Who attended Yorkshire Fastest 50

Emma Digby

Emma is Executive Partner of our Leeds Office and  a partner in our Commercial Litigation department.

Emma has been a litigator for over 20 years and has a loyal following due to the impressive real-world commercial approach she takes to her cases.

Rachel Blythe

Rachel is a Managing Associate in our Employment team and is based in our Leeds office. She regularly advises public and private sector clients in all aspects of employment law.

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.

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.

James Nightingale

James is a Partner in the Corporate team with over 15 years of experience of advising on all aspects of corporate finance work with a focus on mergers and acquisitions, private equity, investments, reorganisations and restructurings.

Andrea Dyer

Andrea is a Partner in the Family Law team.

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.

Sarah Ellam

Sarah is an experienced residential property lawyer with a wealth of experience and a strong focus on customer service.

Sarah deals with all types of residential property work including freehold and leasehold sales & purchases, re-mortgages, transfers of equity, matrimonial transfers & buy to lets.

Neil Armitage

Neil is an associate in our commercial litigation department.

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.

Liz Bottrill

Liz Bottrill is a partner in 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.

Lesley Fairclough

Lesley specialises in commercial property development work.

Since qualifying as a solicitor in 1992, Lesley has worked in the Commercial Property Team at Ward Hadaway dealing with all aspects of commercial property work, but in particular development work (residential, commercial and mixed use schemes) acting for either landowners or developers.

Ellie Folger

Ellie is a Solicitor in the Construction and Engineering team working in both contentious and non-contentious construction and engineering matters.

Ellie works on a variety of construction and engineering matters involving developers, contractors and consultants.

Nick Gholkar

Nick is a Partner in our Built Environment team.

Nick advises on all aspects of Real Estate matters. Nick has extensive experience in acting on acquisitions, disposals, planning, development, leasing and financing of Real Estate assets.

Bill Goodwin

Bill is a commercial lawyer with many years’ experience of advising on both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property and information technology matters. He is also a Chartered Trade Mark Attorney.

Bill has gained a reputation amongst innovative businesses for providing practical, commercial and user-friendly advice, beyond the usual legal assistance

Laura Gooddy

Laura is a partner in our real estate department

She 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.

Helen Hill

Helen is a Partner in our Property Litigation team advising clients on commercial property disputes and the management of risk associated with the ownership and occupation of land and buildings. Helen has a particular expertise advising land owners on telecommunications leases and agreements and the application of the Electronic Communications Code.

Jessica Hurwood

Jessica is a Solicitor in our Employment and Immigration team

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.

Suzanne Jaconelli

Suzanne is a Solicitor in our Private Client team with experience in advising clients in connection with Estate Planning, Wills, Trusts, Estate Administration and Powers of Attorney.

Suzanne is also an associate member of STEP – Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners – the global professional association for practitioners who specialise in helping families plan for the future.

Ian McCombie

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

He is very experienced in the use of mediation as a means of resolution, and of an early cards-on-the-table approach in appropriate circumstances, being very aware that for the majority of businesses a dispute is a disruption to and distraction from its core objectives.

Flora Mewies

Flora is a Partner in the Employment team. She is an immigration solicitor specialising in helping employers recruit from overseas and helping individuals with visa applications.

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.

Melissa Munday

Melissa is a Managing Associate in the Commercial Litigation team.

Melissa works in general commercial dispute resolution, has over 20 year’s experience in her particular specialism of commercial, marine and insurance litigation and holds a Masters in Legal Aspects of Marine Affairs and Commercial Law from Cardiff University.

Steph Nield

Steph specialises in all aspects of residential conveyancing including freehold/leasehold sales and purchases, shared ownership properties, transfers of equity and re-mortgages. Steph works with a wide range of clients from first time buyers to buy-to-let landlords throughout England and Wales.

Owen Ormond

Owen is a partner in our Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Team based in Leeds, having joined the firm in January 2024. He has over 15 years’ experience in dealing with all aspects of non-contentious banking, restructuring and insolvency.

Contact Jessica

Jessica is a Solicitor in the Commercial Litigation team. Having undertaking her training contract at Ward Hadaway, and qualifying with the firm in October 2022, Jessica has gained insight into a variety of sectors and has a variety of litigation experience.

Lucinda Peters

Lucinda is a banking and real estate finance lawyer who undertakes legal due diligence on behalf of Banks and other lending institutions providing property investment and development finance facilities.

Jonathan Pollard

Sarah Stockdale

Kevin Weston

Phil Edmondson

Phil is a Managing Associate within our Business Group. He is commercial litigator and sports dispute resolution specialist with over 12 years’ experience. Alongside his reputation as a commercial litigator Phil has for many years been an industry recognised specialist in resolving disputes within professional sports. He has represented clients such as professional leagues, governing bodies, professional athletes and managers, with a particular emphasis on football.

Ella Dodgson