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iLaw is delighted to announce the appointment of two new directors following its most successful financial year to date. Jenny Lau becomes a director in the firm’s Dispute Resolution team, while Tony Roberts has been promoted in the Corporate team.
In its financial year ended 30 November, the firm reported turnover up by approximately 25% on the previous year, reflecting a strong performance despite the second year of Covid effects.
The deal-flow through the firm’s Corporate team has been bigger than ever before, including deal sizes of more than £100m, as the M&A market made up for lost time in 2020. And the disputes team’s caseload has increased markedly in the past six months as confidence has flowed back into the market.
Managing Partner and head of dispute resolution Mark Culbert commented on Jenny’s appointment: “Jenny joined us at an uncertain time nationally in the summer of 2020, and since then has put in huge effort in leading our arbitration practice as well as advising on a number of other complex disputes. Her appointment as a director reflects her outstanding abilities both as a lawyer and with clients.” Jenny was previously a director with FieldFisher.
iLaw co-founder Justin Ellis said of the appointment of Tony Roberts, who practised with Herbert Smith Freehills for 14 years, “Tony came on board a year ago as head of Corporate, and has really helped us push our M&A and investment practice. In that year, we’ve had several transactions with higher profiles and values than we were previously used to. Tony has been able to apply his wealth of experience of big deals for the benefit of our clients, and his appointment as a director recognises that.”
iLaw’s performance has been recognised by the industry at large, with short-listings over the past 18 months for the Boutique Law Firm of the Year Award in what are probably the three leading legal awards in the UK – The Lawyer Awards, the British Legal Awards and the Law Society Excellence Awards.
Mark Culbert added: “As a niche practice, with a particular reputation in the spheres of technology and intellectual property, iLaw is well on the way to achieving its aim, set pre-Covid in 2019, of doubling in size by 2025. Businesses and entrepreneurs are increasingly looking for good value and a personalised approach, and find that we can offer those solutions in a way that bigger and more traditional firms sometimes struggle to do.”
Notes to editors
• Appointment as a director in a limited company such as iLaw is similar to appointment as a non-equity partner in a partnership.
• iLaw, founded in 2006, is a boutique business law firm based in the City of London which now comprises around 20 lawyers advising across a range of business law matters, such as M&A/investments, dispute resolution, intellectual property, technology law, commercial contracts, employment and commercial property.
