Practice Overview
Suzanne is an accredited commercial mediator and a highly accomplished commercial litigator with over 14 years' experience at a top global law firm.
She is recognised as a mediator who uses her in-depth knowledge of the law and commerce to quickly assimilate herself with the background to a dispute. When mediating, she draws on this knowledge to provide pragmatic, commercial and strategic observations and direction.
Clients note her creative approach to thinking through difficult issues and eagerness to understand the full context to a dispute and their ultimate goals.
Suzanne prides herself on her ability to build rapport with lawyers, those at Board level, CEOs and individuals with personal grievances. She is calm, composed and organised, bringing a positive energy and good humour to the mediation process.
Combined, these skills enable her to help clients to settle disputes they previously considered intractable.
Professional Background
Suzanne spent over 14 years at Hogan Lovells where she was a senior member of the litigation team. During her time at the firm she also completed secondments to the firm's New York office and to the group litigation team at Standard Chartered Bank.
Her dispute resolution experience is predominantly focused on high value, high profile banking and finance disputes, disputes arising out of contentious insolvency, director and/or shareholder disputes and general commercial disputes. It extends to a number of other practice areas including, private equity, property, pensions and intellectual property.
Suzanne's clients have generally been multi-national corporations, banks, financial institutions, insolvency practitioners and high net worth individuals. Her cases have typically been multi-jurisdictional, usually with an international element.
Professional Endorsements
"I really enjoyed working with Suzanne on this tricky case...I found Suzanne easy to work with, very organised and I was very impressed with the way she conducted herself with the family at a very sad time, to help to bring some closure. I will look forward to working with Suzanne again"
Representative of business in dispute with former client
"Suzanne has a very approachable manner combining friendliness, confidence and where appropriate, professional toughness"
Civil Litigation Partner
"Suzanne has excellent interpersonal skills and demonstrates good judgement, competence and confidence"
Commercial Litigation Partner
"Suzanne gets on top of the issues commendably quickly"
Dispute Resolution Partner
"Suzanne is a natural at mediation"
Co-mediator
Other Experience
Law firms and banks value Suzanne's knowledge and expertise, inviting her to run masterclasses on effective negotiation, communication and getting the most out of mediation.
Suzanne is Chair of Governors at a Primary School where she has promoted the development of conflict resolution skills and emotion coaching to help those at all levels to communicate effectively, navigate conflict and manage their responses to challenging situations.
In addition to her commercial mediation practice, Suzanne is an active community mediator with Calm mediation, mediating conflicts between residents of local housing authorities across London.
Personal Interests
Outside of mediation and family life, Suzanne has a variety of interests including visiting art galleries, cooking and eating out, working out, watching foreign films, her work as Chair of Governors, skiing and most importantly, exploring the world.