Katie Walsh
Workshop leader, associate , Gateley Legal
Katie is an Associate in our Private Client and Family team advises on a broad range of private client issues including wills, trusts and estate planning.
Chetan Mistry
Assistant workshop lead, Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP
Trainee at Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP.
Emma Morgan
Panellist and partner , Shoosmiths
Emma Morgan is a partner in the employment team and is based in the Manchester office. Emma specialises in both employment and business immigration law.
Mia Armstrong
Panellist, trainee, Ward Hadaway
Mia is a second year trainee solicitor at Ward Hadaway LLP. She currently assists the corporate team on a wide range of transactions including buying, selling, investment and corporate reorganisations. Mia’s previous seats were housing and matrimonial.
Mia studied Law at the University of Durham and subsequently studied the LPC at the University of Law in Manchester
Robert Maliszewski
Workshop leader, senior legal technologist, Addleshaw Goddard
Robert graduated from the University of Liverpool with an LLB degree and LLM in Intellectual Property Law and has 4 years of experience in the Innovation & Legal Technology team. Robert has been working with lawyers across multiple divisions and sectors within AG, from Construction Real Estate to Commercial Disputes Litigation team. Robert is a massive advocate of Alternative Career Pathway within legal industry. For the last two years his focus has been Research & Development team, responsible for horizon scanning of legal tech tools on the market, identifying pain points within the business and trialling the tools.
Ruth Clare
Workshop leader and partner , Shoosmiths
Ruth is a partner in the real estate team and advises on a wide range of issues facing occupier, investor and corporate clients across the range of their property interests.
Ruth provides bespoke advice with regard to the circumstances and the business drivers of her client in each transaction. She specialises in advising retail and other clients in respect of the expansion, disposal and management of their property portfolios. She also provides real estate input to corporate and financing transactions. She aims to be an extension of her clients, understanding and working alongside her clients to achieve their goals.
Paul Brown
Workshop leader, partner , DWF Group Plc
As a partner in the banking team, Paul acts for a broad range of both lenders and borrowers on both public and private sector funding transactions and projects.
Daisy Stewart
Panellist, trainee, Gateley Legal
Daisy is a second-year trainee solicitor at Gateley Legal (of Gateley Plc). Daisy is currently on secondment at City Football Group – which includes Manchester City Football Club – having previously sat in residential development and restructuring. Daisy studied Politics & Modern History at the University of Manchester before completing the GDL and LPC.
Bryn Doyle
Workshop Lead and partner, Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP
Bryn Doyle is a partner and head of our Labour & Employment Practice in our Manchester office. Bryn has been an employment solicitor for two decades, with extensive experience is all areas of employment law.
Ian Gillis
Workshop leader, partner and head of Manchester corporate , Hill Dickinson LLP
Ian is a partner in the corporate team. His particular expertise covers initial public offerings on AIM and the Main Market of London Stock Exchange, public takeovers, mergers and acquisitions, disposals and corporate governance.
Harold Brako
Panellist, partner, head of Manchester office, Addleshaw Goddard
Harold is a Finance Litigation and Disputes Partner, with particular expertise in banking, asset based lending and receivables financing disputes, both cross border and domestic. He provides advice to the major UK clearing banks, challenger banks, international banks and a wide range of finance sector clients (which include Private Equity and other independent funders). Harold heads-up Addleshaw Goddard’s Manchester office (having also previously founded and headed up the Manchester office of Shoosmiths).
Nik White
Keynote speaker, panellist, managing partner, Brabners LLP
Nik White is the managing partner at the purpose-led independent law firm Brabners.
A highly respected commercial lawyer, Nik works alongside Brabners’ CEO to set the strategic direction of the firm and is responsible for leading the development and performance of the partnership.
A dynamic and purpose-driven leader who cares about shaping an inclusive, collaborative and innovative culture and is a vocal champion of equality, diversity and inclusion,
Nik is committed to social mobility and widening participation to the legal sector for young people through Brabners’ early careers initiatives.
He is also passionate about Brabners’ independent status and B Corp certification, which measures a company’s entire social and environmental impact, ensuring that the treatment of people and planet are adopted as measures of success, alongside profit.
Nik joined Brabners in 1995 and has dedicated his entire working career to the firm. He spent six years on the management board prior to becoming managing partner in 2018.
James Szerdy
Workshop leader, partner , DWF Group Plc
James is a partner in the Banking team with experience in all aspects of corporate lending including acquisition finance, real estate finance and restructuring.
Rob Biddlecombe
Assistant workshop lead, partner, Brabners LLP
Rob is an experienced environmental law specialist and an expert in environmental regulatory issues associated with the built environment, including contaminated land, environmental permits, waste management, water pollution, nuisance, and the control of asbestos.
James Szerdy
Workshop leader, partner, DWF Group Plc
James is a partner in the Banking team with experience in all aspects of corporate lending including acquisition finance, real estate finance and restructuring.
James has specialist expertise in wholesale automotive finance and has led a number of restructures, turnarounds and workouts.
Working in both Manchester and Liverpool, James also covers secured lending and wholesale dealer funding.
Catherine Forshaw
Assistant workshop lead, associate , Brabners LLP
Catherine handles contentious and non-contentious regulatory, safeguarding, athlete eligibility, anti-doping and general commercial litigation matters for a wide range of clients, including national governing bodies, football clubs, athletes, footballers and agents.
Lydia Edgar
Workshop leader, partner, head of sports team , Brabners LLP
Lydia leads Brabners’ Sports sector team and is also a Partner in the Employment and Pensions team.
In her role as sector leader, Lydia sets Sports sector strategy, leads on solutions to the issues faced by our Sport clients and develops our sector talent pool.
As a highly experienced Employment lawyer, she advises employers in a variety of sectors, sports governing bodies, international federations, county associations, clubs, athletes and players across a wide range of sporting disciplines. Her work includes HR strategy planning, executive appointments and terminations, restructuring, Employment Tribunal and High Court litigation.
Lydia also leads our work in the highly sensitive area of safeguarding, advising on policy and procedures, case management, the provision of training and representation in external reviews.
Thea Harman
Panellist , The University of Law
Thea Katelynn Harman is a visually impaired, neurodivergent international student. She is a student ambassador, studying a Master of Arts in Law with the SQE1 preparation course [MA Law (SQE1)] at The University of Law Leeds campus. She has a South African LLB degree with the University of South Africa (UNISA) and possesses certifications in the Introduction to Lexis Nexis, Introduction to Trial Advocacy from the Black Lawyers Association, Doxit Software Training from the Law Society of South Africa (LSSA) / Legal Education and Development (LEAD), School for Legal Practice, Introduction to Anti – Corruption and in Anti – Corruption: Prevention of Corruption from the UNODC Global e –Learning.
She has participated in moot courts, speech competitions, social events and even made her own YouTube channel. Thea enjoys a good problem that needs to be solved, be it a legal problem or an everyday one. She believes that everyone should be treated equally, including wild and domestic creatures, and when someone has done a wrong they must put it right.
Melissa Leung
Trainee panellist, Hill Dickinson LLP
Melissa assists the Restructuring team to advise clients on a range of restructuring and insolvency related issues. Previously, Melissa has worked as a paralegal in Real Estate dealing with due diligence, drafting and post-completion tasks. She has also contributed a number of articles to our insights section.
Melissa graduated with a bachelor of laws from the University of Leeds and studied the LPC at BPP University in Manchester.
Caroline Morris
Panellist, trainee, Squire Patton Boggs
Caroline Morris is a second year trainee solicitor at Squire Patton Boggs in Manchester. Caroline currently sits in real estate, with previous seats being within financial services and commercial litigation. Caroline studied Law at the University of Birmingham and graduated in 2018. Prior to training at Squire, Caroline worked as a paralegal in banking.