In association with

For the second year running, women outnumber men in The Lawyer’s line-up of the industry pace-setters. And as always, the Hot 100 highlights talent in all corners of the profession, from tech innovators to law firm leaders

Key: Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

18 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Ben Allgrove Baker McKenzie

Ben Allgrove makes a return to the Hot 100 after a first appearance in 2012. Back then, he was listed for his top-tier IP work and The Lawyer made no mention of his reputation in artificial intelligence – but it has been an interest of his for the past 15 years, since he was an academic studying the topic. In the past two years, his AI practice has blossomed. Internally, meanwhile, he has stepped up not only to head the newly combined IP/ technology ‘super-practice’, but also to lead Baker McKenzie’s global R&D strategy. Essentially, that role is about keeping the firm focused on what delivers most benefits to A clients now, which is not always new technology. He has sparked a network of 700 innovation ambassadors from across the firm, all of whom have self-selected themselves and are having open conversations about ideas. The programme has been successful, Allgrove says, in that rather than starting with a predefined corporate message, the firm is allowing itself to show vulnerability about what it does not know and thus empowering people from all levels to speak up.

Jessica Adam Macfarlanes

The sole female partner in Macfarlanes’ corporate group, Jessica Adam is flying the flag for women who want to progress in this male-dominated field. Promoted to partner in 2013, Adam is at the forefront of decision- making for the firm’s junior lawyers, chairing its associate committee with a focus on diversity and career pathways. Having started her legal B life at Scottish firm Shepherd & Wedderburn, she has since installed herself as one of Macfarlanes’ brightest corporate stars. Her highlights of 2018 included advising long-standing client Bryan Cave Leighton David Barker Paisner on the sale of its majority stake in Pinsent Masons Lawyers on Demand. The mandate reflects Adam’s growing presence in the world of In a climate of fear over data privacy issues, Pinsent Masons’ David Barker is the lawyer professional services firms in need of legal increasingly taking the calls from big corporates. Last year, the firm’s head of TMT expertise. It is a niche area, but is one that disputes led on some of the largest disagreements for big-name clients, including the first nevertheless sees her acting on some of the two UK High Court trials on ‘right to be forgotten’ cases. most relevant transactions to the legal industry. Barker led for defendant Google against two groups that demanded the browser remove A specialist in private M&A, Adam also acted references to them in their searches, winning one battle and losing the other. But despite on deals last year for internet provider being unsuccessful in one, Google was nevertheless spared having to pay damages after Hyperoptic, the management team of Element the judge complimented the tech giant on having taken “reasonable care” throughout. Power and a new fund partnership between Called upon to defend another high-profile name, Barker helped settle the BBC’s Aberdeen Standard Investments and 21 dispute against offshore firm Appleby which filed a breach of confidence claim against the Partners. She has further become the main broadcaster after the Paradise Papers revelations. In what could be just the tip of the corporate partner for Virgin Group, a prized iceberg in terms of data breach cases coming to court, these disputes highlight an client of the silver circle stalwart. ever-important area for Pinsents around technology and privacy for large businesses.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 19 In association with The Hot 100 2019

The Secret Barrister

It is unprecedented for the Hot 100 to contain an anonymous figure. However, The Secret Barrister’s contribution to the legal profession last year deserves recognition. His or her book, The Secret Barrister, did an immense amount to bring the plight of British justice to wider public attention. Published in March ? 2018, it immediately shot into the bestseller lists. The Criminal Bar Association and Young Legal Aid Lawyers subsequently launched a successful fundraising campaign to ensure that every MP received a copy. Having initially risen to prominence on Twitter, ‘SB’ remains prolific on that platform, politely and patiently explaining the law and justice system to the layperson and generally bringing enlightenment where there is ignorance. Will The Secret Barrister’s messages be heeded by those who have the power to change things? Who knows? But what is certain is that the criminal Bar has a strong new defender advocating for it.

Stephanie Barwise QC Atkin Chambers

With over 30 years served at the construction Bar, Stephanie Barwise QC has plenty of experience in all manner of complex disputes. It was perhaps her work on the Ladbroke Grove rail crash inquiry 20 years ago that set her up to take on one of the biggest matters of our generation: she is providing the construction law expertise in a team representing victims in the Grenfell Tower public inquiry. Much of Barwise’s work is not UK-based: she successfully represented the government of Trinidad last year
and also sat as an ICC arbitrator on the Panama Canal case, which contained a number of unusual points. But Grenfell took up much of her time last year and will again in 2019. It will kick off in a major way once more in the BVUVNO; before then, it should come as no surprise that Barwise is the sought-after silk for many other cladding-related matters.

Michael Bates Clifford Chance

Michael Bates has already come to wide notice as a banking dealmaker and latterly managing partner of Clifford Chance’s London office. However, his inclusion in the Hot 100 recognises his imaginative leadership of two important projects for the global firm: the acquisition of Carillion’s legal operations hub in Newcastle, and the agenda-setting approach to gender pay gap reporting. Bates was just one month into his tenure as London managing partner when the firm first decided it was interested in Carillion’s service centre. Within 13 days, the entire deal – which saw the transfer of 60 people – had been fully signed, signalling a new market for operations business acquisitions in the legal sector and a heating up of talent wars in the North East. Bates also made his presence felt in the gender pay gap debate that consumed so much of 2018; under his stewardship, Clifford Chance was the first magic circle law firm to break ranks and disclose partner pay differentials, a move that was not to the firm’s specific PR benefit but that influenced the level of transparency around the issue.

20 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Katherine Bellau moneysupermarket.com

Long regarded as one of the most talented up and coming in-house leaders, Katherine Bellau’s work at financial services comparison business and consumer champion moneysupermarket.com has attracted some notice. 2019 will be Bellau’s year as she moves into the general counsel and company secretary role and member of the executive team at the fast-growing FTSE-listed company. This year will see her continue to align the legal team with the ambitious strategy set by the new CEO in 2017, and lead the team’s work to underpin the rollout of new digital offerings, as well as taking responsibility for the procurement function. Over the past year, the company has seen a tech replatforming, further digital developments in which users can personalise their household bills through an app, and the launch of a fintech product that will digitise the mortgage process. The focus of Bellau’s work has also widened from B2C to include B2B in the form of partnering with banks and financial services providers to give them access to digital solutions. Passionate about diversity and inclusion, Bellau has championed flexible working both by example and instituting it into her legal team.

Gideon Benaim Simkins

Back in 1962, Cliff Richard was one of the first two clients of the firm that, by 2018, would be known as Simkins (the other was TV impresario Lord Lew Grade). Jump forward more than five decades and Simkins is still taking great care of the now Sir Cliff’s interests. Stepping up to do battle for the singer in last year’s extraordinarily public High Court battle with the BBC was the firm’s reputation protection team leader, Gideon Benaim. The case stemmed from a police investigation into allegations against the singer of historical sexual assault that led to a 2014 police raid on his home which the BBC broadcast live. Richard was never arrested or charged but, as Benaim told the court, the BBC’s coverage had allowed “conspiracy theorists and online trolls to have a field day”. Thanks to Benaim and his team, the court found that the veteran pop star’s privacy rights had indeed been infringed. Richard won some £1.5m in damages and costs, although Farmida Bi Benaim confirmed that the star’s motivation had never been Norton Rose Fulbright personal gain. The case highlighted the ongoing balancing act in law between the right to free speech and the right to There cannot have been many blank spaces on privacy, reaffirming and clarifying that the starting point Farmida Bi’s calendar last year. After a long should be a reasonable expectation of privacy. career within the transactional practice at NRF, Bi took over as its first female chairman of EMEA last May. From then on, it has been a whistle-stop waltz for Bi around every one of Shilpa Bhandarkar the firm’s offices in that region. She has been Linklaters meeting with whole offices, discussing the priorities and direction of the firm, as well as visiting international clients and attending When Shilpa Bhandarkar was appointed as Linklaters’ first pitches. Within the role, she also chairs a innovation supremo, she knew she had to completely reshape number of the firm’s committees, such as the the way technology and new solutions were conceived at the promotions and partnership ones. magic circle firm. Tapping into her experience both as a For Bi, understanding how the firm works lawyer and as a tech entrepreneur, she created a network as a business has been a fascinating and of fee-earners tasked with finding new solutions to unusual journey. Alongside learning the ropes old problems. as chairman, she has been continuing her As part of this community perspective, she also set up partner work within NRF’s transactional a coding club that aims not only to give lawyers the practice, pioneering work in Islamic finance, basics of programming, but to establish a number of as well as debt capital markets and trustee modules tailored to specific roles and practices, with work. Her clients are composed of big banks, different coding alphabets and data science classes to corporates and sovereigns, including Citi, choose from. Deutsche Bank and Intertrust. To engage with start-ups, she will collaborate with a Over the past year, she has acted for new tech working group aimed at elaborating ways to Citibank on 13 solar power projects in Egypt, foster their growth and connections. An example is as part of an IFC-led consortium, and advised Techlinks, a portal through which emerging on project bonds to finance student companies can access employment legal advice. accommodation at the University of Essex. In a bid to ensure the new generation of Bi worked for the government of Pakistan lawyers will have proficient digital skills, she on its first-ever Eurobond when just a is now restructuring the firm’s training two-year qualified associate; this year she programme to involve design service and advised on the $2.5bn (£1.97bn) sukuk and artificial intelligence. Eurobond for the Republic of Pakistan.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 21 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Claire Blakemore Withers

Withers family partner Claire Blakemore has a thriving practice. What put her on this year’s Hot 100 list was her leadership and contribution in transforming Withers’ London office. Following her promotion to the London managing director role at the end of 2016, one of her major projects was the office move – a two-year process. Blakemore saw the move as a good opportunity to transform the way teams and colleagues interact and collaborate with each other, instead of a straightforward change of premises. With significant investment in an entire new IT system, Withers’ open-plan office design puts agile and flexible working at the heart of everything. As a result, teams from different practices can easily work together on complex matters. To promote transparency and team spirit, the new premises have abolished private offices for partners or senior management, who now sit at the same desks as other lawyers and staff. Blakemore expects IT and technologies to continue to be at the forefront of Withers’ leadership team’s focus in 2019. She vows to make sure the next phase of the technology advancement will support better connection among all members of the firm.

Christine Braamskamp Jenner & Block

Dutch-born-and-bred lawyer Christine Braamskamp, who in her words “came out of the clay in the north of Holland”, admits she still finds it hard to believe that she now plies her global investigations trade in the heart of the City of London. But 2018 was the year when any doubts she might still have about her place in the legal market firmament should have been jettisoned. Braamskamp, who until the start of last year was co-head of global investigations at K&L Gates, joined Jenner & Block’s still nascent London office to help build out its practice in the UK. Her entire client base, which features corporates and senior management individuals facing UK Bribery Act, FCPA and Fraud Act proceedings, is thought to have moved with her. Several months after Braamskamp’s arrival, Jenner took its second partner from K&L Gates, with Paul Feldberg rejoining her in the global investigations, compliance and defence practice. This year, the signs are that more lawyers will join the 20-fee- earner practice as its expansion continues, not least attracted by the chance to work with Braamskamp.

Charles Brasted Hogan Lovells

Last year, Charles Brasted was sorting out two of the biggest concerns for Londoners; Brexit and the potential loss of Uber. With Transport for London stripping the taxi app of its City licence in 2017, the Hogan Lovells litigator was called in to save the day in one of the most high-profile battles of the past 12 months. Over the summer, the firm successfully won a 15-month probationary licence for Uber, a flagship client of Brasted’s for over six years. There is also an ongoing judicial review on the decision, proving that its disagreements with London’s black cabs contingent are far from over. Promoted to partner just five years ago, Brasted has carved a reputation for himself as the firm’s public law guru and is a key member of its Brexit taskforce as a result. But it is away from the media fanfare that Brasted has had the sweetest of victories. Hogan Lovells’ pro bono unit sent him to overturn a UK government decision threatening the closure of a court in Chichester. He won, in an important access-to- justice victory for not-for-profit organisation West Sussex Resolution.

22 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 One hundred faces. Endless possibilities. One future. In association with The Hot 100 2019

Amy Brookbanks Ocado

Amy Brookbanks joined Ocado in 2009 as a commercial solicitor and has been part of a team that has grown both in size and visibility at the online retailer. Over the past couple of years, Ocado has landed key international deals, which has meant that the legal team has had to negotiate the licensing of the company’s proprietary technology to overseas retailers – and the lion’s share of the work for those whose deals were done in-house. With those ventures bedded in, the task for Ocado’s legal team in 2019 is to invest in operational excellence. As a result, Brookbanks has moved from being co-head of the commercial legal team to become head of operations, spearheading the project of delivering efficient processes and examining Ocado’s resourcing. Brookbank’s task of aligning an energetic legal team with best-in-class processes will be crucial to Ocado and its new partners Casino in France, Ica in Sweden, Sobeys in Canada and, most importantly, Kroger in the US. It is a key role at the retailer, which lives and breathes data and responsiveness.

Laura Brunker Sabine Chalmers McLaren Automotive BT

In the space of only four years – she Sabine Chalmers can raise a toast to 2019; the GC at BT has joined the company as legal adviser in made it through a year of reformation. 2012 – Laura Brunker has been Having been out of the country for 23 years, she landed in elevated to the role of general counsel London in April to take on the GC mantle from Dan Fitz. The at McLaren. climate was somewhat frosty – BT had announced that it was She leads a team of six in-house cutting 13,000 jobs and so Chalmers had the task of reshaping lawyers dealing with McLaren’s legal the legal function. With a legal line-up of 400 spread across the affairs on a global scale: interaction globe, she has since been asking the refreshed team to identify with governments on supply chain the areas to prioritise and where investments should be made. strategy, procurement of vehicle It was also a period of unprecedented transformation across materials and components, research the whole company – in May, BT launched a new strategy and and development partnerships, legal announced a new CEO would be joining in the new year, with agreements with a network of nearly 90 Chalmers ensuring it is a smooth transition. retailers – all carried out within the Over the past eight months, Chalmers has been laying the company’s legal office in Woking. groundwork for what lies ahead; as telecommunication is one In the past two years, Brunker has of the most heavily regulated industries in the UK and under been instrumental in the creation of the spotlight of GDPR, she has been engaging daily with the McLaren’s Sheffield composite Government and regulators, and understanding and technology centre, which will develop establishing external stakeholders. Her big areas of focus lightweight carbon fibre and – telecommunications regulation, competition law and data, composites that will save weight and increase energy efficiency. privacy and security – are ever-evolving. Chalmers’ chapter is As part of the company’s 2025 business plan, she will oversee the delivery of 18 just beginning. lightest-in-class new models and derivatives, and the expansion of McLaren’s global Cretail network in Russia and India.

24 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Louisa Chambers Travers Smith

It is what every lawyer dreams about after returning to work from maternity leave: the onset of GDPR. This is what awaited Travers Smith’s Louisa Chambers in 2016, some 18 months before the all-important data deadline for the firm’s corporate clientele. She got straight to work and, recognising a sense of panic in the market, developed a new compliance programme to help Travers’ clients prepare for the new measures. The initiative bore new client wins, including investment manager Muzinich & Co and Eco-Bat Technologies, the world’s largest producer of lead. Chambers also added shoe retailer Office to her roster, another client drawn to her ‘no-nonsense’ approach to GDPR and compliance. The second Travers lawyer to be made partner while on maternity leave, Chambers is a driving force in the firm’s technology, IP and data protection practice. She is one of six partners in the group, which has trebled in size in three years owing to increased activity in the sector. Her client list, which includes Zoopla, Trainline and Deliveroo, is testament to the group’s importance in attracting some of the UK’s most innovative businesses to its doors.

Frances Coats Ardonagh Group

After jointly leading the five-way merger and the bond, bank finance and convertible debt refinancing that created the Ardonagh Group in 2017, last year saw Ardonagh’s dynamic chief counsel Frances Coats lead on one of the group’s acquisitions, two private bond taps, adding additional lenders to the company’s revolving credit facility and a backstop letter of credit to support legacy redress liabilities, which needed to be carefully structured to fold into its existing finance arrangements. Coats also led on the first-in-market receivables securitisation transaction and the public notes offering that formed part of the insurance company’s acquisition of Swinton, a game-changer for the group. Bringing in multiple additional businesses did not mean extra headcount, so Coats invested what little spare time she had on internal efficiencies. She led the way in creating, testing, honing and finally launching a matter management process, and brought in new ways of working that focused on value to the business and a suite of templates to permit efficient service of the expanded group. Coats’ leadership was recognised internally when she and two of her reports were rewarded with nominations by business stakeholders for Ardonagh’s annual internal employee recognition award.

Des Collins Collins Solicitors

Des Collins makes his second appearance in the Hot 100. This year, it’s for his work on the Infected Blood Inquiry, examining why thousands of haemophiliac NHS patients were given contaminated blood and blood products throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It is the UK’s worst peacetime tragedy. The Government finally announced the opening of a full, statutory public inquiry in 2018, but it only came about thanks to the tireless work of campaigners. They found a saviour in Collins, the first lawyer to take them, and the evidence, seriously. He took on the case immediately and was instrumental in bringing it to wider public attention and forcing the Government’s hand. Collins himself is representing more than 1,200 victims, families and campaign groups at the inquiry and more than 500 people at the concurrent group litigation. Though a group litigation guru, the nature of this case is on a different scale to anything he has done before: firstly because it does not stem from a single event but rather problems that developed over many years; secondly because everyone involved has a story that needs to be told. Some have been waiting 30 years for their voice to be heard. The Department of Health and Social Care seems intent on fighting the victims and their families, meaning Collins and his clients’ struggle for justice is likely to go on for years.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 25 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Joanna DeBiase IBB Solicitors

It is fitting that Joanna DeBiase is managing partner of IBB, because it is a certainty no one knows her firm better. A litigator who qualified in 1992 and joined IBB in 1999, she has held a plethora of roles at the firm, including head of technology and information services; compliance partner; deputy MLRO; COLP; and, most recently, operations director, before taking on the top job in May 2016. DeBiase is responsible for IBB’s strategic direction and has big plans. Most notably, IBB is targeting significant revenue growth, enough to take the currently sub-£20m west of London- headquartered firm comfortably into the top half of the UK 200, with a projected turnover of at least £30m. Merger activity looks like a certainty, as are lateral hires and organic growth, along with a conversion to LLP status, all part of a modernising drive spearheaded by DeBiase. The new strategy will also see significant investment in technology and process efficiency.D DeBiase’s own journey has already been untypically wide- ranging, but the signs are she is only just getting started.

Nazir Dewji Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

Nazir Dewji was asked to take on the role of head of UK real estate at an exciting time for his firm. Having just signed off its transatlantic merger with Bryan Cave, BLP propelled the construction lawyer to a top position at the newly merged firm on the back of a torrent of mighty transactions. So far, he has covered transactions totalling between £5bn and £6bn across a range of sectors. Dewji has lent a hand to a significant proportion of the major developments going on right now which are reviving the landscape of London. These include advising Land Securities on 21 Moorfields, which will become Deutsche Bank’s new HQ, as well as Northacre and UAE’s ADFG on their £400m development of the former New Scotland Yard site on The Broadway, Westminster. Over the past two years, Dewji has been broadening his reach, such as in his work on 150 Bishopsgate. As well as advising on the construction law aspects of the development, he led the wider multi-disciplinary teams, including real estate, finance and tax. He also runs the real estate client sector focus programme. Kate Downey Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson Fiona Dormandy Airbnb In the three years since joining Fried Frank, Kate Downey has been appointed its first female private Airbnb’s general counsel for the EMEA region equity head in Europe and has overseen the growth Fiona Dormandy manages more than 20 lawyers in of the funds practice from three partners and six a team spread across seven countries, in one of the associates to six partners and 20 associates, making it world’s most high-profile and rapidly growing one of the largest teams in the capital. disruptive businesses. Her focus is far-reaching, meaning the associates The speed of Airbnb’s expansion has brought under her wing have the opportunity to learn about with it an inevitable, presidential suite-sized suitcase different asset classes and types of funds. of legal issues, not least a raft of international Though private equity funds are a part of the regulatory challenges that currently include a case group’s core DNA, Downey now leads a varied in France over whether the company should have a practice, advising fund sponsors and financial real estate licence, which has been referred to the institutions across a broad range of asset classes, and European Court of Justice. on funds across the full range of special situations, But Dormandy’s focus is not just on purely legal matters. Succession planning and venture, growth, clean energy and renewables, ensuring healthy career opportunities for her team are issues Dormandy cares passionately infrastructure and real estate. about, while Airbnb’s highly diverse customer base means that inclusion issues feature highly She also co-chairs the Women in Fund Finance’s on the former Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer associate’s ranking of important matters. European Committee, brandishing the torch for Indeed, Dormandy once blocked the appointment of a top-tier law firm after it fielded an women within the fund industry and raising the all-male, five-partner panel pitch team. Time for some out there to wake up to the new issues women face within the financial world on a economy and the impact of trailblazers like Dormandy. global platform.

26 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 WHEN -8Ʉ6)%00= 1%88)67

AlixPartners is a results-driven KPSFEPGSRWYPXMRKƤVQXLEX WTIGMEPMWIWMRLIPTMRKFYWMRIWWIW WYGGIWWJYPP]EHHVIWWXLIMVQSWX GSQTPI\ERHGVMXMGEPGLEPPIRKIW In association with The Hot 100 2019 Gareth Eagles White & Case

Following his 2014 promotion to the partnership Gareth Eagles has rapidly risen to be the star partner and top-biller in White & Case’s European bank finance group. He is trusted to generate, lead and execute work for some of the firm’s biggest and most strategic clients, such as GSO Capital Partners, which is part of The Blackstone Group and a major player in the leveraged finance marketplace. Eagles has also successfully carved out a niche as the go-to lawyer in the private debt space, a fast-growing area in the leveraged finance sector. Through a long list of deals he has done for non-bank lenders such as GSO, he has gained a reputation for reinventing and shaping the private credit market for large-cap and upper-mid-market transactions. Apart from a busy flow of client work, Eagles has also been instrumental in shaping the strategic direction and driving the growth of White & Case’s bank finance business. E He has been a key influence behind the firm’s recent private debt hires in New York, as well as internal promotions in London in the past few years.

Liesl Fichardt Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

In her first full calendar year as a Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan partner, Liesl Fichardt has proven her considerable worth to the decade-old London outpost. The former Clifford Chance head of tax investigations and disputes arrived at Quinn Emanuel (QE) as the first dedicated tax partner in the London office in late 2017, handling some of the largest cases in this field globally. Her work on the Acacia Mining dispute in Africa is estimated to be worth an aggregated $200bn (£158bn), with more than 95 separate issues thought to be ongoing at the time of writing. In true QE spirit, Fichardt was told that 12 cases being brought as part of the Acacia dispute were unwinnable by local counsel. She then went on to win 11, with the last one awaiting judgment. Fichardt is keen to expand QE’s London tax practice this year. F There will undoubtedly be a greater number of associates joining to bolster that practice, though it could also take the form of a partner lateral. Watch your tax teams, London, Fichardt’s leading the charge.

Melissa Fogarty Martin Forde QC Clifford Chance 1 Crown Office Row

Melissa Fogarty is fast becoming a prominent player at Clifford Chance, Though he has made a career for himself as a health lawyer on the side having been appointed co-chair of the firm’s London corporate practice of the practitioners, it was an issue far closer to home for 1 Crown over the summer. As well as specialising in bank M&A, for which she is the Office Row’s Martin Forde QC that dominated the silk’s year. client relationship partner for several large institutions, her practice Forde’s work in 2018 focused heavily on the Windrush generation, encompasses a broad spectrum, including the aviation and media sectors. taking on the role of independent adviser to the Windrush At the end ooff 2017, she advised easyJet in its acquisition Compensation Scheme in May as he battled to reimburse those of Air Berlin’s operationsop at Berlin Tegel Airport, in a families who suffered over their immigration status. transactiontransaction furtherfurt complicated by the latter’s With compensation potentially running into six figures for those insolvency.insolvency. FogartyFo has also played an damaged over scant travel documentation, Forde has had his work cut instrumentalinstrumental role as the firm continues to out. As an unexpected result of his efforts, the son of Windrush expandexpand its globalg network of innovation and parents has even been granted silk in Barbados. deliverydelivery hubs.hu Over the past 18 months, she has The Windrush work is unlikely to committedcommitted herself to change management slow down in the near future. throughthrough theth implementation of Clifford Indeed, it will only gather pace Chance’sChance’ Best Delivery strategy, which as public scorn continues to integratesint technology and different pour on the structures wayswa of working in order to reduce responsible for the overallove legal costs for clients. As part of mistreatment of those thisth strategy, she assisted in the firm’s involved. acquisition of Carillion’s legal Forde will be very services arm in Newcastle, much at the sharp end of ensuring a smooth process of the charge to ensure that integration with the London office. the Windrush generation gets its fair share.

28 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Nicola Foulston Rosenblatt

Few stories have created as much interest in and around the UK legal market as the trend for law firm IPOs. Indeed, there is enormous interest not only in the businesses that have gone public but also the people driving forward this seismic shift. And none more so than the person behind the era change at Rosenblatt, CEO Nicola Foulston. The former boss of a hedge fund and Brands Hatch, Foulston already has a distinguished pedigree in business, but last year saw her taking her first-ever steps into the world of law. Effectively an ‘outsider’, Foulston is not one to mince her words about the opportunities she sees in the legal market, believing strongly that most firms are years behind where they should be in terms of the nuts and bolts of running a business. This year, Foulston’s willingness to embrace a non-traditional approach to legal services will see her continue to expand Rosenblatt’s services, notably in relation to litigation funding, operational excellence (particularly in terms of innovative pricing and the use of new technology) and strategic expansion. Expect to see collaborations and acquisitions proliferate in 2019. Do not expect to see anything remotely dull.

Heather Gagen Travers Smith

Travers Smith litigator Heather Gagen wasted no time in making her mark at the firm after hopping across the Holborn viaduct in 2015 from Hogan Lovells. In less than two years, she had already been promoted to partner and was one of four Travers women to make the cut that year. This, combined with her rapid ascendancy to partnership at just eight years qualified, has made her a role model to associates at the firm. Alongside the day job, Gagen juggles a role on Travers’ graduate recruitment committee and volunteers at a family law clinic as part of the firm’s pro bono activities. But back to the fee-earning. As a fresh-faced partner, Gagen was immediately appointed as the lead litigator for G Japanese smart card chip producer Renesas, in a follow-on and standalone damages claim brought by Vodafone. Working alongside the firm’s head of competition Nigel Seay, she will be back in the High Court next autumn to fight Renesas’ corner. With just one follow-on damages judgment so far handed down in the UK, this is a growing area of law in which firms are keen to invest.

Clare Gaskell Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Since making partner in 2015, Simpson Thacher & Bartlett’s Clare Gaskell has been at the forefront of many major leveraged buyout transactions for private equity heavyweights such as Blackstone, KKR and Silver
-ake. The first half of 2018 was spent getting KKR’s €6.825bn (£6.16bn) acquisition of Unilever’s baking, cooking and spreads business over the line. The deal was one of the largest European leveraged buyouts in recent years and presented a unique set of challenges arising from carving out the business units from a global consumer goods behemoth. In a large number of jurisdictions, the acquired business was integrated into Unilever’s wider business. Another significant deal Gaskell worked on was Silver
-ake’s £2.2bn takeover of Zoopla owner ZPG. She co-led the deal, alongside fellow partner Ben Spiers, acting for the private equity investor. Away from her deal-making, Gaskell’s leadership skills, particularly relating to career development for associates, were also recognised internally. She was recently appointed as a co-chair of the firm’s personnel committee. In this role, one of her current priorities is to transform the associate review process.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 29 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Denise Gibson Allen & Overy

Referring to Allen & Overy partner Denise Gibson as a rising star is an understatement. Although only into her fifth year as a partner, Gibson has been widely recognised by her peers as having developed an exceptional banking practice in the City. Leveraging her previous experience as an executive director at Goldman Sachs responsible for complex end-of- leveraged finance, she has not only maintained a close relationship with the global investment bank, but has built up a stellar clientele of major financial services institutions. A recent highlight was acting for Barclays, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, ING Bank and UBS as arranger of the first and second lien financing in respect of PAI’s acquisition of French games publisher Asmodee Group from Eurazeo. Apart from traditional leveraged finance, Gibson is increasingly known for acting for private credit funds. For example, she recently advised KKR Credit on a unitranche to support the continued growth of Advent portfolio company InPost. In May 2018, Gibson was appointed to Allen & Overy’s global board for a four-year term. Representing a younger generation of partners, she is set to bring a different perspective to the boardroom to help shape the future of the magic circle firm.

Apostolos Gkoutzinis Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy

If Milbank wanted to make an impact in the European high-yield market, then its hire of debt partner Apostolos Gkoutzinis from Shearman & Sterling was a good way of going about it. Gkoutzinis immediately rolled his sleeves up on a string of headline transactions for senior lenders. His deals included advising JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs among others on the financing of the Design Holding deal, which saw Carlyle and Investindustrial acquire Italian design and furniture company B&B Italia and two Danish lighting companies, Flos and Louis Poulsen; acting for the lenders on Bain Capital’s €700m (£632m) acquisition of Italmatch Chemicals; and on the €600m acquisition financing of schools group Cognita by Jacobs Holding of Switzerland. Gkoutzinis, whose track record on post-financial crisis Greek deals is unsurpassed, with a CV that includes the recapitalisation of Piraeus Bank, Eurobank and Attica Bank, also worked on the €1.3bn 20-year extension of Athens Airport’s concession, a deal that showcased his versatility as a debt lawyer.

Kerry Glanville Pemberton Greenish

Kerry Glanville, who until last year was the senior partner and head of real estate dispute resolution at London-based property and private client firm Pemberton Greenish, has just taken on a major new role. Glanville is now head of the Chelsea office at freshly merged Cripps Pemberton Greenish, a firm that can claim to have one of the largest property practices in the market, with some 150 lawyers, including more than 20 in real estate dispute resolution. The latter is an area near to Glanville’s heart, with the former Slaughter and May lawyer a well-known litigator in the specialist area of leasehold enfranchisement work. Last year, Glanville had two cases in the Court of Appeal, both of which had significant implications for how vast swathes of London real estate are owned, valued and managed. In January, she led the team that secured success for landlord Sloane Stanley in Mundy v the Trustees of the Sloane Stanley Estate, while later in the year she was back in the Court of Appeal, instructed by the Crown Estate regarding one of its properties, Whitehall Court. The combination of Brexit, a turbulent economy and a significantly enlarged team post-merger suggests that 2019 is unlikely to be any quieter for Glanville.

Jill Greenfield Fieldfisher

Jill Greenfield attended a comprehensive in Stoke-on-Trent, with a father who was a joiner and a mother who worked on a fruit stall, and never expected to become a lawyer. She came into the profession wanting to fight for justice for individuals. And as the head of Fieldfisher’s personal injury department, she gets to do just that, handling some of the most high-profile cases of 2018. Greenfield is running the first civil claims against Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company in the English courts for historic alleged sexual assaults on behalf of former employees. For many of the alleged UK victims, she was the first person they had spoken to about their experience, and says it is a humbling experience to be able to use the law to seek access to justice. With a practice like Greenfield’s, you never know what is going to come through the door next. She always acts for victims and – having previously successfully campaigned to change terrorism laws to support victims injured abroad – last year stepped up to act for those injured in the Westminster Bridge and Finsbury Park Mosque terror attacks.

30 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Catherine Hammon Osborne Clarke

You may not have heard of a digital revolution knowledge lawyer before. That is because the role did not exist until September 2017. Catherine Hammon is waving the flag for the digital revolution, ensuring all of Osborne Clarke’s lawyers are tooled up to understand its commercial and legal implications for clients. Because of this, it is largely an outward-facing role, as Hammon ensures everyone is aware of where the future is taking clients. As part of paving a baseline of knowledge, Hammon follows all aspects of digital transformation, including artificial intelligence, robotics, drones, blockchain and cryptocurrencies, virtual and augmented reality, quantum computing and autonomous transport, then translates them H back across the firm in language that is accessible. For Hammon, the challenge is not about spotting the obvious things that are coming, but about reading into alternative sources to clock the less obvious issues. She talks to people at all levels of the firm, from vacation schemers to partners. It is about preparing lawyers for the landscape that will soon surround us; think driverless cars, smart buildings and smart cities with highways that can provide information about the traffic. None of these things are a world away any more. Hammon is making sure legal minds are open to the ground-breaking changes that are to come. Amanda Hanmore Trowers & Hamlins

Trowers & Hamlins’ head of Birmingham real estate Amanda Hanmore spent much of 2018 working on local regeneration projects around the country, while growing the burgeoning real estate practice in the firm’s Midlands office. When Hanmore arrived to lead the practice three years ago, Trowers’ Birmingham office only had one managing associate and a couple of assistants. Today, they are four partners strong, with a team to support them. She anticipates the team will grow further to support the work generated by the new lease of life Birmingham’s real Graham Hann estate sector has been given by the likes of HS2 and the Taylor Wessing Commonwealth Games. The team’s work has earned a strong reputation and place on the Homes England panel. Taylor Wessing’s Graham Hann has been studying, living and breathing technology Last year, Hanmore led on a regeneration project that is since the beginning of his career. set to change the face of Truro, which will provide 1,500 A former programmer for Siemens, he spent two years as head of legal of a new homes, as well as education facilities and retail space. technology business in the midst of the dotcom revolution, when the internet became This has garnered support and funding from the local mainstream and start-ups snapped up lawyers from private equity. council and is in its final stages. ‘Spade in ground’ should Since the early 2000s, he has been building Taylor Wessing’s global technology happen in March. practice, specialising in fintech, fashion and Plans for the future include working with the West luxury, and gaming and gambling. His clients Midlands Pension Fund, as well as other key affordable include powerhouse tech companies such as housing clients. Activision, Spotify, Tencent and Sega. Last year, he worked with luxury and fashion marketplace Farfetch on multiple tie-ups with brands to help scale the platform’s reach, and advised video games publishers on sales to Chinese, US and European buyers. He also navigated the crossover of video games and gambling on new player acquisition tools, such as loot boxes, which allow online games players to use real money to access in-game functions and extras. To stay on top of new trends, he has cultivated grassroots relations with emerging start-ups, advising UK tech company Thought Machine, which wants to revolutionise the banking sector, and Improbable Worlds, a games development platform aiming to create infinite scale in virtual worlds.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 31 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Emma Hargreaves Serle Court

Though Emma Hargreaves was only called to the Bar six years ago, the reputation she has developed in that short time is superb. The Serle Court barrister has carved out an unexpected niche as a specialist Chancery barrister, focusing on major divorce cases for high-net-worth individuals. Last year, she estimates her split of work was close to 50/50 Chancery to family, though 2019 might see the Chancery work dominate to become about three quarters of all her work. Hargreaves’ work for hotel business Edwardian continues to take up a great deal of her time, with much of that centring on unfair prejudice petitions, while an ongoing case in Bermuda involving non-charitable trusts still rages on over five years since it began, with estimates saying the total value now runs into billions of dollars. In line with her chambers’ ever-increasing focus on offshore work, the Caribbean will continue to be a fruitful area for Hargreaves as the future looks ever more promising.

Christopher Harris QC Matthew Hill 3VB 1 Crown Office Row

3VB’s Christopher Harris QC, In March 2018, Matthew Hill was at a children’s party handing out who was elevated to silk at the the jelly when he got an urgent call from the Home Office. Could start of 2019, has carved out a he come in urgently? They could not say why. strong reputation in It transpired that Hill’s assistance was needed in relation to the investor-state arbitration and Salisbury nerve agent attack on Sergei and Yulia Skripal. The pair the enforcement of were in comas and the Organisation for the Prohibition of treaty awards. Chemical Weapons wanted to take blood samples. He spent much of 2018 Because it was for evidential rather than medical purposes, the leading on substantial hospital wanted a court order and Hill and James Eadie QC (now investment treaty claims against Sir James) spent an incredibly intense five days working on an Bulgaria, Poland, Azerbaijan, unusual application with no real precedent. Nigeria and Sri Lanka. Two cases The cases Hill works on are have involved significant submissions literally always in the news. He on the impact of the Court of Justice of the is junior counsel on the ongoing European Union’s Achmea judgment, which sent shockwaves infected blood inquiry (see his through the arbitration community in March last year. fellow Hot 100 member Des Harris has also been involved in the groundbreaking Collins) and represented the enforcement proceedings in the High Court and Court of London Ambulance Service at Appeal in the Stati v Kazakhstan case, successfully defending inquests into the deaths of enforcement of the $500m (£395m) award and securing a rare victims of the Westminster determination that the award had been procured by Stati’s Bridge terror attack. Also fraud on the tribunal. coming up this year is work on While having extensive experience in representing states, one strand of the child sex abuse such as Kazakhstan, Harris is also frequently instructed to act inquiry and the Birmingham for corporate clients in investment treaty arbitration. For pub bombings – an interesting example, he is representing private equity heavyweight Carlyle case legally to take to the Court Group in arbitration proceedings against Morocco in a $400m of Appeal because it is about dispute over the profits it lost when the country’s only refinery what an inquest should and went bankrupt. should not do.

Louise Hutton Essex Court Chambers

Fraud and banking junior Louise Hutton’s practice has gone on to another level since she joined Essex Court Chambers from Maitland Chambers in May 2018, a move that has given her more exposure to top-level banking, insolvency and civil fraud matters. Hutton had already made a name for herself with her successful involvement in the long-running and various Lehman Waterfall litigations (the Supreme Court judgment in Waterfall 1 was handed down in May 2017 after five years of litigation). She was led by David Foxton QC on the Maroil fraud case, which included a disputed freezing order and settled in the summer of 2017. Her current instructions include the high-profile arbitration over PrivatBank’s bonds brought by Madison Pacific, in which she is instructed with Vernon Flynn QC by Adam Silver at Dechert, and the Gaiduk v Taruta fraud claim, listed for an eight-week trial in the Commercial Court in the autumn. With a basket of contentious trust cases also on the go, an area that meshes well with civil fraud, Hutton’s 2019 looks set to be anything but quiet.

32 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Jeremy Hyam QC 1 Crown Office Row

Last year, Jeremy Hyam QC of 1 Crown Office Row (1COR) took on a slew of cases that attracted considerable press attention, including the inquest into the death of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, the 15-year-old girl who died after consuming a Pret baguette with sesame in it. This attracted the sort of media storm that put all involved under immense pressure, raising the emotional temperature in already sensitive circumstances. One day the case was relatively unknown; the next Sky News was on 1COR’s doorstep. The case culminated in the legal team meeting Pret’s chief executive to make sure something good would come from the tragedy: proper labelling on all products. Hyam has also been at the centre of a well-covered debate about the ethics surrounding IVF, where he defended an IVF clinic from a man attempting to claim damages for a ‘forged’ consent form. Hyam is used to working in the public eye, having earned silk through cases such as the Mid Staffs hospital scandal, an important case relating to clinical negligence.

Paul Jennings Bates Wells Braithwaite

Bates Wells’ Paul Jennings is an employment lawyer working at the forefront of cases relating to the gig economy. One of his most significant instructions of last year was acting for James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam, the test claimants in the landmark employment rights case against the global transportation company Uber. Jennings won in the Court of Appeal in December and the case is now destined for the Supreme Court. Being part of a team that shapes the foundations of employment law – the first thing you learn at law school – and affects such a huge number of people is, he says, very exciting. Jennings has more gig economy cases in the J Employment Tribunal and Court of Appeal coming up in the year ahead, alongside his non-contentious work acting for organisations as diverse as charities and hedge funds.

Phillippa Kaufmann QC Matrix Chambers

Taking silk in 2011, Matrix Chambers’ Phillippa Kaufmann QC has developed a niche for herself acting on pivotal public law disputes against bodies such as the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Defence. Switching over from Doughty Street Chambers to Matrix nearly five years ago, Kaufmann had expected to broaden her expertise and win instructions on a wider range of cases. However, the last 12 months shows she has well and truly carved a name for herself as the barrister on call for victims of well-known public institutions. Last year, she built on her expertise as a prison lawyer by taking on the Metropolitan Police in the highly publicised battle between the organisation and victims of London cab driver John Worboys. The victims K claimed their treatment by the police caused them mental harm and alleged that they had failed to conduct an effective investigation into his crimes. The Met’s appeal was dismissed in an important decision over whether victims of serious crime can sue the police for errors. Kaufmann then took on the Parole Board, marking the first time it had ever been challenged, and forced to reverse, a decision to release a prisoner.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 33 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Tess Kelly Amy Kennedy Bank of England Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

As head of legal for financial stability at the Bank of England, Theresa Amy Kennedy was welcomed into the partnership at Gibson Dunn at (Tess) Kelly is one of the lead lawyers right at the heart of Brexit- the beginning of 2018 and has pulled off a range of complex finance related challenges. For some, that might not be the most enviable place deals since. to be. The month she qualified, Lehman Brothers collapsed, causing the For Kelly, as well as the team she has built, the proximity to the kind of turbulence the financial world had not historic events currently unfolding in the UK means the frenetic period seen in decades. Working in finance in trying straddling 2018 and 2019 may well be the inflexion point of her legal times has meant Kennedy’s practice has career. But then again Kelly, who has been with the Bank for nearly six been predicated on the ability to adapt years, is a renowned team builder and is only just getting started. quickly and stay reactive to the market. She was one of the first two lawyers to work in the Bank’s resolution Last year alone she worked on leveraged directorate, the legal function financings, real estate deals, Shariah created in the aftermath of the lending and restructurings. financial crisis to ensure that Kennedy’s landmark acquisition any distressed financial of the year was Bruin Sports institution fails in an orderly Capital’s buyout of Soulsight. way. Kelly quickly progressed to She also assisted Deltatre, one heading a much larger, more of Bruin’s portfolio companies, fungible, division of some 25 acquire Massive Interactive. This lawyers, which oversees not only deal started in the summer and resolution but also the with a tight, two-week regulation of the financial turnaround, the debt aspects markets infrastructure. of the financing closed in The expansion overseen by November. Last year, she also Kelly relates to the Bank’s advised Fremont Realty mission of protecting financial Capital on its financing stability. In Brexit year, that is arrangements for the likely to be some challenge, but acquisition of Porthaven Care one that Kelly will relish. Homes Group.

Katherine Laurenson Legal & General

Regarded as an undoubted star in real estate finance lawyering, Katherine Laurenson joined L&G 10 years ago and has seen her work broaden into strategically critical projects. Heading a legal team of six, she has been central to the transformation of Legal & General Property, leading on fund structuring and restructuring that supports a diversified asset and investor base, and building out the private credit capability. The past couple of years have seen Laurenson lead on an enormous variety of matters, including aircraft leasing to major infra projects such as London Gateway and Tilbury, regeneration projects in Cardiff and Newcastle and long-term social impact projects. Her appointment in July to lead the LGIM Real Assets Solutions team underscored her value to the L business, while her refresh of the legal panel in early 2018 brought in new collaborative models among L&G’s external firms.

Sophie Lawrance Bristows

As a specialist in EU law splitting her time between London and Brussels, Bristows partner Sophie Lawrance is set to have arguably the most challenging and transformative year of her career. Did Lawrance think at the start of her working life that she would be working throughout the biggest political event in a generation? Unequivocally, no. Has she relished the opportunity to be in the mixer? Undoubtedly. Though Brexit looks set to dominate this year, her 2018 focused heavily on acting for Chinese telecoms business ZTE in a wide-ranging IP dispute that will likely rumble on for some time yet. Judgment on this case is expected this year, with Lawrance hopeful the outcome will vindicate her hard work over the course of last year. With competition cases steadily growing in volume at the European Commission, another of Lawrance’s clients – Google – has seen a number of these brought against it. A claim from Hausfeld-represented price comparison business Foundem is due to be heard in 2019, giving Lawrance two major cases to focus on already.

34 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Andrew Leaitherland DWF

There are few leaders who have had as much of an impact on their firm as DWF’s Andrew Leaitherland. At the end of 2017, he was reappointed as managing partner for a fifth consecutive term. Indeed, he is DWF’s first and only managing partner. Since originally taking on the role, Leaitherland has helped transform DWF from a two-office, £34m turnover business in the North West to a much larger international outfit, with revenue up by 456 per cent over the period to more than £200m and total headcount closing in on 3,000 in 27 locations. This year, even all of this might seem like small fry. In March, DWF is set to become the first-ever law firm to go public on the London Stock Exchange’s main list. It will be the largest law firm float by some distance and could set the ball rolling on more big-ticket IPOs. The funds raised and momentum generated are likely to see DWF not only continue its rapid expansion, but also scale up significantly in its Connected Services division, which includes a range of complementary specialist solutions, consultative services and products sitting alongside DWF’s core legal offering. Under Leaitherland, DWF is going where no firm has gone before.

Peter Limbert Fulham FC

Lawyers are by nature risk-averse individuals. When Peter Limbert’s employers were asked in advance of the 2018 play-off final whether promotion to the English Premier League would require an open-top bus parade through the streets, the offer was declined. Who wants to tempt fate like that? The football club’s promotion was the jewel in Fulham’s crown last year and for Limbert, it preceded a summer that would see him become the first-ever GC at a promoted club to handle more than £100m in transfers. Not only is £100m an enormous figure, it is also a pertinent one as the club’s redevelopment of the Riverside Stand running parallel to the Thames will cost that same figure. The project sees Limbert helping to revolutionise a structure which has stood since 1896, bringing one of English football’s most iconic pieces of architecture into the 21st century. His work for club owner and Indian businessman Shahid Khan on the proposed acquisition of Wembley Stadium for a reported £600m may still bear fruit, and it demonstrated Limbert’s collaborative approach across Khan’s network, working closely with GCs from other Khan-owned entities, NFL team the Jacksonville Jaguars and Illinois-based automotive business Flex-N-Gate.

Malcolm MacDougall Charles Russell Speechlys

Malcolm MacDougall is a whirling dervish of a dealmaker, making his name as one of the most active M&A lawyers in the City. Since MacDougall became co-head of corporate last year, PEP within the department has shot up 40 per cent and he has seen through a bounty of mid-market deals. These include acting for 'PE Capital on the sale of British luxury furniture brand OKA to the Italian owner of Aston Martin, Investindustrial; and Elysian Capital on the acquisition of humanitarian, faith and education travel company Key Travel. Over the last year, MacDougall has completed five deals for key client Civica, including its acquisition of the election and voting services group Electoral Reform Services Limited. MacDougall’s lightning charge across the M&A sky is set to continue into 2019. After CRS merged with sports law boutique Couchmans earlier in the year, he will be seeing through more sport M&A, and having hired a Nigerian M lawyer within his practice, will be picking up more African work. When he is not at the board table, MacDougall is just as comfortable cutting a dash on the stage, playing Prince Valentine in the firm’s Snow White panto.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 35 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Fiona Maclean Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins’ Fiona Maclean became a partner aged 33. This pioneering technology lawyer sits at the nexus of data and regulation, designing new corporate trajectories in transformational fintech, cloud and innovation deals. Financial services organisations are adapting their internal processes to a new cloud-based environment and Maclean has made a name for herself by successfully advising clients on this leap in the dark. Last year, she assisted a big retail and investment bank in the migration of its data to the cloud. She also advised a consortium of 16 banks on the compliance issues associated with managing different information streamflows into a common repository through a cloud-based programme. Traditional powers are no longer able to determine terms and conditions, leaving a shaken market where companies operate in a vacuum. Maclean will be focusing on what she calls ‘second-generation cloud’ issues. While the first generation presented challenges around data extraction and migration, now she will handle the regulatory hurdles faced by clients in the transition from existing cloud providers to new, competitive ones.

Jamie Maples Weil Gotshal & Manges

Jamie Maples’ dispute skills were honed during his time as a barrister at 1 Essex Court in the early 2000s. When he left the Bar, he made his way to Weil Gotshal & Manges, where he now leads the City disputes practice. Last year, Maples led on one of the most significant Islamic finance cases to come before the English courts to date, acting for investors including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs who had lent money to UAE-headquartered Dana Gas. The $700m (£554m) of debt, which was due to mature in October 2017 was never repaid, following claims it was no longer Sharia-compliant. Having rejected restructuring proposals, Dana Gas has been in a legal battle across multiple jurisdictions challenging the validity of the various agreements and security comprising the bond. The court ruled in favour of the bondholders. This case set a precedent and placed aspects of Islamic finance firmly under the microscope.

Helen Mason Nick McAleenan Morgan Sindall JMW

In the five years since becoming Morgan Sindall Group’s general counsel, JMW partner Nick McAleenan’s practice has benefited from the Helen Mason has built up a high-calibre legal team from scratch across the immensely interesting work generated by the explosion of data FTSE 250 construction group. breach cases over the last few years, with a mix While her team provides day-to-day legal support across a wide array of of privacy cases for individuals and construction projects, such as Crossrail and the Lewisham Gateway group cases against companies regeneration scheme, a major focus of Mason’s work in the past two years topping the agenda. has been the delivery of regulatory training across McAleenan was the the group’s six business units and cultivating a driving force behind robust compliance culture. Mason personally action for claimants in drafted the content for a set of eight interactive the first-ever e-learning courses, with subjects ranging from data-related class anti-bribery and GDPR to modern slavery action in the UK and anti-competitive behaviour. She Court of Appeal. travelled to sites to ensure all the questions Operating from were answered and understood. JMW’s Manchester As a result, in-house lawyers are now office, he acted for a involved from an early stage of business group against decisions, and there is an encouraging rate for Morrisons, in a data internal whistleblowing – key to strong breach that has 5,500 corporate governance and a manifestation of claimants so far. Members compliance culture. of the group stand to gain up Another remarkable contribution to £10,000 each if the court rules from Mason saw her cut the group’s compensation should be paid. The case list of external advisers from 60 to has been rumbling on for years and came to a head in October, three. In the process, she when the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the claimant. significantly reduced the group’s If the case reaches the compensation stage, much of McAleenan’s legal spend and brought greater time in early 2019 will be consumed with working out how much quality control to the advice this is worth. And if it does not, the case could go all the way to the provided by panel firms. Supreme Court.

36 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Jacqueline McGuigan TMP Solicitors

Jacqueline McGuigan wanted to be a social worker, took a legal secretary job to pay the bills and became a lawyer after she kept correcting her bosses’ work. In other words, she is not your conventional solicitor. She took on the case of Gary Smith in Pimlico Plumbers v Smith in 2011, at a time when the question of employment status was considered dead and buried. Over the past eight years, she has taken it all the way to the Supreme Court, toppling the might of Mishcon de Reya as five judges unanimously agreed that claimant Mr Smith was a Pimlico Plumbers employee during his time working for the company and not, as Pimlico Plumbers was arguing, self-employed. The phone has not stopped ringing since, and McGuigan is getting all sorts of interesting and meritorious cases through the door. A key one in 2019 revolves around foster carers and their legal rights as workers, sparked by a phone call from a client who saw her on TV. It has human rights as well as employment considerations and McGuigan has some of the UK’s finest barristers lined up alongside her. Not bad for a sole practitioner.

Rose Meller Brookfield

Moving in-house to Brookfield in 2016, legal counsel and VP Rose Meller worked her way to a promotion within a year. One of four lawyers in the investment manager’s property group, she is the only in-houser handling real estate development issues, while also working with the wider team on significant refinancings and acquisitions. In a particularly busy year for the department, Meller supported on the acquisition of a number of student accommodation assets from Curlew in a big boost to Brookfield’s own portfolio of properties. She also led on the acquisition of Saco’s serviced apartment business at the start of last year and is supporting the group on the subsequent expansion of the portfolio. Working for Brookfield, Meller is behind the development and refinancing of some of the City’s most prominent landmarks. In 2018, the former Mayer Brown lawyer successfully completed the refinancing of the CityPoint Tower and Amazon’s London HQ, called the Principal Place building. With her development hat on, Meller is further closely involved in the pre-leasing of 100 Bishopsgate to prospective tenants that include the likes of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Paul Hastings.

Tom Mercer Ashurst

Under Tom Mercer’s leadership, Ashurst’s London corporate practice has been a sizzling hotbed of big deals. In 2018, he secured a run of three deals for resources powerhouse Vedanta, including its $813m (£642m) acquisition of Electrosteel Steels under India’s new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. This culminated in Mercer advising the company’s chairman, Indian billionaire businessman Anil Agarwal, on his $3bn take-private of Vedanta during the summer. Having had experience as part of a two-year secondment on the Takeover Panel, Mercer is well-poised for prolific takeovers. He was part of the team that acted for Ladbrokes Coral in its £3.9bn takeover offer from GVC Holdings and also advised the banks in Takeda Pharmaceuticals’ £46bn bid battle for Shire. At the end of 2018, he stepped in to advise key client Interserve on its financial restructuring, to rescue it from becoming the next Carillion.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 37 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Richard Millington Shoosmiths

After spending the majority of his career in-house, including a stint as general counsel of Umbro, Richard Millington returned to the world of private practice in 2016, tasked with kickstarting a sports team at Shoosmiths. It was a bold decision – as Millington himself told the firm, he was an expensive hire with no business case. But Shoosmiths saw the potential of tapping into his vast experience in the sector, and he was ideally suited for the task. From nothing, Millington has built a team and won some heavyweight mandates across football, rugby, cricket and more. Rather than going head-to-head with the leading names in the field, Shoosmiths’ elite advisory team, led by former Manchester City head of player liaison Haydn Roberts, is taking a new approach to providing sports law advice. Millington works alongside non-lawyers like Roberts to bring a more commercial approach to a traditional practice area. It sees them pitching for projects against the big four accountants as much as law firms.

Jennifer Millins Heather Mitchell Mishcon de Reya The Carlyle Group

In a year when gender pay gap stories dominated the press, As the first global general counsel at private equity and investment the biggest story of all centred on the media: the row over firm The Carlyle Group, Heather Mitchell ensures consistency remuneration at the BBC. The BBC’s former China editor Carrie amid frequent regulatory changes, marrying bureaucratic Gracie brought a complaint of sex discrimination which resulted in requirements with commercial ambitions. an apology and payout by the BBC – which Gracie donated to the Mitchell pioneered areas such as deal restructuring and warranty Fawcett Society to support other legal actions. The lawyer behind and indemnity insurance. Based on her ‘One Carlyle’ philosophy, Gracie’s successful action was Mishcon de Reya partner Jennifer she assigned a single lawyer to each fund, advising on up to five Millins, who acts both for employees and employers – more usually deals at a time. This close collaboration helps to identify issues and from the financial sector. For Millins, find solutions in the early stages of negotiations. it was an unusual case because Her ability to streamline of the spotlight on the BBC’s processes and cut bureaucracy funding from the licence saved deals beleaguered by payer and its role in the regulatory constraints. With her public life of the UK. team, she dealt with more than Millins is on $25bn (£19.7bn) of investments maternity leave until and over $13bn of proceeds, mid-2019, but she recently leading on the $12.5bn will continue her acquisition of AkzoNobel’s prominent part in specialty chemicals division. the debate over pay To gain a clear overview of the through her role on market, she launched a tracker to Mishcon’s internal constantly evaluate the parameters learning and thought of Carlyle’s portfolio companies leadership academy, in and spearheaded the development which the firm is working of a market shock system to with the University of Surrey monitor how Brexit-related market and King’s College London on a blows affected the company. research project that will look into more effective ways of reporting pay gaps.

Maggie Moodie Morton Fraser

Maggie Moodie began her current three-year stint as Morton Fraser’s firm-wide chair in May 2017 and made changes immediately. Notably, she formalised agile working across the entire firm. Moodie is adamant that this was not done as a space- or money-saving initiative, but was about treating people as adults and trusting them to get on with the job. The move is indicative of the litigation partner’s approach to running the Scottish firm’s business. Obtaining the most out of all of Morton Fraser’s lawyers and staff is, for her, critical. The firm’s recent record financial results, which saw it break through the £20m turnover barrier for the first time, suggest it is working. Indeed, the theme of autonomy permeates the firm, with the partners having unanimously indicated in January 2018 that they intend to remain an independent Scottish firm. It is perhaps appropriate, in Brexit year, that the partners are keen to retain control of their future direction.

38 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Elaine Motion Michael Mylonas QC Balfour + Manson Serjeants’ Inn Chambers

Elaine Motion is the first female chair of Scottish firm Balfour + Manson, and a Michael Mylonas QC had 24 hours to secure the well-known name in Scotland for her public law and clinical negligence expertise. extraction and posthumous use of a fatally injured However, what put her in the spotlight in 2018 was the year-long legal battle she man’s sperm to allow the victim’s wife to become fought seeking clarity over an important point of public law which could pregnant. potentially provide an alternative way out from the political turmoil over Brexit. A day before the man died, Mylonas collaborated At the end of 2017, Motion, along with Aidan O’Neill QC and a group of with the doctors involved and the Human Scottish MPs, launched the legal challenge to take the question of whether the Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to urgently United Kingdom can call off Brexit without the consent of other EU member submit an application to the Court of states to the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Protection, which hears cases Since then, she has worked alongside a team of barristers in 14 court hearings, related to people who – due to with the first 13 before the lack of mental capacity Court of Session in – cannot make decisions for Scotland and the latest one themselves. in the ECJ. Showing how the On 10 December, the couple was undergoing a ECJ ruled that the UK fertility treatment and could unilaterally cancel its was keen to have a child, withdrawal from the EU the barrister convinced without needing the the judge that it was the consent of the other 27 man’s will to enable his member states. wife to conceive, and subsequently allowed for his sperm to be retrieved and stored through the signature of a deputy. As part of his medical law practice, Mylonas has been working on a series of groundbreaking cases at the intersection of biology, ethics and law, often pushing regulatory boundaries and shaping the public debate. Next year, he will work on the regulatory void surrounding the case of a transgender man who wants to be recognised as father of his baby after a local registrar said he would be forced to be recorded as mother.

Dean Nash Monzo

Dean Nash is right at the heart of one of the UK’s fastest- growing businesses. As general counsel of Monzo Bank, he has just rounded off a phenomenal year for the company, culminating in its £20m crowdfunding project in November. As well as being the largest crowdfunding round ever undertaken by a British fintech company, it was also the first time a prospectus was available in app form that allowed customers to buy shares using money from their accounts. Truly innovative. It was a gruelling nine-month project in which Nash’s in-house team of nine was put through its paces. No longer just a start-up, Monzo is now a scale-up company that expects to reach 1,000 employees this summer. The legal N team has to be prepared for the swathe of work that arises from such growth, with new products steeped in potential risks, new contracts and regulatory hurdles. To that end, Nash added a new string to his bow last year when he took control of Monzo’s risk function alongside his existing legal responsibilities. The former Nabarro lawyer has found his calling in-house.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 39 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Sarah Nelson Smith WeWork

In early 2018, KFC’s European legal head Sarah Nelson Smith signed off an advert in which the brand apologised for its chicken shortage with “FCK, we’re sorry”. It was a hectic month for the fast-food retailer and its legal team, which had to deal with the distribution crisis that stopped its famous chicken reaching its outlets. On Valentine’s Day, Nelson Smith was liaising with KFC’s marketing, operations and commercial divisions to ensure things returned back to normal as soon as possible. Within a month, a solution was identified and the nightmare was over. It was an eventful end to Nelson Smith’s tenure at KFC, which saw her also oversee the sale of more branches last year as part of a move towards an increasingly franchised model. New adventures awaited, however, with the news that she was to join WeWork as its first regional general counsel for Europe, Israel and Australia. In yet another sign that the real estate giant is taking over the world, Nelson Smith will lead on the company’s most concerted effort to expand its legal team outside of the US.

Richard Neylon HFW

In Japanese, HFW’s shipping and crisis response partner Richard Neylon’s name roughly translates as ‘peaceful argument’. That is the sort of nominative determinism you cannot make up. Neylon has been working with organisations ranging from the UN to Interpol to help people and companies get out of sticky situations since 2003. His practice focuses on disputes relating to collisions, fires, explosions, groundings and piracy. Over the course of his career, Neylon has had a hand in freeing more than 1,800 hostages, overseeing the payment of more ransom money than any other person. This year alone he has dealt with the matter of a militia- detained ship in Libya and negotiations over a vessel held with a crew and 700kg of cocaine on board. He currently has 24 ongoing hostage cases. Now that, in the current climate, the threat from Somali pirates has reduced due to better protection of international shipping routes, helping people guard themselves against the growing trend of cyber extortion is Neylon’s next port of call. His favourite problems to solve are esoteric ones.

Jennette Newman Clyde & Co

Jennette Newman’s arrival at Clyde & Co from BLM in 2018 was a coup for the global firm in a number of ways. The recruitment of a market-leading casualty partner not only underlined the strategic importance of a national insurance practice for Clydes, but was an astute move in terms of bolstering the talent bench. Newman is one of the leading casualty lawyers in the country with a slew of catastrophic injury cases to her credit, in which she has acted for insurers and corporates on complex and usually multi-party bodily injury litigation. Her practice also extends to health and safety regulatory investigations and prosecutions. As the insurance market evolves with more demand for joined-up services and a move away from traditional pillared relationships with clients, Newman will be central to Clyde & Co’s growth in the UK and in the London market in particular. Her high-profile appointment to lead the Forum of Insurance Lawyers’ newly launched London chapter cements her high profile and will ensure that Newman will be at the forefront of leading the thinking on best legal practice in insurance.

40 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Kirsteen Nicol Ali Nikpay Kirkland & Ellis Gibson Dunn

As one of the youngest-ever female As someone involved in one of the largest and most extensive transactional partners in Kirkland’s competition inquiries the CMA has ever conducted, Gibson Dunn London office, Kirsteen Nicol has been competition partner Ali Nikpay did not have time to stop in 2018. making a name for herself in the private The proposed Asda-Sainsbury’s merger dominated headlines in equity space. She was made up three September and the probe is due to stretch into a reasonable part of years ago and has been described as the this year. Cases of this size are usually heard by the EU, but due to ‘all-round package’ for her work ethic, the domestic nature of this, it is being dealt with on home turf. front-of-house and stellar relationships Nikpay cites it as a test-case for how the CMA might operate with clients. post-Brexit. Nicol has been looking after the Few other practices can say they have dealt with more financing of Euro Garages’ rapid growth, high-profile competition cases over the past three years. to the value of about $5bn (£3.9bn). Nikpay’s practice was also brought in on the Ladbrokes- This has been rumbling on for over a Gala Coral merger, as well as the Euro Car Parts and year now, with five add-on acquisitions Andrew Page merger inquiry. last year, including 762 sites from the Complementing this work, he also helped set up the Kroger group in the US Brexit Competition Law Working Group. The group and 1,000 Esso is chaired by Sir John Vickers, former head of the service stations in CMA, and helps to shape and develop policy. Germany from ExxonMobil. She also led Caroline Noblet the Partners Squire Patton Boggs Group acquisition of As global co-head of labour and employment, Caroline Noblet power leads a mammoth team of 160 lawyers worldwide. Multi- transmission jurisdictional outsourcing projects traditionally entail massive costs belts manufacturer when it comes to keeping up to date with changing employment Megadyne Group, laws across different latitudes. which added up to more To solve the issue, last year Noblet stepped out of her comfort than $1bn. zone to spearhead the development of Global Edge, a subscription- Since Nicol started at Kirkland, her based information portal that provides up-to-date employment practice headcount has more than advice on 32 jurisdictions and also includes complementary areas doubled in size. She was involved in such as immigration, data protection, pensions and benefits, and a recruitment drive that has taken the health and safety. number of lawyers from 25 to 55, and is The platform is subject to continuous improvement, adding more now one of 17 partners in the practice. countries where clients may struggle with reliable information. The experience has led Noblet to extend applications beyond employment governance information, aligning data to answer specific business challenges and providing an interactive space to co-ordinate global corporate projects. This entrepreneurial approach inspired Noblet and her team to develop tools to address and improve diversity and gender pay gaps within the firm.

Richard Obank DLA Piper

Last year, DLA Piper’s Richard Obank was the firm’s only UK restructuring partner not parachuted in to support on Carillion’s liquidation. The reason? Obank was already at the beck and call of a number of retailers feeling the pressure on the high street, an area in which City lawyers were rubbing their hands with glee in 2018. It is not all doom and gloom, however, with Obank working on one of the few success stories, Nisa Retail. He guided the grocery store to a crucial rescue by the Co-operative Group in May, which took on Nisa for around £143m. In a dramatic twist, the takeover was then challenged by activists at the sanction hearing; an effort that was nevertheless thwarted by DLA’s team. Leeds-based Obank has carved out a name for himself in this area, working with boards of directors to save businesses from going under. However, turnarounds are not always possible. Last year, he had his hands full working on the administration of OPoundworld in what was a first-time mandate for the company. He also led on American Golf’s sale to private equity investor Endless in another rescue deal.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 41 In association with The Hot 100 2019 Chris Owen TLT

TLT’s dispute resolution head Chris Owen is a go-to name for litigation around contractual, corporate and engineering disputes. Last February, he was also appointed as TLT’s head of international, tasked with establishing a foreign best friends network in a post-Brexit world. In the past few months, he has negotiated alliances with up to four firms in the US in an bid to take on more cross-border disclosure claims, resulting in an increasing number of inbound and outbound referrals from the States. As he capitalises on these burgeoning relationships, Owen has also become an instrumental figure in strengthening the value of the firm’s European legal services offering. This strategic effort has not taken him far from fee-earning. Owen recently wrapped a long international arbitration case involving a technical engineering dispute in the rail industry and is acting for India’s government in a dispute with Pakistan. The trial starts in June.

Toby Parkinson OMERS Infrastructure

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Ben Parry-Smith Payne Hicks Beach

Ben Parry-Smith celebrated his 10th year as a lawyer at family specialist outfit Payne Hicks Beach (PHB) in 2018, which coincided nicely with his first as a partner at the firm. The Mishcon de Reya-trained protégé to formidable family law expert Fiona Shackleton had his year mostly dominated by a surge in cases around children, which he describes as being “more important than sorting out money”. This rise has dovetailed with an increase in the internationalisation of his overall practice with roughly 70 per cent of his time working on overseas matters, resting heavily on the relationships in PHB’s global network. As the international element rises, so too do the complications within his work. Marital issues thrown up include prenup agreements and divorces with little surety given about what the law will look like after Brexit. Only two things in Parry-Smith’s career are certain at this stage: his workload will only increase, and 2018 was another very bright step in a very bright career.

42 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Imraan Patel EG Group

When Imraan Patel joined EG Group, then known as Euro Garages, in July 2016, he was its only in-house lawyer. But his appointment marked the start of a phenomenal global expansion for the Blackburn-based fuel station and convenience retailer. Patel has been an integral part of the senior team transforming EG Group from a single-nation operator of 340 sites to a global conglomerate with 4,750 sites turning over £30bn a year. The group’s lightning-speed of growth is fuelled by global acquisition, and Patel coordinated the legal advice working alongside external counsel in all of the highly complex transactions. In 2018, he was involved in several big-ticket matters, such as the acquisition of US-based Kroger’s portfolio of convenience stores for $2.15bn (£1.7bn) and the AUS$1.75bn (£990m) acquisition of Australia-based Woolworths Group’s fuel station business. To accommodate this growth, Patel has built up the in-house legal department, now 19 strong. He has recently launched a trainee solicitor scheme, after establishing the group’s inaugural law firm panels.

Swati Paul Jonathan Peacock QC London Luton 11 New Square Airport As one of the most in-demand tax barristers on the circuit today, When Swati Paul first started at Jonathan Peacock QC is tackling some of the biggest disputes in London Luton Airport (LLA) as its the world. From representing a trio of BBC presenters on a first-ever lawyer over three years ago, dispute with the broadcasting entity that could lead to a deluge of the airport was seeing roughly cases, depending on the outcome, to cross-border issues 12.5 million passengers a year. Fast extending as far as the Mauritius, Peacock has been an incredibly forward to the present and that busy lawyer. figure now stands at 18 million with Major international tech giants have been under enormous the legal challenges growing as scrutiny for their tax structures and this, says quickly as the footfall. Peacock, will only increase in 2019. Ever-increasing numbers of Will the pressure on the tech giants infrastructure projects have sprouted cause them to abandon markets or up at the airport, which sits 35 miles simply reorganise? Whatever that from London, including a pair of final decision may be, Peacock construction and infrastructure jobs will have a significant say on the that are valued at a combined UK’s role in that argument. £400m. Those may be the headline In the meantime, the flow of deals, but Paul’s creation of work shows no sign of slowing. standardised documentation across The small, 10-barrister set remains LLA’s suite of files has revolutionised what was an archaic and unnecessarily a leader in this field and in expensive operation. Peacock it boasts one of the It is expected that 2019 will see the legal team continue to grow, with Paul taxman’s most active targeting hungry general commercial lawyers who want a deluge of work. The adversaries. projects are confidential at this point in time, but they are there. Whether it is a transit system going across the width of the site or expanding to meet passenger demand, it surely won’t be a quiet year for Swati Paul.

Thomas Plewman QC Brick Court Chambers

When Thomas Plewman arrived at Brick Court 10 years ago, he had to build his UK practice from scratch. Already a successful practitioner in South Africa, particularly on auditor-related litigation, Plewman was called to the bar in England in 2009 and took silk in 2016. His star has continued to rise in the past two years with a series of high-profile cases, including successfully acting for the Candy brothers in the £132m damages action brought by Mark Holyoake; for Goldman Sachs in the Supreme Court against Novo Banco on a jurisdiction claim; and for the head leaseholder of the Olympic Stadium, E20, in a case against West Ham United, which settled on day one of the trial, in which Plewman appeared in the first ever live-streamed hearing at the Court of Appeal. Plewman rounded off the year celebrating a major win inPrivatBank v Kolomoisky/Bogolyubov, a significant case for establishment of jurisdiction in which he appeared for the English defendants.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 43 In association with The Hot 100 2019

David Pollitt DAC Beachcroft

One of the great unnoticed success stories of the last few years has been the internal financial revolution at DAC Beachcroft spearheaded by managing partner David Pollitt. In the last half-decade, the firm has more than doubled its average profit per equity partner, growing that figure by 103.1 per cent from £250,000 at the end of the 2013/14 financial year to £530,000 by year-end in 2018. All of that was achieved by adding just 2.7 per cent in overall partner headcount. How? Through strict financial discipline, says Pollitt. Now that the foundations for financial success are in place, it is imperative to Pollitt that the firm builds on that. International expansion is high on the firm’s list with openings in Europe and South America planned, though leveraging higher-level work from existing clients across the firm’s core sectors of real estate, health and insurance is a central part of that growth plan. That plan bore fruit last year, winning a key mandate for Cygnet Health Care. Pollitt has led the internal revolution; now it is time to truly kick on for his firm.

Selina Potter Chris Pritchett CMS Foot Anstey

While CMS If there is one man that can rally the masses around renewable energy, partner Selina it’s Chris Pritchett, head of energy at Foot Anstey. An expert in Potter has been renewable technology law, he has been helping engineer a sound one of the framework for the future of energy, launching initiatives shaping the leading lawyers entire sector. in the UK Batteries are the next big thing, and one of Pritchett’s biggest projects media sector for in 2018 was a £1.6bn scheme with Pivot Power as part of its plans for more than two the world’s largest battery and vehicle-charging network, consisting of 45 decades, it was ‘rapid electric vehicle charging stations’ across Britain, to be powered by her regulatory giant battery storage installations. work on The rate at which the electric vehicle revolution is accelerating means Comcast’s that soon, every 25 minutes, drivers will pass a super hub where they will acquisition of be able to charge their electric vehicles. This, in turn, will stimulate the Sky that made uptake of electric vehicles by quelling ‘range anxiety’. 2018 a Outside of Foot Anstey, Pritchett will be advising the new Energy landmark year. Data Taskforce on unlocking energy data to optimise the operation of The acquisition the energy system. was one of the defining media deals of the decade and marks the continued trend of consolidation in the sector. Potter advised on the media, telecoms and gambling regulatory aspects, including elements of the post-offer undertakings around the continued funding and editorial independence of Sky News. As it was a contested takeover, there was no due diligence, so Potter and her team had to rely on their market knowledge across all of Sky’s territories in order to advise. Comcast started 15 months behind the bid from Fox, which already owned 39 per cent of Sky, so it was vital that Potter worked quickly, pulling together as one team with Davis Polk and Freshfields on the corporate and competition aspects. It was also novel from a legal point of view as, notably, it is only the second time that the blind auction process seen in this deal has been used. It was a hugely important deal for Potter and indeed CMS, as it amounts to proof of concept of its 2017 three-way merger.

44 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Anya Proops QC Alexandra Pygall 11KBW Stephenson Harwood

Proops stands at the vanguard of the newest legal frontier – privacy rights. As When IP specialist Alexandra Pygall arrived at data protection has become a top corporate priority, Proops has acted on a Stephenson Harwood as a partner in 2012, having number of substantial and high-profile breach cases. Much of her work is been an associate in Covington & Burling’s life occupied by a very pertinent question – who is legally responsible when data sciences team, she had to build her practice from a protection goes wrong? standing start. Several years on, Stephenson In the first data leak class action in the UK, Proops acted for Morrisons Harwood’s trust in her has reaped rewards. after a former senior internal auditor at the supermarket’s Bradford 5IF
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Christopher Pymont QC Maitland Chambers

A hugely successful year for Maitland Chambers silk Christopher Pymont QC saw him win big for one Russian oligarch client, win the mandate for another and even have time to influence the rewriting of the test on criminal dishonesty. The year began with a major victory for his client, Genting Casinos, after it alleged that the claimant in the case had cheated. As a result of the successful outcome, the test for dishonesty was changed from a two-step process to a one-step one, streamlining the whole procedure. Pymont then took this momentum into one of the year’s biggest cases which saw Oleg Deripaska up against former business partners Vladimir Potanin and Roman Abramovich over the latter’s role as a ‘White Knight’ in mining company Rusal. The $1.5bn (£1.18bn) case is set to go to the Court of Appeal in 2019, while another Russian case sees him acting for Vitaly Orlov as he defends a claim from Alexander Tugushev over a third of his fishing business. If he can carry on the momentum gained over the course of the past 12 months, more victories will be sure to follow.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 45 25.06.2019 GROSVENOR HOUSE HOTEL, LONDON

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Caroline Rae Herbert Smith Freehills

Caroline Rae has only been a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills for three years, but she has added considerable weight to the firm’s standing in public company transactions. The most significant transaction that kept Rae on her toes at the beginning of 2018 was the £3.4bn proposed takeover of British shopping centre operator Intu Properties by its bigger, publicly listed rival Hammerson. What made the transaction stand out was the fact Rae had to advise Hammerson on a disruptive takeover bid by French group Klepierre during its takeover process of Intu. Although both bids were eventually abandoned, the intricate work involved and challenges Rae had to overcome under a tight deadline showcased her legal prowess in major public takeovers. R In another major public M&A deal, she was instructed by existing client Nasdaq-listed UK telecoms company ARRIS to advise on its takeover by US rival Commscope for $7bn (£5.5bn). The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019. With proven ability to service major global clients, Rae was brought into the relationship team for British American Tobacco a year ago. She has also demonstrated her skill in developing new client relationships for the firm, such as Invesco.

Angela Rafferty QC Amy Rogers Red Lion Chambers 11KBW

The Criminal Bar is an immensely difficult place to be practising and Called in 2007, Amy Rogers has built up a reputation as one of the in 2018 that fact was crystallised as the Criminal Bar Association most sought-after juniors at the Bar for complex commercial (CBA) fought to secure a funding deal from the Ministry of Justice. litigation. She has been acting for Iranian bank Mellat in a decade- As head of the organisation, Red Lion Chambers’ Angela Rafferty long legal battle over sanctions imposed by the Treasury in 2009. QC was integral to securing this funding and offering guidance, The bank successfully claimed in the Supreme Court that the leadership and counsel to all those affected by the cuts. sanctions were unlawful and is seeking damages of $4bn (£3.2bn) Just over half of the CBA’s membership voted in favour of – the largest claim made against accepting the £15m in funding, though Rafferty acknowledged an air HM Treasury. The case is relisted of “anger and disillusionment”. for 2019 to determine damages. Sources from around the In an equally long-running and Criminal Bar threw their high-profile case, Rogers won for a support behind Rafferty, group of former AIG employees acknowledging her work had over breach-of-contract claims in secured the best deal possible. relation to £100m of unpaid While Rafferty continues her bonuses following the bailout of hard work to ensure those AIG in 2008. The damages trial is practising are remunerated also set for 2019. Other highlights fairly, it remains one of the most of Rogers’ work in 2018 included underfunded practices. The acting for Deliveroo to determine if CBA’s fight for funding goes on it should be required to recognise a and she will do everything she trade union, and the group can to ensure a successful litigation against the Government outcome for those represented. in the solar PV sector.

Samantha Rowe Debevoise & Plimpton

For a lawyer like Samantha Rowe, for whom international dispute resolution work is bread and butter, having a case go to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is about as exciting as it gets. Having made partner at Debevoise & Plimpton in July, she has spent much of her time since in between London and Qatar. This was for a case representing the State of Qatar as it sought redress over the human rights impact of the blockade imposed by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, and included winning an order for provisional measures in proceedings before the ICJ against the UAE, investment arbitrations and claims in other international tribunals. Alongside this, Rowe has been working on precedent-setting cases with the Russian Federation against shareholders in Yukos Oil, up to the value of $14bn (£11bn). These cases are expected to keep Rowe busy well into 2019.

January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 47 In association with The Hot 100 2019

Jane Stewart Slaughter and May

Head of innovation Jane Stewart is helping enshrine Slaughter and May as a firm at the forefront of revolutionary tech. Having started as a finance associate, Stewart launched a three-year innovation strategy in 2018. It will focus on three main areas: legal tech, work-stream enhancement and client engagement. Dedicated to the education and training of young lawyers, Stewart has kickstarted a research collaboration with Oxford University, exploring the potential of AI and the skills lawyers will need to leverage legal tech in the future. As part of client engagement, Stewart is now preparing for a new legal tech incubator, where clients will have access to the biggest thinkers in the tech space. The cohort within the incubator will be able to mine a wealth of data, which they could then use in S collaboration with lawyers and clients alike. As well as engaging lawyers, Stewart has overseen the rolling out of an innovation network, open to everyone within the firm.

Tarun Tawakley Deliveroo

As far as tech start-ups go, Deliveroo is one of the most talked about and successful in London right now. The food delivery business has joined competitors in the eye of the ‘gig economy’ storm, meaning head of employment and commercial litigation Tarun Tawakley is handling some of the most innovative and forward-thinking cases in 21st century employment law. Tawakley oversaw a key victory in early December, instructing his old firm Lewis Silkin and frequent collaborator 11KBW as a judicial review in the High Court brought by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) was thrown out. The IWGB sought to demand collective bargaining rights for T Deliveroo’s flexible workers – ‘riders’, as they are dubbed internally – though the bench sided with Tawakley, putting Deliveroo in the clear. Although he had always seen himself joining the partnership at Lewis Silkin, Tawakley is now firmly settled in his role at the business. The rapid pace of its international expansion is only gaining greater momentum with every passing day and that challenge literally keeps him on his toes, as an avid runner around any city in a newly entered market.

Clare Thomas CMS

Advising on a massive real estate transaction during the largest-ever merger in the UK legal sector is not an easy task. But CMS real estate partner Clare Thomas managed it masterfully when she completed Credit Suisse’s long-in-the-making £410m acquisition of 20 Canada Square, a 12-storey landmark building in Canary Wharf. The job challenged Thomas to educate investors and property owners across different timelines and international jurisdictions, just as her firm was undergoing a major structural transformation. The real estate star was also kept busy by new trends in the market, including the increasing popularity of co-working spaces and smart buildings. She led on the £271m acquisition of WeWork’s Europe HQ at Moor Place by an Asian holding. Brexit may be looming large for the legal business, but Thomas sees no slowdown in interest in UK assets. She is currently introducing to the market a number of Middle East clients eager to expand in London, Manchester and Scotland.

48 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019 Barrister Dealmaker Disruptor In-house Leader Litigator

Kate Tomlinson Norton Rose Fulbright

Norton Rose Fulbright’s Kate Tomlinson still remembers a deal in Africa from years ago, when she was working through the night replicating copies of transaction documents in view of a formal signing, assailed by mosquitoes and without an internet connection. The then-corporate lawyer thought there must be a better way of doing things. /PX
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JNQMFNFOUBUJPO Last year, she established a growth strategy that started with a slate of recruitment to build a multidisciplinary team, with new roles including business analysts and process mappers. Tomlinson is currently collaborating with the commercial team in an effort to sell scalable technology solutions, developed at the firm, to the wider legal business. Over the coming year, she will also formalise research and development partnerships with local universities in Newcastle.

Sarah Walker-Smith Shakespeare Martineau

Sarah Walker-Smith had always planned to go to drama school, but at the last minute ‘bottled it’ and trained as a chartered accountant instead, qualifying with Deloitte and then moving to Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC). Yet she has managed to play many parts across her career, which has spanned finance roles and change management at Boots, an MBA, then BD head and later COO roles at Midlands stalwart Browne Jacobson. At Browne Jacobson, where she had responsibility for business strategy, she helped grow the business from £18m to touching £80m. In 2019, Walker-Smith – who writes, produces and directs theatre in her spare time – becomes CEO of Shakespeare Martineau, one of the few female non-lawyer W chief executives in the top 50 UK firms. With her track record of growth, expect to see Shakespeares much more visible in the national mid-market over the coming years. Sandra Wallace DLA Piper Wang Rongkang Birmingham-based DLA Piper employment partner Sandra Wallace KWM is destined for great things. From a legal practice perspective, she already has a stellar reputation for representing national and Though a newcomer to the City, King & Wood Mallesons EUME managing international clients on the full remit of employment law services. partner Wang Rongkang has demonstrated his leadership skills following his From a management point of view, DLA Piper’s UK managing 2017 relocation from Shenzhen to grow the new London KWM offering. partner between 2015 and 2018, who led the steering committee on Under his stewardship, the relaunched KWM offices in Europe and the the firm’s London office move, has also just had her joint Middle East have got off to a strong start, shaking off the shadow cast by the managing director for Europe remit extended to administration of former verein member SJ Berwin. include the Nordic region, Portugal, France In London, its most and Ireland. important base in the region, That’s not all. In December, Wallace was the firm’s seven-partner office appointed as a social mobility turned over £11.8m in its first commissioner; an external role in a 12 months of operation, with a non-governmental body that will profit margin of 46 per cent. recommend policy changes. Wang was also instrumental Her employment law background has in sealing a long-term lease for been instrumental in helping get under the the firm’s new premises in the skin of DLA. But despite apparently having Walkie Talkie, and for several had to be “persuaded” to join UIF
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January/February 2019 | The Hot Issue | The Lawyer 49 In association with The Hot 100 2019 Andrew Watkins Vicky Wickremeratne ITE Group Simmons & Simmons

Paving the way at exhibitions giant ITE Group, Andrew Vicky Wickremeratne’s expertise in defending financial services clients in Watkins is the company’s first general counsel and first-ever high reputational risk cases goes far beyond her five years as a partner at in-house lawyer. Simmons & Simmons. Prior to returning to Simmons in 2013, she served as managing Over his career, Watkins has built no fewer than three legal director and senior counsel in teams from scratch. Goldman Sachs’ Hong Kong office. At ITE, he was tasked with Her six-year in-house stint working building a ‘small but on the global bank’s employment powerfully punching’ legal matters across Asia has proven legal team that can to be invaluable in understanding respond to the needs and relating to the unique needs and of a large, nuances of clients in stressful events. international and In 2018, the contentious side of publicly listed Wickremeratne’s practice was company. incredibly busy, against a backdrop Since starting in of growing whistleblowing activities, the summer of 2017, and harassment and discrimination he has grown the legal claims against big banks and financial institutions. As a case in team to four interim point, she assisted a global retail lawyers in the UK and banking client with two high-value, has hired a head of legal in sensitive litigation cases in 2018. Russia. He also has plans to hire One of the cases was significant in in China and India in the near future. light of the underlying conduct rule As well as building a legal team, issues and the complexities of litigating issues relating to the new Senior Watkins has overseen stand-out M&A Managers Regime. transactions, including the £300m acquisition of Ascential Events and supporting rights issue. He has looked Harriet Wistrich after one other acquisition, together with Birnberg Peirce two disposals in Asia, and the related The nature of Harriet Wistrich’s work naturally attracts column inches and generates enormous amounts party disposal of ITE’s non-core Russian of public interest. Last year, few cases captured people’s attention quite like the decision she won to business. overturn the release of ‘black cab rapist’ John Worboys after the Parole Board elected to set him free. He will be spending the coming months Working with Matrix Chambers’ Phillippa Kaufmann QC, a prison law expert, Wistrich secured a assessing the company’s Asian governance crucially important disclosure showing flaws in the Parole Board’s review. arrangements, as well as developing the Wistrich also continues to represent Sally Challen in an important case regarding whether she should company-wide transformation and be freed after killing her allegedly abusive husband. growth programme. She now splits her time equally between the Centre for Women’s Justice and her firm, Birnberg Peirce. Her work at the centre covers everything from domestic cases to policing scandals involving officers entering relationships while undercover. In a prescient time for women’s rights, Wistrich is at the forefront of the fight for justice.

Dan Wright Osborne Clarke

After more than a decade as a corporate lawyer in the energy sector, Osborne Clarke’s Dan Wright felt ready to leave fee-earning to embrace the rise of new technology. He successfully went from solving transactional problems to assisting clients in their digital transformation journeys. He set up the firm’s service innovation programme, a 10-strong client-facing unit focused on best delivery strategies, aimed at increasing efficiency through the development of bespoke legal project management tools. Collaborating with technologists and digital designers, he led client and investor sessions to develop workflow management platforms, contract lifecycle tools and data visualisation Read more about the map-outs. Last year, Wright also developed management software for a global careers of our Hot 100, entertainment company and a workflow management platform to support the plus how previous team behind a new retail element at the O2. He regularly collaborates with banks champions have on tools that help tracking processes and data collection, and he recently benefited from the developed asset management software for property investor Infrared. recognition, at Believing that it is always better to start disrupting themselves instead of letting www.thelawyer.com/ the market disrupt them, in 2019 Wright and his team will work on expanding the-lawyer-hot-100/ their international footprint, recruiting new professionals and integrating apps.

50 The Lawyer | The Hot Issue | January/February 2019