Shakespeare Martineau has significantly expanded its London presence, welcoming six senior partners as it reinforces its long-standing commitment to the capital from its new offices on the 19th floor of The Shard. The appointments deepen the firm’s expertise across real estate, corporate, governance and complex disputes, marking a substantial investment in its London practice.
Property litigator Stephen Scott joins from Howard Kennedy with 32 years’ experience advising investors, developers and asset managers across sectors including industrial, retail, leisure, office and sport. Fellow property litigation specialist Jonathan Warren arrives from Teacher Stern, bringing more than 17 years’ experience and having led high-profile Building Safety Act cases, including early remediation contribution and building liability order claims. Returning to the firm is commercial disputes partner David Vaughan, whose work spans high-value, multi-jurisdictional litigation and arbitration for corporates, financial institutions, sovereign states and high-net-worth individuals.
Corporate partner Daniel Okusaga joins from KPMG with more than 15 years’ transactional experience, covering public and private M&A, ECM, corporate finance, group reorganisations and major cross-border restructuring projects. Governance specialist Helen Richardson strengthens the company secretarial team, adding senior experience from Triple Point Investment Management and JTC advising listed companies throughout their life cycle. Real estate finance expert Susannah Lloyd, formerly chief legal officer at London Wall Group, will focus on real estate finance, luxury assets and family offices. In addition, Anita Rasaratnam has been promoted to partner, enhancing the firm’s affordable housing capability with expertise in development and regeneration for registered providers.
The firm’s expansion is supported by its relocation to 12,000 sq ft of newly designed space at The Shard – a 25% increase on its previous London footprint. The office is built for modern, agile working, featuring collaboration areas, acoustic booths, touchdown spaces and flexible meeting and conference facilities for more than 120 people.
Victoria Tester, managing director, said the appointments, alongside the move to The Shard, reflect ‘our unwavering confidence in London’s dynamic market and our long-term growth strategy’. She added: ‘While others scale back, we are scaling up – investing in exceptional talent and world-class facilities to deliver outstanding expertise and service for our clients, while creating an inspiring and collaborative environment for our people to thrive and innovate.’
Image caption: (top to bottom, L-R), Stephen Scott, Jonathan Warren, David Vaughan, Daniel Okusaga, Helen Richardson, and Susannah Lloyd.
