PADDLE & COCKS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Fellow of R3
- Join Managing Partner & Head of Commercial Dispute Resolution & Insolvency
- Joint Managing Partner & Head of Commercial Dispute Resolution
- JOINT MANAGING PARTNER / HEAD of COMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION, EMPLOYMENT, INSOLVENCY & RESTRUCTURING
- Vice President of Cornwall Law Society and past Committee
‘I have had the pleasure of working with Verona at Paddle & Cocks LLP on high value commercial litigation involving complex questions of rights and obligations under guarantees as well as a raft of insolvency issues. Verona provides a first class, City of London service in a down to earth and friendly manner'.
Verona is a Fellow of R3 Business Recovery Professionals and a former member of the Institute of Directors
Verona is also the Vice President of Cornwall Law Society and past committee member of Birmingham Law Society. In her spare time she practices yoga having qualified as a Yoga teacher in June 2020, having hung up her running shoes after running 11 half marathons over the space of 10 years and stowed away her hockey stick following 15 years of play club hockey for various clubs in the Midlands and the SE; Verona is also an energy healing practitioner and has a particular interest in music having played the flute for many years and now sings.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / EMPLOYMENT LAW
Barbara Alam joined Paddle & Cocks in April 2020. She has been co-partner in a Public Affairs Consultancy for the previous 15 years, a role she still has on a part time basis.
A skilled project and administrative manager, Barbara has a wealth of experience in organisational matters and a keen interest in legal issues and business development.
Outside of work, Barbara is passionate about international travel on her motorcycle and has travelled to all continents except Antarctica.
Job Titles:
- PARTNER / PROPERTY LITIGATION
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / EMPLOYMENT
- Consultant Solicitor in Employment Law
‘Hannah provided us with some advice regarding an employment law issue. She was very responsive to our needs, and through her experience and professional approach the matter was brought to an agreeable end quickly and with minimal stress. We would have no hesitation in using her services again should the situation arise'.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / COMMERCIAL / CORPORATE
- Consultant Solicitor in Corporate and Commercial
Ian has been advising on corporate/commercial legal matters for 30 years. He trained in the City of London at Nicholson, Graham & Jones (now K&L Gates) and qualified into its corporate department in 1992.
Since then Ian has advised on a broad mix of corporate and commercial legal matters for businesses of all sizes, across many different industry sectors, in both the UK and around the world. Ian has worked at London firm Nabarro, US firm Paul Hastings and in 2004 established his own boutique law firm, Starr & Partners, with a small group of other City lawyers. He joined the team at Paddle & Cocks in 2022.
Ian has experience in advising on most aspects of corporate and commercial law including:
Company mergers, acquisitions and disposals;
Corporate restructuring;
Corporate finance;
Business start-ups and early-stage funding/investments;
Private equity investment and restructuring;
Shareholders', partnership and joint venture agreements;
Company incorporation and day-to-day corporate administration;
Commercial contracts, including supply agreements, service level agreements and terms of business;
Intellectual property & software/app development and licensing agreements;
Franchising and distribution agreements.
Ian's clients are based both nationally across the UK and internationally, with a particular emphasis on the US, Netherlands and France. He regularly advises overseas clients on UK-inbound commercial matters or investments, with much experience of identifying and explaining all the features and potential pitfalls for foreign companies looking to do business in the UK.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
- Consultant Solicitor in Commercial Property
Jane joins Paddle & Cocks with 35 years' experience in the City of London as a commercial property and property finance lawyer, including eight years' post qualification at Clifford Chance, partnerships from 1998 -2015 at Pritchard Englefield and Thomas Eggar LLP, consultancies from 2015 at Thomas Eggar, Irwin Mitchell and Setfords, and an ongoing role as principal lawyer at the City of London Corporation advising on high profile property and infrastructure projects.
The Legal 500 2015 mentions Jane as "recommended", and cites two of her transactions as the highlights of her firm's London office property offering that year, including the acquisition of a department store in Newbury and a hotel in Docklands for an Austrian hotel group.
Jane speaks fluent German and, as a qualified translator, has advised many corporates and public/government bodies from the German speaking world over the years.
Her commercial property experience includes property aspects of acquisitions and disposals; investment/development/project finance; corporate support; property insolvency; and commercial leases, acting for both investment landlords and occupational tenants. At Clifford Chance, Jane worked on property aspects of the 1990s privatisations of coal, nuclear and rail, and she has ongoing experience of infrastructure projects.
Jane has published in German on English property law, including a book on Commercial Property Law in England and Wales commissioned by the British German Chamber of Commerce in London in 2000. Since 2000 she has given talks in German to German bankers and BaFIn in Bonn on English property security on various occasions at the invitation of the German Association of Mortgage Banks.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / EMPLOYMENT
- Consultant Solicitor in Employment Law
Besides the law, Jenni has interests reaching from gig rowing to jewellery design (and has her own jewellery design business). Jenni is mum to two children and above everything else she just simply loves spending time with her family (and new clumberdoodle puppy Marvin). You'll often find her (and her family) messing around on the water in and around her hometown of Falmouth.
Job Titles:
- PARTNER / COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Job Titles:
- Commercial Property Solicitor
- CONSULTANT / COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
- Consultant Solicitor in Commercial Property
- Member of the Commercial Real Estate Legal Association
"We have recently used Jess Cornish for commercial conveyancing of a property. It was not a straightforward purchase with many twists and turns on the way. Jess was fantastic throughout, responsive and professional and made the whole process much easier than it could have been. I would wholeheartedly recommend her and Paddle and Cocks. On a separate note we have also recently spoken with Verona Cocks who went above and beyond and gave us some invaluable advice. We look forward to working with them again in the near future."
Jess Cornish is a Commercial Property Solicitor and has experience across a wide range of property transactions including new business leases, renewal leases, lease assignments, lease surrenders, pub leases, community projects, agricultural land, farm business tenancies, retail units, and solar farm developments.
Recent projects include:
Jess is a member of the Commercial Real Estate Legal Association.
"We recently used Jess Cornish on a commercial property purchase and couldn't have been more impressed. It was not a straightforward process, and Jess handled everything professionally and effectively, exceeding our expectations with how personable and available she was. We look forward to working together on our next project!"
Job Titles:
- Solicitor
- CONSULTANT / COMMERCIAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION
- Consultant Solicitor in Commercial Dispute Resolution
Justine Benbough has been a qualified solicitor for over 20 years. She joined Paddle & Cocks as a Consultant in June 2018 having been a Consultant Solicitor since 2012. Prior to that she had worked for Stevens & Bolton LLP for just under 6 years and had been head of litigation at Alywins Solicitors.
Justine undertakes a wide range of commercial dispute resolution work and commercial and residential property litigation. Property litigation includes commercial landlord & tenant disputes, such as LTA 1954 Act advice, renewal of and opposing business tenancies, breach of lease repairing covenants, non payment of rent, dilapidations and forfeiture. She also deals with residential possession claims, boundary disputes, adverse possession, contentious trusts and co-habitation disputes. Justine also deals with director and shareholder disputes, contract disputes, contentious probate and insolvency.
'Budeful Ltd engaged the services of Justine Benbough of Paddle & Cocks to deal with an ex-director dispute. Our case was handled very professionally and in a timely fashion. We would not hesitate to recommend their service to others'
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
- Consultant Solicitor Commercial Property Law
Keira has a wealth of commercial and residential property law experience gained over 20 years. She has learnt that there is more to the property buying and selling process than just the "black letter" law and always ensures that she provide a full service to clients. This includes explaining complex legal issues to clients in a way they fully understand and helping them to assess the risk involved in a transaction.
Her practice currently comprises of all elements of property law including commercial and residential property matters. She is a Progressive Property Network approved solicitor and has close relationships with investors, commercial brokers and lenders. She also deals with commercial finance, re-finance and bridging finance. She delivers talks and legal know-how at property investor networking events.
Keira aims to become fully involved with her clients' businesses and seeks to understand their needs and pressures and this allows her to work with them to achieve the best possible outcome. This commerciality is an additional asset much appreciated by clients and adds value to their business. Building these personal relationships means that clients come back to me time and again for her legal advice.
Kristy is our Data Protection Officer. She has had a multi-faceted law career. She is a dual-qualified lawyer (BC, Canada and England and Wales) and first began her law career as a criminal prosecutor in BC. For nine years, Kristy prosecuted all types of offences in both Provincial and Supreme Court.
Kristy moved to the UK in 2001. In 2011, she qualified as a teacher and taught A Level and degree level law for five years. Kristy obtained her Master of Laws degree in 2014.
In 2016, Kristy left teaching and moved into the world of data protection. She is an expert in GDPR and the Data Protection Act.
Kristy completed the Qualified Lawyer Transfer scheme in 2019 and qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales in 2020.
‘I am happy to recommend Paddle & Cocks. Knowledgeable and efficient they knew the law and acted properly to bring an acrimonious situation to a swift end in our favour. Justine Benbough was, in particular, exceptional in our case giving us first rate service. 5 star quality and service all the way through'
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / EMPLOYMENT LAW
- Senior Employment Law Consultant
‘Marc Jones is a remarkably talented, experienced and professional partner. He can assimilate information quickly and cut through the noise to offer pragmatic, balanced and tailored advice to suit our specific challenges. We have never had any challenges bounce back to us on decisions we have made using the advice given by Marc.'
Job Titles:
- Head of Investment Strategy, Aviva Investors
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Job Titles:
- Joint Managing Partner & Head of Corporate and Commercial
- JOINT MANAGING PARTNER / HEAD of CORPORATE & COMMERCIAL and COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
Job Titles:
- Solicitor
- CONSULTANT / EMPLOYMENT
- Consultant Solicitor in Employment Law
‘We have used Rachel as our consultant on several occasions. Rachel has been invaluable in enabling the club to navigate the complexity of employment laws and ensuring appropriate policies are in place. Always attentive, responsive and highly professional whilst being delivered with a friendly persona. Rachel has helped us strategically with numerous situations which required her expertise. The club feel much more comfortable knowing we can rely on Rachel when required. - Truro Golf Club
Rachel loves to give senior management the confidence to undertake procedures themselves after an initial guidance from her.
Outside of work, Rachel enjoys being with her family and socialising with friends. She also likes watching live sport, paddleboarding on very, very calm water and eating good food, but not at the same time.
Rachel is happy to work for a fixed fee or on an hourly basis (depending upon the case) and is happy to take an initial discovery call free of charge.
Rachel is Recommended by the Legal 500.
Rachel Bateman qualified as a Solicitor in September 2004 and specialises in all aspects of employment law. During her 17 years' experience, Rachel has worked for Coodes LLP, where she trained and remained for a further 6 years culminating with her leading the employment department. Whilst there she shadowed the Employment Judges at the Exeter Employment Tribunal which gave her valuable insight into as well as a full appreciation of the mind set of tribunal judges and the relevant issues for consideration. Thereafter she was headhunted by Follett Stock LLP where she took up the position of senior solicitor and was the interim team leader for the department for a period of time. Rachel has also been a consultant with several HR providers throughout the South West as well as having run her own HR consultancy.
Rachel has vast experience and knowledge in both non-contentious and contentious work. Rachel is skilled in negotiating successful solutions for clients as well as preparing evidence and representing clients in Employment Tribunal hearings, assisting with TUPE transactions, drafting senior and junior level contracts, restraint of trade clauses and policies and procedures.
Rachel has provided training to businesses and public bodies, including training in the form of mock trials where attendees are given scenarios and advice on how to draft witness evidence and be examined and cross-examined on the statements.
Rachel understands the needs of clients, whether employer or employee, and has recently qualified as a Mental Health First Aider in order to assist clients and their staff by recognising mental health warning signs and being confident and competent in advising clients on how these should be addressed.
Rachel is a compassionate and caring person that balances her professional approach to work with a friendly manner, putting clients at ease and ensuring that they fully understand the advice she is able to offer. Whilst Rachel puts the client's aims and objectives at the forefront of any advice she is also commercially minded ensuring the client is given the best commercial options for them. Rachel is a problem-solver and is always keen to explore options with clients to achieve the best result as quickly and cost effectively as possible.
Rachel enjoys meeting new clients and builds strong, professional relationships with those she works with. As well as contentious work, Rachel regularly works with businesses in respect to any of their HR requirements and connects well with all members of a business's team, including any internal HR team.
Job Titles:
- Commercial Property Solicitor
- CONSULTANT / COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
- Consultant Solicitor Commercial Property Law
"I have recently completed a property purchase and I can't recommend Sarah highly enough. Sarah has been thorough, efficient and responsive throughout the whole process start to finish. I was a first time buyer and she has made the experience fantastic. Thanks again!"
Sarah is an experienced Commercial Property Solicitor with a specialism in landlord & tenant matters.
Job Titles:
- CONSULTANT / COMMERCIAL / CORPORATE
Job Titles:
- Managing Director, Unique Fundraising Ltd
‘Hannah is a highly professional individual with a deep understanding of employment law and extensive practical experience of dealing with cases that go through to tribunal. I would highly recommend her'.