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Yorkshire Fastest 50 Hub

Yorkshire Fastest 50 Hub:

This year's Yorkshire Fastest 50 Awards were a great success and it was fantastic to see so many of you attend the ceremony.

Many of the Ward Hadaway team were in attendance at the awards and thoroughly enjoyed meeting you. They are available to continue any conversations you were having or to answer any of your queries. Below we have provided some mini profiles to help you put faces to names.

If you would like to connect with any other attendee from the awards, we would be more than happy to facilitate an introduction. Please email events@wardhadaway.com and we will be in touch.

Ward Hadaway attendees

  • Emma Digby

    Emma is our Leeds Executive Partner and has been a litigator for over 20 years. Emma has conducted a wide variety of commercial dispute cases over the years. She has a particular specialism in manufacturing disputes, complex contractual matters and boardroom challenges.

    Contact Emma

  • Neil Armitage

    Neil is an experienced commercial litigator with over 8 years experience. Neil deals in all aspects of commercial disputes providing practical solutions and attaining the best commercial settlement for the client, whether this be at the pre-litigation stage or through to trial and enforcement.

    Contact Neil

  • Rachel Blythe

    Rachel has over 13 years’ experience of practising exclusively in employment law and has advised clients on a range of matters, including contractual disputes, complex discrimination claims, TUPE issues and executive exits.

    Contact Rachel

  • Liz Bottrill

    Liz is joint head of our Family & Matrimonial team, with over 30 years’ experience. Liz is recognised as an expert in the field of family law having advised thousands of people through the myriad of issues that arise when a relationship breaks down.

    Contact Liz

  • Isabelle Cernis

    Isabelle is a Solicitor in the Employment department and provides advice on all aspects of non-contentious and contentious employment law, from drafting contracts of employment and dealing with queries relating to restrictive covenants to defending Employment Tribunal claims and negotiating settlements.

    Contact Isabelle

  • Damien Charlton

    Damien is a highly experienced lawyer, who has been advising businesses on company and commercial matters for over 20 years. He is the Head of the Commercial Department and advises clients on a national basis.

    Contact Damien

  • Jonathan Dickson

    Jonathan is a real estate lawyer who specialises in all aspects of non-contentious commercial real estate transactions and regularly advises in the investment, regeneration, development, utility, renewable energy and landlord/tenant, sectors.

    Contact Jonathan

  • Andrea Dyer

    Andrea has always specialised in Family Law. She has over 30 years’ experience representing clients in a full range of family law issues, including divorce and financial issues and cases in respect of children.

    Contact Andrea

  • Phil Edmondson

    Phil is a Managing Associate with over 12 years’ experience. He is commercial litigator and sports dispute resolution specialist. He has represented clients such as professional leagues, governing bodies, professional athletes and managers, with a particular emphasis on football.

    Contact Phil

  • Andrew Evans

    Andrew is a Private Client lawyer with over 20 years’ experience advising clients in connection with Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, Trust and Estate Administration, Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection matters.

    Contact Andrew

  • Lesley Fairclough

    Lesley has over 30 years’ experience in development work and specialises in commercial and residential development including joint venture and regeneration projects and has co-ordinated several complex site assembly transactions.

    Contact Lesley

  • James Garbett

    James is a partner in our Built Environment Group and specialises in all aspects of Planning law and its related disciplines. He has over twelve years’ experience covering the full spectrum of town and country planning work across the length and breadth of the country.

    Contact James

  • Laura Gooddy

    Laura is a partner in our real estate department and acts for a wealth of commercial property clients including developers, investors, care home providers, funders and charities.  She also provides property support to the firm’s corporate and insolvency departments and their clients.

    Contact Laura

  • Harmajinder Hayre

    Harmajinder is the head of the Employment Department, with over 15 years’ specialist experience in employment law. He regularly advises clients in the retail, financial services and transport sector on strategic collective industrial relations issues.

    Contact Harmajinder

  • Jessica Hurwood

    Jessica provides advice on all aspects of employment law. She undertakes non-contentious work, such as drafting employment contracts, advising on policies and procedures and post-termination restrictions, as well as defending Employment Tribunal claims and negotiating settlement agreements in contentious matters.

    Contact Jessica

  • Christina Kettlewell

    Christina is a director in the Real Estate team. She has acted for a wide range of commercial property clients including property developers, commercial lenders, office occupiers and national retail operators.

    Contact Christina

  • David Lister

    David is a Partner in our Family and Matrimonial team. He advises and represents individuals as well as couples when forming relationships or when those relationships have run their course.

    Contact David

  • Martina McArdle

    Martina is a solicitor in the Commercial Litigation team and has significant experience advising individuals and businesses of all sizes including sole traders, partnerships and limited company clients on a wide variety of commercial disputes providing practical and commercial solutions to resolve disputes.

    Contact Martina

  • Ian McCombie

    Ian has been advising business clients, from sole traders to multi-national enterprises, in relation to commercial disputes for over 30 years.

    Contact Ian

  • Kate McLean

    Kate is an Associate in the Corporate Finance Department and is experienced in a wide range of corporate matters including advising SMEs on acquisitions, disposals and a range of other corporate transactions.

    Contact Kate

  • Flora Mewies

    Flora provides immigration and employment advice to both public and private sector organisations and defends a wide range of Employment Tribunal claims for her clients.

    Contact Flora

  • Richard Noble

    Richard is a Solicitor in our Built Environment team and is involved in a wide range of matters for a variety of clients. Richard acts for numerous clients across different sectors (principally charities, corporate occupiers and real estate finance).

    Contact Richard

  • Edward Nuttman

    Edward is a partner in the Employment team and has over 18 years’ specialist experience in employment law. He deals with all aspects of employment and industrial relations work, including strategic planning, outsourcing and restrictive covenants.

    Contact Edward

  • Jessica Pack

    Jessica is a Solicitor in the Commercial Litigation team. She assists individuals, businesses and companies with commercial disputes across a range of sectors, including events organisation, cryptocurrency and waste management.

    Contact Jessica

  • Andrew Pliener

    Andrew specialises in all aspects of property development with particular emphasis on dealing with residential developments for national and regional developers with sites throughout the country.

    Contact Andrew

  • Jonathan Pollard

    Jonathan is a Partner in our Corporate team and has experience of both public and private company work including Initial Public Offers, acquisitions and disposals, reorganisations and restructurings, takeovers and acting for both management and private equity houses on private equity transactions.

    Contact Jonathan

  • Elish Porter

    Elish has specialised in child law for over 20 years and is a skilled advocate with substantial experience in child abuse cases, forced marriages and child abduction.

    Contact Elish

  • David Pridmore

    David assists national and local clients with all kinds of property-related issues. He has particular experience helping clients in the commercial development field, residential development field, retailers, leisure operators and those providing finance deliver their projects and achieve their aims.

    Contact David

  • Stephen Radcliffe

    Stephen is a Partner in our Construction and Engineering team. He provides advice to clients regarding development/site/project issues including contract reviews and/or interpretation as well as advising on potential disputes.

    Contact Stephen

  • Connor Simpson-Key

    Connor is an Associate working in the Commercial Litigation team. He deals in all aspects of commercial disputes providing practical, commercial solutions ranging from advice in the first stages of a disagreement through to court proceedings and enforcement, and has experience in acting for private/public sector clients in respect of a broad spectrum of disputes.

    Contact Connor

  • Sophie Smith

    Sophie is a solicitor in the Employment team and advises on all aspects of employment law. She has experience in defending Employment Tribunal claims for bus and rail operators as well as other transport and manufacturers.

    Contact Sophie

  • Alicia Vickers

    Alicia is an Associate in the Real Estate and has a wide range of experience in dealing with matters for a diverse set of clients. She acts on a wide variety of matters, including freehold and leasehold disposals and acquisitions, management of clients’ property portfolios and regularly advising on utility and telecommunications aspects of property transactions.

    Contact Alicia

  • Sam Walker

    Sam is a Solicitor in the Commercial Litigation team and assists with a wide range of commercial disputes, including complex breach of contract claims, professional negligence claims and shareholder disputes.

    Contact Sam

  • Ben Waller

    Ben is a Solicitor working in the Commercial Litigation team, and assists with a range of commercial disputes, including shareholder disputes, restrictive covenants in employment contracts and contractual disputes.

    Contact Ben

  • Russell Ward

    Russell is an experienced commercial litigator with over 15 years’ experience. He has an excellent breadth of experience which has involved dealing with a wide variety of commercial disputes.

    Contact Russell 

  • Kevin Weston

    Kevin is a partner in our Real Estate Team. He has over 30 years’ experience working within the Yorkshire region. During that time he has developed a strong client base and is a key adviser to a number of clients. He acts for a number of private developers and charity clients.

    Contact Kevin

  • Vivienne Wild

    Vivienne  is a Private Client lawyer advising clients in connection with Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, Trust and Estate Administration, Powers of Attorney and Court of Protection matters.

    Contact Vivienne

  • Sue Wood

    Sue joined Ward Hadaway in September 2014 as the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery team’s Creditor Services Manager. She has over eight years’ experience in the Corporate Recovery and Insolvency market.

    Contact Sue

What else we can offer you

We are passionate about supporting businesses and combine our pragmatic, commercial approach with our friendly and collaborative nature to help you succeed.

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Yorkshire Fastest 50 Hub homepage

Our Yorkshire Fastest 50 hub homepage contains a range of useful information including links to the Fastest 50 list, footage from the awards ceremony and news articles.

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Fastest 50 member benefits

As an organisation who has made it onto this years Fastest 50 list, we are offering a range of benefits for you to take advantage of.

Find out more