Practical LawConferences

Raj Singh-Dehal joined Center Parcs in 2009 as Company Secretary and joined the Board of Directors as HR & Commercial Services Director in 2015.  Raj has a broad remit encompassing Legal, HR, Compliance and Procurement.  In 2015, Raj played a central role in a landmark year for Center Parcs; securing a site in Ireland for the 6^th Center Parcs location, completing a £1,050 billion re-financing and culminating in a £2.5 billion sale of the company to Brookfield.  Raj was recognised in “The Lawyer Hot 100 2016” for the work he has undertaken.

Prior to joining Center Parcs, Raj practised as a Corporate Lawyer at Eversheds and then went on to head the Corporate & Commercial Legal Team at Alliance & Leicester Plc.

The Center Parcs brand is synonymous with premium quality short breaks in the UK. Center Parcs employs 7,500 people and welcomes over 2 million guests to its 5 UK sites.

Funke is a multi-award winning lawyer, senior leader and diversity campaigner within the legal profession.  She leads the legal and corporate compliance team supporting Roche’s pharmaceutical operations in the UK, Ireland, Malta and Gibraltar. Roche is the world’s largest biotech company.

She is a regular speaker at conferences both in the UK and abroad.

A proud working mother juggling career and home, she supports working mothers on how best to achieve the elusive life balance. Passionate about the law, diversity, education and healthcare, she is also a keen fundraiser for various charities including Cancer Research UK.

Charmian joined the Consumers’ Association (Which?) in March 2015 as the group’s General Counsel, heading up the In-House Legal and Corporate Governance teams.  She is also company secretary to Which? Limited, the Consumers’ Association’s main commercial subsidiary.

Which? is the largest consumer body in the UK.  The group operates as a social enterprise with one overriding purpose: to make consumers more powerful.  Profits from its publishing business and other commercial operations  are used to fund its charitable research, policy and campaigning activities.

Charmian was previously the General Counsel for the Friends Life Group, the FTSE 100 life insurer (now part of Aviva), where she sat latterly on the Executive Committee and was responsible for the legal and secretarial functions.  Charmian joined the business immediately following its listing in 2008 and helped guide it through three acquisitions, a UK re-domiciliation and corporate restructuring over a four year period. Charmian started her career as a corporate finance and merger and acquisitions lawyer, working first at Dechert LLP and then Slaughter and May.

As Managing Director of Company Secretarial services, Tracey leads the Company Secretarial team of 60+ across the London, Exeter and Krakow offices. Her role encompasses technical, financial and team management responsibilities. Tracey has successfully steered a number of secretariats through the IPO process for complex and high profile floatation, working on the Saga project as well as other FTSE 250 IPOs last year.

An experienced company secretary, Tracey has worked extensively on a diverse portfolio of main market and AIM companies, both UK and offshore domiciled. Tracey joined Capita Company Secretarial Services in July 2006. She began her career as a trainee company secretary at an investment house in 1999, providing in house and outsourced company secretarial services to premium listed investment companies.

Angus Bujalski is Head of Legal at the Rugby Football Union, the governing body for rugby union in England.  His team is responsible for legal support across the organisation.  This includes corporate governance, supporting the RFU’s commercial programme of sponsorship, events and broadcasting, as well as work across the professional and grass roots game.  Recent work has included

• instituting a new, modernised constitution for the RFU which was approved by the RFU’s member clubs in 2014;
• negotiating and documenting new and renewed sponsorship agreements with partners such as O2, Diageo and Old Mutual Wealth;
• a five year agreement with Sky Sports for the broadcast of England internationals from 2015 to 2020;
• a four year agreement with the England elite players to take effect past the Rugby World Cup in 2015;
• establishing the governance structure for Great Britain Rugby Sevens Limited and negotiating the regulatory framework by which unified Great Britain teams are eligible to compete in rugby at the Olympic Games; and
• leading negotiations on behalf of several major sports governing bodies with Sport England for the funding framework agreement for 2013-17.

Angus trained at Slaughter and May, and in private practice advised a number of Premier League football clubs and other clients across the sport and media industries on commercial and regulatory matters.  He graduated with a first class degree in history from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Angus was recently listed in Legal Business’ GC Power List Rising Stars for 2014.

Andrew joined Legal & General as a Company Secretarial Assistant from Hogg Robinson in 1987 where Andrew performed a number of roles within the Group Secretariat. In 1990, Andrew was appointed Company Secretary of the Financial Services businesses. In 1995, he was asked become Company Secretary for the Legal & General Investment Management business. During his time with Legal & General Investment Management Andrew built and ran a standalone Company Secretarial function and was company secretary to and launched a number of investment trusts. In 2002, Andrew returned to the Group Secretariat as Assistant Group Secretary and in 2006 he was appointed Deputy Group Secretary. In October 2011, Andrew was asked to return to the business and create a UK Secretariat team to provide Co Secretarial and Governance services to Legal & General’s Insurance,Retirement and Savings businesses.

Andrew holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Company Administration. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and member of the Chartered Institute of Management and the Institute of Directors.

Steve Gale is an audit partner in the London Corporates team at Crowe Clark Whitehill LLP. He works with a mix of listed and private company clients as well as major firms of professional practices operating through limited liability partnerships.

Steve is co-author of Alcock, Birds and Gale on the Companies Act 2006,published by Jordans, and has contributed chapters on Accounts and Audit to Gore Browne on Companies. he is a member of the Steering Group for the Statement of Recommended Practice ‘Accounting by Limited Liability Partnerships’ and produced the Accounting Digest on LLPs published by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Seamus was formerly Policy Director at the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA). He authored ICSA’s guidance on ‘Boardroom Behaviours’, led the working group which produced the FRC’s ‘Guidance on Boardroom Effectiveness’, and oversaw the production of ICSA’s technical output, including its best practice Guidance Notes on boards and directors.

Seamus was previously the Group Company Secretary and Director of Regulation at Anglian Water (later AWG) plc, and Head of Public Policy and Regulation at O2 plc. Formerly a government adviser, he was Private Secretary to John Gummer MP, Secretary of State for the Environment, and John Prescott MP, Deputy Prime Minister.

Kristina Ingate FCIS was until recently interim Company Secretary at Highways England, supporting its transition from a Department for Transport Agency to a Government  Company. Highways England is responsible for England’s strategic motorway and main A road network, a FTSE size company which impacts on almost everyone in the country.  She has provided governance consultancy and served as interim company secretary for groups of various sizes, regulators, the professions and in the housing sector amongst others, including international operations. Kristina’s experience includes supporting Chairmen, CEOs, Boards and Executive teams in making changes to governance structures, their own working relationships,  and formal and informal governance systems -as part of substantial corporate structural changes, ensuring effective decision-making. In  summary, ensuring that  stakeholders perceive governance and the organisation to be healthier as a result of the change than at the start.”

“Richard is widely regarded as one of the world’s top IT lawyers”

With over thirty years’ experience at the leading edge of technology law practice, Richard is widely recognised as one of the world’s top IT lawyers.  He has built an outstanding reputation for advice that combines commerciality and client service with innovative legal solutions to the business challenges of technology development, deployment and regulation.

As a law firm leader, Richard has a track record of achievement and innovation.  He set up Kemp & Co in 1997 as a sole practitioner and led the practice:

• as Kemp Little LLP, to become the first UK law firm LLP in 2001
• as the only specialist firm to be ranked in the Financial Times’ prestigious ‘FT Law 50’ of innovative European law firms each year from 2006 to 2012
• into the top band of UK IT law firms in Chambers’ UK Directory in 2011.

This track record continues with Kemp IT Law’s nomination for ‘most innovative use of office environment’ in The Lawyer’s Business Leadership Awards 2015.

As an IT lawyer, Richard has won numerous industry awards for legal service over the past twenty years.  He has been top ranked individually for IT law in the UK legal directories since 1997 and in the ‘Expert Guide to the World’s Leading Lawyers – Best of the Best’ series since 2001.

I qualified as a solicitor in 1993 and worked for Eversheds, one of the world’s largest law firms, specialising in corporate and commercial law, before moving to the Cayman Islands for a two year stint between 1996-1998 covering all aspects of offshore commercial law.  I moved in-house with Boots, Nottingham in 2000.  I spent six years at Boots handling group’s corporate and commercial legal work, including the sale of Halfords and Boots Healthcare International and the merger of Boots and Alliance Unichem to form Alliance Boots.  I have been at Specsavers since 2006 and it still feels like yesterday.

I am responsible for all aspects of the group’s corporate and commercial work covering and providing support to a wide range of teams including Commercial, Supply Chain and Procurement, IT, Finance and Tax & Treasury (basically if it isn’t local to our overseas markets, we do it).  This could cover mergers and acquisitions. projects, major contracts and other non day to day activities.

Mieke Kooij has served as Security Director at the Trainline since September 2014.

With more than 15 years of diverse security experience, Mieke began her career in Canada and has lived and worked internationally for many years.  She has worked for British Airways, TUI Travel and Marks and Spencer where she led the team that delivered security across their multichannel ecommerce operations, building security in from the ground up.

Mieke is driven by privacy and the protection of customer data, and given the breadth of the Trainline customer base, they’ve proven themselves a great match.

Sharifa Lakhani is Chief Legal Officer and Company Secretary to the Holmes Care Group, a privately owned care home developer and operator with 14 care homes in the UK and over 1000 employees. Prior to joining Holmes Care, Sharifa spent 6 years working in the Legal & Secretariat team of leading consulting engineer firm Ramboll, advising on contentious and non-contentious matters and international projects.

Sharifa is currently an Executive MBA student at Imperial College Business School; she has a passion for business and the role that in-house lawyers can play in business.

Yvonne is an associate at Slaughter and May and has a wide range of corporate and commercial experience, ranging from public takeovers, private acquisitions, joint ventures and capital raisings.  Work highlights include advising the Department for Energy and Climate Change on its electricity market reform programme and spending six months on secondment at Vodafone Group plc advising on legal and corporate secretarial matters.

Yvonne is qualified as a Solicitor in Hong Kong and in England and Wales.

Kevin Massie is the Corporate Counsel and Company Secretary for Tullow Oil plc, a FTSE 250 oil & gas company focusing on oil exploration and production in Africa.  Kevin joined Tullow in 2011 as a legal advisor in Tullow’s Cape Town office before relocating to London with the company in 2014.   Kevin advises Tullow on a wide range of issues including corporate governance, corporate finance, structuring, M&A and tax.  Prior to joining Tullow, Kevin was an associate at Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP in Canada and at Ashurst LLP in Dubai

Paul is a partner at Slaughter and May and has a wide range of corporate and commercial experience. His broad practice includes advising on public mergers and acquisitions, private acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures and capital markets, as well as company law, corporate governance and risk management. He regularly advises on maintaining appropriate cyber governance and managing cyber risk.

Neil joined trainline in March 2005 and his role from June 2015 is General Counsel and Director, Regulatory Affairs – and Group Company Secretary. Prior to that he was Legal and HR Director (and Group Company Secretary). He sits on the Executive Committee and the Board of Directors of Trainline Investments Holdings Limited. Prior to joining the Company, he worked for four years at Inmarsat Plc, a satellite communications company, as Senior Attorney working on corporate finance and commercial matters, including a number of high yield bond issues, a private equity acquisition of the company and the implementation of a global distribution system. From 1998 to 2000, he worked as a senior solicitor at Nabarro, a law firm in London, primarily relating to merger and acquisition transactions and commercial work. Neil also practised commercial law for four years at a shipping and transport law firm in the City upon qualification as a solicitor. He qualified as a solicitor in the UK in 1996.

Sylvain Pignet joined Travelex in 1997 as a member of the Legal Department and was appointed Group Company Secretary in 2001. Sylvain is the secretary of the Group Board, the Group Audit and Risk Committee, the Remuneration Committee and the Group Executive Committee. Sylvain is a law graduate and holds an MA from Toulouse University. Sylvain is a Chartered Secretary

Nigel Read is a partner in the London Corporate Group at Hogan Lovells.  He specialises in mergers and acquisitions (public and private) and equity capital markets transactions.  He advises major corporations and financial institutions across a wide range of industry sectors and has a particular focus on the real estate sector (where he has advised on a number of REIT and hotel transactions) and the oil and gas sector (where he has advised on a number of upstream and downstream transactions, including in the North Sea).  Nigel is named as a “legal expert” in corporate, M&A by Legal Business and a “leader in corporate finance law” by Chambers.

Ian Rickard has specialised in company secretarial recruitment for over 9 years, starting at Chambers and Partners is 2006 before joining BWW when it was formed in in 2009. His excellent market knowledge allows him to provide an informed and comprehensive service to both clients and candidates.

Stephen Rosser is an experienced General Counsel and Company Secretary for Good Energy Group plc, one of the fastest-growing 100% renewal energy generator and supplier listed on the Alternative Investment Market.  He is responsible for legal, regulatory, compliance and secretariat activities across the group and for co-ordinating the day-to-day operation of Good Energy Group plc’s Board.

Stephen joined Good Energy from Centrica Plc where he held roles as Head of Legal and, latterly, Legal Director for a variety of operating divisions.  Stephen is a qualified solicitor and practiced as a corporate lawyer with Eversheds LLP until 2010.

Richard has wide experience in governance effectiveness built up over the past thirteen years since founding Independent Audit Limited.  In assessing board effectiveness, he has particular expertise in supporting audit committees in assessing risk management and internal control and assurance along with the impact of behaviour and culture.  Clients have included Rolls-Royce, Smith & Nephew, Antofagasta, Fresnillo, QBE Europe, QinetiQ and the Unilever Pension Fund.

Richard was until recently audit committee chairman of SUEK PLC, the largest coal producer in Russia and audit committee chairman of Eurochem, a major global fertiliser company.

He is a leading thinker on board effectiveness and writes our monthly bulletin “The Effective Board”.  He has published guidance on how boards can assess control culture and on subsidiary governance.

April Stobbart joined Center Parcs in 2013 as the Deputy Company Secretary.  In her role she deals with legal and company secretarial matters.  She is a member of the Risk committees and is currently implementing new governance processes, following the £2.5 billion sale of the company to new private equity owners. Prior to joining Center Parcs April was Head of Board Support for the FTSE 100 insurer, Aviva plc. She led the Board Support team through a period of corporate restructuring, the US listing and various legal entity rationalisation projects. She has extensive international experience gained in roles based in London, The Netherlands and Australia. She qualified as a corporate lawyer with Eversheds.

The Center Parcs brand is synonymous with premium quality short breaks in the UK. Center Parcs employs 7,500 people and welcomes over 2 million guests to its 5 UK sites every year.

Peter Swabey is Policy & Research Director at the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA). Based in London, he is responsible for developing the profile of the Institute to members, regulators, policymakers, employers and other stakeholders by delivering thought leadership and lobbying campaigns aligned to ICSA strategy and promoting strong governance as the vital ingredient for success in organisations.

Peter, who joined ICSA in 2013, has almost 30 years’ industry experience. He joins from Equiniti where he was Company Secretary and Industry Leadership Director; he was also a Director of Equiniti David Venus, Equiniti’s Company Secretarial Services provider. Peter is a member of the ICSA Company Secretary’s Forum, the CBI Companies Committee, the QCA Corporate Governance Expert Group and the Shareholder Voting Working Group, as well as being an Alternate Member of the Takeover Panel and a past Chairman of the ICSA Registrars Group.

A history graduate, and Fellow of ICSA, Peter is a regular speaker at industry conferences and events, with an industry-wide reputation as an expert on shareholder and corporate governance matters.

William has been a partner at Slaughter and May since 1990. He specialises in corporate finance, including securities issues and mergers and acquisitions, acting for a number of major corporate clients on a wide range of transactions and advisory matters. He has been an editor of ‘Weinberg & Blank on Takeovers’ since March 1995.

William is Chairman of the City of London Law Society Company Law Committee.

Barry Vitou heads the firm’s global corporate crime team and leads the broader Regulatory & Investigations and Administrative law group.

He is a regular speaker on corruption, money laundering and the UK Bribery Act on TV & radio. He writes www.thebriberyact.com the leading resource for the UK Bribery Act.

Barry advises corporates and individuals complying with or defending investigation and prosecution by law enforcement under criminal law as prosecutors increasingly place corporates, business owners and executives in the cross hairs.

Highly recommended in the Legal 500 and Chambers directories for white collar and corporate crime.