Executive Committee
Jonathan Agar
Chief Executive
Jonathan is responsible for Birketts’ strategic direction and ensuring that the firm’s 127 Partners and over 1,000 colleagues across our seven offices are all focused on providing the first class legal advice and client service that can be expected from a UK Top 50 law firm.
Chris Schwer
Senior Partner
Chris divides his time between advising clients and his management responsibilities where he works closely with our CEO, Jonathan Agar. As Senior Partner he chairs both the Partnership Board and the quarterly Partners Meetings and sees one of his most important functions as being the guardian of the firm’s culture.
Tim Sarson
Chief Operating Officer
Tim is the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, taking responsibility for managing the Finance, Risk & Compliance, Operations and Change Management teams. His day job revolves around managing and changing the business processes that underpin the delivery of legal advice to our clients, to help ensure that the firm remains a UK Top 50 law firm.
Grace Kerr
Partner – Head of Department (Real Estate)
As Head of the firm’s Real Estate Division, Grace has extensive management and leadership responsibilities. She is Client Relationship Manager for many of the firm’s largest clients and is often consulted on strategic, structural and other issues, over and above pure transactional property matters.
Adrian Seagers
Partner – Head of Department (Corporate / Commercial Services)
As Head of the Corporate Services Division, Adrian has responsibility for the services provided by Birketts’ teams specialising in insurance, corporate tax and banking and finance. This also extends to a shared responsibility for the firm’s services in employment, including employee Incentives, immigration and investigations.
Alex Davey
Partner – Head of Department (Litigation)
Alex qualified as a solicitor in September 1999 and joined Birketts in 2005. He is a Partner in our Shipping & International Trade Team and is Head of our Litigation and Dispute Resolution Team.
Jack Royall
Partner – Head of Department (Private Client)
Jack was admitted as a Solicitor in September 1999. He joined Birketts in 2005 and is a Partner in our Agriculture & Estates Team and is Head of our Private Client Advisory Team.
Shaun Savory
HR Director
Shaun is the firm’s HR Director and is a member of the Partnership Board. He has full responsibility for providing a proactive HR function, including learning and development, working closely with the CEO, partners and directors to design and implement HR strategies to meet business objectives.
Laura Shumiloff
Business Development and Marketing Director
Laura is responsible for Birketts’ marketing, communication and business development strategy, ensuring Birketts’ reputation continues to grow and expand.
Tom Wagstaff
Strategic Development Director
Tom works with business leaders at Birketts to identify opportunities to grow existing practice areas and to explore the creation of new legal services or business models. Tom’s remit also includes identifying opportunities to introduce complementary non-legal services aligned to our core legal competences.
Sarah Ralph
Risk and Compliance Director
Sarah joined Birketts in 2010 and, at a strategic level, is responsible for designing processes, policies and procedures to identify and manage threats to the achievement of Birketts objectives. As the Risk and Compliance Director she leads a team of 12 to cover all compliance aspects for Birketts.
Shaun Folan
Operations Director
Shaun joined Birketts in July 2016 after 31 years’ service in the British Army in a variety of leadership and management roles. Shaun is the firm’s Operations Director and a member of the Executive Committee and responsible for design, implementation and execution of the operational plan in accordance with the firm-wide business strategy.
Marian Squire
Head of Business Change and Projects
Marian joined Birketts in 2019 and is responsible for the design and delivery of projects across the firm that improve efficiency through better process, use of technology and application of skills. Marian has a background in managing programmes of business improvement and cultural change.
Russell Edwards
IT Director
Russell has extensive experience developing strategic solutions and leading technology teams in a variety of sectors including financial services and automotive. He was previously at Mercedes AMG High Performance in Milton Keynes where he started as a Technical Architect and progressed to operations team leadership and was ultimately responsible for the successful delivery of a diverse technology portfolio for all of the Mercedes Formula 1, Formula E and Project One (F1 powered hyper car) programmes.
Sarah Dadds
Finance Director
A member of the firm’s Executive Committee, she is responsible for the financial management and performance of the firm and for the provision of strategic financial and commercial direction to the firm’s wider partnership.