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 Law 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.

Ashley Mott

Commercial and Operations Director

Ashley is a litigator, arbitrator and mediator who joined Harper James from DLA Piper where he spent 28 years, 22 as a partner. He is now the Commercial and Operations Director at Harper James.

Barik Haider

Dispute Resolution Solicitor

Barik is a dispute resolution solicitor with over 15 years’ experience in litigation and dispute resolution. His recent experience includes substantial and complex claims involving financial investments, tax schemes and commercial loans.

Becky White

Data Protection & Privacy Solicitor

Becky is a highly knowledgeable commercial lawyer, specialising in Data Protection and Privacy Law. She can add value to a business by drawing on nearly 20 years of in-house experience.

Callum Giliker

Corporate Associate

Callum is a corporate associate at Harper James, specialising in mergers and acquisitions and investments, as well as other corporate/commercial matters.

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.

Clive Mackintosh

Data protection and privacy solicitor

With a wealth of expertise in privacy, data protection, GDPR and cyber-security law, Clive's distinguished legal career spans three decades in private practice and the public sector.

David Sant

Commercial Technology & Data Protection Solicitor

David is a commercial solicitor, specialising in technology and data protection. He joins us having worked as in-house counsel for the BBC and OUP.

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.

Eleanor Stephens

Recovery and Insolvency Solicitor

Eleanor is an insolvency solicitor with over 20 years' specialist knowledge in all aspects of insolvency, both corporate and personal, covering contentious and non-contentious matters.

Ella Bond

Employment Law Solicitor

Ella provides practical and commercially focused advice and assistance in relation to a wide range of contentious and non-contentious employment law matters. She joins us having previously worked at top 50 law firm Shakespeare Martineau.

Gemma Pickavant

Intellectual Property Solicitor

Gemma advises primarily on trade mark protection, and she is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys.

Graeme Standen

Employee Incentives Solicitor

Graeme is a senior employee incentives lawyer, with particular expertise in corporate governance. Previously a senior manager at PwC, Graeme was a founder editor and later head of Practical Law's Share Schemes and Incentives.

Howard Cornes

Construction Solicitor

Howard has over 20 years’ experience specialising in construction and engineering law. Prior to becoming a solicitor, he spent 23 years as a Chartered Building Surveyor and Chartered Builder, giving him extensive knowledge of the construction industry.

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.

Ian Fraser

Employee Incentives Solicitor

Ian has over 25 years’ experience advising on employee incentive arrangements (including EMI, CSOP, SIP and SAYE plans and growth/hurdle share and phantom equity arrangements).

Jas Bhogal

Corporate Partner

Jas is a corporate partner at Harper James Solicitors, advising on corporate 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, AML legislation and gambling regulations.

Karen Mason

Commercial Partner

Karen Mason has over 30 years’ experience practising business law. She has been a senior lawyer and partner in private practice as well as in-house counsel to some of the UK’s most highly regarded broadcast, media and internet companies.

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.

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

Matthew Shakesheff

Corporate Partner

Matthew is a highly experienced corporate partner at Harper James. With expertise in all aspects of corporate law and finance, Matthew's tenacity and eye for detail helps get client deals and agreements across the line with the minimum of fuss.

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.

Paul Davies

Commercial Property Solicitor

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

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.

Robert Court

IT & Commercial Solicitor

With over 15 years of in-house experience in the IT sector, Rob specialises in drafting and negotiating all manner of commercial agreements.

Ruth Burrell

Commercial Property Solicitor

Ruth is a commercial property solicitor specialising in landlord and tenant work, sales and purchases and refinances.

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 Law 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 Masons. He specialises in mergers and acquisitions and private equity work.

Stephen Pearne

Commercial Partner

Stephen has over 20 years’ experience advising on commercial matters. He brings a wealth of technology expertise having previously worked in-house as senior counsel to BT before joining private practice.

Theresa Chong

Commercial Property Solicitor

Before joining us, Theresa worked for Shoosmiths LLP and property specialists, Davitt Jones Bould, 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.

Katrina Leaf

Legal Assistant

Katrina Leaf assists our solicitors across a wide range of practice areas, most notably commercial property.

Ruairi Willis

Legal Assistant

Ruairi is a legal assistant based in our Birmingham office. He helps solicitors and clients across a wide variety of practice areas.

Wajiha Haris

Trainee Solicitor

Wajiha is a trainee solicitor 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

Senior 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.

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.

Evan Tilley

Business Development Executive

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

Evie Warner

Finance Administrator

Evie supports our Finance Manager and is AAT L3 & bookkeeping qualified.

Jenny Adams

CRM Coordinator

Jenny is responsible for maintaining data quality and processing standards across the business. She works closely with all of our management and support staff to develop and optimise the CRM system.

Jessica Baxter

Digital Marketing Assistant

Jessica specialises in website management, auditing and online advertising. Supporting the managers in the marketing team, her goal is to develop our digital channels and increase brand authority.

Joanne Mateer

Marketing Manager

Joanne is one of our marketing managers, who joined the team in December 2019. Her varied career has seen her develop communications for Morrisons, online learning for the BBC and branding for boutique hotels.

Katy Gosling

Operations manager

Meet Katy, our operations manager 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

Head of Talent

Leah is Head of Talent at Harper James, developing strategies to improve recruitment performance and talent management.

Maja Glogowska

Finance Assistant

I am involved the New Matter process, dealing with client account transactions and any other day to day tasks required by the Finance Manager.

Nick Owens

PR Manager

Nick manages publicity requests and specialises in placing content about Harper James and our work with clients across all media platforms.

Shrey Srivatsa

Business Development Executive

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

Sophie Goldsmith

Administration Assistant

Sophie Goldsmith is our Administration Assistant, supporting our office manager, Katy Gosling. Sophie handles the distribution of our T&Cs, incoming and outgoing post, and general administration duties.

Toby Bennett

Marketing Manager

Toby is responsible for creating, implementing and evaluating marketing plans for specific areas of the business. Working with other members of the marketing team, he aims to increase our lead generation, improve client retention and grow our brand authority.

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 Wheeler

Digital Marketing Assistant

Victoria specialises in SEO, content writing and social media. Supporting the managers in the marketing team, her goal is to develop our social media channels and increase brand authority and lead generation.