HARBOTTLE - Key Persons
Abigail Payne is ranked as a ‘Leading Individual' in the Legal 500 and was awarded the Legal 500 Technology, Media and Telecoms Lawyer of the Year (London) 2019.
Abigail provides advice on all aspects of film and television financing, production and distribution.
She is particularly renowned for her expertise in structuring international co-productions and providing advice on international subsidies/tax credits as well as EIS and other finance structures.
She advises clients from across the industry, including film and television funds, television platforms, EIS schemes, banks, studios, completion guarantors, leading producers, distributors, talent agents, literary estates and other IP/underlying rights holders.
Abigail is a member of BAFTA and Women in Film and Television.
Abigail is a fantastically detailed lawyer with a hugely positive attitude and a wealth of experience.
Abigail Payne is an excellent lawyer. Doesn't miss a trick but is very practical in her advice.
Agatha is a technology lawyer advising clients across a range of industries on technology-focussed contracts and deals.
She has considerable experience working on both the client and supplier side and specialises in advising on complex commercial technology deals and drafting and negotiating the related documentation. She frequently advises smaller disruptors when entering into arrangements with industry incumbents, as well as acting for a variety of household names in the technology space.
Job Titles:
- Managing Associate
- Member of STEP
Alasdair Wilson advises individuals, families and fiduciaries based in the UK and overseas in relation to all matters of international personal taxation, wealth structuring, global compliance and cross-border estate planning. This includes tax and legal issues related to moving between countries, protecting ownership of assets, ensuring tax efficiency in multiple jurisdictions and formulating plans for succession.
Alasdair has a particular interest in the structuring, governance and taxation of family businesses and personal enterprises. He often oversees the legal and tax strategy for the management of private capital by wealth generators or custodians across jurisdictions. This generally involves detailed analysis of trust and company structures established outside the UK.
Alasdair has significant experience acting for clients connected to civil law jurisdictions, in particular France and Switzerland, as well as to Latin America and the Middle East. Alasdair speaks English, French, Spanish and German and holds law degrees obtained in England and in France (Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne).
Alasdair is a full member of STEP and was named a Rising Star in the Legal 500 2024. He previously spent 9 months on secondment to a multi-family office headquartered in London.
Alex Gays advises clients on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters, with a focus on assisting founders, entrepreneurs and businesses in the technology, media and entertainment sectors.
Alex spent part of his training contract working in-house for the multi-family office arm of an independent investment group in London serving ultra-high net worth clients.
Alex also has experience working in offshore jurisdictions.
He has experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder arrangements, start-up investment, financing.
Alex Ward advises on a wide range of family law matters, including the financial consequences of divorce and disputes involving children.
He is familiar with the financial complexities arising in cases involving high net worth clients and is conversant with trust structures, including those with an offshore element.
Alex is committed to dealing with private children matters in a pragmatic and sensitive way.
He is also a member of Resolution.
Job Titles:
- Managing Associate
- Member of STEP
Alexa Collis advises UK and foreign individuals and their families on the management of their personal affairs and the preservation and transmission of their family wealth.
Her work includes Wills and succession planning, capital tax planning, and the formation and tax efficient use of trust and other asset holding structures. She also provides advice to non-domiciled and/or non-resident individuals on their obligations and the opportunities available to them.
Her clients range from entrepreneurs to ‘talent,' increasingly with a US flavour. She also has prior offshore experience, having spent time in the Channel Islands advising individuals, trusts companies and family offices.
Alexa was named as one of the 2019 eprivateclient Top 35 Under 35 women from the private client sector.
Alexa is a member of STEP (the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) and she is currently completing the STEP Advanced Certificate in UK Tax for International Clients.
Alexander Walters advises clients on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters across the technology, media and entertainment sectors.
He has experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, shareholder arrangements, start-up investment and financing and share incentivisation schemes. Alexander also has previous experience as a corporate paralegal in the capital markets team.
Amabel Torrance advises on commercial matters in the entertainment industry, specialising in issues relating to the exploitation of intellectual property rights.
Amabel works with a broad range of clients across the fashion, sport, music, film and entertainment industries. She advises influencers and other talent in these areas, as well as agencies, brands and producers of film, television and online content. She has particular experience advising on brand ambassador arrangements, sponsorship agreements, commercial contracts and rights exploitation.
Amy Bradbury is a Partner in the Media and Information Group. She specialises in the protection and exploitation of information and advises on all legal areas relating to reputation management, including defamation, privacy, breach of confidence and confidentiality, data protection, freedom of information and harassment.
Amy acts for a wide range of clients, both in and out of the public spotlight. She advises corporates and brands as well as global figures, business professionals and high net worth individuals.
Amy is a member of Women in Film & TV.
Andrew Reay specialises in complex and high value succession matters. He advises individuals, corporate trustees and charities in their capacity as either Personal Representatives or beneficiaries of an Estate. In particular, he has significant experience dealing with Estates involving complex, multi-jurisdictional or contentious elements.
He assists both UK and non-UK Executors and Administrators with their eligibility to seek representation to a deceased person's assets in England and Wales and all posthumous tax compliance issues.
He frequently works with teams of overseas lawyers in matters of international estate administration, advising where applicable on the conflict of laws and double taxation treaties. He advises on the validity of overseas Wills.
In addition to the non-contentious aspects of succession law, Andrew advises in relation to post-death disputes including those arising on intestacy and claims brought pursuant to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
Andrew has given talks on the Residence Nil Rate Band and Inheritance Tax, generally. He has recently written for the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners' Journal on the ancient Roman doctrine of donatio mortis causa and its relevance in English law today.
He is a French speaker and enjoys working with clients who have French assets or connections. He is very familiar with French succession procedure and its interaction with the probate process in England and Wales.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Intellectual Property Partner
Andrew Terry is an Intellectual Property partner with more than 20 years' experience of trade mark, copyright and design right disputes and strategic IP advice, who also regularly handles advertising, media and content related matters.
He is a trusted advisor to his clients, co-ordinating their needs and facilitating wider work. To that end, he also advises on broader matters with a ‘brand' focus, such as sponsorship, advertising and merchandising agreements and reputation management issues.
As well as acting for household name brands across many sectors, Andrew has worked with high profile talent in media and entertainment for many years, including major artists in the music industry.
Andrew has a strong reputation in the market and is described as "excellent" by the Legal 500. He was previously Head of the IP and Media team at Eversheds Sutherland, having been a partner for more than 10 years.
Andy Wansell is the Chief Operating Officer at Harbottle & Lewis. His role as COO is all about ensuring that we have the right people, in the right roles, doing the right thing.
Andy is committed to ensuring we use our values and behaviours to determine how things get done. His time is invested in communicating ideas and information across the business and with our key external stakeholders.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the Privacy & Data Protection Committee for the Society for Computers and Law
Anita Bapat advises a diverse range of clients on all aspects of data protection and privacy compliance.
Anita is a member of the Privacy & Data Protection committee for the Society for Computers and Law (SCL) and the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP).
Becky Storer advises on all aspects of private family law, including divorce, financial claims on relationship breakdown, nuptial agreements and private law children matters.
She also has experience of complex financial issues, as well as those with an international dimension.
Job Titles:
- Partner
- Member of the British Association of Sports Law
Bob Mitchell specialises in all aspects of sports law. In 2011 he was named as the most influential lawyer in the sports industry by Sports Business International magazine. He has particular experience in negotiating and providing advice on the terms of commercial sports agreements, including sponsorship, participation, staging, promoter and venue agreements, and advising on sports regulatory and disciplinary issues.
He advises all types of sports-related clients on a comprehensive range of legal issues. His experience also includes advising a number of leading sportsmen on the exploitation and protection of their image rights as well as acting for both significant sports rights owners and large multi-national corporate sponsors of events and teams. Bob also regularly provides advice to a number of national and international player associations.
Bob is a member of the British Association of Sports Law and the European Sponsorship Association.
Bob is a fantastic lawyer, with a lot of knowledge and experience both from a legal and a commercial perspective.
Caitlin McGivern advises media and entertainment clients on development, production and rights exploitation in the film, television and theatre industries. She acts for a range of clients including production companies (from small UK producers to major US studios and SVOD platforms), rights-holders, agencies and individual writers, directors and producers.
Caitlin also has a particular interest in sustainability in film and television.
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Member of the Law Society of England
Camille Brien is a dispute resolution lawyer who advises on a variety of contentious issues, with a particular focus on disputes in the publishing, retail, media and entertainment, fashion, private client and tech sectors.
Camille has experience handing litigation in the High Court, but has also advised clients at the pre-action stage and at mediation prior to trial.
Camille joined Harbottle & Lewis in May 2023. She trained at Stephenson Harwood, where she qualified into their general corporate and commercial disputes team working on several high profile disputes in the High Court as an Associate.
Camille is a member of the Law Society of England and Wales, the Tech Disputes Network and the London Solicitors Litigation Association.
Job Titles:
- People and Culture Director
Carly Hubbard joined Harbottle & Lewis as the Firm's People & Culture Director in February 2023 with almost 20 years of HR experience gained in businesses across the City and overseas. Having worked in the legal sector in other international firms since 2007, Carly brings extensive experience in designing and delivering people strategy, alongside a passion for employee engagement, health and wellbeing, talent management and reward.
In her role, Carly is responsible for HR, Graduate Recruitment, DEI and Learning & Development, and strives to ensure the people strategy aligns with the culture; accelerates change; and supports the delivery of excellence. Carly is energised by focusing on ensuring the wellbeing and management of all aspects of people fuels the growth and success of the Firm.
Caroline Roberjot is a partner in the Firm's Property practice, working with individuals and advising them in respect of their UK property transactions both personally or via their offshore trusts or family offices.
Her work involves prime and super prime London properties as well as country estates. She also acts for several private banks both in the UK and offshore, and has well-established connections with individual clients, trust companies and banks in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Monaco, Switzerland and Singapore.
Caroline has a high reputation in this area and has been recognised by Spears as one of the top five property lawyers, and also in Chambers, Legal 500 and Citywealth, receiving the Citywealth Power Women Silver Award 2021.
Caroline is on the fundraising board for The Children's Air Ambulance, the committee for The Gulls Eggs Luncheon for Cure Parkinsons and the council for The Mayfair & St James Association.
Catherine Bedford deals with all areas of family law including divorce and separation; the breakdown of civil partnerships; cohabitation disputes; jurisdictional disputes and enforcement; pre- and post-nuptial agreements; freezing injunctions; appeals; and applications to vary maintenance. She is also the firm's Senior Partner.
Depending on each client's needs, Catherine's approach is tailor made - whether that be successful negotiating outside of the court process or tough litigating within it. Her work frequently involves high net worth individuals, ranging from high-flying CEOs and investment bankers, to sports stars and entertainers.
Catherine specialises in complex financial matters, frequently advising her clients with regard to assets and trust structures, including locating hidden assets.
Catherine is also highly experienced in all private law children matters including residence and contact; leave to remove children from the jurisdiction (both achieving and preventing); specific issue applications and prohibited steps orders.
Catherine is particularly concerned with mental health issues for children and adolescents; she has for some time been involved with the Anna Freud Centre and is a Trustee. She is also a Trustee of the National Gallery Foundation Trust.
Catherine Bedford is a star in the market. Chambers HNW, 2022
Catherine Bedford is, quite simply, the future of family law in London. Over the last few years she has emerged as the front runner to replace the old guard of leading solicitors who are fast approaching retirement. Catherine has it all: she is charismatic, thoughtful, driven and a brilliant strategic thinker. Clients warm to her immediately and she is utterly dedicated to them.
Catherine Flood advises a broad range of corporate clients within the technology, media and entertainment industries, with a particular focus on film, television and theatre.
Catherine has experience of commercial and intellectual property issues connected with the development, financing, production and exploitation of feature films, television programmes and other content across both traditional and new media platforms. She works with a broad range of clients, from individual rights holders to UK-based producers, US studios and SVOD providers.
Charles Leveque advises on a wide range of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures and shareholder arrangements. He also advises on corporate and media finance transactions, including through the offering of securities, either privately or through the capital markets and has advised on a number of Initial Public Offerings on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange.
His clients are from a range of industry sectors but he has a great deal of experience advising companies and investors who operate in the media and technology sectors.
Charles Leveque is 'helpful, pragmatic and tenacious'.
Job Titles:
- Director of Technology
- & Lewis' Director of Technology
Charlie Laing is Harbottle & Lewis' Director of Technology, working with the board in developing and delivering the technology strategy and supporting the Partnership and their clients.
He is a business-focused technology leader with over 20 years' experience delivering technology enabled business change. At the firm he leads the IT function as well as digital change, transformation and innovation across the firm with a focus on positioning technology at the heart of the organisation.
He is passionate about legal tech and the legal industry in general and is an active member of legal technology innovation group, LITIG.
Charlotte Boyce is an Associate in the Private Client, Tax and Immigration team, specialising in immigration, asylum and human rights.
Charlotte advises on all aspects of UK immigration and nationality law, with extensive expertise in challenging immigration applications and litigation cases. She has experience in advising clients in respect of complex and politically-sensitive applications for international protection in the UK as well as applications for leave to remain and appeals on human rights and/or refugee convention grounds. She is experienced in advising clients on the effect for immigration applications of civil, criminal and extradition proceedings and has extensive knowledge and understanding of UK immigration and nationality law.
Chris Moorcroft advises individuals and families on the structuring of wealth and estates. This includes the use of vehicles such as companies, trusts and foundations to help manage the passing of wealth between generations, to protect wealth from hostile third parties, to cater for death or incapacity, and to manage complex cross-border tax issues involving multiple jurisdictions.
He advises on will planning and probate, particularly those which involve multiple jurisdictions, and acts as executor and administrator of estates. He has a particular interest in intestate estates and conducting the administration of estates which are the subject of dispute.
He represents wealthy individuals and families from around the world, as well as their family offices and trustees. He has a particular focus on US-connected clients and counts a number of clients from South America, the Middle East and Africa.
He has an interest in the ‘next gen' of wealth owners and speaks extensively on the topic of transitioning wealth to millennials and Gen Z. He has expertise in ESG and social impact investing, and advises trustees on associated issues of fiduciary risk.
Claire Munday is Head of Facilities at Harbottle and Lewis. Her role is delivering strategic and operational facilities management to the Firm.
Claire has over 15 years' experience managing complex property strategies and leases, managing office relocations incorporating harmonized creative workspaces and effective change management.
Claire is a Certified member of IWFM and her background is in legal and financial services sectors.
Claire Walsh advises UK and international clients on a variety of private client matters, particularly in relation to tax and succession planning. She helps clients put in place a comprehensive estate plan, which often includes advising on and preparing Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and trust documentation. Claire has a special interest in mental capacity law and has experience advising attorneys acting under a Lasting Power of Attorney.
Claire is a full member of STEP (The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners), having achieved a distinction in the STEP Tax and Estate Planning diploma in 2022.
Prior to joining Harbottle & Lewis at the start of 2023, Claire was an associate at Charles Russell Speechlys in London where she had qualified as a solicitor in 2019.
Clare McGarry is a Managing Associate in the Film, Television and Theatre Department at Harbottle & Lewis. Clare trained at Linklaters and qualified into their IP and Media team before moving over to Harbottles to join the Film and TV team.
Clare works on a broad range of matters across the Film, TV and Theatre industries, on all aspects of the team's work, including the development, production, acquisition and exploitation of rights and content (including advising rightsholders as well as producers). Clare works with many high profile independent producers and rightsholders as well as advising major SVODs and content financiers.
Clare previously received a client testimonial in Legal 500: "A pleasure to work with. Fantastic attention to detail and very responsive to client requests. Runs matters efficiently and inspires confidence in her clients" and has been listed as a "key lawyer" in Harbottles' Media and Entertainment Department.
Clare has also been ranked as a "rising star" in this year's IP Stars awards.
Clients Clare works with include Amazon, Apple, Universal Pictures, Mediapro, Complete Fiction, Jax, Rebellion, Netflix, The National Theatre, Studio Crook, Popcorn, Eventim, See-Saw, to name but a few.
Colin Howes provides specialist corporate and strategic advice on buying and selling businesses, investments in businesses, joint ventures and commercial agreements. Many of the clients he advises are in the hospitality or media industries. He also advises charities and other philanthropic organisations on governance and legal issues, including mergers and other transactions.
He is a member of the Charity Law Association, a director of Comic Relief Limited and Board Adviser to Virgin Unite. In his work with philanthropic organisations, Colin has a particular interest in those which leverage business activities or entertainment to improve lives.
Colin Howes is an absolutely exceptional lawyer…he never fails to deliver the highest quality advice and guidance in a clear and simple form. His intelligent and original approach to solving often complex problems is remarkable. I cannot recommend him highly enough.
Colin Howes is described by clients as an ‘extremely capable, thoughtful and pragmatic lawyer' who is well respected by peers in the media and entertainment sector.
Job Titles:
- Consultant
- Director
- Founder
Dalton advises on all aspects of the commercial exploitation of rights in the sports industry, ranging from sponsorship, endorsements, licensing, broadcasting, ticketing and hospitality through to the digital/new media aspects of such rights.
He advises rights holders, sports governing bodies, teams, sportspersons, sponsors, brands and other commercial entities on the exploitation of their rights in a sporting context.
Dalton has specialist knowledge of all the legal aspects involved in hosting sports events, having been the Head of Legal: Commercial for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012 for 5 years and also having been the General Counsel for the inaugural Invictus Games in 2014 (the Games for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women spearheaded by Prince Harry).
Dalton is the founder and director of a sports rights management company which advises rights holders on the commercial exploitation of their rights.
Daniel Marks advises on all aspects of personal injury and sports law-related claims. He also specialises in high value clinical negligence claims.
Daniel also has experience in media, defamation, phone hacking and privacy matters for both individuals and corporates, and also deals with reputation management advice.
Daniel is recognised as an expert in sports law and has acted for clients including Darrell Hair, Mike Tyson, Sam Allardyce and a number of Premiership footballers and other high profile individuals.
He frequently advises on high-value employer liability and public liability claims (and often multi-party actions) involving many jurisdictions, with particular emphasis in the Construction industry and the Close Protection industry. He is known for obtaining seven figure sums in complex claims.
Daniel Prim advises on all aspects of intellectual property (IP) law, and specialises in advising clients in relation to contentious IP and media related issues.
Daniel provides strategic IP advice to clients from across sectors including, film, tv, music, entertainment and retail, and regularly advises on all stages of a dispute from pre-action through to trial and beyond, as well as alternative forms of dispute resolution including settlement and mediation.
Daniel has experience of advising clients in IP disputes in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, High Court and Court of Appeal, and in tribunal proceedings before the UK Intellectual Property Office and EU General Court, as well as defamation disputes in the High Court.
Daniel was named a ‘key lawyer' in the Legal 500 2021 for media and entertainment law, and holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice from the University of Oxford. Daniel studied languages at university and speaks Spanish and French fluently.
Before joining Harbottle & Lewis in 2021, Daniel was a Senior Associate in the London IP & Media team of Eversheds Sutherland, having qualified there in 2015.
Prior to working in law, Daniel worked in film post-production, and was part of a team nominated for a film BAFTA.
David Scott provides corporate and personal tax advice to the full range of the firm's clients and his core practice involves tax advice for entrepreneurs and their businesses.
He has considerable experience advising on share and business acquisitions and disposals and expertise in all aspects of share incentive arrangements, ranging from the adoption of employee share schemes to highly tailored share-based arrangements for senior management and the use of employee benefit trusts. He also advises on the tax aspects of fundraising through EIS and SEIS for both investors and investee companies.
As the Head of the Charities and Philanthropy Group, he advises not-for-profit organisations and individual philanthropists on all charity law issues, including commercial arrangements and corporate governance issues, as well on specific charity tax issues.
Job Titles:
- Legal Support Services Manager, Emirates
Job Titles:
- Deputy General Counsel, Cydcor
Job Titles:
- CEO of the League Managers Association