’s practice focuses on cross-border investigations, disputes, judgment enforcement, asset recovery, financial crime and whistleblowing, and regulatory enforcement matters for clients based in the UK, Europe, and Africa, often involving the most serious reputation issues.
Jue Jun Lu
joined our London office as a Partner from DLA Piper and is a recognised expert in international arbitration and complex cross-border dispute resolution, particularly in Chinese-related matters. She acts in litigation of all sizes, especially complex, high-stake cases, and her practice covers a variety of industry sectors including energy and natural resources, infrastructure, aviation, technology, and financial services. Her international expertise and fluency in English and Mandarin (as well as conversational Spanish), has enabled us to better serve our diverse client base across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Gavin Margetson
joined our Singapore office as a Partner in our Commercial Dispute Resolution team. Gavin joined us from Mishcon de Reya’s Singapore office, where he set up the International Arbitration team for Southeast Asia with Henry Winter. Gavin specialises in international arbitration, cross-border litigation, and corporate crime & investigations. His sector experience includes energy, TMT, hospitality and – more recently – fintech and digital assets. Previously, Gavin spent almost two decades with Herbert Smith Freehills, where he was a partner in their Tokyo, Bangkok and Singapore offices.
Aline Wey Speirs
has joined our Zurich office as a Partner in the Litigation and Disputes team. Aline has served as a Partner and Head of Disputes at Altenburger Legal + Tax Ltd. Her extensive background includes serving as an attorney-at-law at CMS and as a deputy judge in the District of Horgen. Her leadership experience extends to her board positions with Zugerberg Finanz AG and Erni Group Holding AG. Aline speaks German, French and English, and her experience has significantly advanced our collaborative growth ambitions across Europe. Her expertise in complex domestic and international commercial litigation, arbitration and white-collar crime complements and strengthens our Firm’s capabilities. She also represents private clients in family law disputes.
Henry Winter
joined our Singapore office as a Partner within our Commercial Dispute Resolution team. Henry has spent three years as a Partner developing his practice at Mishcon de Reya. Before that, Henry was Senior Legal Counsel at QBE and Senior Associate at Hogan Lovells. Having lived and worked in APAC for over 15 years, Henry has significant experience and a large regional network. Henry specialises in cross-border dispute resolution, including international commercial and investor-state arbitration, litigation, and investigations. He also has considerable experience dealing with regulators across the Asia Pacific region. This includes representing multinational corporates, foreign investors, and governments in complex litigation and arbitrations. His sector focus includes international trade, energy (renewable and conventional), resources, financial services, fraud, infrastructure, and construction.
Financial Services Regulatory and Funds
Gaven Cheong
joined our Hong Kong office as a Partner within the Funds team. Gaven spent three years at PwC’s Hong Kong law firm Tiang & Partners, where he was Head of Investment Funds, having previously been a funds Partner at Simmons & Simmons. Gaven brought with him nearly two decades of fund formation and Hong Kong regulatory experience. His practice covers the establishment and structuring of a wide range of collective investment schemes, including hedge funds, real estate and infrastructure funds, private equity arrangements, hybrid funds and other private investment structures, and regulatory advice in relation to general investment management activity.
Matthew Griffin
joined us as a Partner from Mayer Brown, where he was Head of Funds and Investment Management in Europe. Before that, he spent eight years as Partner and Head of Funds and Investment Management (EMEA) at White & Case. Matthew has more than 25 years' experience representing mid-market sponsors and institutional investors, including sovereign investors, in a wide range of funds matters. He has acted on a significant number of complex, high-value secondary transactions and co-investment transactions, and has formed funds across asset classes and jurisdictions.
Intellectual Property
Robert Lundie Smith
joined our London office as a Partner from EIP where he spent over 11 years as a partner including in roles as co-head of IP Litigation and head of UK Patent Disputes. While Robert is an IP disputes specialist with experience across the various forms of IP rights, he has a particular focus on complex multijurisdictional patent disputes across a broad range of technologies. He has significant experience before both the High Court and Court of Appeal in such matters. His experience incorporates high value cross border matters concerning portfolio licensing disputes which matters regularly encompass sub-disputes over jurisdiction, ASIs, licensing terms and valuation.
Real Estate
Josh Risso-Gill
joined our London office as a Planning Partner within the Real Estate Planning team. Josh joined us from CMS, and previously Nabarro, where he was a Planning Partner for 20 years. He has brought with him more than 25 years of experience specialising in planning, highway, compulsory purchase and listed building issues. Josh has extensive experience advising on complex and high-profile development schemes, including tall office developments in the City of London, large scale regeneration developments, co-living and student accommodation projects, hotel and leisure schemes, data centres and sports stadiums, including Twickenham and Ascot Racecourse. He led the team that successfully achieved planning permission for the People’s Republic of China’s new super embassy at Royal Mint Court.
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