Experience
Please note that all my mediation work is undertaken solely in my capacity as an independent accredited mediator, and not in my capacity as a solicitor. However, my legal experience is relevant to the types of disputes I feel particularly comfortable to mediate.
My legal expertise includes in-depth skills and experience in the following areas:
pharmaceuticals/life sciences (I was a senior international in-house lawyer for a global generic pharmaceuticals company for 12 years) including drafting, negotiating and advising on intellectual property (IP), licensing, development, manufacturing, supply and distribution transactions and issues;
commercial and corporate law, including drafting, negotiating and advising on detailed commercial contracts, contract interpretation and disputes, and acting on corporate acquisitions, disposals and joint ventures;
property/real estate, planning & construction. I specialised as a planning lawyer in the early part of my career, involving a lot of contact with local authorities. I am also experienced with property issues and disputes involving boundaries, easements and covenants, landlord & tenant issues, construction projects and construction-related disputes with professionals (e.g. architects and surveyors);
telecommunications and information technology (IT), including drafting, negotiating and advising on a wide range of commercial agreements relating to the procurement, licensing and use of hardware and software and outsourcing projects.
Qualifications
I am a Civil Mediation Council (CMC) registered civil & commercial mediator with a legal background as a solicitor (England & Wales). I help individuals and businesses caught up in commercial, contract or property disputes to find practical and cost-effective solutions.
I trained and qualified as a mediator following a legal career of over 35 years, mainly in senior in-house legal roles but also in private practice. I am currently a director of a residential estate management company and an Independent Person for a local authority appointed under the Localism Act 2011.
Having spent the majority of my legal career in senior in-house legal positions based in Europe and the UK, I am skilled and experienced helping to identify and bring about practical and pragmatic solutions to negotiations and disputes, and used to working with individuals and lawyers from different countries and diverse perspectives.
I am experienced at getting to grips with issues and problems outside my areas of specialism and so am willing and able to mediate most kinds of dispute, including community mediations, but not family or workplace mediations.
I am empathetic, patient and a good listener and observer. Combined with my dry sense of humour, ability to adopt a ‘helicopter view’ of a situation and extensive legal experience, I am skilled at helping parties involved in a dispute to identify and agree mutually acceptable solutions.
In addition to my qualifications as a civil & commercial mediator and solicitor, I have an LLB degree in Law (Warwick University), MBA degree in Business Administration (Bath University) and a Diploma in Telecommunications Law (Queen Mary, London University).
I live in Wimbledon, SW London and am willing to travel as required within the UK or internationally.