Unveiled: The Hot 100 2016

By Natasha Bernal 25 January 2016

This year’s Hot 100 gathers together the best lawyers in the business – the cream of

the crop from in-house, private practice and the bar.

The list this year features 49 female lawyers, 10 barristers, and two recently-elected

managing partners alongside top class lawyers in litigation, finance, energy, real

estate, life sciences, and regulation.

Emma Moloney, News UK

The 30-strong in-house cohort gathers together key general counsel from a variety of

businesses, including British American Tobacco’s Jerome Abelman, BT’s Rachel

Canham and News UK’s Emma Moloney. Meanwhile the management section

includes innovation drivers such as Herbert Smith Freehills’ Libby Jackson and

Clifford Chance’s David Bickerton.

The Hot 100 2016 includes lawyers who have truly made a difference in the wider

business world – among them Associated British Foods’ Paul Lister, who helped to

establish a long-lasting $14m settlement following Primark’s Rana Plaza factory

disaster in India, or DWF insurance partner Michael Kingston, who adapted his

expertise to advise on key shipping safety regulation in the Arctic.

This year’s raft of barristers have reached new heights. Blackstone Chambers’ Tom

de la Mare QC

Tom de la Mare QC, Blackstone Chambers holds the record of acting on 10 of the 25

major cartel claims to hit the UK, while Brick Court Chambers’ Sarah Lee was

awarded silk earlier this year after making a name for herself as one of the most

prolific juniors when it comes to FTSE 100 clients battling in court.

Innovation has continued to be at the heart of the Hot 100. Some of the lawyers in this

year’s list have transformed their own practice to go above and beyond their fee-

earning duties – Bird & Bird’s Felicity Reeve and her push to expand her commercial

practice into less conventional sports, or Addleshaw Goddard’s Andrew Rosling, who

spearheaded the development of an app for doing business in Africa alongside his fee-

earning responsibilities, are just two examples.

Felicity Reeve, Bird & Bird

All of the 100 lawyers on the list have made an impact not just on the performance of

their firms, companies or chambers, but also the wider business community. Hundreds

of recommendations from across the industry poured in to support their nominations –

find out why they made the list here.

The Hot 100 2016: The Bar

John Beggs QC, Serjeants’ Inn Chambers

John Beggs QC

Over the past 25 years John Beggs QC has built up a leading practice acting on

defendant police work. The Serjeants’ Inn Chambers tenant acts for individual

policemen and women, chief constables and police authorities – as well as the Police

and Crime Commissioner – on a wide range of cases and inquiries.

In 2015 Beggs continued his representation of the Hillsborough match commanders

before the Hillsborough inquest; a job that has kept him on his feet for months and put

him firmly in the public gaze. More inquest work is scheduled for this year, with the

inquiry into the 1995 death of trainee soldier Cheryl James at the Deepcut Barracks.

With a raft of similarly high-profile cases on his caselist for the coming year there is

no doubt that Beggs is the go-to man for a policeman facing the courts.

Guy Blackwood QC, Quadrant Chambers

Guy Blackwood QC, Quadrant Chambers

Quadrant Chambers silk Guy Blackwood QC had a fantastic 2015, setting a precedent

on the way hypothetical evidence should be dealt with in court as well as handling a

number of high-profile sovereign immunity cases. In the former, Blackwood

successfully defended Arab Insurance Group (Arig) against claims from Axa

Versicherung that material non-disclosures from Arig had led Axa to write two

reinsurance treaties in a specific way. While Axa proved that Arab Insurance Group

had not disclosed the relevant information when it should have, Blackwood persuaded

Mr Justice Males disclosure would not have influenced the way Axa’s treaties were

written.

The decision was particularly significant given that the new Insurance Act will come

into force in 2016.

On the sovereign immunity front Blackwood was successful in having a $100m

(£70m) New York suit against hedge fund Talos dismissed on the grounds that it was

oppressive and also represented Taurus Petroleum in a case against the Iraqi

Government that will now go to the Supreme Court.

Next up, Blackwood is due to appear in a case concerning a ship hijacked by Somali

pirates.

Tom de la Mare QC, Blackstone Chambers

Tom de la Mare QC, Blackstone Chambers

The past 12 months have seen Tom de la Mare QC set the wheels in motion for a

career-defining era in competition litigation.

Of the 25 major cartel claims to hit the UK courts he has been instructed in 10, with

three ongoing. De la Mare was also appointed to the Competition Appeal Tribunal

expert working group that delivered its game-changing review last September, having

a fundamental impact on the court’s Rules of Procedure and championing the rights of

consumers and businesses potentially harmed by a breach of the law.

The eminent silk has a self-confessed “weirdly varied practice”, which meant his

headline case of last year was Lumsdon v Legal Services Board, otherwise known as

the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates case. Despite the Supreme Court

throwing out de la Mare’s client’s case in June, it recast the proportionality test in

cases involving measures that impede EU legal rights.

De la Mare was no stranger to the Supreme Court last year, appearing before it three

times on a range of competition and policy cases.

He has also taken on a primary role campaigning on criminal justice cuts.

Richard Hermer QC, Matrix Chambers

Richard Hermer QC, Matrix Chambers

Amid a raft of high-profile cases on which Matrix Chambers’ Richard Hermer QC

appeared last year, two in particular stand out.

The first was the successful £55m settlement with Shell on behalf of the Bodo

community in the Niger Delta. Instructed by regular client Leigh Day, Hermer led

advice which saw the oil giant settle out of court in January with almost 16,000

farmers and fishermen whose livelihoods were devastated by oil spills in 2008 and

2009.

At the other end of the year Hermer spent four days in the Supreme Court leading a

four-day hearing in the latest stage of the battle brought by Libyan dissident Abdul-

Hakim Belhaj, who claims he was the victim of unlawful rendition by the security

services.

Indeed, the UK’s highest court will be a regular destination for Hermer in the coming

year, with three cases set down to be heard. Expect the high-profile battles to keep on

coming.

Anneli Howard, Monckton Chambers

Anneli Howard, Monckton Chambers

Anneli Howard has a string of top-name clients including Visa Europe, BT, Orange

Telecom, Ryanair and the London Stock Exchange. She is also standing counsel to

the Civil Aviation Authority.

In her field of competition law she is fast becoming the go-to junior at the bar, having

earned a reputation for being a collaborative team player who gets the job done.

In the past year Howard successfully acted for Visa in its bid for a Commercial Court

summary judgment in the ongoing interchange fees litigation. In doing so she

persuaded the court to strike out more than 30 years’ potential damages sought by a

group of 12 retailers, totalling over £500m. She will appear for Visa again later this

year in a six-month trial on liability.

Howard thrives on managing cases, applying practical methods of cutting court

procedures to help clients achieve their goals in a timely and cost-efficient manner.

Sarah Lee, Brick Court Chambers

Sarah Lee, Brick Court Chambers

Brick Court Chambers tenant Sarah Lee has become a staple of telecoms litigation

and is one of the bar’s most prolific juniors when it comes to FTSE 100 clients

battling it out. Her rising profile was recognised with her appointment to silk in

January 2016.

Within telecoms, Lee began acting for BT, her principal client, in 2004. In 2014 alone

she appeared for the telecoms giant in the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and

Competition Appeal Tribunal dealing with the extent of Ofcom’s jurisdiction over an

appeal in relation to termination charges.

But Lee, who began her career at Brick Court as a pupil in 1990, is a also go-to for

Government work as well as acting for private and public companies. An example is

her lead appearance for the Government in a landmark European case concerning the

Working Time Directive last year.

Now that she has just been awarded silk, Lee will be even more in demand.

Jolyon Maugham QC, Devereux Chambers

Jolyon Maugham QC, Devereux Chambers

For a tax barrister, Devereux Chambers’ Jolyon Maugham QC has an unusually high

profile.

Just over two years ago Maugham began a blog with the aim of better informing the

public about tax in a bid to start a “more nuanced debate”. That blog has made him

the go-to commentator on tax issues.

Maugham is also involved in driving the political debate. He advised former Labour

leader Ed Miliband on tax in the run-up to the general election and continues to advise

both the Conservative and Labour parties on tax issues.

Maugham’s case list is impressive, with a series of major disputes progressing

through the courts last year and this year. Notably, having taken silk in February

2015, he is set to lead the Supreme Court appeal in a claim brought by film financiers,

after previously being led in the lower courts.

Somehow, Maugham also finds time to sit on the Bar Council’s policy and diversity

committee.

Laura Newton, Wilberforce Chambers

Laura Newton, Wilberforce Chambers

At just seven years’ call Wilberforce Chambers junior Laura Newton has been dubbed

a “superstar” by QCs for her record of bringing in significant commercial litigation

mandates and being a “driving force” in complex case management.

Newton was the most junior barrister to be hired by the set from closing 11 Stone

Buildings last October. She was immediately put to work on six cases, with

Wilberforce sources praising her ability to immediately get to grips with the details.

She is known for her skill on the marketing side of building a practice, succeeding in

securing instructions as a result of networking conferences around Europe. She was

instructed as sole counsel on a dispute involving allegations of fraudulent

misappropriation being heard in the High Court in 2016, and brought in a QC to the

case once its counterclaim was valued at $100m.

Her varied commercial and fraud practice has also seen her take a lead role running

the day-to-day aspects of a $4bn arbitration, a Kazakh mining dispute and a headline

BVI trial.

Mark Simpson QC, Fountain Court Chambers

Mark Simpson QC, Fountain Court Chambers

Fountain Court Chambers’ Mark Simpson QC spent much of the early part of 2015 on

his feet defending Gibson Dunn & Crutcher partner Peter Gray against allegations that

he misled the High Court. Although Gray’s fight was unsuccessful the dispute

highlighted the sort of complex work that forms Simpson’s caseload.

As well as Gray’s appeal, due in February, 2016 looks to be a banner year for the

professional disciplinary specialist. Among the cases to come is a £200m claim by a

special purpose vehicle, Gemini, against two firms of valuers in relation to the

valuation of a portfolio of 37 properties. The case is the biggest valuation claim ever

brought in the UK and is listed for three months in October.

Simpson also has a thriving practice advising firms and companies on investigations

and regulatory issues.

Described as being “as hands-on as I have ever seen a silk”, he receives plaudits for

his gravitas and his leadership skills.

James Willan, Essex Court Chambers

James Willan, Essex Court Chambers

The past 12 months have seen Essex Court Chambers’ James Willan undergo a career

transformation from junior barrister to one of the big names at the bar in civil fraud

and banking and finance litigation, despite only being 10 years’ call.

In one of the most high-profile cases of 2015, Willan acted for Djiboutian

businessman Abdourahman Boreh in his case against the African nation, securing the

discharge of a $100m freezing injunction due to dishonesty by the claimants’

solicitors and misconduct by the claimants.

Willan is not afraid of wading into complex global disputes: he is also acting for

Yukos in its claim to enforce arbitral awards worth $500m

set aside in Russia in allegedly corrupt judicial proceedings.

Willan’s banking work saw him act for Italian investment bank Dexia Crediop,

securing a judgment dismissing allegations of fraud and mis-selling. Judgment was

secured during a hearing so his silk mentor was never brought into the case.

Willan’s instructions see him going above and beyond traditional junior mandates,

being brought in by top silks on strategic case management and coming up with those

“clever points of law” that take the case where it needs to be, according to one of his

peers.

The Hot 100 2016: Commercial

Alex Chapman, Sheridans

Alex Chapman, Sheridans

Sheridans head of gaming law Alex Chapman leads a team that works on almost

every major video game deal going. At one stage this year his team were advisers to

the developers of six of the UK’s 10 top-selling video games.

One major deal was 2014’s $2.5bn (£1.75bn) sale of Mojang’s Minecraft to

Microsoft. Chapman and his team advised the company behind the pioneering game,

which sold 54 million copies since its release in 2009, on its sale to Microsoft.

Other matters this year include advising the developers of games such as ‘No Man’s

Sky’, and ‘Score! Hero’.

He also structured the deals for the first large-scale game to benefit from UK Games

Tax Credits and subsequently advised a number of developers on similar

arrangements, worth more than $250m to UK video games development.

Felicity Reeve, Bird & Bird

Felicity Reeve, Bird & Bird

It has been a great year for Bird & Bird commercial partner Felicity Reeve, who

scored a major new client in the media and sports space.

The All England Lawn Tennis Club entrusted her to close a deal with the BBC for

Wimbledon broadcasting rights in the UK, a challenging process that also involved

negotiating the hotly contested rights with broadcasters worldwide.

When Reeve joined Bird & Bird in 1994 the firm had a nascent sports group, which

has now grown to 11 fee-earners representing all three of the UK’s most important

football bodies: the Football Association (FA), the Premier League and the Football

League. The FA was Reeve’s first client and the firm has been reappointed to its

panel. Last year Reeve also advised the British and Irish Lions on the appointment of

Canterbury as official apparel partner for the 2017 tour of New Zealand.

Reeve is now branching out into other sports such as horse racing, a new challenge

where the underlying principles are the same.

Sarah Wright, Olswang

Sarah Wright, Olswang

Major client work for Sarah Wright last year included gaining trademark work from

longstanding Olswang client Microsoft, which had not historically given the firm its

filing work. Wright was able to “get under the skin of the business” and has worked

with the company on a weekly basis to secure its trademark position in the market.

She also won Lipsy as a client and has worked alongside the fashion brand to boost its

anti-counterfeiting efforts. Since her instruction in April 2015 she has secured three

five-figure settlements from third parties selling copies of Lipsy’s designs alongside

images of the company’s celebrity ambassadors.

Alongside her new work Wright gained a top spot on her firm’s 10-strong advisory

board recently, motivated by her desire for better female representation at the firm.

The prospect of representing junior partners at the top level is a priority for her and,

so far, she has performed a perfect balancing act between management responsibilities

and fee-earning.

The Hot 100 2016: Competition

Isabel Taylor, Slaughter and May

Isabel Taylor, Slaughter and May

It is not often that lawyers get to be the first to test a new regime, but that is what

Slaughter and May competition partner Isabel Taylor got to do last year.

Taylor led the Slaughters team acting for Northern Powergrid on an appeal against the

Gas and Electricity Markets Authority on price controls for electricity distribution

network operators. The appeals, to the Competition and Markets Authority, were the

first to be made under a new regime introduced by regulation in 2011, and will boost

Northern Powergrid’s revenue by £11m.

Not only was this an extraordinarily successful outcome, but for Slaughters Northern

Powergrid was a brand new client, won in a pitch process.

The work was the icing on the cake of a busy year for Taylor, who also has a thriving

state aid practice with clients such as the Green Investment Bank and is the chair of

the Law Society’s competition section committee.

Claire Wright, Allen & Overy

Claire Wright, Allen & Overy

In March 2016 Claire Wright will have been at Allen & Overy (A&O) for 30 years.

She marked her 29th with the completion of a matter that has been ongoing since the

firm first beat off heavy competition for it in 2012 – the Ministry of Justice’s

Transforming Rehabilitation project.

This saw 35 probation trusts dismantled, with their work being taken over by 21

newly created community rehabilitation companies (CRCs).

An incredibly tight schedule was imposed by then-justice secretary Chris Grayling for

what was an immense exercise: the final signing took two weeks, with A&O’s biggest

boardroom dedicated to housing the documents.

It turned out to be a fitting end to Wright’s client-facing career at the firm. She has

taken on the role of graduate recruitment partner and tasked with overhauling the

firm’s selection process to reflect what it will need from its lawyers in 2020.

The Hot 100 2016: Corporate

Aedamar Comiskey, Linklaters

Aedamar Comiskey, Linklaters

In the past few years corporate partner moves have hit the headlines. But Linklaters

lifer Aedamar Comiskey has stayed put throughout, winning lead roles on multiple

billion-pound M&A deals last year. Soon after closing Amec’s merger with Foster

Wheeler at the end of 2014 Comiskey was advising another longstanding client Amlin

on its £3.48bn acquisition by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance, while Alent was bought by

Platform Speciality Products in a £1.35bn deal.

As the firm’s lead relationship partner for both Amlin and Alent, as well as Aviva,

HSBC, Tate & Lyle and Dixons Carphone, Comiskey is Linklaters’ gateway to many

FTSE 100 companies.

She additionally worked on Visa Europe’s €21.2bn (£16.1bn) acquisition by Visa,

with HSBC’s $5.2bn (£3.7bn) sale of its Brazilian business strengthening her position

as one of Linklaters’ key Latin American experts.

A member of the magic circle’s partnership board, Comiskey is also heavily involved

in its Women Leadership Programme, mentoring female associates coming up the

ranks.

James Grimwood, CMS

James Grimwood, CMS

CMS’s new state-of-the-art City headquarters were the talk of the town last year – but

the redevelopment didn’t stop there. At James Grimwood’s request, another office

was set up at the start of the year, dedicated to deepening relationships with private

equity clients in the heart of Mayfair.

Grimwood saw an opportunity to grow in the affluent area, putting CMS within

walking distance of W1’s family businesses and real estate lenders.

Under his leadership, the EU private equity group has grown considerably over the

past year, with the firm increasingly acting for major players in the market such as

CVC, Cinven and Advent. He is the client relationship partner to private equity house

LDC and as such won a role on its £160m sale of uSwitch to Zoopla, and buyout of

online travel agent Iglu.

Elaine Nolan, Kirkland & Ellis

Elaine Nolan, Kirkland & Ellis

Since acting for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on the restructuring of Thomas

Cook in 2012, Kirkland & Ellis partner Elaine Nolan has cemented her place as the

go-to lawyer for the UK’s largest specialist aviation regulator.

In 2014 Nolan, a Kirkland partner since 2010 having joined the firm in June 2008

from Weil Gotshal & Manges, where she qualified in 2004, advised the CAA on the

restructuring of Monarch Airlines. Then last year she helped it protect its position

when Virgin Atlantic tapped the bond markets for a major refinancing in connection

with its landing slots at Heathrow.

While the CAA is just one client in Nolan’s blossoming practice, the fact that the US

firm is now firmly a key part of a UK regulator’s external legal armoury thanks to her

success on this string of matters is about as big an endorsement as it is possible to

find.

Lisa O’Neill, McDermott Will & Emery

Lisa O’Neill, McDermott Will & Emery

McDermott Will & Emery energy partner Lisa O’Neill has had a challenging and

busy first year after moving from Berwin Leighton Paisner in late 2014.

All of O’Neill’s clients – including Fortune 250 company Praxair and DEA Deutsche

Exploration – moved with her to her new firm and all instructed her on at least one

major energy matter in the first nine months.

Much of Lisa’s work involves advising on difficult issues and transactions in

challenging jurisdictions. In 2015 O’Neill advised on matters in Trinidad & Tobago,

Suriname, Guyana, Malawi, Tanzania, Comoros, North Sea, Columbia, Mexico, the

Canary Islands, Democratic Republic of Congo, and in nine European countries.

Among her many deals, O’Neill acted on Shell’s complex sale of its liquid petroleum

gas (LPG) businesses in 2015, as well as acting for oil and gas exploration company

RWE Dea on a $10bn development agreement with the Egyptian government to

continue its exploration efforts in the region.

Nick Pearey, Addleshaw Goddard

Nick Pearey, Addleshaw Goddard

It’s been an exciting year in the betting sector, with several high-profile sales and

mergers being announced. However, one of the most complicated deals the year was

GVC and 888 Holdings’ war for UK-listed Bwin.party, in a transaction about as

unpredictable as a game of roulette.

Although a large proportion of the Bwin board plumped for 888 Holdings in July, it

was Nick Pearey’s client GVC that eventually stormed to victory in a £1.1bn bid for

the company. It took the Addleshaw Goddard partner just two months to help GVC

turn the recommendation around in its favour, with both parties agreeing to adhere to

the UK Takeover Code despite it being a Gibraltar scheme of arrangement.

When not advising the betting industry, Pearey has been busy in the equally active

insurance sector, advising Miller Insurance Services on the sale of a partnership

interest to Willis Group.

Andrew Rosling, Addleshaw Goddard

Andrew Rosling, Addleshaw Goddard

Addleshaw Goddard corporate partner Andrew Rosling has had a busy 2015. He won

a first instruction for the firm from Tate & Lyle when the business opted for his

expertise and market insight over magic circle advisers for its European restructuring,

which went on throughout most of the year.

He has also been hard at work advising Sainsbury’s on its high-profile, strategic joint

venture with Dansk Supermarket to create the new Netto grocery chain in the UK – an

important strategic development for the retailer.

Long-time client Diageo had Rosling on call for the disposal of non-core businesses

earlier this year – an operation that saw him work on breaking up a series of joint

ventures in South Africa. These and other great opportunities in the retail and

consumer space motivated Rosling to spearhead a change in business plan at

Addleshaws, creating a strategy to capitalise on opportunities in the sector.

Last year Rosling also spearheaded the creation of an app on doing business in Africa

– an idea inspired by the amount of work he received from the continent and the lack

of connection between law firms in the region.

The Hot 100 2016: Employment

Tom Bray, Eversheds

Tom Bray, Eversheds

Eversheds HR partner Tom Bray has been busy over the past four years leading the

team responsible for providing specialist HR legal advice to Heathrow Airport.

Bray’s work for Heathrow covers “every employment issue you may come across”.

This includes work surrounding senior executive appointments, high-profile trade

union issues and Employment Tribunal claims.

The highlight of Bray’s year was striking a deal to transform the airport workers’

defined benefit pension scheme. It took a year for the money-saving changes to be

agreed. The deal tested all of Bray‘s negotiation skills as he assisted Heathrow in

reaching agreements with the trustees and the employees of both the unionised and

non-unionised workforces.

As a result of Bray’s team’s work alongside the Heathrow pension and HR teams to

achieve a “fair and consistent” deal with both workforces, many of Heathrow’s

longstanding employees were able to keep their defined benefit scheme despite the

changes taking place.

Sharon Tan, employment partner, Mishcon de Reya

Sharon Tan, Mishcon de Reya

With one of the largest employment law teams in the City, Mishcon de Reya has a

string of senior executive and CEO clients, as well as non-executive directors, for

which it acts.

But last year it hired McDermott Will & Emery partner Sharon Tan, and tasked her

with broadening the firm’s corporate client base around

the world.

Since joining, the Allen & Overy alumna has stuck to the brief by acting on the

integration and restructuring of two global businesses, a mandate she brought over

from her former US firm.

She has also been acting on the hottest employment topic of the day, working with an

international financial services company on unpaid six-figure bonuses.

The Hot 100 2016: Energy

Rosalie Chadwick, Pinsent Masons

Rosalie Chadwick, Pinsent Masons

Pinsent Masons corporate partner Rosalie Chadwick had a busy 2015 as lead lawyer

on one of the most high-profile deals of the year: the £585m disposal of assets by

French oil giant Total to North Sea Midstream Assets following the collapse in oil

prices.

The deal, which was a challenging first task for Chadwick after returning from

maternity leave, involved many multijurisdictional aspects and a high level of legal

and commercial complexity.

It was completed thanks to Chadwick’s ability to draw from her 15 years’ experience

in the energy market to end 40-year ties with Total’s upstream business.

Aside from her work on Total Chadwick has continued to act on other high-profile

deals including advising Falkland Oil and Gas on its takeover by Rockhopper

Exploration.

The Hot 100 2016: In-house

Rushad Abadan, Standard Life

Rushad Abadan, Standard Life

Former RBS deputy general counsel Rushad Abadan joins Standard Life as its group

general counsel in early 2016, having spent just under a decade at the bank.

That decade was characterised by a total overhaul of corporate culture; the subsequent

part-nationalisation of the bank and the current selling off of shares. According to

Abadan, he is most proud of his involvement in the rehabilitation of RBS and the

restructurings that followed it.

The former Dundas & Wilson lawyer also helped to reorganise the bank’s 400-strong

legal teams along functional lines and held a lead role in the restructuring of Dutch

bank ABN AMRO, which RBS purchased in 2009, and the sales of its stake of Direct

Line Group and Citizens Financial Group.

Jerome Abelman, British American Tobacco

Jerome Abelman, British American Tobacco

BAT general counsel Jerome Abelman revolutionised the tobacco giant’s legal

department last year – despite only taking on the role in May.

Abelman overhauled BAT’s global legal function, merging corporate and regulatory

affairs with legal and security into one mammoth team now named legal and external

affairs.

The move means Abelman now oversees BAT’s entire corporate affairs function,

including communications and sustainability, as well as government affairs,

regulation, risk management, scientific engagement and all legal issues.

Integrating the two teams into one 800-staff and 350-lawyer group around the world

is a project continuing into 2016, but has already proved fruitful, increasing efficiency

for the business worldwide.

It is also allowing Abelman to put increased focus on BAT’s creation of ‘next

generation products’ such as e-cigarettes, which will prove a key indicator of how

well the combined legal function works within the business as a whole.

All of this happened while Abelman also managed a raft of litigation in the UK and

abroad, including taking the British Government to court in December over plain-

packaging legislation.

Graeme Baldwin, Pearson

Graeme Baldwin, Pearson

As Pearson’s first formal M&A lawyer, Graeme Baldwin has played a pivotal role in

shaping the publisher’s corporate group. It couldn’t have been a busier year for him.

In 2015, Baldwin has overseen the high-profile sales of the Financial Times and The

Economist, with the £1bn transactions reflecting Pearson’s move away from news and

towards education.

As the company itself undergoes strategic change, its legal team has had to respond

accordingly, with Baldwin rising to the challenge by bulking up Pearson’s corporate

group and building on its anti-trust expertise. Amid all this restructuring, the ex-

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) senior associate has been instrumental in organising

Pearson’s first UK legal panel, in which the number of corporate advisers has been

widened to include not just HSF and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, but Pinsent

Masons and DLA Piper as well.

Maaike de Bie, Royal Mail

Maaike de Bie, Royal Mail

Acting general counsel Maaike de Bie joined the Royal Mail as deputy general

counsel in 2014 to aid its transition from a public sector organisation to a FTSE 100

company.

Since then she has focused on making the legal function up to the task, transforming it

from a contract implementation-focused team to one that behaves like a business

partner. De Bie cites this transformation as her proudest achievement.

She’s also expanded its panel, again making it fit for purpose for a FTSE 100

organisation. For an organisation that tackles everything from the grievances of dog-

bitten postmen to taking on the Competition and Markets Authority, getting this right

is crucial.

De Bie has spent most of her career in-house, spending time at the European Bank for

Reconstruction and Development, GE and Ernst & Young.

Martin Bowen, Dyson

Martin Bowen, Dyson

Dyson general counsel and company secretary Martin Bowen may be a long-term

fixture at the technology giant – he joined the company in 1998 – but that doesn’t

mean he’s standing still.

In 2015 Bowen overhauled the in-house team structure to put legal at the forefront of

the company’s development and future growth.

In-house lawyers are now part of the research and development teams, working hand-

in-hand with Dyson’s engineers to ward off any legal challenges that may be coming

down the line. It was no mean feat: Bowen had to convince his business partners of

the benefits legal could bring in helping push Dyson forward on the global stage.

The company is synonymous with innovation and Bowen’s team is right at the heart

of that thanks to his changes. With an eye on 20 per cent year-on-year growth in the

Asia Pacific, Bowen is working hard to see off copycat threats coming from China.

Sonya Branch, Bank of England

Sonya Branch, Bank of England

Sonya Branch was appointed general counsel of the Bank of England in 2015. The

former Linklaters lawyer and Clifford Chance partner had spent several years at

various government authorities such as the Office of Fair Trading and Department for

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs before landing the top job last May.

Branch admits that she saw her break from private practice as a temporary measure to

widen her perspective for her clients but soon realised that she saw her future in

Whitehall because of the shared sense of mission for the public good.

Now she heads up a team of 100 lawyers and has inherited a remit that has grown

rapidly over the last two years. As Branch says, the combined sense of mission at this

point in the bank’s history continues to inspire her.

Tom Brown, PayPal

Tom Brown, PayPal

Head of legal for PayPal UK and Ireland Tom Brown slashed the tech company’s

legal budget by 80 per cent when he arrived in 2011 but this impressive economy

pales in comparison to the projects he has overseen in the past four years.

The first half of his year was spent on PayPal’s split from eBay, a transaction

completed in under nine months. This followed on from rolling out an entirely new

business line in the form of PayPal Credit and PayPal Working Capital; producing the

first contactless card reader and mobile apps such as PayPal.me and Pay After

Delivery.

For Brown, the challenge of working at the forefront of tech is what keeps him

interested. Regulatory challenges and innovation from competitors means that he

needs to work fast. Luckily for the former Pinsent Masons and Addleshaw Goddard

lawyer, this year hasn’t disappointed.

Rachel Canham, BT

Rachel Canham, BT

The last year has been one of the busiest for BT mergers and acquisitions chief

counsel Rachel Canham. She spent much of the year advising BT on its planned

£12.5bn acquisition of Everything Everywhere. With the deal approved by the

competition authorities last week this year is about to get a whole lot busier as she

works to integrate the two communication giants.

Canham spent much of 2015 working on the legal, governance and compliance

integration planning of EE into BT, now it is time to put that plan into action.

Canham wrote the rulebook for how BT executes acquisitions, drawing on lessons

learned from previous deals.

As a leading in-house lawyer she is recognised for her commercial no-nonsense

approach. No two days are ever the same for Canham. She always has an eye to the

next deal and is always on hand to highlight the potential risks and rewards of the next

acquisition.

Ingrid Cope, Pernod Ricard

Ingrid Cope, Pernod Ricard

Senior legal adviser Ingrid Cope joined the UK arm of Pernod Ricard in 2013 as the

company’s sole in-house lawyer.

In late 2014 she gained a seat on the senior management board of the UK business,

and last year she was appointed to the role of compliance officer. Cope also gained

two new in-house lawyers, which has allowed her to rely less on external counsel. She

now manages a lean team that looks after the Pernod Ricard UK and World Brands’

Duty Free businesses.

One of Cope’s main strategies has been to improve in-house efficiency. She was the

force behind an innovative app that allows the company’s field sales team to create

contracts on demand, which was launched last year.

The use of this app frees up the sales team’s time so that they can devote more

resources to the commercial side of the business, while allowing the legal team to

spend more time on strategic and long-term projects.

Next year, Cope plans to continue the consolidation of her in-house team and focus on

aligning her legal strategy with Pernod Ricard’s digital-heavy business plan.

Rachael Davidson, National Grid

Rachael Davidson, National Grid

National Grid UK general counsel Rachael Davidson is only a year into her job but

she has made her presence felt at every level.

Her mission in-house is simple: draw the best value possible from each lawyer in her

team.

She has overhauled the in-house team structure and asked her colleagues to keep

time-sheets so she can track what they are doing. Central to that is time set aside for

getting to know the business, including time at the water-cooler.

Having recently completed a panel review for the company, Davidson has also set

some major challenges for winning firms. She wants to know how ‘best-value’ can be

defined.

Over the next 12 months Davidson plans to put in place instruction protocols so each

firm knows what is expected of them.

Asking tough questions and being prepared to respond effectively is the mark of a top

lawyer. Davidson is a general counsel who is thought-provoking, a trait that means

she is highly regarded by her peers.

Viv Du-Feu, BMA Law

Viv Du-Feu, BMA Law

For Viv Du-Feu, joining the British Medical Association (BMA) as interim general

counsel in 2014 quickly snowballed into leading the organisation’s most important

legal development last year.

Du-Feu launched BMA Law to provide legal services to the BMA’s 170,000

members in May, taking the ABS from conception to launch in just seven months.

Getting the terms of the model agreed required innovative collaboration with a

number of law firms, including incorporating firms’ own compliance structures into

BMA Law’s contracts.

Crucial to providing expert but affordable legal advice to doctors across the UK was

securing a legal panel on nationally agreed rates, which Du-Feu did in record time.

Now the ABS is run as an individual entity with one set of fees and one structure, and

seven firms providing legal advice to doctors nationwide.

Other businesses have taken notice of BMA Law’s rapid success, with two

membership organisations approaching Du-Feu about bringing him in to restructure

their legal departments at the end of last year.

He also has plans to expand BMA Law’s offering to take on other bodies with two

membership organisations in late stage talks about signing up to create a shared legal

services.

Annabel Dumbell, Accenture

Annabel Dumbell, Accenture

Managing director of litigation for Northern Europe at Accenture, Annabel Dumbell

arrived at the company in 2007 from the Fieldfisher partnership.

She was then co-lead on pioneering a new way of litigating within Accenture which

focused on how to handle new trends within a small, globalised team, on the back of

which she was promoted to her current role. Aside from being one of four directors,

Dumbell has taken on two advocacy roles within the business.

Currently co-sponsor of the global legal women function, comprising 1,000 women,

she also acts as people advocate for all corporate functions in the UK (again, around

1,000 members), responsible for rolling out people initiatives across the firm and

setting a programme to increase people’s engagement in areas such as career,

contribution, culture and community.

David Eveleigh, Serco Group

David Eveleigh, Serco Group

David Eveleigh has been Serco’s group general counsel for over a year now, and it is

a year that he has described as being one of the hardest of his life.

In the first jam-packed 12 months in the job, the ex-BT Global Services GC was –

alongside the rest of the executive management team – in charge of finding a

replacement for outgoing Serco chairman Alastair Lyons when he announced his

departure in November 2014.

He also had to contend with an emergency rights issue, in which the company set out

to raise proceeds of £555m, and the refinancing of Serco’s debt as well as a Serious

Fraud Office investigation into electronic tagging.

Coming in as Serco’s first GC, Eveleigh has had the mammoth task of organising the

outsourcer’s legal team around the world, reviewing the network of law firms they use

and ensuring there is consistency across the board.

Lisa Gan Tomlins, Made.com

Lisa Gan Tomlins, Made.com

Lisa Gan Tomlins’ first year at online furniture company Made.com has cemented her

reputation as a lawyer dedicated to enabling her business to flourish.

Her arrival from Just Eat, at which she was legal counsel, coincided with the

company’s largest-ever financing round, in which it raised $60m (£42m). Thrown into

due diligence on her first day, Gan Tomlins oversaw more than 1,100 due diligence

queries from venture capital investors while negotiating the myriad legal agreements

and reorganising the group’s corporate structure in order to prepare it for its next stage

of growth.

It’s what she is most proud of in a day job in which she’s also conducting a strategic

review of Made’s entire intellectual property rights portfolio to ensure that it caters

for the many independent designers represented on the website, and training customer

services agents on new consumers rights legislation.

Galit Gonen, Teva Europe

Galit Gonen, Teva Europe

The recent merger frenzy in Europe’s pharma and life sciences market may mean that

healthcare giant Teva Europe has to battle fewer competitors, but they are bigger than

ever before.

Enter Teva Europe general counsel Galit Gonen, who was promoted to the top role in

2013, and has already implemented change within her European domain to gain the

upper hand against the company’s rivals.

Gonen has used IP, combined with regulatory expertise, market access and R&D

strategies, as a pivotal part of her plan in Europe.

Some of Gonen’s innovative ideas for her in-house team, which launched earlier this

year, have proven to be so successful that the company wants to roll it out across its

entire jurisdictions.

The two projects are the Legal Internal Mobility Opportunity (LIMO), created to

allow members of the in-house legal team to do a physical or virtual collaboration,

and the ‘gateway of legal development’, a group that leads on regional subject matters

that affect the business.

Paul Lister, Associated British Foods

Paul Lister, Associated British Foods

As director of legal services at Associated British Foods, Paul Lister’s job sees him

grapple with issues across the company’s diverse global portfolio. But the last year

has been particularly noteworthy.

In April 2013 the Rana Plaza factory in Savar, Bangladesh, collapsed, causing the

deaths of 1,134 people and leaving over 2,000 others with injuries. AB Foods

subsidiary Primark was among the companies supplied by the factory.

Lister has led Primark’s efforts to establish a lasting, $14m settlement for the Rana

Plaza victims and their families. Deciding that Bangladeshi law would not meet their

needs, he set about devising a scheme that would leave compensation in the hands of

those who needed it most. In March 2015 the last long-term payment was made but

Primark will remain involved to support dependants until adulthood.

Lister’s role also means he oversees Primark’s ongoing audit of supply chains, in an

effort to keep track of where and how the company’s products are made.

Rosemary Martin, Vodafone

Rosemary Martin, Vodafone

Vodafone general counsel Rosemary Martin is described by one peer as being “one of

the most innovative GCs in the market”. Another says she is “approachable,

empathetic and commercial all at once”. Those are rare characteristics for a general

counsel who juggles the challenges of being at the helm of a £42bn global business.

In recent years Martin has been a key supporter to Vodafone’s India GC Kumar Das,

who has been battling litigation on several fronts. This despite being a self-confessed

deals junkie.

At home, meanwhile, she was a core member of the team that helped offload

Vodafone’s 45 per cent stake in Verizon Wireless to US telecoms group Verizon

Communications. That deal was worth a cool $130bn, but Martin was able to

negotiate a fixed fee from Slaughter and May for the work done.

Emma Moloney, News UK

Emma Moloney, News UK

Last year interim News UK general counsel Emma Moloney officially stepped up to

the top lawyering job at News UK following the sad death of her predecessor Paul

Chinnery.

Moloney is used to being in the firing line, having been at the helm at a challenging

time for the business when it was recovering from ongoing civil and criminal legal

battles and board changes under intense public scrutiny.

Having joined News UK in 2013, Moloney has worked hard to make the legal team

more approachable to the rest of the business and continued Chinnery’s innovation-

inspired legacy, developing a legal portal that allows the team to provide templates for

employment agreements, NDAs and copyright agreements which take ‘two minutes’

now.

Moloney has also set up a business news solution that enables the company to offer

printing and distribution services to other third parties and has helped News UK

become more efficient.

Aside from working on day-to-day issues at News UK, Moloney is developing a

stronger in-house offering, growing the company’s compliance team, developing

internal progression and revising the use of external counsel.

Solomon Osagie, Tsys

Solomon Osagie, Tsys

Brought into payment services company Tsys eight years ago to build its legal team,

chief legal counsel Solomon Osagie has created a group of lawyers able to do almost

all their work in-house. Despite the company being involved in 49 million payment

transactions each day, and with outsourcing agreements with major banks including

the Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank and companies such as PayPal, Osagie

manages to keep the company’s annual legal spend to under £100,000.

His team of seven lawyers handles major outsourcing contracts as well as issues such

as regulatory, real estate and employment law matters, regularly negotiating with

private practice firms on the opposite side.

Last year saw Osagie formulate the first application for regulatory approval from the

Financial Conduct Authority for a Tsys entity, a task that involved the drafting of

policies, processes and a governance and compliance forum.

In a world where in-house lawyers are increasingly asked to be at the heart of the

business, Osagie really is.

Tina Sany-Davies, Bauer Media

Tina Sany-Davies, Bauer Media

Bauer Media general counsel Tina Sany-Davies spent years trying to woo the

company as a client in her years at Reed Smith. One secondment later, she is in the

top job and last year took a lead role in helping Bauer achieve its long-held ambition

of becoming the biggest radio company in Europe.

Running the acquisition of no fewer than 20 radio stations in Denmark, Finland,

Norway and Sweden, Sany-Davies managed five teams of external advisers in five

jurisdictions and is currently engaged in the legal and commercial integration of the

acquired brands into the business, in addition to managing their legal functions.

In addition to her day job managing the legal work for 50 magazines and 60 UK radio

stations, she also found time to engage with the Leveson Inquiry as part of a select

group of publishing lawyers, spending days negotiating with the newspaper industry,

industry associations, government and lobbying groups.

Nicola Shand, Scotia Gas Network

Nicola Shand, Scotia Gas Networks

General counsel of Scotia Gas Networks (SGN) Nicola Shand trained at her company.

Just seven years later, she’s general counsel of the gas distribution network. In

addition, she’s built up her own team from scratch and now sits on the company’s

executive board.

Shand attributes her success to loyalty, hard work and not being afraid to give an

opinion. This year, her time has been taken up by the Gas to West project, which will

bring gas mains west of Belfast. The project, which has run without any increase in

headcount, required Shand to oversee every aspect from regulatory approval to how to

finance the £250m work via a mix of internal and external funding.

With a keen eye already on the coming year, Shand lists the business’s response to the

review of the gas sector as something that will keep her busy in the coming year, with

her legal team responsible for analysing what kind of business SGN will be in the

future.

Alex Simpson, Asda

Alex Simpson, Asda

Asda general counsel Alex Simpson’s second year in the job has coincided with a

crucial year for the supermarket chain, which is facing a fierce price war on the

British high street.

But Simpson’s focus on creating a legal team that facilitates and encourages product

innovation in a bid to keep Asda ahead of the competition is helping the group to

weather the retail storm and bring in profits totalling over £1bn last year.

Recognising that developing technology and then protecting those creative

endeavours will be key to success in the future, Simpson brought Asda’s enterprise

team to sit within legal last year, and also established a training programme for all

lawyers on intellectual property and patenting.

He also launched a review of Asda’s external law firms in a bid to increase efficiency.

The changes included re-evaluating pricing and two-way sharing of legal intelligence

with firms to abandon the ‘project-by-project’ model and benefit its in-house team as

well as law firms.

Raj Singh-Dehal, Center Parcs

Raj Singh-Dehal, Center Parcs

It has been a whirlwind couple of years for Center Parcs HR and commercial services

director Raj Singh-Dehal.

The business he has worked for since 2009 has gone through a number of major

transactions, beginning with a £1bn refinancing in 2012 with another £490m debt

financing in 2014.

That paved the way for owners Blackstone to look at selling its stake, prompting the

start of a dual-track sale and IPO process that went right to the wire before Canadian

property investment company Brookfield announced that it was acquiring Center

Parcs for a sum understood to be around £2.5bn.

All the while Singh-Dehal has also been working on the financing, acquisition and

planning permission for Center Parcs’ first holiday village in Ireland. The site has

been acquired and with his dual legal and HR hat on, Singh-Dehal is playing a key

role in procurement, regulatory issues and workforce hiring for its construction. So

while ownership has changed, work continues.

Padmini Singla, Kennedy Wilson

Padmini Singla, Kennedy Wilson

Since joining global real estate investment and services firm Kennedy Wilson as

general counsel in May 2014, Padmini Singla has really made her presence felt. She

has effectively jumped from being a senior associate at Ashurst to having a central

role operating one of the most active players in the market last year.

Kennedy Wilson has invested heavily in property in recent years and Singla has been

a key player in that. She has overseen real estate acquisitions in Europe in excess of

£1bn, managing external counsel across a number of jurisdictions. Singla has also

been central to Kennedy Wilson’s £1.5bn of equity capital raisings and around £600m

of debt capital raisings in Europe.

In addition, she was responsible for designing and implementing governance and

compliance protocols for a London Stock Exchange-listed £2.5bn property investment

company that had been sponsored and managed by Kennedy Wilson.

Chris Smith, L1 Energy

Chris Smith, L1 Energy

As general counsel of L1 Energy, Chris Smith deals with bigger sums and more

complex deals in one year than most legal chiefs do in their career.

In 2015, his second year in the role, Smith switched his focus from building up the

company’s legal function from scratch to running

its $10bn acquisition strategy of oil and gas platforms.

In March, Smith closed L1 Energy’s $7.1bn purchase of German utility RWE AG’s

oil and gas business, Dea, in a deal that gave investment fund LetterOne Group oil

and gas fields in the UK, Europe and Egypt. The deal was mired by political

blockages in the UK and might have ground to a halt had it not been for Smith’s long

and difficult negotiations culminating in the eventual sale of its British gas fields to

Swiss company Ineos in October. The $750m sale, in which Smith took a lead role,

ended L1 Energy’s row with the Department for Energy and Climate Change and saw

the business through a number of ‘near-death’ experiences.

As L1 Energy’s only in-house lawyer, Smith handled the colossal legal issues on the

acquisition and subsequent disposal of assets, including management of external

counsel, entirely alone.

Ritva Sotamaa, Unilever

Ritva Sotamaa, Unilever

Global consumer goods company Unilever is big on empowerment. The company,

whose products are sold in 190 countries, believes that the only way to eradicate

poverty is to empower women and it is leading by example by pledging to have 50 per

cent of its management roles filled by women in the near future.

It is no surprise, then, that the company’s chief legal counsel Ritva Sotamaa is

committed to empowering her 300-lawyer legal team.

At the senior end that has meant entrusting a 15-strong team of regional and product-

line GCs with running the legal function when Sotamaa is on frequent field trips

around the company’s network. At the junior end it has meant establishing a legal

academy designed, as Sotamaa says, “to make sure we provide continuous education

to our team and help our lawyers to build and enhance their skills”.

The online academy, which includes an induction module designed to get staff up to

speed on Unilever’s business as well as CPD modules that panel firms can contribute

to, is designed so that everyone in the team can benefit, regardless of where they are

based.

“In today’s world and with such a global team, making sure that we have learning

available for our people wherever they are and whenever they want it is something we

want to make available to everyone,” Sotamaa says.

Mollie Stoker, Lucozade Ribena Suntory

Mollie Stoker, Lucozade Ribena Suntory

When Japanese drinks company Suntory acquired the Lucozade and Ribena brands

from GlaxoSmithKline at the end of December 2013, the deal did not include an in-

house legal function. Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS), as it is now known, hired

Mollie Stoker as general counsel to maintain business continuity while the assets were

transferred.

Her immediate task was to deal with a backlog of work dating back months, while

also getting to know the demands of her colleagues.

Having started with a blank canvas in what was effectively a new business, Stoker has

been at the forefront of creating a team that sits at the centre of LRS. With no formal

panel to support her team, she has kept much of the work in-house and is credited for

her can-do attitude.

Building an in-house function from scratch is arduous, complex and demanding.

Stoker has taken it all in her stride and is now a central and valued business partner.

Richard Taylor, euNetworks

Richard Taylor, euNetworks

When Richard Taylor joined euNetworks from Olswang in 2009 he arrived at a

company that was in the midst of major change.

euNetworks, which is an owner and operator of high capacity fibre networks in

Europe, had listed in Singapore in 2004 but had not distributed any dividends since.

This is a company that has a significant number of valuable assets but had failed to

turn that into a profit-making business.

Taylor’s arrival in 2009 coincided with the appointment of chief executive Brady

Rafuse and a fresh capital injection from Columbia Capital. The aim of the new team

was to push the company back into growth mode.

For Taylor it has been a rip-roaring ride ever since. In the last year the company

delisted from the Singapore Stock Exchange, something that was seen as a hurdle to

the company’s future growth, acquired Dublin-headquartered Inland Fibre- Telecom

as well as refinancing its debt facility to push for further growth.

Elaine Williams, British Land

Elaine Williams, British Land

Elaine Williams was appointed as the first ever general counsel of FTSE 100

company British Land last year, after a stint at HSBC, where she was group company

secretary.

Williams, who arrived at British Land in November 2015, is the only member of legal

staff at the company and has been charged with creating a legal department entirely

from scratch.

Prior to her time in-house, Williams was a partner in the corporate practice at

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, specialising in M&A and joint ventures. She advised

on commercial transactions in the UK and a variety of Asian jurisdictions and on

cross-border transactions for a number of listed multi-national corporations and

privately owned companies. She spent five of her 10 years at Freshfields in the Asia

Pacific region, including periods in Hong Kong, Singapore and Vietnam.

Matt Wilson, Uber

Matt Wilson, Uber

Uber general counsel for UK, Ireland and the Nordics Matt Wilson considers himself

a businessman first and lawyer second.

The business brand has enjoyed accelerated growth over the last 18 months in the UK.

Wilson has been drafted in to make sure the company infrastructure keeps up with

that growth.

Since joining Uber Wilson has set about getting to know the growing private car hire

business while laying the foundations for a UK legal team, hiring two lawyers so far

with more to come. He is also preparing to set up Uber’s first non-US legal panel.

Wilson received a huge boost for his nascent team in October when Uber won a High

Court ruling that its app was legal in London after being taken to court by Transport

for London. Litigation is just one feather in his cap. Wilson is a well-rounded lawyer

called upon to advise on everything from High Court cases to marketing and

advertising campaigns.

Alison Yapp, Amec Foster Wheeler

Alison Yapp, Amec Foster Wheeler

When Amec, the British engineering company, struck a deal to acquire its US-listed

rival Foster Wheeler in 2015 for £2bn, Amec’s general counsel Alison Yapp took

centre stage.

The deal, which would make the merged company a powerhouse with a presence in

key markets such as the US and the Middle East, came alongside complex legal issues

and potential pitfalls.

For Yapp, striking the deal was a complicated feat, because of the multiple

jurisdictions in which Foster Wheeler operated. Although the company was UK

headquartered, it was also Swiss-domiciled – as well as being listed on the US

Nasdaq.

Yapp completed a series of Herculean tasks to seal the deal, one of which included

sifting through 1,200 pages of shareholder information.

Yapp was the mind behind a complex legal process that involved deregistering Foster

Wheeler from the Swiss Federal Competition Commission so that they no longer had

to comply with the regulator’s domestic issuer requirements, and acquire more than

90 per cent of Foster Wheeler shares to achieve a squeeze-out merger under Swiss

law.

This complex transaction has gained Yapp the reputation of being one of the slickest

in-house lawyers in the business.

The Hot 100 2016: Insurance

James Wickes, RPC

James Wickes, RPC

RPC insurance partner James Wickes acts for the insurers of the biggest banks and

asset managers in the market and as a result he has worked on some of the biggest

Directors and Officers liability insurance claims of the year.

One such claim saw Wickes put his organisational and communication skills to the

test while he co-ordinated over 30 law firms that were acting for each director or

officer. At the same time he was responsible for advising his insurer client on its own

exposures.

Wickes uses his own experience of working with in-house teams on secondments to

understand his clients’ commercial pressures and understand how best he can work

for them.

As well as working on these huge claims, Wickes also devotes his time to working

with the charity Limitless London – which he set up. The charity works with school

children in Wickes’ hometown of Dagenham and Barking to provide careers guidance

for 14 and 15-year-olds.

Michael Kingston, DWF

Michael Kingston, DWF

A chance conversation over coffee kick-started DWF insurance partner Michael

Kingston’s four-year run to improve safety measures for sailors working in the Arctic.

Although outside his traditional practice, Kingston has become a specialist in the

sector, working with Lloyd’s of London to improve the impending Polar Code, which

will be adopted by the International Maritime Organisation in 2017.

The Polar Code itself is designed to improve safety in the Arctic, but previous drafts

had failed to include an ice regime. This meant there was little guidance on what types

of ships were allowed to sail in icy water and no requirement to map the waters. Sea

ice varies in severity throughout the region and not all ships are equipped to sail in

such conditions.

Thanks to Kingston’s work the ice regime was implemented in the Polar Code in

2015. Not only will this vastly improve safety in the region, it also means much more

certainty for insurers.

The Hot 100 2016: Life sciences

Nicola Maguire, Cooley

Nicola Maguire, Cooley

Maguire moved from Reed Smith to Cooley alongside fellow life sciences partner

John Wilkinson last year to launch the firm’s life sciences practice in the UK. Within

two days she was front and centre pitching to win a new client – biotech company

Immunocore – which was looking for funding to list on Nasdaq.

In July 2015 Maguire advised on Europe’s largest private life sciences financing

($320m) and the second largest in the world for Immunocore. This transaction marks

a trend for the entire industry, as companies seek higher levels of financing in order to

fund longer periods of product research.

The pivotal transaction involved a syndicate including Woodford Investment

Management, Malin Corporation, Eli Lilly and RTW Investments. The financing was

unusual because it was oversubscribed, which meant the onus was on Maguire’s team

to draft the initial documents.

Claire Petts, Clyde & Co

Claire Petts, Clyde & Co

Claire Petts has had an impressive year after being placed in charge of the Clyde &

Co’s new healthcare sector group. The group spun out of the firm’s insurance practice

due to its stellar performance, which saw it increase revenue by 20 per cent over the

year.

She also won a landmark victory that saved the NHS thousands of pounds after a

claimant argued he had been unlawfully detained under the Mental Health Act. Petts

won the case, arguing that the decision was correct despite a technical breach having

occurred. As a result of her work the court set a precedent by awarding the man a

grand total of £1.

Petts has recently been appointed to Clydes’ UK management board, giving her the

chance to promote the healthcare group at the highest level in the firm.

Clare Tunstall, Pinsent Masons

Clare Tunstall, Pinsent Masons

Legal innovation is at the heart of how Pinsent Masons’ IP & life sciences head Clare

Tunstall runs her practice.

Tunstall has fostered a culture of innovation throughout her team to allow the lawyers

to stay ahead of their competitors and patentees during cases. She is constantly

striving to create an edge through legal processes, while making sure her opposition

can never predict her next move. She does this by adapting to each case and often

uses regulatory fillings and Freedom of Information requests to understand

competitors’ strategies and improve her own litigation.

This approach of using law and litigation as a business facilitator has been put to good

use advising Israel’s biggest company Teva Pharmaceuticals. Tunstall describes Teva

as an interesting client, having acted for the company for most of her career. This year

has been particularly exciting, with Teva close to completing a huge acquisition – that

of Allergan Generics for $40.5bn (£28bn).

The Hot 100 2016: Litigation

Boris Bronfentrinker, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Boris Bronfentrinker, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

This time last year US litigation powerhouse Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan had

no competition practice in the UK. Now it has a thriving and growing one, led by

partner Boris Bronfentrinker.

Bronfentrinker joined Quinn Emanuel from Hausfeld at the start of 2015 to build a

UK and European competition team for the firm. The move fulfilled his desire to

work both for defendants – as he did as a senior associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus

Deringer – and claimants. Quinn Emanuel’s focus on contentious work means the

firm does both sides.

Since arriving, Bronfentrinker has helped pick up instructions from a range of notable

clients, including Daimler, regarding global competition, and Fiat Chrysler. Such is

the volume of work that Bronfentrinker is looking to expand his team to meet demand

for a series of major cases set to hit the headlines in 2016.

Peter Hirst, Clyde & Co

Peter Hirst, Clyde & Co

Despite his prominent position within Clyde & Co, co-chair of arbitration Peter Hirst

does not often find himself in the limelight. He stands out for his client work,

consistently among the top two billers at Clydes year-on-year, which is particularly

impressive considering his humble roots studying law at night school.

Hirst’s leadership has also helped the arbitration group grow by 40 per cent over the

last year. He largely attributes this to investing more time and energy in marketing the

group to clients instead of quietly carrying out the work with little fanfare, as has

happened in the past. The group is currently working on over 400 arbitrations and has

worked on nine worth more than $1bn in the last year.

One particular highlight of Hirst’s year was acting on a $25m arbitration in New

York. The work was carried out for Swiss clients with a Brazilian law governed

contracts. He is also currently working on the Samarco mine collapse, which has

caused serious flooding in Brazil.

Osma Hudda, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

Osma Hudda, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

Litigation partner Osma Hudda joined Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in 2005 from Clifford

Chance, moving alongside partner Philip Rocher as the first contentious lawyers in

the US firm’s London office.

Back then Hudda was just one year qualified, but the size of the team meant that she

instantly picked up responsibility as Gibson Dunn began investing in litigation.

After being made up in 2013 Hudda’s star has continued only to rise. She is currently

involved on Gibson Dunn’s work for supermarket chain Asda in its defence of the

first private sector equal pay claim to hit the UK courts – a case which is expected to

have significant ramifications for employers. With the case yet to hit the court, it will

keep her busy for much of 2016.

Meanwhile she has played a key role in helping recruit new members of the team and

mentoring younger associates.

Alison Levitt QC, Mishcon de Reya

Alison Levitt QC, Mishcon de Reya

Nobody in the UK knows more about private prosecution work than Mishcon de

Reya’s Alison Levitt QC. Indeed, she literally wrote the guidebook to it while she was

principal legal adviser to the DPP.

Now, 18 months after she launched Mishcon’s first business crime unit, Levitt has

used her specialism to forge the group’s impressive reputation in the white-collar

defence, fraud and money laundering space, combining civil and criminal work to

create the last piece in the puzzle for Mishcon’s burgeoning client base.

Levitt has increased team numbers to eight lawyers and has not shied away from

taking on the highest-profile fraud, corruption and regulatory cases.

Recent clients involve mortgage brokers, former bankers, globally renowned

businessmen and traders – all facing multimillion-pound disputes and multi-

jurisdictional regulatory investigations.

Success, Levitt says, lies in getting these investigations shut down before they even

start, in which the practice has had numerous successes in the past 12 months.

As well as running the caseload on a strategic level, Levitt is involved in the day-to-

day running of each case, even doing the advocacy on some of them during their High

Court trials.

Joanna Ludlam, Baker & McKenzie

Joanna Ludlam, Baker & McKenzie

Baker & McKenzie’s Joanna Ludlam was on the front line this year during one of the

most important cases for the future of the Bar.

Alongside Blackstone Chambers’ Tom de la Mare QC, Ludlam represented the

Criminal Barristers’ Association in the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates

(QASA) case.

QASA will score criminal barristers during live trials and prevent those without

QASA accreditation from undertaking cases; a subject that was heavily disputed. The

case travelled from the High Court to Court of Appeal and then the Supreme Court,

where it was finally thrown out.

Although the appeal was not upheld on the facts, the Supreme Court enshrined into

English law their interpretation of the important EU principle of proportionality.

Outside court, Ludlam was the orchestrator of one of Baker & McKenzie’s biggest

initiatives in 2015 – to exponentially raise the profile of its investigations capability

by creating a global investigations academy.

Christopher Moore, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Christopher Moore, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton’s London office netted a winner in the form of

Christopher Moore when he made the move from the firm’s New York HQ to its

smaller base in the City. Moore’s rationale was to develop his international arbitration

practice and he quickly made his mark after touching down in Blighty.

Defending the Hellenic Republic against Poštová banka, US-qualified Moore

achieved a landmark victory for his client in the first case to arise out of Greece’s

2012 sovereign debt restructuring. Poštová banka had sought to challenge the legality

of the restructuring, but the ICSID arbitral tribunal dismissed all its claims for lack of

jurisdiction – the first time it has made such a move in a sovereign bonds case. With

the bank now due to bring annulment proceedings against the decision, the case looks

set to heat up for Moore next year.

Damon Parker, Harcus Sinclair

Damon Parker, Harcus Sinclair

Harcus Sinclair has burst onto the scene of major shareholder and banking disputes

thanks to litigation head Damon Parker.

Last year saw Parker build a case that will expose the fascinating inside story of

Lloyds Bank’s £12bn takeover of Halifax Bank of Scotland. The claimant group has

grown exponentially to 6,000 shareholders claiming hundreds of millions thanks to

Parker’s efforts to get it off the ground. He also secured litigation funding and

insurance for the group and dramatically boosted his own team’s numbers to cope

with reams of discovery that will occupy most of this year.

While expanding the focus of his team, Parker has remained true to the firm’s private

client roots, also acting for the estate of poet Ted Hughes last year in the long running

battle over his estate, a client he has nurtured for over a decade.

Parker has recently doubled the size of his practice, which is now made up of four

partners, 10 solicitors and 20 paralegals. He is also looking at clever ways of using his

litigation finance contacts in future, currently mooting plans to launch an ABS with a

funder to provide financing options to all future clients, sure to drastically improve the

scope of his practice and make it one to watch in the arena of shareholder disputes.

Paul Paxton, Stewarts Law

Paul Paxton, Stewarts Law

Stewarts Law head of personal injury Paul Paxton headed up the most high-profile

negligence claim in the last decade in 2015.

Representing the victims of the Alton Towers rollercoaster crash, Paxton had to

handle overwhelming media interest in the case while working to get compensatory

interim payments for the five young people seriously injured in the Smiler ride crash,

at the same time as protecting their families from press intrusion and facilitating the

start of the long process towards rehabilitation.

Paxton ran a team of three lawyers working 20-hour days to get the case off the

ground and put a structure in place with Alton Towers’ owner Merlin to get payments

towards hospital bills delivered quickly.

All of this was run alongside a number of Paxton’s other high-need cases this year,

which include successfully reopening a police investigation into a rugby team coach

crash for a young disabled client.

Meanwhile, managing Stewarts’ 10-partner personal injury group, one of its core

practices, is tough work in a diminishing market, but Paxton has increased its

mandates, only taking on cases in excess of £1m.

Michael Potts, Byrne & Partners

Michael Potts, Byrne & Partners

Byrne and Partners managing partner Michael Potts secured a headline win for former

JP Morgan Chase trade Bruno Iksil – the ‘London whale’ – last year in an landmark

ruling for financial crime disputes.

The July ruling meant Iksil would not be pursued by the Financial Conduct Authority

over allegations of misconduct in relation to £4bn of trading losses and ended a three-

year investigation into his conduct. Remarkably, Potts’ client was completely

vindicated by the regulator without having to attend a hearing.

Despite a victory most litigators would consider a standout success, Potts did not stop

there. He also spent last year acting for individuals implicated in the Tesco corruption

investigation by the Serious Fraud Office; for Rolls-Royce bosses on its SFO bribery

probe; for the head of foreign exchange at Barclays; and also successfully defended

the Sun journalist Neil Millard against charges relating to payments to public officials

for stories.

Although he was busy handling the colossal criminal and civil mandates, Potts

continued to oversee the running of Byrne & Partners, increasing profits last year to

see it become a £12m firm

Stephen Rosen, Collyer Bristow

Stephen Rosen, Collyer Bristow

Collyer Bristow banking and financial disputes head Stephen Rosen took on some of

the most imposing banking institutions and their magic circle lawyers last year,

settling a headline Libor claim against Barclays and Clifford Chance for his client

Rhino Enterprises in December and closing the most high-profile settlement against

the bank since Guardian Care Homes.

In 2015 he also formed the Banking Litigation Network, a group of law firms from

the major European jurisdictions that specialise in acting against banks. The idea was

born from Rosen’s own struggles trying to find a law firm in Dublin to sue the Bank

of Ireland for a client. The network has taken off quickly and now has members in 15

jurisdictions, with its sights set on other countries next year.

On the back of his work against the banks, Rosen also formed Lawyers for Banking

Standards last year, an association of UK firms lobbying for law and regulatory

reform.

Meanwhile, his seven-lawyer team is currently formulating damages claims against

banks with a combined value of £1bn.

Al Watson, Taylor Wessing

Al Watson, Taylor Wessing

Taylor Wessing head of planning and environment Al Watson says the work he has

been doing for Brentford Football Club in recent years has been “reinvigorating”.

Partner Watson has been acting for the club on its planning application for the

development of a new 20,000-seater sports stadium, 910 residential units, as well as

associated transport and social infrastructure needed to support the development. Last

year the club secured permission for the new stadium – the first to be built in London

in 10 years.

In doing so Watson has helped to develop a method for valuing the social

programmes that the club brings to the local area through its work with children and

adults from a diverse range of backgrounds. Such a method had never before been

used in planning applications.

Working closely with the club has been rewarding for Watson, who says the

experience made him fall back in love with his career.

The Hot 100 2016: Management

David Bickerton, Clifford Chance

David Bickerton, Clifford Chance

Clifford Chance London managing partner David Bickerton did more in 2015 than

some magic circle bosses do in a four-year term.

Introducing agile working at Clifford Chance was always going to be a tough call, but

Bickerton’s ‘slowly, slowly’ and top-down approach – encouraging partners to lead

by example – means that a significant culture shift is gradually taking place at Canary

Wharf.

Bickerton also led the partnership through significant changes to the firm’s lockstep,

with Clifford Chance becoming the first magic circle firm to introduce superpoints in

a bid to attract and retain star partners.

Operationally, a number of initiatives overseen by Bickerton led to the firm saving

£6m last year – most notably subletting half its London base to Deutsche Bank and

investing in a second London premises to house its back-office staff.

Each of these ‘big picture’ changes have been made while Bickerton was busy fee-

earning, completing university bond financing for Cambridge, Manchester and

Liverpool universities this year and advising M&G Investments on a £284m

refinancing in November.

Adrian Biles, Gordon Dadds

Adrian Biles, Gordon Dadds

Gordon Dadds managing partner Adrian Biles is on a mission to transform what was

once a sleepy West End private client boutique into a £100m multi-disciplinary legal

market giant with a law firm at its core.

And with the M&A deal-doer Biles at its helm, that rapid transformation will come

sooner than you might think. Biles has so far overseen three London deals that have

catapulted Gordon Dadds into the UK top 100, including the takeovers of Davenport

Lyons and Jeffrey Green Russell. This year, don’t bet against seeing more deals as the

firm takes full advantage of the more relaxed regulatory environment for investment

into law firms.

Biles, once a lawyer at legacy Theodore Goddard, modestly claims to be merely the

man who builds the “foundations and plumbing” – or in other words, creates the

environment that enables Gordon Dadds’ fee earners to thrive. Some plumber.

Shirley Brookes, PwC Legal

Shirley Brookes, PwC Legal

2015 was a year of exceptional growth for PwC Legal. Its UK revenues went up by 15

per cent, resulting in it ranking as one of the UK’s top 100 law firms this year, while

profits also jumped 11 per cent.

But senior partner Shirley Brookes is not letting the ABS-licensed firm rest on its

laurels. Her goal is for PwC Legal’s revenues to reach £100m over the next three

years, with growth of 20 per cent expected in 2015/16. To this end she is

spearheading the firm’s expansion in the North as well as its investment in its cyber

security, IT outsourcing and due diligence business areas.

With nine new partners joining the firm last year and an additional 75 members of

staff, Brookes’ ambitious plan is already well underway.

Andrew Clinton, ASB Law

Andrew Clinton, ASB Law

As last year’s UK 200: the Independents report underlined, firms the size of £10.5m

ASB Law are battling it out in one of the toughest parts of the UK market. But ASB

has a secret weapon: managing partner Andrew Clinton has been working in recent

years to position ASB as a regional trailblazer. Last year the firm unveiled a strategic

alliance with legal process outsourcing and technology provider NewGalexy for

triaging and delivering legal services.

Most recently Clinton and his management team overhauled the firm’s remuneration

policies, with bonuses now aligned to client-centric metrics as it introduces a more

sales-oriented culture.

Clinton says he sees the remuneration changes as being the final piece of a much

bigger jigsaw. He calls it “making our strategy real for people”. With that piece of the

jigsaw now safely slotted in, it’s all about putting on growth and scaling the machine.

Libby Jackson, Herbert Smith Freehills

Libby Jackson, Herbert Smith Freehills

Ever since the full integration of Herbert Smith Freehills’ alternative legal services

teams last June the global group headed by Libby Jackson has had its foot hard on the

accelerator.

Jackson, previously director of Belfast, has been at the forefront of the legal market

nearshore movement since 2011 – but last year was when it really took off at HSF.

Ever since the legacy firm’s merger with Australia’s Freehills in October 2012 the

alternative legal service has been developing under Jackson’s guidance. The Belfast

centre launched in April 2011 with just 26 staff including 19 fee-earners.

It has now grown to a total headcount in excess of 300. And as Jackson points out,

last year it moved from being a way of primarily supporting work that is delivered in

higher cost locations to being an indispensable global function providing a “defined

process”. She adds: “This is now much more than a support function. It is a

differentiator and a work winner.”

Lisa Mayhew, Berwin Leighton Paisner

Lisa Mayhew, Berwin Leighton Paisner

Taking over from Berwin Leighton Paisner’s (BLP) longstanding managing partner

Neville Eisenberg was always going to be a big ask –

but it held no fear for employment head Lisa Mayhew.

Mayhew only arrived at BLP in 2010, from Jones Day. She joined the firm’s board in

2013 and began chairing the employment and diversity group, spearheading BLP’s

drive to improve its diversity statistics and putting in place a target for women to

represent 30 per cent of its partnership by 2018.

Mayhew stood against corporate head David Collins, who had been involved in

BLP’s management for far longer. But her relative newness at the firm did not prevent

her gaining enough support to sweep to victory as BLP’s first female managing

partner and one of just two women to lead top 20 UK firms.

With bags of energy and drive, Mayhew is

exactly the sort of role model and leader to drive BLP further forward.

Gideon Moore, Linklaters

Gideon Moore, Linklaters

Gideon Moore started 2015 as Linklaters’ banking head and ended it as global

managing partner of the 450-partner firm.

The election process saw him beat five competitors for the top role, but his success

was undoubtedly down to his victory elevating the profile of the firm’s banking

practice, boosting its market share to 18 per cent of Linklaters’ total revenue over the

past few years.

The group is one of the most imposing and profitable in the magic circle, making

inroads into US finance client portfolios and making major funds, real estate finance

and restructuring lateral hires last year.

Market sources are predicting Linklaters’ new ‘Gideon era’ will be one of change and

collaboration, with partners dubbing him a “great leader” and “good-humoured”.

In the end it was his personality and experience that won him the top job, Linklaters’

partners have said, adding that he will make a “strong” and “decisive” leader.

Margaret Robertson, Withers

Margaret Robertson, Withers

Few global firms have undergone as much global expansion as Withers in the past

year and managing director Margaret Robertson has been at the helm of it all.

Since the start of 2015 headcount has grown by a third, with new offices in Tokyo,

San Diego, Los Angeles and Rancho Santa Fe as well as alliances in Singapore and

Melbourne.

In her role, which she has held for seven years, Withers lifer Robertson has been

focused on

integrating these new recruits, many of whom have been attracted to the firm in large

teams from Morrison & Foerster and legacy McKenna Long & Aldridge.

Robertson’s re-election as managing director in 2015 is testament to the role she has

played in internationalising the firm as it looks to strengthen its presence in the

world’s key financial centres.

Michael Ward, Gateley

Michael Ward, Gateley

For a time it looked like Irwin Mitchell would be the first UK law firm to float on the

London Stock Exchange. But in the end, it was Gateley that took the lead, announcing

its IPO on the Alternative Investment Market last year.

The firm’s senior partner – and now CEO of the listed company – Michael Ward

played a vital role in this legal first, with the move from LLP to plc intended to

differentiate Gateley in the mid-market space.

Ward was part of the team that went to pitch the listing, and was integral in

encouraging both investors and partners to get onside.

And so far, so good. Since last summer Gateley has seen pre-tax profits rise 32.4 per

cent and turnover grow by 11.5 per cent, setting a precedent for other firms looking to

follow in its wake.

The Hot 100 2016: Private client

Ros Bever, Irwin Mitchell

Ros Bever, Irwin Mitchell

2015 was a standout year for Irwin Mitchell’s Manchester family law head Ros Bever.

In June she led a team that took the divorce cases of Alison Sharland and Varsha

Gohil to the Supreme Court, arguing against decisions of the lower courts which

meant the two women had received lower settlements than they thought they were

entitled to.

The cases, which both hinged on an argument that the husbands had misled their

wives as to the extent of their wealth, were heard jointly, and in October a seven-

strong Supreme Court panel ruled in the women’s favour. While Sharland’s case

concerned a multimillion-pound settlement, Gohil was challenging a much smaller

settlement and had struggled to get legal aid.

Bever secured an after-the-event insurance policy for Gohil as well as another client

in a separate case to enable the women to bring their claims.

The ramifications of her work last year are likely to be huge for many other divorcing

couples.

Davina Katz, Schillings

Davina Katz, Schillings

It’s been a busy year of highly publicised divorce proceedings for Schillings’ Davina

Katz. At 34, Katz is possibly the youngest family law head in London but that hasn’t

stopped her from advising on landmark cases. She successfully represented the

applicant wife in Abuchian v Khojah, with the Saudi Arabian spouse receiving the

highest-ever financial award following an overseas divorce from a High Court judge.

She is also advising Dale Vince in his attempt to strike out his ex-wife’s financial

claim, marking the first time such a claim was struck out under new court powers on

which there was no previous legal authority.

Having set up Schillings’ family practice six years ago, Katz has seen the practice

grow to six members, and she is set to return to the Family Division of the High Court

this year as the Vince v Wyatt saga continues.

Anna Worwood, Penningtons

Anna Worwood, Penningtons Manches

Best known for her work involving the international relocation of children, Anna

Worwood has most recently been working on one of the most significant internal

relocation cases to be heard in the Court of Appeal.

Many of the higher courts normally only hear international relocation cases, but

Worwood successfully argued in Re C that there is no reason to differentiate between

cases of internal child relocation and external. Her involvement has led the law on UK

relocation matters to develop and be heard in the most prestigious of courts.

Aside from her own practice, Worwood is also chairman of the Private Client

Commission of the International Association of Young Lawyers, and she played a

pivotal role last year organising the organisation’s September congress for 800

lawyers and spearheading a session on art law.

Nick West, Axiom

Nick West, Axiom

One of the first big lateral moves of 2016 came in January, when Mishcon de Reya

hired the London general manager of alternative resourcing business Axiom. Nick

West, who joined Mishcon in the purpose-built new role of chief strategy officer,

helped transform Axiom’s UK profile, client base and revenue, in particular with the

trailblazing use of technology.

Mishcon has now tasked West with helping the firm develop its services over the next

decade as the legal market continues to transform. West is among the most passionate

advocates for how these changes can improve client service.

Mishcon, in recent years, has been front and centre of delivering many of these

developments.

With all of the firm’s working processes and delivery mechanisms now in his sights,

and with a market-leading background in the use of technology, expect significant

change at Mishcon sooner rather than later.

John Westwell, Foot Anstey

John Westwell, Foot Anstey

In the seven years since John Westwell took over as managing partner of Foot Anstey

the South West firm has gone from strength to strength. With compound growth of 65

per cent since that time, the firm enjoyed a 16 per cent revenue rise in 2014/15 and is

on track for similar growth this year.

Under Westwell’s leadership Foot Anstey is embracing all the innovations of the

modern legal sector. A flexible working pilot scheme in Bristol – designed to improve

work-life balance as well as cut inflexible fixed costs – is proving successful.

Meanwhile, the firm is turning to external expertise, with two high-profile non-

executives on board.

With plenty of lateral hires to boost growth and key clients across the UK – including

recent wins TNT and the Ministry of Sound – everything points to a firm in rude

health.

With Westwell in charge until 2019, expect great things.

The Hot 100: Real estate

Jacqueline Backhaus, Trowers & Hamlins

Jacqueline Backhaus, Trowers & Hamlins

As Trowers & Hamlins’ head of planning, Jacqueline Backhaus has been at the

forefront of the some of the largest UK housing projects in the past year. She

supported Cherwell District Council on its acquisition and financing for the first

large-scale, self-build housing project in the UK, setting a precedent for how local

councils use their powers under the Localism Act.

The ex-Finers Stephens Innocent partner, who joined Trowers in 2012, has also been

busy working with Balfour Beatty and the Places for People consortium on a

development with the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) at the

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. While the LLDC is looking to build on the legacy of

the Olympics Backhaus has been pivotal in creating nearly 3,500 homes with these

two deals alone.

Howard Bassford, DLA Piper

Howard Bassford, DLA Piper

Working on the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon has been a dream role for DLA Piper

infrastructure partner Howard Bassford, who describes the experience as a once-in-a-

lifetime opportunity. As he explains, “you don’t get to do a world first every year”.

The tidal lagoon is the first of six planned renewable energy projects to be given the

go-ahead and the first where the roles played by the Welsh Government and the

Department of Energy & Climate Change had to be resolved. Bassford worked on the

advocacy and hearing for the plant while his team carried out the drafting work and

dealt with environmental documents.

As a child Bassford’s heroes were engineers George Stephenson and Isambard

Kingdom Brunel, so he found working with the tidal lagoon engineers a pleasure. He

also worked with fisheries to discuss the impact of the plant on marine life.

After overcoming these issues Bassford secured the completion of the project and

paved the way for DLA taking on the other five plants.

Charlotte Morgan, Linklaters

Charlotte Morgan, Linklaters

Linklaters energy and infrastructure partner Charlotte Morgan had an impressive

2015, playing a key role on a number of high-profile projects.

Morgan played a central part in the £2bn financing for the Thameslink rolling stock

project, advised on Centrica’s proposed £16bn investment in Hinkley Point power

station and Energie on its investment in a new nuclear power station at Sellafield.

Her crowning achievement of the year involved creating a financing structure for the

Thames Tideway Tunnel project. The structure, devised by Morgan and her team, was

praised by Chancellor George Osborne as a “new exciting way of financing

infrastructure projects”, and he urged other countries to adopt the financing model.

Aside from innovation on the legal side, the new structure had a more immediate

business impact – it reduced the cost of the project from £80 per customer to around

£20.

Lorraine Reader, DWF

Lorraine Reader, DWF

Since joining DWF from legacy Wragge & Co in 2013 Lorraine Reader has tirelessly

campaigned to up the firm’s focus on real estate portfolios.

One of the best examples of her success was when Reader and her team achieved an

almost-impossible deal. Reader advised real estate investment company Colony

Capital on its £311m acquisition of UK commercial property portfolio Gemini. But

there was an important hitch in the negotiations – rival alternative investment adviser

Värde Partners had already struck the deal to acquire Gemini.

This would have spelled game over for Reader’s clients, but a long-drawn-out due

diligence period saw Värde Partners’ exclusivity deal expire and Reader and her team

sprung into action, securing the deal in just nine days. Despite the rapid turnaround

Colony only needed to increase its offer by £500,000 to win the deal.

Nick Roberts, Hogan Lovells

Nick Roberts, Hogan Lovells

Despite only being made up to partner in January last year, Hogan Lovells real estate

specialist Nick Roberts’ extensive experience has enabled him to pick up a key role

advising Argent on its new joint venture developing one of London’s major

regeneration schemes – the Brent Cross South site.

Roberts has heralded the scheme as one of the most exciting development projects

underway in the UK. The central London development is set to create 7,500 new

homes and more than 20,000 jobs over an enormous site.

The sheer scale of the project creates many of the challenges that Roberts has to face

in his work. As well as managing the demands of both of the joint venture partners,

who often want the project to be brought forward, he must tailor his work to mirror

the ongoing but separate Brent Cross North development.

The Hot 100 2016: Regulation

Stephen Smith, RPC

Stephen Smith, RPC

RPC head of competition Stephen Smith helped to make legal history last year after

advising the workers’ co-operative (SCOP) for MyFerryLink.

Smith became involved with the case some time after Sea France entered into

liquidation in 2012 and Eurotunnel bought its remaining assets. The new service,

MyFerryLink, faced major difficulties after the Competition Commission effectively

banned it from operating in Calais.

Smith’s tireless work led to the first successful irrationality judicial review challenge

to the Competition and Market Authority’s merger control jurisdiction powers. The

case was also the first under the Enterprise Act to be heard at the Supreme Court and

set the standard for the limits of UK merger control. Thanks to Smith and his team’s

work, MyFerryLink was allowed to operate for a further two years and ensured that

90 per cent of SCOP’s employees found work.

Catherine Wolfenden, Osborne Clark

Catherine Wolfenden, Osborne Clarke

Already a leading procurement and regulatory lawyer in the UK, Catherine

Wolfenden took on an extra role in 2015 as Osborne Clarke’s training principal. Top

of her agenda is the engagement of senior associates, whom she believes should be

using their role as trainee supervisors to enhance their skills on the way to partnership.

Another issue close to her heart is encouraging women to put themselves forward for

promotion, with Wolfenden not only Osborne Clarke’s regulatory head but the

founder of the Women in Regulatory Law network.

Last year the public procurement specialist sat on the other side of the Government in

a number of cases, representing Bluewater Industries in its successful challenge

against the Department for Transport, as well as EE in its multimillion-pound contract

win from the Home Office for the emergency services’ Airwave network.