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Rebecca H - Flex Lawyer

At Hammonds LLP (now Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP) there was a six-seat training contract, with four months spent in each of the six chosen teams. I worked for one seat in each of the Corporate, Pensions, Employment, Property, and Property Litigation teams, as well as in the general corporate and commercial team in the Hong Kong from December 2006-May 2007.

Upon qualification, I joined the Commercial Property team in London and acted for major corporate landlords, supermarkets and pension funds advising on leases and tenancy agreements, licences, drafting reports on title, surrendering leases, managing rent reviews and dilapidations.

My practice focused primarily on UK and international finance and insurance litigation in Squire Patton Boggs’ London office, including:

<ul>
	<li>Financial Services Litigation advising banks and other financial institutions on all aspects of finance and banking litigation including commencing and managing High Court claims on a regular basis, summary judgment actions, set aside applications, and appeals; conducting mediation and settlement meetings; disclosure reviews for an international bank in relation to sanctions; advising an international money lender defending a claim for procurement of breach of contract; and conducting and supervising teams carrying out large-scale e-disclosure reviews. </li>
	<li>Insurance Litigation including working with the UK branch of a major French based insurer on all their major litigation matters, in particular, advising on the merits of their defence to a £13m claim by an insured party, which included defending proceedings, an extensive disclosure exercise, preparing witness statements, experts’ reports, and achieving a very satisfactory result through mediation. I also regularly carried out detailed claims analyses for fraudulent breaches of insurance policies, as well as merits advice and claims assessments.</li>
	<li>International Arbitration acting for insurance clients in relation to ICC and LCIA arbitrations against international respondents, obtaining awards and enforcement.</li>
	<li>Public Procurement and Judicial Review advising a large private defence company in respect of a public procurement challenge against a government body, including commencing proceedings, disclosure applications and mediation.</li>
	<li>Fraud investigations involving civil fraud actions against financial institutions, including conducting a reconciliation review for a large Irish bank of a customers’ ledger in a multi-million-pound fraud; conducting proceedings on behalf of a large bank for client fraud under a lending facility; and advising a Sheik in respect of several multi-million-pound claims and injunctions brought by creditors.</li>
	<li>Restrictive Covenant actions and employment litigation representing patent attorneys in defending an injunction action for breach of restrictive covenants. I have also advised companies upon injunction actions by former employees, and claims by recruitment agencies.</li>
	<li>Property Litigation advising on surrendering leases and preparing a successful summary judgment in a Part 20 claim for a vesting order,</li>
</ul>

In my role as Senior In-House Legal Advisor, I work within an in-house legal team of 9, and advise all the group businesses across the legal, medical and motor companies on a wide variety of commercial, contract, litigation, insurance, property and employment issues including:-

<ul>
	<li>Commercial contracts: drafting, reviewing and negotiating a range of contracts including referral contracts from law firms, case management companies and third parties, which involved advice on data transfer and LASPO (Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012) issues; charity partnership agreements; sponsorship agreements, including liaising with the media and marketing departments on IP and reputational issues; supplier contracts; termination letters; advising on the risks of standard terms and conditions; consent forms; and consultancy agreements.</li>
	<li>Group Projects: coordinating, drafting and negotiating a suite of documents for a new work stream, including drafting referral agreements with claims management companies, litigation funding agreements, insurance membership agreements and policy schedules, engagement documents including retainer letters with accompanying CFAs and DBAs, liaising with IT on data protection issues for new document platforms, and advising the relevant stakeholders on the risks to the business.</li>
	<li>Litigation: providing strategic advice on a £630m fraud claim (as claimant) including negotiating with Administrators, managing external counsel, and advising on internal data reviews. I have also advised upon negligence claims against the firm relating to engagement documents, funding and insurance issues, as well as liaising with counsel on costs assessments. In addition, I would review all new claims issued against the group companies to send to the appropriate stakeholders , assess the risk and financial impact on the group, and continue to monitor their progress or settlement.</li>
	<li>Insurance advice: I was the main point of contact for the insurance team advising on new policies and contracts as well as historic disputes, including premium claims. I also drafted settlement agreements and policy amendments, and provided regulatory advice liaising with the compliance team.</li>
	<li>Property: advising the facilities team in relation to disputes with landlords in the group property portfolio, including advice on inherent defects and repairing obligations which involved reviews of leases and historic documents, as well as experts reports. I also assisted in relation to dilapidations disputes, break notices, vacant possession and serviced charge issues,</li>
	<li>HR/Employment: advising HR on breaches of employee restrictive covenants and drafting cease and desist letters; negotiating undertakings; and advising on cases of potential defamation on social media platforms.</li>
	<li>Developing a clear litigation strategy to ensure consistency of approach across the group, including an assessment matrix based upon the claim value, projections and success criteria, to ensure claims were referred to the appropriate level of authority, and taking into account the group’s appetite for risk.</li>
	<li>Developing a central litigation tracker document to record claim values, group exposure, prospects of success, current status and CCJs.</li>
	<li>Advising on the proposed reorganisation of the group structure, including striking-off dormant companies and liaising with the tax department.</li>
	<li>Reviewing and drafting standard terms for all the group websites, including terms and conditions of use, privacy policies and cookie policies.</li>
	<li>Drafting precedent contracts and a variety of documents for an internal database.</li>
	<li>Advising on regulatory and data protection issues, including data protection clauses in contracts and data protection impact assessments.</li>
</ul>

I am a Senior In-House Legal Advisor at Slater Gordon Group, a multi-disciplinary national group of companies, with a strong private practice background as a highly experienced commercial litigator at Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP. 

My current position advises a variety of companies in the Slater Gordon Group, which employs c2000 people, on a wide range of issues, including negotiating commercial contracts, sponsorship deals, referral arrangements, group-wide litigation cases and litigation strategy, insurance advice, employment disputes, advice on the property portfolio, engagement documents, and data protection and regulatory issues. More recently, my role has concentrated on drafting, reviewing and negotiating commercial contracts. As part of my position, I have to advise stakeholders throughout the business on the risks involved, and take a commercially minded approach to managing legal and commercial risk. I have therefore learnt to evaluate and understand the strategic priorities, operational constraints and risk appetite of the various businesses in the group. 

Prior to moving in-house, my background is as a commercial litigator from a well-respected international City firm, with extensive expertise in a very wide range of general commercial litigation matters, as well as commercial arbitration, across multiple disciplines. I specialised in international financial services litigation, in particular advising banks and other financial institutions. I also have particular specialist experience in insurance litigation, as well as public procurement litigation, fraud investigations, property litigation and employment actions. 


Rebecca

Bhavina Kotas - Flex Lawyer

French

English

First class in dissertation- Women as Company Lawyers

Legal Counsel for a large, high-profile corporate project, with corporate and commercial legal responsibility, working alongside the Western Europe General Manager and Nissan Executives.

Joined a law services company, providing consulting, technology and other services to law departments and law firms globally. Initially, as Senior Commercial Lawyer, then promoted to Senior Manager in 2019 and Director in 2020. Established senior relationship management with key customers, and secured repeat business.

<ul>
	<li>Developed team capabilities; built and oversaw a team of 20 across the UK, USA and India. Included five direct reports with responsibility for legal support to six high-profile customers with annual revenue of over $1M.</li>
	<li>Grew strong relationships to deliver business outcomes; accountable for strategic alliances and legal relationships with key customers, including Equinix, Seattle Genetics, Spotify, Rio Tinto and 10x Banking. Engaged with senior clients to resolve issues, and expedited resolutions as required.</li>
	<li>Resolved complaints and disputes; remedied customer’s dissatisfaction, delivered insight and issue resolution, and provided executive-level client reporting, which resulted in client increasing services and retainer by 200%.</li>
	<li>Increased new business and reduced company risk; demonstrated high client retention rate, and increased retainers and revenue streams across all clients due to timely and accurate completion of tasks, as well as responsive and approachable manner.</li>
	<li>Brought practical and commercial perspective to legal teams; provided legal support on procurement, consultancy, technology, supply, corporate law, competition law, anti-money laundering, anti-bribery, anti-corruption, antitrust, anti-competition laws, data protection and retention, data security and privacy regulation.</li>
	<li>Executed best practice compliance; prepared standard operating procedures, playbooks and process manuals, attended weekly internal and external stakeholder meetings, and conducted quality control checks of junior and mid-level lawyer project deliverables.</li>
</ul>

Broadened commercial and corporate experience with complex £2m cross-border contracts, including licensing and distribution agreements for television, content and transactional services within EMEA, Russia / CIS and France.

<ul>
	<li>Protected interests through clear drafting; prepared detailed documentation for high-value contracts and suppliers, including Sky, TF1, Canal+ and Multichoice, provided contract interpretation, and resolved related legal issues in litigation.</li>
	<li>Advised on regulatory compliance to deliver solutions; conducted research and produced guidance on licensing and media legislation across multiple different countries, and liaised with operational teams on required changes.</li>
</ul>

 

<ul>
	<li>Reduced company costs, improved consistency, and gained efficiencies; drafted contract templates, implemented new playbooks, managed contract management system, and trained junior lawyers in contract interpretation.</li>
	<li>Brought a practical, legal perspective to support new sales; identified process issue causing new sale delays, analysed options, and set up Powers of Attorney for agents in CIS regions. Resulted in faster sign off of new contracts.</li>
</ul>

A bilingual Senior Legal Counsel with more than ten years’ practical in-house and private practice experience across a broad range of industries, principally specialising in cross-border contracts. 
A collaborative communicator who understands competing drivers, the regulatory landscape, and the delicate balance in maximising opportunities and protecting interests.
	Leverages opportunities and achieves goals; delivers flexible legal solutions with strong research, drafting and negotiation abilities to achieve planned objectives. Gains stakeholder buy-in, resolves disputes, and flexibly adapts to fast-moving, regulated environments.
	Identifies and mitigates risks; reduces legal, compliance and reputational threats with a deep-rooted knowledge of industry sector trends, competition, and cross-border legislative and governance frameworks.
	Demonstrates initiative; able to work independently, supports legal and commercial negotiations with cross-cultural agility, and analyses complex documents with meticulous attention to detail.


Bhavina

Tessa Ingram - Flex Lawyer

English Literature B

Geography B

Economics C

General Studies B

Trainee then Assistant Solicitor in a City firm.

Sole litigator in the Sherborne office undertaking a broad range of commercial and civil litigation.

School admission appeal panel members perform a judicial function. I have sat as a panel member for in excess of 50 appeals in relation to schools nationwide.

I am the Governance Professional (formerly know as Clerk to the Governors) for 2 secondary schools (both Single Academy Trusts), a maintained primary school (part of a Multi Academy Trust) and a maintained nursery school.

Tessa_

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