An Oxford scholar, Stephen spent four years with a magic circle law firm, before joining one of the big four international accountancy firms as a tax consultant in 1985. He joined the firm in 1989 and became a partner in 1990, a position he held until 2024. Having worked in both the accountancy and legal professions, Stephen is well placed not only to offer strategic planning advice but also to advise on the financial consequences of that planning.

Stephen has always acted for many property and property development companies, advising on both commercial and residential purchases and developments. He has assisted a number of colleges and universities on spin-out and similar transactions. He also advises on the enterprise investment scheme, entrepreneurs’ relief and R&D tax incentives.

Her extensive experience spans both corporate and education clients,  and includes leading immigration audits for universities and corporate clients, and providing training on areas such as prevention of illegal working, skilled worker and student sponsorship. Clients appreciate her down-to-earth style.

Penny has detailed experience supporting clients who find themselves in breach of immigration guidance or rules and she works with them closely to improve their systems. She also works with the firm’s commercial team to ensure that terms and conditions comply with Home Office requirements.

When Penny is not at a client site, she is based in the London office. She has been practising UK immigration law since 2003 and worked as a registered migration agent in Australia before this. A frequent speaker on immigration law and compliance, Penny is often called upon to provide immigration risk assessments to institutions’ internal audit committees. In addition, she is a regular speaker for UKCISA and volunteers on its sponsor compliance helpline.

Her strength lies in delivering a friendly, professional, and proactive service to her clients. While Sarah is capable in handling cases that involve complex and difficult financial and children litigation, she will gauge when a constructive, co-operative and cost-effective approach is likely to be the better way. She has worked on cases involving significant assets, often where there are complex business structures, trusts and pensions. Sarah has experience of cases where there are issues involving pre-, or post- acquired and inherited or gifted assets, as well as those with an international aspect. She is also skilled in drafting pre- and post-nuptial agreements and applications for financial provision for children.

Often, Sarah is instructed in private children matters including disputes involving child arrangements, school choice, or risk of removal from the jurisdiction, as well as international and internal relocation cases. She has experience in dealing with cases where there are allegations of abuse, coercive control, parental alienation and narcissistic traits.

Sarah’s profile with Chambers UK recognises her as a ‘senior statesperson’. She is a member of Resolution, a national organisation of family law professionals who are committed to resolving family disputes in a non-confrontational way. As a Resolution-accredited family specialist in pensions and complex higher income financial remedies, she is also a trained collaborative lawyer. Sarah is chair of the Surrey Collaborative Lawyers Group.

He advises primarily on defamation, breach of confidence, misuse of private information, and the Data Protection Act 2018/UK GDPR, as well as on the related areas of harassment and the Human Rights Act 1998. He has twice given evidence to parliamentary committees on defamation issues, chaired the committee which drafted the defamation pre-action protocol, and co-authored a textbook in this area of law, A Practical Guide to Libel & Slander (Butterworths 2003). In addition to writing many articles for legal and mainstream media publications, Jeremy edited the defamation section of the Civil Court Service, and then the Civil Court Practice, for many years. He also regularly gives talks at legal seminars.

Jeremy has been ranked as one of the leaders in his field by the Legal 500 and Chambers UK for many years. He joined Penningtons Manches Cooper from a top UK law firm in early 2017, having been a partner there for more than 20 years.

Much of his work is in complex, high-value disputes, including piracy, political violence, terrorism, marine hull and war claims (for example arising from seizure, detention, fire, explosion, structural failure of ships), aviation, energy, carriage of goods and transportation. He is also responsible for policy drafting, including foreign market yacht cover, foreign market hull package cover and a fixed premium P&I cover.

Articles and papers published by Rhys, notably on insurance, maritime business and dispute resolution, are cited widely, nationally and internationally in several languages. His recent papers on Covid and its enduring impact are published in the Journal of International Maritime Law (2021), by CPR in New York (2022/23), and are also available on the World Intellectual Property Organisation Knowledge Repository. Some of his work is also published on the Social Science Research Network by le Droit Maritime Francais and by the International Union of Marine Insurance.

 Rhys is also a commercial mediator at SeaMediation Chambers in shipping and insurance (accredited in 1998), and a Distinguished Neutral at CPR International Institute for Conflict Prevention and Resolution, New York. He is a member of BILA and of the Executive Committee of the British Maritime Law Association.