Less than ten percent of UK growth-stage start-ups have a senior lawyer working in their company, and even fewer seed-stage companies, less than two percent, have a senior lawyer in their management team (source: https://www.beauhurst.com/blog/startups-hiring-lawyers/).This is in stark contrast to the USA, where a senior lawyer is typically a must-have for any ambitious startup, even more so for scale-ups and high-growth companies.While hiring senior legal resources is often not a priority for UK founders compared to marketing headcount and developers, not having senior legal resource in place from the outset, particularly in regulated businesses, can lead to the sort of issues recently faced by some of the UK's biggest fintechs. The right early-stage legal input can help set up your business for long-term success and to avoid regulatory or consumer censure.Having an in-house General Counsel (GC) in the C Suite not only prevents avoidable mistakes but can also be a critical factor in your company's survival and growth trajectory. Beauhurst’s analysis, based on data from over 35,000 UK high-growth companies shows that those with a senior lawyer in their management team enjoy significantly higher turnover than those without this support. The data proves that appointing a senior legal resource can add significant value to a company. A commercially aware pragmatic GC can speed up the process of agreeing commercial contracts with suppliers and customers, as well as assisting with procurement, supplier onboarding processes and compliance. The right GC can fill in all sorts of gaps in your team and add significant value in areas such as finance, HR, property, IP and data protection. This is where Fractional GC comes in. Fractional GC specialises in providing flexible, scalable GC services to entrepreneurial businesses and their founders. Like a full-time GC, Fractional GC's service covers the full range of legal, transactional, and commercial advice.

- Supported growth of innovative fintech company to annual turnover of around £100m with after tax profits exceeding £25m.- Reported directly to CEO as an Executive Director and member of the Senior Leadership Team/Exco as well as Senior Manager in SMF 3 (Executive Director), SMF 16 (Compliance Oversight), and SMF 17 (MLRO) roles. - Recruited, built and managed legal and compliance teams. - Clarified complex legal position of business working within innovative Open Banking sector. - Successfully anticipated potential FCA issues and responded to new rules and guidelines. - Championed adherence to FCA principles, rules and guidance to ensure longevity and resilience in highly regulated sector - directing internal conversations and decisions, including through chairing Audit and Conduct and Compliance committees. - Gained full FCA authorisation in heavily regulated sector in 2016 through steering of the application process. - Negotiated high value debt capital issues with overseas sovereign wealth fund and credit fund investors. - Swiftly implemented policy changes necessitated by new legislation, such as PSD2, FCA's Consumer Duty, and GDPR. - Spearheaded innovative litigation in Commercial Court to halt unlawful vexatious claims management company bulk complaints. - Owned key commercial relationships with major suppliers and investor relationships. - Created full suite of necessary consumer facing documents that fully complied with FCA CONC and Consumer Credit Act requirements. - Drafted and updated policies on affordability, vulnerable customers, TCF, data protection, AML, and financial crime. - Liaised with sector trade associations, responded to journalists, and maintained strong relationships with regulators. - Played central role in establishment and sale of B2B AccountScore unit. - Personally handled all routine legal matters, including reputation management, litigation, property, commercial agreements, IP, insurance, and employment.

- As Non-Executive Director on the Board of FDATA, represented the interests of Fintech Sector in Open Finance in their negotiations with the banking, insurance, and investment industries. This counsel was formed after consultation with UK Treasury, with Account Technologies being one of the founding members and key supporters. - Supported expansion of FDATA from half a dozen members to driving force in the global, Open Finance movement. - Provided advice to industry, governments, consumer groups, and regulators. - Empowered customers through transparency with their financial data and freedom to move money. - FDATA also able to provide information and expertise on liability, privacy, identity, technical standards, governance models, product scopes, compliance, crime, and innovation.

-Part of founding team of the leading Open Banking platform AccountScore, AccountScore was wholly acquired by Equifax in 2021.

- Angel investor in one of the UK’s first online financial technology platforms, generating 60x return on original investment upon sale. - Founder investor and COO of Orbitsound, a consumer technology company. Oversaw growth from pre-revenue start-up to becoming the bestselling brand in the sector in 2011, overtaking international brands such as Samsung and Sony, with 447% year on year sales growth. - Non-Executive director and angel investor in food and leisure business. Negotiated purchase of business assets from administrators with debt funding from Bank of East Asia prior to selling shares in 2016.- Angel investor in Moixa Technology, leading smart battery company which was sold to Lunar Energy in 2022.

-Spearheaded high profile public takeover of Chelsfield Plc taking it back to private ownership through £1.85bn bid, one of the largest contemporary leveraged buyouts in the UK-Raised £165 million external equity for Chelsfield Partners property investment fund from consortium of international funders, including Uberior Ventures, Bank of East Asia, and Olayan Group. - Oversaw wide range of legal and commercial matters, including corporate finance activities, registration with FSA, liaison with external debt providers and JV partners, and representation of Chelsfield on external investments. Also acted as FSA approved investment advisor (CF21). - Concluded transactions including acquisition of significant interests in Camden Market and Investment Property Databank (IPD).

- Ran M&A team, including advising boards on takeovers and running sales processes. - Notable transactions included advising Chelsfield Plc on acquisition of market leading data centre business, Global Switch, and associated placing and open offer.

- Senior solicitor to UK corporate finance partners on M&A transactions and public company equity and debt capital issues. - Transactions included the sale of Hambros Bank to Societe Generale; the merger of Hambros Fund Management with Guinness Flight; Hambros Plc demerger of Hambros Countrywide; Hambros Plc takeover by Investec and Bovis Homes Plc IPO.