As leaders should we be focusing on our people or our profits? Part 2

Melissa Davis

Melissa Davis set up MD Communications, based in London, in 2010, after her time as Head of Media and PR at the Law Society. Ten years on, MD Communications is a full service, specialist legal reputation consultancy with a team of 25, spanning several jurisdictions and serving clients in most corners of the globe. Melissa leads a team that empowers their clients to grow their personal and professional reputations by providing c-suite level advice and strategy to clients across the professional services sector to deliver their brand strategies. This includes PR, social media, digital content strategies, crisis management, legal directories and bids and tenders. Melissa is passionate about the legal sector and is a world she commits her own time to understanding and promoting. That’s why she has given time to the Deaf Law Centre, campaigns to improve the outcomes of separated parents and their children, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy, and also continues to promote the International Bar Association’s work through the IBA Law Firm Management Committee Business Development Working Group (of which she’s a former chair and now sits on the advisory board).

Moray McLaren

Moray McLaren is the founder of Lexington Consultants, the law firm advisors, and a member of the Möller Institute at the University of Cambridge. He advises the top independent law firms as they review their strategy and organisation. Moray also assists the global law firms as they enter new markets. He is also an Associate Professor at IE Business School in Madrid and a Fellow of Harvard´s Institute of Coaching. He was the inaugural Chair of the Strategy Group of the IBA´s Law Firm Management Committee (LFMC).

João Vieira de Almeida

João Vieira de Almeida is the Managing Partner of Vieira de Almeida, the leading Portuguese law firm where he chairs the Board and the Executive Committee. He was recognised as European Managing Partner of the Year by The Lawyer in 2019. João joined VdA in 1985, he leads the firm with a strong focus on culture and people, two driving forces that fostered VdA’s unique team spirit and paved the way to its acknowledged innovation and excellent client service. João is a member of various Boards of Directors, and is Chair of numerous Shareholders’ Meetings of private and public companies. As an M&A and formerly also a Projects lawyer, João advised on many significant transactions, both in Portugal and in Brazil (where he is also admitted to the Bar).

Hanim Hamzah

Hanim Hamzah is the Regional Managing Partner of the ZICO Law network. She also heads the Corporate M&A practice group at Roosdiono & Partners (Indonesia). Now based in Singapore, her 24 years of regional practice experience includes being resident in Malaysia, Japan and Indonesia where she specialised in major infrastructure project financing and M&A deals in aviation, banking, insurance, mining, oil and gas, plantations, and property. She is also well-versed in cross-border securitisation deals, structured financial products, and Islamic finance, having represented the interests of investors from Asia, the US, UK, and Europe in key onshore and offshore multi-currency transactions. Hanim is the Vice Chair of the IBA´s Law Firm Management Committee.

Peter Taylor

Peter Taylor has served as the Managing Partner of Paris Smith LLP, a regional law firm based in the south of England, since January 2015. During that period, the firm has grown consistently at 8% per year. Peter has experienced medical issues during his life and recognises the needs to ensure resilience as an individual, as a team and the firm. He has led several initiatives pre Covid and during the lockdown to ensure that the firm maintains its efficiency and resilience in a manner which is consistent with the firm’s core purpose, vision and values.

An accredited commercial mediator he is committed to enabling each of the 260 members of the firm to be the best they can be. He will share his experiences and how he has gone about building resilience into Paris Smith.

Chris Owen

Chris Owen is a corporate partner at the London office of Penningtons Manches & Cooper a 140 partner firm. He specialises in corporate finance transactions including take-overs, mergers and acquisitions, reconstructions, public issues on AIM and securities regulations generally. He works extensively with overseas clients on inward UK investment work and has considerable experience of acting on cross-border transactions. He is also a member of the firm’s international private wealth group with a particular focus on wealth protection, governance and succession issues for owner managers and family businesses. He has an MBA in legal practice from Nottingham Law School and is the Senior Vice Chair of the IBAs European Regional Forum. Chris is a qualified mindfulness practitioner. Throughout the Covid-19 crisis he has been providing course on “wellbeing through mindfulness”