Staff Profiles
Richard Nelson
Richard Nelson qualified as a solicitor on 1st October 1975 and has a wide range of experience of law and business. Having trained with an established firm, he subsequently moved to Messrs Freeth Cartwright & Sketchley where he became a Partner in 1980.
In 1983, he left to form what became known as Nelsons. As Senior Partner, he was instrumental in the growth of the broad-based practice, leading it to become one of the largest firms in the East Midlands and amongst the largest 50 firms in the country. He left Nelsons to set up RNBDS in April 2003.
Richard himself has for many years had a national reputation in his field of work and, since the inception of the Chambers Directory, has been noted as a leader in the field and enjoyed top band ranking in the Legal 500 Directory. In the course of his career, he has dealt with some of the largest cases presented in Court.
He was invited to become a founder member of the Complex Case Practitioners’ Group and is Secretary of the Serious Fraud Association.
He also has hands-on business experience. He has held a number of non-executive directorships which has provided further practical insight of relevance to the firm’s work.
Richard is a member of the Law Society and the Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers.
email richardnelson@rnbds.co.uk
Sophia Ali
Sophia Ali completed her training at a firm in Birmingham and qualified as a Solicitor on 15th June 2007.
She has experience in defending various criminal prosecutions both in the Magistrates’ Court and the Crown Court including serious and organised criminal cases.
Sophia is a member of the Law Society.
Marie Dancer (nee Bales)
Marie trained as a Barrister and was called to the Bar in 1999; she then trained at Nelsons Solicitors and obtained dual qualification as a Solicitor on 2nd April 2002. She transferred to RNBDS from Nelsons with Richard Nelson in April 2003.
Marie specialises in defending fraud cases prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, HMRC, BERR and the CPS. She is also expert in money laundering, confiscation and restraint orders. She has experience in running teams of lawyers, defending cases which are regarded as Very High Cost Cases. Marie also manages the employment team.
She is a member of Middle Temple, The Law Society, the Association of Women Solicitors, the Young Fraud Lawyers in the North Association and is on the committee of the Young Solicitors Group and the Law Society for Nottinghamshire.
She is the Operational Director of RNBDS.
Sarah Bloor
Sarah completed her training contract at Cooper Kenyon Burrows Solicitors, Manchester and joined RNBDS upon her qualification as a solicitor on 15th August 2006.
Sarah has experience in defending Serious Fraud Office Prosecutions and fraud cases brought by the CPS along with Regulatory offences. She defends confiscation and restraint orders.
Sarah is a key member of our VHCC (Very High Cost Cases) team. She is a member of the Law Society, the Young Solicitors Group and the Young Fraud Lawyers in the North Association.
Emma Brooks
Emma Brooks completed her training at a firm in Leeds and qualified as a solicitor on 17th September 2001. She then worked for 5 years at a large defence practice in London, where she defended a variety of criminal cases including serious and organised crime. Emma has acquired a reputation as a strong advocate.
Emma joined the London office of RNBDS in February 2007.
Emma is a key member of our Professional Disciplinary and Regulatory team. Her experience includes representing a variety of regulated professionals, including solicitors who are under investigation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority with representation before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
Emma is a member of the Law Society, Solicitors Assistance Scheme and the Young Fraud Lawyers Association.
Rachel Buckley
Rachel qualified as a Barrister and was called to the Bar in 1994. She then joined Nelsons Solicitors where she obtained dual qualification as a Solicitor on 3rd March 1997. Rachel joined RNBDS in 2004.
Rachel is a specialist in defending fraud allegations by the Serious Fraud Office, BERR, HMRC and other regulatory bodies.
She is experienced in defending cases which are regarded as Very High Cost Cases and is a grade A case manager.
Rachel is a member of the Law Society and Lincoln’s Inn.
email rachelbuckley@rnbds.co.uk
Hilary Campion
Hilary has over 30 years experience as a Practicing Employment Lawyer. For 23 of those years he was a Partner and Head of Employment Law in the Nottingham office of the international law firm, Eversheds.
He joined RNBDS in 2008 as Director of Employment Law. His vast experience covering both contentious and non contentious employment law work, is a valuable resource to both employer and employee clients of the firm.
He is a member of the Law Society and the Employment Lawyers Association.
Jolyon Canlin
Jolyon trained at a leading law firm in the East Midlands and qualified as a Solicitor on 15th October 2002. He has experience in defending a variety of criminal cases from the Police Station to the Crown Court, including serious and organised criminal cases.
He has a reputation for being a strong advocate with a particular interest in road traffic cases.
Having joined Richard Nelson Business Defence Solicitors in 2007 Jolyon specialises in defending serious fraud cases, regulatory, transport and road traffic cases.
Jolyon is a member of the Law Society and is on the committee of the Young Solicitors Group for Nottinghamshire.
Amy Cheunviratsakul
Amy completed her law degree in Leicester before training as a Barrister in Nottingham. She was called to the Bar in 2007.
Amy has joined Richard Nelson Business Defence Solicitors as a Legal Assistant.
She has experience of defending serious fraud cases, including Very High Cost Cases.
Amy is a member of Middle Temple.
Firoz Dawood
Firoz trained as a Barrister at the Inns of Court in London before being called to the Bar in 2003. In 2007, he obtained dual qualification as a solicitor.
Firoz is a specialist criminal defence advocate. He has defended against a wide variety of allegations including serious fraud, terrorism, murder and road traffic matters. In addition, Firoz has obtained the duty solicitor’s qualification and is a very experienced police station advisor. He is also is a member of the VHCC panel.
Firoz is a member of the Law society and Grays Inn.
Debbie Gormley
Debbie began her legal career in 1992 and joined Richard Nelson Business Defence Solicitors in 2005. She specialises in contentious fraud and regulatory cases, representing clients facing investigations and proceedings brought by the Serious Fraud Office, HMRC, BERR, the Police and other Professional and Regulatory bodies.
She has experience in a wide range of criminal and professional regulatory matters including large scale money laundering, conspiracy to defraud, fraudulent trading, confiscation and restraint proceedings, Trading Standards and Health and Safety investigations and prosecutions.
email debbiegormley@rnbds.co.uk
Raheema Jamal
Raheema completed her law degree at Southampton University and the Legal Practice Course at Cardiff Law School. She trained in a leading law practice in Wales and qualified as a Solicitor on 1st March 2006.
Prior to commencing her training contract, Raheema lived and worked in Sydney for a year, where she worked in the legal team of a multi-national tobacco company on a high profile litigation case and in two top tier law firms.
Raheema has experience in defending criminal cases in the Crown Court and specialises in defending serious fraud cases, including Very High Cost Cases.
Raheema is a member of the Law Society and the Young Solicitors Group.
Charlotte Knight
Charlotte trained in the East Midlands and qualified as a Solicitor on 15th February 2001. She has experience in defending a variety of criminal cases including serious and organised criminal matters. Charlotte joined RNBDS in April 2005. Charlotte is a Higher Rights Advocate.
Charlotte specialises in defending fraud cases prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office and other regulatory bodies. She has expertise in defending cases from the police station through to trial.
Charlotte is a member of the Law Society.
email charlotteknight@rnbds.co.uk
Polly Morley
Prior to commencing her legal career, Polly obtained a Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences.
Polly trained in the East Midlands and qualified as a Solicitor on 15th December 2003. She has experience in defending a variety of criminal cases including serious and organised criminal matters. Polly joined RNBDS in 2006.
Polly specialises in defending fraud cases prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office and other regulatory bodies. She has experience in defending confiscation and restraint orders and cases designated as Very High Cost Cases. She has expertise in defending cases from the police station through to trial.
Polly is a member of the Law Society.
email pollymorley@rnbds.co.uk
Julie Roberts
Julie trained at Glaisyers Solicitors, Birmingham and moved to Nelsons Solicitors upon qualification. She qualified as a solicitor on 15th November 1995. She transferred to RNBDS from Nelsons with Richard Nelson in April 2003.
Julie is a member of the Law Society’s panel of approved Supervising Solicitors for Very High Cost Cases and as such has a wealth of experience in handling large scale, high value fraud cases including those prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office.
Steve Roberts
Steve completed his Law degree and LPC at Cardiff University. He trained with a general criminal firm based in South Wales before qualifying on 1st June 2005, where he continued to specialise in criminal law.
Steve has experience of dealing with all aspects of the criminal process, from defending clients in the police station, through to the Magistrates and Crown Court.
Steve has also taken a number of Road Traffic cases to the Court of Appeal. He has a reputation as a strong and versatile advocate. Steve joined RNBDS in January 2007.
He is a member of the Law Society.
Nicola Roe
Nicola completed her law degree at Leicester University and her legal practice course in Nottingham. She trained at Gateley Wareing solicitors and qualified as a solicitor on 15th September 2005. Nicola joined Richard Nelson Business Defence Solicitors in 2007.
Nicola is a key member of the Employment Department and has experience in both contentious and non contentious matters. In particular she deals with negotiating compromise agreements, unfair and wrongful dismissal claims, claims for discrimination and breach of contract matters. She has a particular interest in breaches of restrictive convenants.
She is a member of the Law Society and the Association of Employment Solicitors.
email nicolaroe@rnbds.co.uk
Andrew Tomlinson
After completing a law degree at Durham University, Andrew trained as a Barrister and called to the Bar in 2006. In August that year, Andrew joined Richard Nelson Business Defence Solicitors as a Legal Assistant.
Andrew has a dual role within the fraud team and the employment department.
He is a member of the Inner Temple.
email andrewtomlinson@rnbds.co.uk
Alexander Ude
Alexander trained in London and qualified as a solicitor on 2nd April 2001. He moved to the Midlands in 2004 and joined RNBDS in 2007.
Alexander is experienced in civil and commercial litigation. His experience includes but is not limited to fraud, wrongful trading, directors disqualfication, contractual disputes, professional negligence, insolvency/bankruptcy, banking and intellectual property disputes.
He is a member of the Law Society.
Arwen Vervoorts
Arwen is a Cambridge University graduate, and completed the Legal Practice Course at Nottingham Law School. She trained with a leading national law firm and qualified as a Solicitor on 16th September 2002.
She joined Richard Nelson Business Defence Solicitors in 2008 and specialises in Employment Law, representing both employers and employees in contentious and non contentious matters.
Arwen is a Higher Rights Advocate who also has prior experience defending a wide range of criminal prosecutions, both in the Magistrates Court and the Crown Court.
She is a member of the Law Society.
Christopher Walton
Christopher Walton was articled with Kingsley Napley, qualified as a solicitor on 15th December 1988 and has always specialised in crime. He has experience of all aspects of defending serious and general crime and fraud cases and is a Specialist Fraud Panel Supervisor. He has acted in prosecutions brought by the CPS Special Casework Unit, Serious Fraud Office, HM Revenue and Customs, among others and has represented defendants facing Confiscation and Restraint proceedings.
He has acted for the solicitor accused in the “Harrovian” multiple mortgage fraud case; in a large scale computer software piracy case in a fraud on Microsoft worth over £40m and successfully defended a director of a Dot Com company in an SFO prosecution.
Christopher joined Richard Nelson Business Defence Solicitors in February 2007 from Bark & co solicitors to manage the London office.
Christopher is a member of the Law Society, London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association, the British Academy of Forensic Sciences and Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers.
email chriswalton@rnbds.co.uk
Jonathan Wright
Jonathan trained in Hampshire before moving to London and spending 9 years involved in defending large and complex business crime cases. He qualified as a solicitor on 3rd November 1997. He transferred to RNBDS in March 2006, where he manages the Cardiff office.
Jonathan is a member of the Law Society’s panel of approved Supervising Solicitors for Very High Cost Cases and as such has a wealth of experience in handling large scale, high value fraud cases including those prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office, Special Compliance Office and Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office.
He has particular experience of defending large MTIC cases and has been actively involved in successful applications to stay proceedings in high profile MTIC (Operation Vitric) and Duty Evasion cases (London City Bond).
Jonathan is a member of the Law Society.
email jonathanwright@rnbds.co.uk
