Our People

James Woolstenhulme
Partner
James Woolstenhulme
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
James is an expert in managing and resolving complex disputes and guiding his clients through commercial problems so that they can focus on their business.
We focus on getting the best result possible for our clients and ensuring the process is as easy as possible.

Jody Webb
Partner
Jody Webb
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Jody leads on substantial transactions including acquisitions, disposals, management buy outs and private equity investments with a particular focus on the UK mid-market with values of circa £5m – £100m across a variety of sectors.

John Rice
Partner
John Rice
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
John works with lenders and borrowers on a wide range of property finance transactions including acquisition, refinancing and development loans.

Jonathan Tyson
Partner
Jonathan Tyson
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Jonathan has worked in the healthcare sector since 2006. He really enjoys getting to know clients well and building long-term relationships with them.

Julia Rosenbloom
Private Wealth Tax Partner
Julia Rosenbloom
Private Wealth Tax Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Julia is a chartered tax adviser, solicitor and trust & estate practitioner. She has a wide range of experience, advising clients from both a personal and corporate tax perspective.

Justine Ball
Partner
Justine Ball
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Justine enjoys engaging and working with her clients to successfully realise their aims in relation to their property issues.

Kate Onions
Partner
Kate Onions
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Kate’s focus is on preventing disputes where possible and seeking commercial resolutions which align with her client’s goals when disputes do arise.

Lesley Davis
Partner
Lesley Davis
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Lesley works closely with her clients to assist and guide in all aspects of complex estate planning and asset protection including trust and estate administration after death, Wills and Powers of Attorney.

Lucy Haynes
Partner
Lucy Haynes
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Lucy specialises in Residential Development and Strategic Land.

Mark Taylor
Partner
Mark is a Partner in our sector leading education team, advising on education collaborations and governance. Mark is recognised by Legal 500 and has spent all of his legal career advising in the education sector.

Martin Edwards
Partner
Martin Edwards
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Martin is known for his flexible thinking to resolve challenging situations for clients including developers, corporate occupiers, owners and investors.

Matt McDonald
Partner
Matt McDonald
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Matt’s expertise cover all areas of Employment law. He has considerable experience of advising clients on complex employment litigation, senior hires and exits, large-scale redundancy exercises and complicated TUPE issues.

Mauro Paiano
Partner
Mauro Paiano
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Mauro has over 25 years’ experience in advising clients on contentious and non-contentious intellectual property related issues.
-
Languages:
-
English
-
Italian

Natalie Owen
Partner
Natalie Owen
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Natalie is a Partner and Head of Securitisation at Shakespeare Martineau.

Peter Mayhew
Partner
Peter Mayhew
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Peter works tirelessly to ensure first and foremost that his clients’ objectives and deadlines are met.
-
Languages:
-
English
-
French

Richard Thorpe
Partner
Richard Thorpe
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Richard is a partner in our Managed Legal Services team.

Ruth Phillips
Partner
Ruth Phillips
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Ruth uses her technical background in the industry to provide practical legal solutions to her clients.

Simon Hayden
Partner
Simon Hayden
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Simon acts for a range of property developers, land owners and occupiers but with a particular interest in development work.

Tom Long
Partner
Tom Long
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Tom is ranked as a Next Generation Partner in the Legal 500 United Kingdom 2024 edition and is also part of a team ranked as a Top Tier Firm for Education in the same edition.
Tom works with employers to prevent and resolve people issues, to ensure their organisations continue to work efficiently and effectively.

Verity Kirby
Partner
Verity Kirby
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Verity provides families and individuals with practical, tailored advice as they plan for the future to ensure that their families, friends and loved ones are looked after.
-
Languages:
-
English
-
German
-
My Recent Articles
-
Business Succession Planning: Everything You Need to Know
Right Arrow

Vicki Simpson
Partner
Vicki Simpson
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Vicki is renown for providing commercial real estate advice (including funding and recovery) with particular expertise in the education and charity sectors. She has international experience and is a practising Notary Public
She has expertise of advising clients on safeguarding and related disciplinary matters

Victoria Taylor
Partner
Victoria Taylor
Partner
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Vicky helps individuals put plans in place for the future by means of Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney, and other estate Planning.

Afreen Cole
Legal Director
Afreen Cole
Legal Director
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Afreen works for a range of clients including banks, Islamic finance institutions, short term lenders and other corporate entities.

Anieka Sheppard
Legal Director
Anieka Sheppard
Legal Director
Shakespeare Martineau Birmingham
Anieka assists education clients to realise their goal and resolve their problems.