LSLA Committee new Appointments

Following the AGM on 26 March, the LSLA has appointed Nikki Edwards, Partner in the Commercial Dispute Resolution team at Howard Kennedy, as its new president.  She succeeds Nicholas Heaton at Hogan Lovells and will serve a term of two years.

We are also delighted to announce the following appointments to the LSLA Committee:

 

Sian Akerman

 

Sian is a media law litigator with experience in handling high-profile defamation trials and assisting high-net-worth individuals, corporate and public figures to safeguard and protect their reputation. She began her legal career as a civil litigator and has a strong background in commercial litigation and civil fraud. Sian spent 4.5 years sitting on the Junior LSLA committee and is very excited to now join the LSLA committee. Sian looks forward to getting to know more of the LSLA’s members whilst furthering the LSLA’s reach with seminars and events and on issues affecting the London litigation market.

 

Nicola Holton

 

Nicola is a London litigation Partner at Shakespeare Martineau LLP. Alongside insolvency claims she specialises in commercial litigation brought where there is an insolvency angle, whether that be directly related to the claims themselves, actions brought against or on behalf of insolvent companies, where the appointment of a Insolvency Practitioner may be an outcome of an action or where an insolvency action can be utilised as part of a wider strategy. A significant portion of her work is funded by specialist funders. Nicola also utilises a range of funding arrangements including working on a contingent basis or under a deferred payment arrangement or damages based agreement. As well as being a qualified solicitor she is a qualified insolvency practitioner having sat the JIEB in 2014.

Nicola is particularly interested in future gazing, predicting the potential new areas for litigation in particular the challenge posed by the widening obligations posed by the ESG agenda which aligns with her firms B Corp status. Nicola would also like to focus on what a law firm looks like post covid, hybrid working and how we can ensure that law firms are places for diversity of thought and inclusivity.

 

Abdulali Jiwaji

 

Abdulali has been practising as a disputes lawyer for over 25 years, and coming up to 10 years at Signature Litigation.  He focuses on litigation, arbitration and contentious regulatory matters in the UK and often with international aspects. Abdulali is looking forward to supporting the work of the LSLA in broadening connections between practitioners, feeding in thoughts on consultations and reform processes, and helping to promote London as a premier centre for dispute resolution. 

 

Christopher Robinson

 

Christopher has been a litigation partner at Freshfields since 2013 advising on banking, insurance and general commercial disputes. Our Court system is a world class forum for the resolution of complex commercial disputes and Christopher looks forward to working with LSLA members and the committee on helping develop best practice in litigation and ensure the UK remains a premier centre for dispute resolution.

 

Robin Henry

 

Robin heads the Dispute resolution department at Collyer Bristow and is a member of their Banking & financial disputes team.

Robin has wide experience of financial disputes and has developed an expertise in advising clients on complex FX derivative contracts. He is experienced in advising on financial mis-selling claims and also advises clients subject to investigation by the FCA.