Charles Russell Speechlys Partner Promotions 2026

Charles Russell Speechlys today announces the promotion of nine individuals to Partner, effective 1 May 2026, in addition to six Legal Director and 18 Senior Associate promotions.

Commenting on the news, Bart Peerless, Senior Partner at Charles Russell Speechlys, said:

Many congratulations to this year’s cohort of newly promoted Partners, Legal Directors and Senior Associates. With 33 promotions across the firm, including nine new Partners, and many across our international offices, I am confident that these individuals will make a significant contribution to the achievement of our private capital strategic objectives in the coming years.

"These promotions reflect the hard work of these candidates over many years, and the firm’s commitment to and investment in our home-grown talent.

"I look forward to working with them in the years ahead.

Full list of our 2026 Partner promotions:

Giovanni Angelini – Private Client – Italy

Francesco Giovanni Angelini specialises in civil law for private clients, focusing on wealth and succession planning, as well as the establishment and management of trusts, foundations, and corporate entities, both in Italy and internationally, as well as handling related litigations. He also has significant experience in real estate transactions, handling property sales and acquisitions.

Sarah Bergougnoux – Private Client – France

Sarah specialises in wealth taxation, advising private clients - including entrepreneurs and families—as well as institutional trustee companies (and their clients directly) on a broad range of domestic and international tax and estate planning matters. She also assists clients with tax audits and litigation.

Sarah has developed particular expertise in family wealth and business structuring, trust taxation and compliance, and cross-border private client matters, advising foreign individuals – particularly UK, US, and Middle East based clients—holding assets in France.

Gabriele Colombaioni – Private Client – UK

Gabriele specialises in Italian tax and estate planning, with a particular focus on advising high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. He is recognised for his expertise in guiding clients through the tax and legal implications of relocating to Italy, including under favourable regimes such as the Lump Sum Tax Regime and the Impatriate Regime.

Gabriele also advises on the tax treatment of complex income items, including carried interest and other equity-based incentives, as well as on sophisticated wealth planning structures such as trusts and similar instruments. He further assists clients in designing and implementing bespoke estate planning strategies aimed at the efficient transfer of wealth to the next generation, including in connection with the acquisition and disposal of high-value assets such as real estate and works of art.

Isobel Edwards – Private Client – UK

Isobel advises individuals, families and trustees on a wide range of private client matters. She specialises in advising on wealth and control transfers between generations for entrepreneurs and property-owning families and helps clients put appropriate structures in place to support asset protection and tax efficiency over time.

A key area of Isobel’s practice is advising families and trustees with landed estates (urban and rural) and property‑based wealth, where long‑term planning, governance, and succession require careful coordination. She also regularly advises on cross‑border issues, particularly relating to Wills and estate planning, and works with clients whose assets and interests span multiple jurisdictions.

Auberi Foy – Employment – France

With over 10 years’ experience, Auberi provides guidance predominantly to international firms and corporate groups on the intricacies of French employment law as it applies to their French ventures.

She offers her expertise to clients involved in both judicial and extrajudicial proceedings and is skilled in conducting sensitive internal investigations, including whistleblowing reports and harassment allegations. Auberi is also adept at handling a broad range of human resources matters, addressing both individual employee concerns and collective employment issues such as restructuring operations and collective negotiations. She brings a pragmatic, jurisdiction‑sensitive perspective to complex global workforce matters, aligning legal risk management with business objectives across multiple markets.

Mary Perham – Private Client – UK

Mary advises business owners, investors, families, landed estate owners and trustees on estate planning, trusts and tax, with a particular focus on succession planning for entrepreneurial wealth.  Mary works with high-net-worth individuals, business owners and trustees to help them put clear, robust estate and succession plans in place. Her advice is grounded in an understanding of how personal wealth, family priorities, and commercial interests intersect.

Mary has particular experience advising on the structuring of family investment companies (FICs) as part of wider succession and tax planning. She regularly works alongside colleagues in the Firm’s Corporate and Corporate Tax teams to ensure that private client and corporate advice is aligned.

Ed Robinson – Corporate – UK

Ed has experience of a wide range of corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, and corporate finance.

He has worked with clients from a variety of sectors, including real estate, technology, aviation and healthcare. Clients include listed PLCs with international interests through to fast-growing owner-managed SMEs. Edward has been involved in a large number of corporate transactions for a variety of client across sub-Saharan Africa. Edward also has a particular expertise in the area of Family Investment Companies (FICs).

Alix Taquet – Private Client – France

Alix advises French and international private clients - including entrepreneurs, families, and high-net-worth individuals - on a wide range of tax and estate matters.  She has more than 10 years’ experience advising on structuring family groups, transferring professional and private assets, estate planning, wills and successions, wealth tax issues, real estate structuring, tax audits and litigation, international mobility, and philanthropy. More broadly, she assists French and non-French tax residents with day-to-day tax issues and French reporting obligations.

Rachel Warren – Commercial Dispute Resolution – UK

Rachel specialises in regulatory and financial crime. She acts for clients investigated or prosecuted by regulators such as the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Trading Standards, Local Authorities, Fire Authorities, and the Environment Agency. She also acts for professionals and individuals under investigation or prosecuted for financial crime such as fraud, and has longstanding expertise in professional discipline and Coroners’ Inquests.

Legal Director Promotions:

Chris Busaileh – Construction, Engineering and Projects – UK

Chris is a specialist construction and engineering lawyer with over 13 years’ experience. He advises clients across the full range of construction issues, from contract procurement to project advice and dispute avoidance/resolution.

On transactional matters, Chris advises clients across a range of sectors including real estate development, housebuilders, hotels and sports. Chris’s dispute experience covers mediation, adjudication, arbitration and litigation and he advises clients on a range of issues. Chris has particular experience of fire/building safety claims, delay and disruption disputes and final account and ‘smash and grab’ adjudications.

Bethan Cunniffe – Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency – UK  

Bethan acts for a wide range of stakeholders including insolvency practitioners, corporate entities, litigation funders, shareholders, directors of insolvent estates and secured and unsecured creditors. She has extensive experience acting on consensual and contested complex, billion dollar cross-border restructurings involving schemes of arrangement, Chapter 11, restructuring of high yield bonds, debt-for-equity swaps and rights offerings spanning several sectors across numerous continents.

Bethan also has experience acting on complex pre-pack transactions and leading multi-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional teams. Bethan regularly provides directors’ duties advice in an insolvency context and has recently acted on a number of formal insolvencies.

Olivia Gray – Intellectual Property Litigation – UK  

Olivia is an experienced intellectual property solicitor specialising in the protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, including trade marks, copyright and designs. She is experienced in conducting trade mark infringement and passing off proceedings, copyright and design actions as well as trade mark registry proceedings in the UK and EUIPO, and appeals to the UK courts. She also handles complaints to the Advertising Standards Authority in relation to advertising issues including comparative advertising, disputes before the Company Names Tribunal, and UDRP domain name disputes.  

Olivia advises clients across a diverse range of industries including retail, food and beverage, manufacturing, sports, entertainment and technology.  She is co-chair of the Firm’s Food & Beverage sector specialism.

Camilla Hart – Commercial Dispute Resolution – UK

Camilla specialises in Commonwealth and International law, Constitutional and Administrative law, with a particular focus on appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

She works closely with various Governments and international companies on their respective appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council covering a wide variety of legal issues. Camilla is a member of the Supreme Court and Privy Council Practitioner User Group and gives her time to provide assistance in proposing amendments to the Rules and/or Practice Directions published by the Court, arising out of her experience.

Sarah Moore – Private Wealth Disputes – UK

Sarah advises UK and international clients on trust disputes, strategic litigation to remediate problems in trusts, and fiduciary issues in corporate and commercial contexts. She specialises in resolving disputes concerning complex trust structures, often with a corporate asset base. She has represented individuals, trustees, and charities in claims of breach of trust, constructive trust, under the laws governing property rights on the end of a relationship or death, and in company law. Sarah has also successfully secured the rescission of trusts created under a mistake, to reverse unintended tax consequences. Sarah works with colleagues across the firm’s locations on cross-border cases.

Lucy Wicksteed – Commercial Dispute Resolution – UK

Lucy works in the Commercial Disputes and Fraud team. She has substantial experience with complex and high-value disputes, which often have international elements to them. Those disputes are mostly in the Financial Services sector, the Technology, Media & Telecommunications sector and the Energy & Natural Resources sector. Lucy has the experience of litigating in the High Court, but also in resolving disputes through arbitration, mediation and other alternative means of resolution.

Senior Associate Promotions:

-        Jorge Alemán Juarez – Corporate – Luxembourg

-        Kelly Arnold – Real Estate – UK

-        Camilla Bunce – Construction, Engineering and Projects – UK

-        Jane Burrows – Construction, Engineering and Projects – UK

-        Ben Butterworth – Real Estate – UK

-        Jack Carter – Private Client – UK  

-        Jessie Davies – Private Wealth Disputes – UK

-        Thomas Denny – Private Client – UK

-        Sydney Forster – Real Estate – UK

-        David Gregory – Real Estate Disputes – UK

-        Alessandro Leardini  – Private Client – Italy

-        Daniel McDonagh – Commercial Dispute Resolution – UK

-        Daniele Mologni – Private Client – Italy

-        Mo Nawash – Corporate – UAE

-        Jamie Rhodes – Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency – UK

-        Jeanne Rochmann – Corporate – France

-        Ayman Shehata – Corporate – UK

-        Iwan Thomas – Corporate – UK

Additional to these promotions, Charles Russell Speechlys is pleased to announce several new Head of Group appointments across the Firm. See below for full list:

Head of Group appointments:

Litigation and Dispute Resolution:

Intellectual Property Litigation: Robert Lundie Smith

Private Client:

Family: Jamie Kennaugh

Private Property: Naomi Nettleton

Construction, Real Estate & Disputes:

Real Estate: Louise Ward