Meet the team

Abby Watson

Corporate Solicitor

Abby Watson is a corporate solicitor, specialising in private equity investments, mergers & acquisitions, EMI share schemes, corporate finance and governance and more.

Adam Kudryl

Corporate Partner

Adam Kudryl is a Partner and Corporate & Commercial Solicitor at Harper James Solicitors, specialising in strategic investments, acquisitions and sales.

Alan Dark

Employment Solicitor

Previously a director in top 50 national firm Shakespeare Martineau, Alan specialises in restraint of trade issues, TUPE, shareholder and disputes at board level.

Amanda Mitten

Intellectual Property Solicitor

Amanda joined the firm in 2016 and has over ten years of experience in providing commercial and intellectual property services for clients.

Antonia Power

Commercial Solicitor

Antonia is a commercial solicitor at Harper James Solicitors, specialising in complex commercial agreements and contracts.

Ashley Mott

Partner & Dispute Resolution Solicitor

Ashley is a litigator, arbitrator and mediator with 30 years experience handling UK and international business disputes.

Christen Mulingani

Commercial Property Solicitor

Christen is a commercial property solicitor with over 15 years' experience across the full spectrum of commercial property transaction types.

Edward Kilner

IP, Commercial & Technology Associate Solicitor

Ed joins our commercial team and specialises in IT, IP and general technology related contracts, but can also advise on a range of commercial matters.

Emilia Smith

Commercial Solicitor

Emilia Smith is a commercial solicitor at Harper James, specialising in acquisitions, investments and governance.

Ian Carson

Dispute Resolution Partner

Ian joined our dispute resolution team in 2016 and has over 20 years of experience in handling a broad range of commercial disputes.

James Hunt

Corporate Solicitor

James is a consultant corporate and commercial solicitor at Harper James, with more than 35 years experience.

Jas Bhogal

Corporate Solicitor

Jas is a coprorate solicitor at Harper James Solicitors, advising on coporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, venture capital & investments.

John Pauley

Financial Services Solicitor

John Pauley is a Financial Services Solicitor at Harper James, specialising in payment services, electronic money, consumer credit and cryptocurrencies.

John Starr

Construction Solicitor

John has held previous positions at Boyes Turner and Dentons. His practice encompasses a wide range of construction, engineering and professional negligence claims, together with general commercial and contract advice.

Kate Wright

Commercial and Corporate Solicitor

Kate is a commercial and corporate lawyer, advising businesses from start-ups up to global companies on everything from investment and franchising to sale and purchase transactions, exits and much more.

Leda Bani-Hashem

Employee Share and Incentive Plans Solicitor

Leda specialises in employee share schemes, advising on the transactional, tax and governance aspects of incentive arrangements.

Lillian Tsang

Commercial and Data Protection Solicitor

Lillian previously worked in private practice and in-house (litigation and non-litigation) in the City of London, advising on the legal and commercial dilemmas any organisation faces.

Lindsay Gledhill

Intellectual Property Partner

Having previously worked at top 50 firm, Walker Morris, Lindsay specialises in IP strategy, dispute resolution and IP exploitation.

Mark Gudgeon

Dispute Resolution Solicitor

Mark previously worked at Freeths LLP and Nabarro (which became CMS) prior to joining Harper James. His areas of expertise include complex contractual disputes, public procurement challenges, IT/Outsourcing & reputational management

Michael Key

Dispute Resolution Partner

A former partner in a leading north-west law firm, Michael is one of our business disputes partners specialising in alternative dispute resolution & litigation for complex claims.

Michael Polling

Construction Solicitor

Michael Polling is an experienced construction solicitor, specialising in non-contentious construction law, contracts and service agreements.

Michelle Hayward

Commercial Solicitor

Michelle regularly advises business owners on corporate and commercial legal matters. She was partner in a regional firm and has also spent time in-house at a Higher Education business dealing with its research and innovation and knowledge exchange contracts

Paul Davies

Commercial Property Solicitor

Paul is an expert commercial property solicitor, specialising in landlord & tenant law and advising businesses on commercial real estate.

Rachel Martin

Commercial Property Solicitor

Rachel has advised UK ports, institutional and other investors, occupiers, developers, banks, NHS trusts and local authorities on property

Rana Chatterjee

Commercial Solicitor

Rana is a commercial solicitor specialising in commercial contracts, data protection and financial services.

Rashid Uzzaman

Business Immigration Solicitor

Rashid assists all types of employers with business immigration issues, including compliance issues and applications via the points-based system and sponsorship licences.

Rob Cobley

IP & Commercial Technology Partner

Before joining us Rob worked for Santander bank as an IP/brand management lawyer and also at Shakespeare Martineau.

Ruth Chapman

Commercial Property Solicitor

Ruth has more than 20 years' experience as a commercial property solicitor in both international and regional practices, and is dual qualified in both England and Scotland.

Sarah Gunton

Commercial Partner

As a previous partner at DLA Piper, Sarah comes with a rich pedigree in providing expert commercial services for her clients.

Sean Walsh

Employment Law Solicitor

Sean previously worked for a leading national law firm in the employment team, ranked tier 1 in the Legal 500. He advises employers on all aspects of employment law from TUPE to tribunals.

Shubhu Patil

Corporate Solicitor

Shubhu specialises in early-stage fund raisings, shareholder arrangements and M&A. Prior to joining Harper James she worked at Mills & Reeve and before that at Addleshaw Goddard and Slaughter and May

Simon Gilmour

Employment Partner

Simon acts for employers of all sizes, particularly tech and manufacturing, and specialises in managing people matters, including TUPE, sales and acquisitions of companies, and restructures/redundancies.

Simon Smith

Dispute Resolution Solicitor

Simon is a very experienced dispute resolution solicitor and has worked in private litigation practice for over 20 years.

Stephen Evans

Corporate Solicitor

Stephen is an experienced corporate lawyer, with a career including time at DLA Piper and Pinsent Maison. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions and private equity work.

Theresa Chong

Commercial Property Solicitor

Theresa previous experience includes Shoosmiths LLP where she worked for 9 years before joining, the property specialists, Davitt Jones Bould 2015, as a consultant and later as partner. Theresa has particular expertise in landlord and tenant matters, management of property portfolios and investment acquisitions and disposals.

Toby Harper

Corporate Solicitor & CEO

Toby Harper is the CEO & Founder of Harper James Solicitors, as well as a corporate & commercial solicitor. He specialises in venture capital and the tech sector.

Adam Khattak

Legal Assistant

Adam Khattak joined the firm as one of our legal assistants based in our Birmingham office. He provides general assistance to our clients and solicitors across a wide range of practice areas.

Gemma Pickavant

Trainee Solicitor

Gemma joins us as a trainee Solicitor after completing her law degree and LPC at Staffordshire University.

Kyle Smith

Legal Assistant

Kyle is one of our legal assistants, based in our Birmingham office. He provides general assistance to our clients and solicitors across a wide range of areas

Wajiha Haris

Legal Assistant

Wajiha is a legal assistant at Harper James Solicitors, having studied at the University of Sheffield. She supports all of our business solicitors.

Andy Fearn

Finance Manager

Andy is our Finance Manager, responsible for all aspects of the firm’s financial management.

Calum Covell

Marketing Manager

Calum is responsible for our inbound and outbound marketing, working alongside the other members of the marketing team, he aims to increase our lead generation, client retention and build brand authority.

Caroline Martin

Bid Manager

Caroline Martin is our bid manager and has worked for a number of international law firms including Norton Rose Fulbright and Dechert.

Charlotte Smith

Client Services Executive

Charlotte is involved in the client services aspect of the firm, with the goal of managing client relationships alongside our Client Services Manager, Clinton McKenzie.

Clinton McKenzie

Client Services Manager

Within Harper James Solicitors, Clinton is involved in various aspects of the business and, in particular, leads our client services activity.

Evan Tilley

Business Development Executive

Evan focuses on developing relationships with new clients, investors and professional service providers.

Fran Davie

Commercial Director

Fran is the Commercial Director at Harper James, responsible for managing the relationships with key clients.

Katy Gosling

Office Manager & Executive Assistant

Meet Katy, our Office Manager and Executive Assistant here at Harper James Solicitors. She runs the Harper James office and manages our CEO's diary as well as many other invaluable tasks.

Leah Horwood

Recruitment Manager

Leah is our Recruitment Manager at Harper James Solicitors, finding the very best in talented legal staff.

Lydia Crawley-Snowdon

Finance Assistant

Lydia is our Finance Assistant and supports our Finance Manager with our client account, billing and ad hoc finance duties such as reports.

Nicky Green

Assistant Office Manager

Nicky is our Assistant Office Manager, working alongside Katy, completing due diligence checks, conducting day to day running of the office, record keeping and providing support to all Solicitors and staff.

Rhianne Spurden

PR & Content Executive

Rhianne assists on content production and copywriting for the website and other marketing collateral, as well as boosting the company’s PR profile and improving brand awareness.

Shrey Srivatsa

Business Development Executive

Shrey works as a Business Development Executive, focusing on inbound business activity and working closely with Troy.

Troy Broughton

Business Development Manager

Troy manages all inbound business activity, in terms of telephone and email enquiries, as well as client referrals, for both businesses and individuals.

Victoria Giordano-Bibby

Content Manager

As content manager Victoria oversees the website, its content, and our marketing literature.