The Executive Team
Raj Mahapatra
Unlike many entering the legal profession Raj first set up and ran a successful reprographics business. With a firm understanding of business he then broke into law first working with Norton Rose and then LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McRae LLP both in London and New York.
Over his career he has worked with both start-ups and multinationals, on corporate deals up to £14 billion in value. Initially working within the insurance sector, Raj has spent much of his career focused on technology businesses, often assisting them through high growth periods.
He is a guest lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School, a regular presenter for the Manchester Digital Development Agency, a UK Government Agency, as well as a council member of Manchester Digital, the independent trade association for the thriving ICT and new media industries in the North West of England.
Always focused on the commercial reality of businesses, Raj set up the forerunner to Legal 2.0, vLegal Limited in 2002.
Giles Dixon
Giles has broad commercial experience. In recent years his work has concentrated on PFI, construction, infrastructure, engineering and energy. He advises on the structuring of projects as well as the documentation. He established his own niche firm in 2002 when he left a major City partnership to go solo. His clients include listed engineering companies. He is co-author of the JCT-Constructing Excellence Contract and contributed the chapter on Construction in the latest edition of Schmitthoff’s Export Trade.
He also set up and runs ContractStore, a website selling a range of commercial and construction contracts online.
Giles is a former chairman of the Middle East Association – he lived in the Gulf for several years. He is a member of British Expertise and served on their board for six years (when the organisation was known as BCCB) and he was a founding member of CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution), the UK’s premier provider of mediation services.
Sharon Benning-Prince
Sharon started her legal life as a paralegal at Rowe and Maw (now Mayer Brown Rowe and Maw) and from there went to LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McRae LLP as a trainee and post training, qualified into the corporate/commercial department. Shortly after qualifying, Sharon was seconded to the UK subsidiary of Entergy LLC, where she learnt about the mechanics of industry and how to work on the front line of a business. Following a year long secondment, Sharon returned to the corporate/commercial department of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & McRae LLP , where she worked on a number of acquisitions in respect of software/telecommunication companies, hotels, vineyards and other asset and share transactions.
As a mid level associate, she joined Hogan & Hartson as corporate/commercial lawyer. As well as working on a number of corporate transactions, she gained extensive experience in establishing business presences in the United Kingdom on behalf of a number of overseas clients and managing their corporate governance needs. She also worked on franchising, agency and distribution matters, providing drafting assistance and commercial guidance.
Sharon was also the UK representative for the Hogan & Hartson pan-European life sciences team and has advised on clinical trial agreements and legal representative agreements, and assisted pharmaceutical companies with their advertising and marketing policies. She has authored several publications in the life sciences sector.
Sharon is also a mentee for law students at Manchester University and a member of the Women in Business Network.
Anthony Smith
Anthony is a commercial lawyer renowned for his expertise in the field of public private partnerships and private finance initiatives. He has worked in the United Arab Emirates and Kosovo and currently advises a number of United Nations bodies (UNDP, UNECE and UNESCAP) in connection with their PPP Capacity Building Programmes in Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific and is currently part of the UNECE PPP Team of Specialists based in Geneva and is head of its PPP Rapid Reaction Implementation Team.
Anthony is also International Counsel for a large international law firm based in the City of London, is a member of International Financial Services London and is currently acting for a number of companies in the waste and renewables sector both in the UK and internationally.