gunnercooke adds 11 partners across London and Manchester in Q3 

gunnercooke has added 11 partners across London and Manchester in Q3, drawing senior talent from firms including Clyde & Co, Ogier, Shoosmiths, Hill Dickinson and Katten Muchin Rosenman. The appointments span dispute resolution, real estate, banking and finance, tax, commercial and IP, employment, restructuring and charities, strengthening the full-service offering of the UK’s leading fee-share law firm in two of its key markets.  

London 

Eight partners have joined the London office, with the dispute resolution bench growing the most through three new partners. 

Fernando Martins, a dual-qualified disputes lawyer with more than 15 years’ experience, arrives from Clyde & Co to grow gunnercooke’s cross-border disputes offering for clients with ties to Brazil, Latin America and the wider Portuguese-speaking world. He will continue to advise multinationals, insurers, investors and Brazilian and Portuguese-speaking companies doing business internationally on arbitration and cross-border litigation. 

Rachel Cropper-Mawer joins from offshore firm Ogier, where she was Global Head of Regulatory, having previously co-chaired the Regulatory and Investigations practice at Clyde & Co. She brings that regulatory and investigations experience to gunnercooke‘s dispute resolution team. 

Petar Petkov joins the dispute resolution team from London litigation boutique Linkilaw. A litigator throughout his career, he handles commercial claims and disputes, including sanctions-related work, for clients ranging from airlines to international businesses, and has built close referral links with lawyers across Eastern Europe. He started his career in Switzerland and speaks Russian. 

Jane Ashford-Thom joins from Slateford, where she was Counsel, and brings a reputation management and data protection practice. She acts for high-profile individuals and businesses on defamation, misuse of private information and breach of confidence, with experience up to the Court of Appeal, and also advises on GDPR and wider data protection. She’s currently working towards the IAPP AI Governance Professional certification, as the overlap between AI regulation and data protection becomes a bigger part of her work. 

gunnercooke’s real estate team also welcomes two new partners, Paul Olliff and Orla Burke. 

Paul joins from Harold Benjamin, where he was a real estate partner. He has around 17 years’ PQE in commercial property and development, acting for developers, investors, funds, high-net-worth individuals and occupiers. He’s best known for his work in airspace development and has written and spoken on the subject for RICS, Construction News and The Guardian, among others. He trained at Browne Jacobson and has also worked at Fieldfisher Waterhouse, Taylor Vinters and Ashfords. 

Orla joins from Clintons, where she trained and spent 11 years. Her commercial property practice includes a strong line in advising theatre and entertainment businesses on their offices, shops and industrial premises, and she has well-established referral relationships with accountants and surveyors. 

Chris Sykes joins from Hill Dickinson, having previously practised at Fieldfisher. He’s a banking and real estate finance lawyer who acts for borrowers, and over several decades he has built close relationships with major investor clients, pulling together real estate, corporate, banking and tax teams around complex deals. He’ll work closely with Paul at gunnercooke. 

Thomas Bjorn completes the London joiners with a life sciences practice shaped by senior in-house roles. He was Head of Legal at Octapharma in Switzerland, then spent around 20 years as Head of Legal at the UK Health Protection Agency (now UKHSA), before going on to advise international pharmaceutical clients as a consultant. He also has long-standing connections in India. 

Manchester 

In Manchester, three new partners continue the firm’s steady build-out of its northern headquarters adding depth in employment, restructuring and charities. 

Joanne Alvey joins the employment team from Horsfield Menzies Limited, bringing experience advising both employers and employees on grievance processes, senior executive dismissals and employee relations disputes. 

Gavin Jones joins gunnercooke‘s restructuring and insolvency practice from JMW Solicitors, where he headed the Corporate Recovery & Insolvency team. A licensed insolvency practitioner of more than 25 years’ standing, a Fellow of R3 and previously named in The Lawyer‘s Hot 100, he brings experience of high-value instructions for clearing banks, asset-based lenders and insolvency practitioners. 

Robert Nieri joins gunnercooke‘s charities practice from Shoosmiths. A member of the Charity Law Association and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, he brings experience advising trustees and national charities on governance, mergers and Charity Commission engagement, and has registered a charity to support those fleeing the invasion of Ukraine. 

The appointments underline why gunnercooke continues to attract partners from leading national and international firms: a model that gives experienced lawyers the freedom to build their practices, backed by the scale and breadth of a full-service firm. With 11 new partners in Q3, gunnercooke is well placed to serve clients’ most complex needs in London, Manchester and beyond.