Jeremy Barton
General Counsel
KPMG

Jeremy Barton joined KPMG UK as General Counsel in 2015. He is a member of the Executive Committee and is responsible for the legal affairs of the firm. His team provides strategic and technical advice to the Board, the Executive Committee and the Partners on matters relating to governance, regulation, practice protection, deals and contracts. His previous positions have been as both regional and global general counsel in other large international accounting and consulting organisations. Jeremy is married with three children and enjoys running in the African bush.


Nigel Boardman

Nigel Boardman retired from Slaughter and May earlier this year having been a partner with the Firm since 1982. During his career as a corporate lawyer he was involved in many of the high profile transactions in the City, and acted for HM Government on the recapitalisation of the banking system in the Global Financial Crisis. His current roles include being chair of Help for Heroes, the military veterans’ charity, and Deputy Chair of Arbuthnot Latham.


Lesley Wan
General Counsel
FBN Bank

Lesley Wan is General Counsel for FBN Bank (UK) Limited and legal advisor to the Board. She has oversight of the UK, Paris and Lagos (representative office), the company secretariat and supports the Compliance & Anti-money laundering division. She is also responsible for talent management (including mentoring and the graduate programme). Lesley sits on a number of external advisory boards, including Headlong and the London Business School’s “Out in Business” programme and is the Founder & President of The Eagle Club – a global network of 180 women in senior leadership positions. She is also Founder and CEO of Through the Looking Glass, a charity which provides underprivileged children with an insight into City professions and encourages them to pursue higher education. Lesley has extensive experience working as a lawyer in private practice, an equity house and financial institutions in London and abroad including HSBC Bank plc, Lloyds Banking Group, SEB Bank, Bayern LB, LDC, A&O, Norton Rose and Russell McVeagh.

Philip Bramwell
Formerly Group General Counsel of BAE Systems plc and O2 plc
BAE Systems

Philip has served as Group General Counsel at BAE Systems plc, Europe’s leading defence and security company, since 2006. He has spent more than 30 years as an international corporate lawyer, specialising in mergers and acquisitions in the pharmaceuticals, IT and telecommunications industries. Philip has spent much of his career living and working overseas, undertaking major corporate transactions throughout Europe, the United States, Asia and the Middle East.

Angela Yotov
Group General Counsel
Close Brothers

Angela Yotov was appointed as Group General Counsel of Close Brothers, a FTSE 250 merchant bank, in August 2019 where she sits on the Group Executive Committee and reports to the CEO. She is a passionate supporter of D&I and is the Executive Sponsor of the Close Brothers Working Parents & Carers network. Prior to joining Close, she was General Counsel at RateSetter, a fintech and worked at Barclays Bank PLC in the investment bank and wealth management divisions following a stint at Latham & Watkins. She trained and qualified at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Angela is a non-executive director and trustee of FareShare, the UK’s largest food redistribution charity and is a co-founder of Mentorix a not-for-profit General Counsel mentoring scheme for GCs of the future.


Catherine Calder
Joint Chief Executive
Serjeants Inn

Catherine Calder, Joint Chief Executive at Serjeants’ Inn, draws on nearly 30 years’ experience in private practice, in-house and at the Bar, as a solicitor and in management and client relationship roles. She has worked in commercial, chancery, civil and public law. Catherine is co-chair of the Legal Practice Management Association, a Champion of the First 100 Years project and a trustee of Spark 21. She is also a member of the Bar Council’s International Committee and its Well-Being at the Bar Group and the Editorial Board of Modern Law Magazine.


Dominic Carman

Dominic Carman is a London-based freelance journalist and writer, specialising in the business of law and international law firms. His work ranges from thought leadership and report writing to digital content and media training for a range of clients including: Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the European best friends of Slaughter and May, Hogan Lovells, CMS, Bird & Bird, Forsters, Fieldfisher, Sullivan & Cromwell, Lockton, Kroll, Butterfield Trust, J.P. Morgan as well as IT companies servicing the international legal market, including Fulcrum Global Technologies and Enable Business Solutions. He contributes to Legal Business, Legal Week, the Times, Sunday Times, Telegraph and Guardian.


Helen Dodds
International Lawyer
NED

As well as being an International Lawyer at NED, Helen is a director of LegalUK, promoting English law and legal services, a member of the LawtechUK Commercial Dispute Resolution Taskforce, promoting the use of technology in legal, and a member of the Development Board of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. Formerly she was Global Head of Legal, Dispute Resolution and a member of the Legal Management Team at Standard Chartered Bank, and a NED of the London Court of International Arbitration.


Laura Durrant
Managing Partner
Equitura

Laura Durrant is the Managing Partner of the culture and diversity consultancy, Equitura LLP, which offers clients across a wide range of sectors solutions to understand and support equitable, inclusive and diverse organisations.  Laura was previously a partner in a global firm’s disputes practice, dealing with a range of regulatory and investigation issues for clients, particularly focused on financial services.  Prior to that, Laura was the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Head of Litigation, Regulatory and Investigations.  In that role, Laura was responsible for managing many of the highest profile litigation and regulatory issues arising after the 2008 global financial crisis including the RBS Rights Issue litigation and many global regulatory settlements.   Building on that experience of managing complex and high risk case-loads, Laura is also the Board Chair of Associo Limited, which offers a technology solution to teams investigating facts, applying rules and solving disputes.   


Nick Eastwell
London Consultant
Kinstellar

Nick Eastwell is a consultant focusing solely on Emerging Europe. He established and was regional managing partner of Linklaters' network of offices in Central and Eastern Europe from 1999 to 2003. From 2003 to 2008 he was global head of Linklaters' Capital Markets Department, and from 2008 to 2009 Linklaters' EEMENA regional managing partner. Nick retired from Linklaters in 2009 after more than 20 years as a partner. He has been a specialist in finance and capital markets law for nearly 30 years, has advised on transactions in more than 60 cities in all six continents and has advised most of the world's major financial institutions and a number of governments, regulatory bodies and stock exchanges.

Nick was the City Law Firms adviser to the Solicitors Regulation Authority from 2010 until the end of 2020. He was also the Chair of the International Bar Association’s Securities Law Committee in 2014/15.


Michelle Elstein
Founder & Corporate Energiser
Courageous Co.

Michelle has over twenty years of private corporate sector experience, including influential senior roles in international organisations, spanning the investment banking, legal and technology sectors, including Linklaters, Lehman Brothers, Olswang, Morrison & Foerster and Kleinwort Benson. She has successfully articulated corporate purpose, devised corporate strategies, aligned leaders and teams to the corporate mission, transformed cultures and has won awards for campaigns that have led to increased corporate performance and employee engagement as a result. Being a fitness enthusiast, Michelle has crossed a few finish lines along the way too. Having recovered from a traumatic cycling accident in 2015, she qualified as a personal trainer and executive coach. Blending these skills with her corporate leadership and personal resilience experience, she now works with senior executives and creates programmes for leaders and leadership teams to help them create their futures, and she loves it!


Andrew Garard
Group General Counsel
Meggitt

Andrew Garard is a very experienced global General Counsel and Company Secretary with a demonstrated history of building and leading award winning multi national teams across a range of industries.

Responsibilities have also included business continuity, risk management, health and safety, insurance, compliance, content management, regulatory and policy affairs, HR and corporate communications.


Janet Gaymer
Employment Lawyer
The Janet Gaymer Consultancy

Dame Janet Gaymer is an eminent employment lawyer with both public and private sector experience. In March 2020 Dame Janet was appointed a Non-Executive Director of the Board of the new Business Banking Resolution Service. She is a member of the Advisory Panel for the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation being conducted by Professor Stephen Mayson of University College London. Until September 2018, Dame Janet was a Non-Executive member of the House of Commons Commission and Chair of the House of Commons Administration Estimate Audit and Risk Assurance Committee and Members Estimate Audit Committee. From September 2013 she was a non-Executive member of the Management Board of the House of Commons before becoming the Acting Chair of the Management Board in September 2014, pending the implementation of governance changes in the House of Commons in 2015. She served as an Independent Lay member of the Speaker’s Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority between 2011 and 2016.


Oonagh Harpur
Independent Non Executive
KPMG

Oonagh Harpur has inhabited boardrooms for over twenty five years, as a serial CEO, Chair, Non Executive director and Trustee in the energy, health, financial and professional services sectors in the UK and USA. First as a non-lawyer CEO, she has since worked for over 30 years with a board of law firms, particularly Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner and Linklaters, and in the government's legal department. Her experience has shown that boards who govern culture well create more economic benefit for investors and are a force for good, enabling a world where people can thrive across society. As a member of the Lord Mayor’s initiative to restore trust in the City of London, Oonagh led a project with the City Values Forum and Tomorrow’s Company on how boards can better govern purpose, values and culture. In 2015 they published Governing Culture as part of the UK’s Financial Reporting Council’s Culture Coalition.


Caroline Kenny
Associate General Counsel
Facebook

Caroline Kenny has been Associate General Counsel at Facebook since 2016 and oversees Facebook’s Core App products globally including Groups, Dating, News and Search. Previously at the Financial Times, Google and RPC’s tech team, Caroline has been advising at the heart of technology and online content for over a decade. Caroline has been described as a “real live wire” in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 2018 list and “a true specialist in the digital market” on the Legal 500 GC Powerlist 2019. She spends her time outside work running long distances and also around after three small boys.


Ian Moyler
Consultant, Former Senior Clerk
IDM Consulting

He was for 32 years at Brick Court Chambers, 22 years as Senior Clerk. He has market knowledge and contacts in the areas of International Arbitration, Commercial Law, Competition / Anti Trust Law and Public and Human Rights law, both domestically and internationally. In 2018/2019 I undertook Consultancy roles. These included Coaching, Strategic Planning, Business Expansion and Mentoring assignments. I also took a career break and travelled extensively to Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Morocco, Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Holland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Spain, Lichtenstein, Hungary, and USA. This included a 1000 mile unsupported bike trip between my home town of Chelmsford to Lake Como in Northern Italy.


Lara Oyesanya
General Counsel & Chief Risk Officer
Contis

An experienced solicitor in the financial services sector that is skilled in regulatory, payments, enterprise risk management, consumer protection, small-medium enterprises, retail and commercial banking. The external Member, Committee on Benefactions External and Legal Affairs (CBELA), University of Cambridge and, a non-Executive Director, Plan International UK. A Contributing Editor, LexisNexis Encyclopaedia of Banking Law and a Member, Consulting Editorial Board, LexisPSL. A Fellow of The RSA and 'Business Woman of the Year' & 'Corporate Leader', 2018 FL National Awards. Formerly, legal director at Klarna, senior legal counsel at Barclays and BAE Systems, a divisional counsel at RAC, a legal director at HBOS (Lloyds Banking Group), and Group Head of Legal at Lex (Lex Autolease). Also a barrister of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and a law graduate (LL.B Hons) of the University of Lagos with an LL.M in Comparative Company Law.


Mark Shilto
Partner
CMS

Mark is a partner at CMS and a seasoned business leader and strategic advisor.  A disputes and IP specialist with a particular interest in people and teams, he previously headed Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading UK/US Disputes team for six years and their Global Intellectual Property & Information Technology practice for nine.  He has over 30 years’ experience of helping organisations to identify and manage risk, motivate their people and thrive.


Edward Sparrow
Partner
Ashurst

Edward Sparrow is a senior consultant in our dispute resolution practice. Edward is a very experienced commercial litigator who specialises in financial disputes, financial services regulation and professional negligence claims.

Edward has more than 30 years' experience running major litigation and resolving significant disputes for clients involving team leadership, project and risk management and strategic discussions with, and reporting to, the client. He has vast experience acting for financial institutions and their senior employees in investigations and disciplinary proceedings brought by financial and professional regulators including the FCA (and its predecessor) and equivalent financial regulators in other jurisdictions. His clients include banks and other financial institutions, regulators, public companies and law firms.

Edward's areas of practice also include product liability and safety, M&A disputes and fraud investigations.


Anna Suchopar
General Counsel & Company Secretary
ASOS

Anna is General Counsel & Company Secretary at ASOS, the online fashion retailer. She leads ASOS’ Governance function, including CR/ Business Sustainability, Risk and Business Assurance, and helps run ASOS’ charitable Foundation. Adept at building and managing agile teams, Anna was formerly Virgin Group IP Manager in the legal team responsible for all aspects of the licensing, monetisation, protection and enforcement of the Virgin brand, based in Geneva. She trained and qualified as a UK solicitor at Taylor Wessing LLP, joining TW’s market-leading Intellectual Property & Media Team.


Katherine Thomas
General Counsel & Company Secretary
Travelodge

Katherine is General Counsel and Company Secretary of the Travelodge Hotels group, having joined in 2014 to build the group’s legal function. Prior to that she spent 6 years advising on corporate law in private practice. Katherine heads the growing legal team which provides support across the breadth of the business as Travelodge aims to become the favourite hotel for value. She has a particular focus on strategic projects and compliance and is passionate about empowering her team.



Ed Walker
General Counsel
Abellio

Ed Walker is General Counsel of Abellio, the UK bus and rail passenger operator. He joined Abellio to support the group navigate the impact of Covid on the industry business model and steer itself towards a new future in a radically and permanently altered industry. He is building a new legal and compliance function for the business in this changing environment and sits on the UK Board and Executive. Prior to Abellio, Ed has carried out similar roles in international tobacco. African petrol station retailing, oil refining, international building materials distribution and general insurance, as well as experience with start-ups through his own consulting company. He identifies himself not as a lawyer but as a business executive with a legal backpack, operating in high growth, high ambiguity and high change industries.