Committee Members

Mark Briegal is a founding partner at Bennett Briegal LLP, a specialist legal practice advising other lawyers and professionals on the business of law, partnership matters, mergers and acquisitions, business structures,professional regulation and employment.

Mark was on the Executive Board of a Top 200 law firm during a period of sustained growth. He originally worked in banking, running a range of banking operations for Chase Manhattan Bank, and then in management consulting, before qualifying as a solicitor. Mark aims to bring a very practical approach to business law.

Mark set up Association of Partnership Practitioners in the North West and has been ranked in Legal 500 and Chambers legal directories. Mark has an MBA from Manchester Business School and a Classics degree from Cambridge University.

Outside of work, Mark is involved in sports. He is currently Chair of Archery GB, the national governing body for Archery in the UK and, as a former quite-competitive rower, is now a qualified rowing coach and multi-lane endorsed umpire. He chairs the British Rowing North West Umpire Committee. He is also a Trustee of the Rowing Foundation, a charity which promotes the participation in rowing of young people and the disabled of all
ages.

Mark is married with adult children (and a cat) and lives in Cheshire.

Bennett Briegal LLP
Mark@bennettbriegal.co.uk
07973 283678

Sarah Chilton is Senior Partner at CM Murray LLP specialising in partnership and employment law.

She is dual qualified to practice in England & Wales and Scotland and has represented clients in both the English and Scottish Courts.

Sarah advises partners, partnerships, LLP members and LLPs on a wide range of issues including: termination provisions and senior partner exits, protection of confidential information, remuneration structures and issues arising in relation to deferred remuneration and incentive plans, business reorganisation and redundancy, conduct and performance issues, whistleblowing and discrimination. 

Sarah regularly advises on cross-border issues involving multiple jurisdictions including the US, Russia, the Middle East and Europe and the Scottish law implications relating to funds using Scottish partnerships structures.

CM Murray LLP
First Floor 
36 – 38 Cornhill 
London 
EC3V 3NG

sarah.chilton@cm-murray.com
020 7933 9125

Aster is Addleshaw Goddard's Senior Partner and a member of the firm's market leading Professional Practices Group. 

Aster is recognised as a leading adviser to professional services firms on transactions, advisory matters and partner disputes. The Legal 500 cites Aster as a "leading individual" and has said that he has "great technical expertise", "clearly knows his stuff, is friendly, responsive and solution-oriented". Chambers ranks him in Band 1 for non-contentious partnership work and quoted a client as saying: "He is superb, everything that a trusted adviser should be: commercial, responsive and a pleasure to work with." Aster has been included in The Lawyer's Hot 100.

Aster's transactional work includes mergers, acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures and LLP conversions. His advisory practice encompasses partnership agreements, governance, risk management and structuring issues. He has a particular interest in international structuring, including the establishment and operation of network structures (such as the Swiss Verein). On the contentious side, he assists firms and individuals with partner disputes, including team moves.

As well as professional services firms, Aster works with businesses in the financial services sector, including hedge funds and private equity houses, on the use of LLPs and partnerships.

Addleshaw Goddard LLP
60 Chiswell Street
London
EC1Y 4AG

aster.crawshaw@addleshawgoddard.com
020 7880 5926

Caroline is head of Fox & Partners' litigation practice. Caroline frequently acts in high-value and sensitive City disputes arising from a fall-out between (i) employers or professional firms (LLPs and traditional partnerships) on the one hand and (ii) employees, shareholders and directors or LLP members/partners on the other, and in senior executive and partner moves.
Advising professional partners, typically in the professional services and financial services sector, such as complex hedge fund and private equity structures, and senior executives is the cornerstone of Fox & Partners' practice.

A great deal of Caroline's time is spent acting on disputes
arising out of breaches of partnership agreements, including relating to actual or threatened expulsion of partners, changes to partners' remuneration or other rights (including good leaver and bad leaver provisions and carried interest), unfairly prejudicial conduct, alleged discrimination and whistleblowing.

Caroline regularly advises on business protection cases, providing strategic advice in relation to team moves, restrictive covenants, fiduciary obligations and duties of confidentiality. She has significant experience defending and enforcing such provisions, including by obtaining and defending interim injunctions. With experience acting for employers/firms
(former and recruiting employers) and moving employees or partners, she offers a unique perspective and understanding of the pressures on both sides.

Caroline is recognized by the independent guides to the legal profession for her work representing employees and partners before the employment tribunal and courts. Restrictive covenants are a notable area of strength. One client
observed: "she is strategically astute and does not neglect any aspect of the case before her.she is also very supportive and empathetic, making her an ideal legal adviser to navigate uniquely complex legal situations"
(Chambers 2021 - Partnership/Senior Executive).

Fox & Partners
4 - 6 Throgmorton Avenue
London
EC2N 2DL
cfield@foxlawyers.com
020 7618 2400

John Staniforth

John is a General Practice partner at Moore Kingston Smith and Head of the Professional Firms sector. John has over 25 years of experience (including 18 years as a partner) advising professional services clients and is highly experienced with limited liability partnership issues and has an extensive knowledge of both IFRS and FRS102, as well as the SORP for LLPs. In his time at Moore Kingston Smith, John has held several important firm positions, including being a member of the Governance Board, HR Partner and is currently Head of Technical. Externally, John is a member of the Solicitors Special Interest Group of the ICAEW. John is the author of Financial Management for Solicitors and the Solicitors Accounts Rules published by Tolley’s Butterworths, and regularly presents training courses, seminars and webinars on the SRA Accounts Rules and partnership matters for both clients and professional training providers.
 

Moore Kingston Smith LLP
6th Floor
9 Appold Street
London
EC2A 2AP

JStaniforth@mks.co.uk
020 4582 1000