Blake Morgan LDR division announces appointment of three new legal directors

National leading law firm Blake Morgan is driving forward an ambitious growth plan for its Litigation Dispute Resolution (LDR) division with the appointment of three new legal directors.

Simon Hough and Mark Jones join the firm’s London office and are joined by Michael Colledge who will be based in Southampton.

Commercial litigation solicitor Simon Hough brings with him over 12 years’ experience dealing with a wide range of commercial disputes, including contentious insolvency, professional negligence and financial services litigation.  He has a strong track record of achieving recoveries in claims for insolvency practitioners, lenders and private equity investors and that experience will add strength to the firm’s existing insolvency and commercial litigation teams in London. Simon’s appointment will strengthen the firm’s Insolvency practice in London and he will work closely with our new crime and investigations expert Mark Jones.

Mark Jones joins Blake Morgan – a leading professional regulatory firm in the country – to help grow the firm’s regulatory practice in to the financial sector. As a leading white-collar crime and investigations expert he specialises in advising both individuals and corporates across the full range of criminal and regulatory investigations and prosecutions by the SFO, FCA, HMRC, CMA and others. Additionally, Mark acts for clients facing Parliamentary Select Committee inquiries and investigations by government departments. Recognised in Legal 500, Mark’s experience includes advising on bribery and corruption, market manipulation and abuse, phone hacking, government contract fraud, tax fraud, money laundering and health and safety investigations.

Mark also acts for corporates and senior company officers in internal investigations, dawn raids and external investigations. A great deal of Mark’s work is multi-jurisdictional, complex and high profile. In his new role he will grow the firm’s white-collar and corporate investigations practice both to individuals and corporates, whilst also working closely with the commercial litigation, insolvency and Proceeds of Crime teams in London. Michael Colledge joins the LDR Commercial Litigation team on the South Coast. He brings a wealth of experience in insurance disputes and professional negligence work alongside advising the Solicitors Regulation Authority on regulatory litigation.

Michael has advised on a number of significant claims in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in a wide variety of areas including professional negligence, partnership disputes, insurance litigation and commercial litigation.  He has specific expertise in alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation and arbitration and regularly appears as an advocate in the High Court. As legal director at Blake Morgan, he will lead the further development of our professional negligence offering.

Alison McClure Divisional Director for LDR, said: ‘This is an exciting time for our litigation dispute resolution division and we are pleased to welcome three new legal directors to the team. They each have a strong reputation in their specialist fields and will strengthen our well–established LDR team and help drive forward future growth.”

Blake Morgan’s LDR group provides a complete range of litigation services including commercial litigation, contract disputes, mediation, intellectual property, professional negligence, construction and engineering, property, regulatory, insurance, fraud and banking disputes.  The division acts for large corporates, entrepreneurs, owner-managed-businesses, insolvency practitioners, court-appointed receivers, property developers, regulators, public sector and charity organisations.

Contact Simon Hough, Mark Jones and Michael Colledge for expert legal advice.