Online - Commercial Law Conference

Rob Hann

Legal Director and Head of Local Government, Sharpe Pritchard.

Rob has worked for several local authorities and was head of legal at 4ps/Local Partnerships for nearly 20 years, leading the development and roll-out of the local government PFI programme for local government across England and Wales. Rob is also the author of several major law books on local authority charging, trading, companies and partnerships.

Rob is known for his extensive knowledge of public law, procurement, vires and the laws relating to large scale and high-value PFI and PPP projects. Having worked for many years at the centre of local government policy development and programmes, identifying and removing obstacles to major projects, Rob can use this experience to benefit clients and to pursue new initiatives efficiently and effectively.

He advises on legacy PFI projects, new PPP structures, companies and other partnerships. Additionally, Rob develops products and knowhow to help train local authority lawyers and officers in a wide range of skills, including developing commercial skills and expertise within the sector.

Perry Holmes

Director of Legal & Governance, Wiltshire Council

Perry has significant experience as a senior leader in the local authority sector and an expertise in local authority governance. He has worked at County, District and Unitary councils.

He leads a varied set of teams at Wiltshire Council including Communications, Executive Office, Customer Services, Registration, the Coronial Service, the Lord Lieutenancy, as well as Legal and Democratic Services. He is part of the Corporate Leadership Team reporting to the Chief Executive and is the Council’s Solicitor and Monitoring Officer. He is also Chair of the Local Resilience Forum for Swindon & Wiltshire.

Following the successful completion of an MBA, with a research project focussed on the governance of council companies, Perry set up the Council Company Network in 2022, which shares best practice and innovation in the sector.

In his spare time he is a keen cyclist and cook, and supporter of his beloved Nottingham Forest.

Peter Ware

Partner, Browne Jacobson

Recognised by Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 as a leading expert in public law and procurement, Peter is the head of Browne Jacobson’s Government practice. Specialising in contentious and non-contentious procurement matters, Peter supports public and private sector clients to get the very best out of their regulated procurement activity.  Peter’s extensive experience also means that he can advise clients on a variety of commercial matters for both government and supplier-to-government clients. 

Prior to joining Browne Jacobson, Peter was a special projects adviser for Nottinghamshire County Council – meaning he really understands the pressures faced by in-house counsel when leading major projects. Peter is also the Finance and Membership Secretary of the Procurement Lawyers Association, and on the editorial Board for Lexis Nexis Local Government and a regular public speaker. 

Azeem Suterwalla

Barrister, Monckton Chambers

Azeem is a leading junior with a well-established practice across Chambers’ core areas, offering expertise in Judicial Review, Public Procurement, Competition, Information Law, and general commercial work. He is a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown, advising and representing the UK government in his areas of practice. Azeem is recommended in the Legal 500 and Chambers UK as a leading practitioner across four practice areas: Administrative/Public Law, Public Procurement, Civil Liberties and Human Rights, and Community Care. He was previously Counsel to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (“IICSA” – between January 2016 and 2020).

Azeem appears regularly in the High Court and Upper Tribunal. He has undertaken cases in the Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and European Court of Human Rights. In addition to acting as a trial and appellate lawyer, a significant part of Azeem’s practice is advisory. He is often instructed in his own right, or to lead as a “senior junior”, but he is equally happy to, and often works, as a member of a large team of counsel and solicitors.

Valentina Sloane KC

Monckton Chambers

Valentina has extensive experience of advising and litigating in the field of public procurement. 

She is recommended in the directories as one of the top silks in the field and is named by Who’s Who Legal as a Global Leader in Government Contracts.

Recent cases include acting in a challenge to the award by the Meteorological Office for a supercomputer and advising Government departments on the exclusion of bidders.

Fran Mussellwhite

Partner, Bevan Brittan

Fran is a dispute resolution and litigation lawyer specialising in public procurement. She acts both for bidders and contracting authorities across a range of sectors including transport, education, manufacturing, construction, health and social care, and technology.  Fran advises clients on all aspects of bringing or defending a procurement challenge, including dealing with pre-action disclosure, applications to lift the automatic suspension, pursuing alternative dispute resolution and the management of litigation to trial.

Fran also provides specialist support and advice to contracting authorities in managing the complex risk issues that can arise during the conduct of a procurement. She has experience of advising a wide range of public bodies, working closely alongside in-house teams to explore and develop strategies for mitigating procurement risk. 

Fran is ranked in the field of public procurement by Chambers UK, and as a leading lawyer in the field of Government Contracts by Who’s Who Legal. She is also a member of the Procurement Lawyers' Association.

Mary Mundy

Partner, Capsticks

Mary leads the procurement team at Capsticks and advises clients on a range of public procurement matters from day to day issues through to complex and strategic processes and procurement challenges.  Mary also advises bidders.  Mary regularly delivers training to clients and speaks at conferences on procurement.  Mary is supporting clients with the new Provider Selection Regime that applies to the commissioning of health services and as Deputy Head of Healthcare at Capsticks, she has a lot of insight into how the regime is being used.  Mary is supporting clients to prepare for the Procurement Act 2023.  

Mary has previously worked in-house as Legal Counsel at the Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward, and at NHS Supply Chain advising on the setting up of various framework agreements for health supplies.  She therefore understands what it’s like to be a client receiving legal advice and ensures she and her team utilises this experience to give pragmatic, solutions focussed advice.

Paul McDermott

Partner, Trowers & Hamlins

Paul has worked with a range of local authorities, registered providers of social housing and other public sector organisations to develop public private schemes and create structures which enable multi agency service delivery to be effective.