The UK’s fastest-growing law firm has announced 12 hires as part of its continued investment in the recruitment of high-calibre, experienced lawyers. Keystone has brought in the new arrivals to bolster its Corporate, Commercial & IP, Commercial Property, Dispute Resolution and Employment teams.

Corporate

Nancy Corbett (former Partner at Sidley Austin)

A recognised leader in her field, Nancy has practised in London and New York, advising on M&A in the reinsurance and insurance industries, most particularly for property casualty companies. She also acts for agents, brokers and other industry participants in both the public and private sectors. Nancy advises on capital raising, company formation, and restructuring and investment transactions by private equity funds seeking to participate in the reinsurance and insurance markets. She has also advised on significant transactions in the Bermuda marketplace. She acts routinely in cross-border transactions, including those involving Bermuda reinsurers and their affiliates in the UK, the US and Europe. Nancy provides counsel on the development of new insurance and reinsurance products, and on other solutions such as alternative risk transfer, contingent reinsurance and insurance-linked securities.

Stuart Robertson (former Partner at Adams & Remers LLP)

Stuart advises entrepreneurs, owner-managed businesses, private and quoted companies, and corporate advisers on a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions. His expertise includes mergers and acquisitions, IPOs and secondary listings on AIM and other capital markets, public takeovers, joint ventures, company restructurings, equity and debt fund-raisings, and general company and commercial law advice.

Florian Albert (former Associate at Jones Day)

Florian has experience in acting for companies on international and domestic mergers, acquisitions, disposals, funding rounds and joint ventures; and for issuers and banks on IPOs and secondary fund-raisings. Florian has also worked for in-house legal departments through secondments at Citigroup and Goldman Sachs in London, and Airbus Group in Paris.

Employment

Angharad Harris (former Partner at Watson Farley & Williams)

Angharad, the former Chair of the Employment Law Committee of England & Wales and who sat on the Committee for a total of nine years, is particularly experienced in dealing with sensitive strategic employment law issues, including matters that involve reputational risk. This includes dismissals, board-level disputes, negotiating new contracts and employment litigation (including discrimination and whistleblowing, restrictive covenants and bonus issues).Her client base is broad spanning multiple sectors and often includes an international element for corporates operating in different jurisdictions or individual clients with cross-border employment issues. She also advises businesses and individuals in relation to UK immigration matters.

Asha Kumar (former Partner at Watson Farley & Williams)

Asha has particularly valuable experience working on commercial transactions, large global reorganisations, collective consultation issues, TUPE and outsourcing issues.She has worked on a number of high-value and high-profile corporate transactions and has acted for a number of AIM listed companies preparing them for investment and growth.Her client base is diverse and ranges from advertising agencies to wind farm operators to underwriters.

Nathan Donaldson (former Partner at Collyer Bristow)

Nathan advises a range of organisations and high-net-worth individuals. He specialises in cases concerning discrimination, whistleblowing, employment matters arising out of Financial Conduct Authority-regulated organisations, and advising clients in the hotel, education, healthcare and charity sectors. Nathan is also an experienced governor for Ravensbourne University London, specialising in digital media and design. He sits on the Board of Governors and the Audit Committee, and chairs the HR & RemComm.

Emma Clark (former Partner at Abbiss Cadres LLP)

Emma has extensive expertise in employment litigation, corporate transactions and advisory work. She has advised organisations and senior individuals for over 16 years and works with clients across a range of sectors and jurisdictions (including legal, financial, property, education, advertising and energy). Her employment specialisms include advising on strategic HR projects, redundancy-related issues, employment contracts and handbooks, sensitive terminations, team moves and restrictive covenants, performance management, unfair dismissals, discrimination law and whistleblowing. She is also an expert in advising on maternity law and family-friendly rights.

Commercial & Intellectual Property

Rebecca Halford-Harrison (former Partner at Kemp Little)

Rebecca is an established leading light in the IP sphere, particularly in relation to chemistry-based industries. These include food and beverage, life sciences and pharmaceuticals, household products, cosmetics, FMCG, plastics, and oil and gas, especially where there is crossover with technology. Rebecca advises on a wide range of matters, including disputes relating to patents, designs, trade marks, copyright and confidential information, as well as related regulatory issues. She also advises on IP strategy in multi-professional teams, including with management consultants, patent attorneys and tax specialists, as required, to ensure effective extraction of value from IP.

Charlie White (former Senior Associate at Edwin Coe LLP)

Charlie is a commercial contracts, IP and data protection lawyer with a particular interest in Technology and Media. Over the years, Charlie has advised many SMEs and larger organisations on their commercial and IP arrangements with customers, suppliers and developers including in relation to the provision of software, mobile applications and other online services. He also advises on data protection compliance and documentation (including GDPR advice).

He has worked as in-house legal counsel (on secondment) to two international media agencies assisting with a wide range of their client and supplier agreements and the implementation of their GDPR compliance programme.

Commercial Property

Stephen Kingsley (former Partner at Gunnercooke)

Stephen has a particular interest in Town & Country Planning matters, the environment and climate change. His expertise spans all aspects of the acquisition and disposal of both freehold and leasehold property. Stephen’s current client base comprises a number of major retail clients, nursing home operators and a Russell Group university. He has also acted on behalf of several telecommunications operators, having been responsible for the acquisition of over 4,000 radio base stations. Stephen has conducted a number of major planning inquiries, acting on behalf of both retail and telecommunications clients.

Dispute Resolution

Elizabeth Tremayne (Barrister at Henderson Chambers)

Elizabeth’s practice focuses on complex commercial litigation, group actions and product liability work – often with an international dimension. She is a seasoned trial advocate and acts in arbitrations and mediations as well as across the first instance and appellate courts. She specialises in claims involving banks and financial institutions and is regularly instructed to represent the largest lending institutions and credit providers as well as private individuals and large corporations. With a client base comprising many large corporates, Elizabeth has acted in many high-profile allegedly defective product cases litigated, in the main, under Group Litigation Orders. She has particular experience of claims involving medical devices and the apportionment of liability between those operating within the industry. Elizabeth is often involved in advising clients on preventative as well as remedial measures throughout the course of regulatory investigations. She also has a wealth of international experience, having advised in US, African and offshore cases.

Annabel Clark (former Partner at Monro Wright and Wasbrough)

Annabel handles dispute resolution cases across a wide range of areas including family and employment law, where she helps people resolve potentially life-changing issues. Acting predominantly for private individuals, but also for companies and other organisations both in the UK and overseas, she is an experienced collaborative practitioner and a trained family mediator, which assists in successful resolution of disputes particularly those involving families, estates and neighbours.

James Knight, CEO and founder of Keystone Law said:

“As we continue with our plans for growth it remains ever crucial that we retain a focus on attracting lawyers who are established leaders in their respective fields. Each of these ten individuals are exactly that – with the experience and passion to deliver excellent service to clients. I am confident each of them will prove an important asset to the firm in their own impressive, unique ways.”