Partner Article

Leonard Curtis Legal invest in new director

Leonard Curtis Legal is supporting its ambitious growth plans with the hire of the highly experienced Katharine Lawrenson. She joins the fast-growing legal arm of Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group to head up its dispute resolution team.

She will also be in charge of developing LC Legal’s dispute resolution offering to SMEs via the Group’s extensive accountancy referrer base and looking to develop working relationships within Leonard Curtis’s 19-strong UK office network, primarily involving insolvencies, where her main expertise lies.

Katharine has 28 years’ experience in the contentious business restructuring market acting for insolvency practitioners, companies, directors, banks and other financial institutions around their insolvency debt portfolios.

LC Legal Director Andrew Gregory said Katharine will capitalise on the positives of working in-house for one of the UK’s leading restructuring and turnaround Groups and help build the firm’s profile in its own right. He commented: “She will be helping us develop work opportunities from the UK SME sector offering assistance with a range of issues including shareholder disputes, derivative claims, claims by and against directors, contractual and supply chain disputes. We are delighted to welcome a litigator of her skill and experience to our team.”

He added: “Her practical, no-nonsense advisory approach will fit right in with the Leonard Curtis straight-talking culture. She is also able to get to the heart of an issue quickly and is a proven performer at building relationships and managing teams.”

Katharine said: “I am looking forward to working in a small, dynamic team that has flexibility to act on a wide range of matters without the constraints often imposed by a large firm. This includes being more creative with our fee structure and providing a more personal service at a senior level, the chance to become a firm’s trusted advisor.

“I am also excited to present a multi-disciplinary practice service to SME clients – Leonard Curtis is pioneering in this area – and be able to say to people we are not just lawyers, we can provide a wide range of services to businesses. This is a new and different way of working with many benefits for business owners.

Katharine will be based in the firm’s Manchester office with a brief to develop the dispute resolution offering on a national basis.

When not working Katharine has a passion for the arts and, in particular, dance, serving on the Board of a dance agency for 10 years.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sue Souter .