London’s Sexy Solicitors – Here’s the List

sexy solicitors in London

Cheeky London law blog Legal Cheek has released a list of The City’s 25 sexiest solicitors.  Now we’re not ones here at LawFuel to endulge in such tabloid tittle-tattle (damn, why didn’t we think of that!), but we can show who they are for those seeking their fortunes and prospective partners in The City.

The list includes a mixture of male and female so it’s taken a strictly non-sexist approach from the so-called “sexy solicitor specialists”. 

1. Neel Sachdev, Kirkland & Ellis

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With his pin-up looks and flamboyant dress sense, Neel Sachdev looks more like a movie star than a lawyer.

But beneath that luscious brown hair is the brain of a legal super nerd. In hot demand among the world’s top private equity houses, Sachdev, 39, spends his days (and nights and weekends) advising on leveraged buyouts and other complex financing transactions taking place across the globe.

In his rare moments of off-time, the Kirkland & Ellis hotshot — who became one of the firm’s youngest ever partners in 2007 — can be found at fave haunt Shoreditch House, or chilling in his Haggerston Riviera penthouse.

2. Monica Burch, Addleshaw Goddard

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There are few more powerful women in the legal profession than Addleshaw Goodard senior partner Monica Burch — one of only a handful of female lawyers at the helm of City of London law firms. And The Sexy Solicitor Specialists just love powerful women!

A champion of flexible working, Burch refuses to follow the City legal profession convention of working crazy hours and admits that she “can’t work without sleep”. The Oxford-educated commercial litigator’s mission is now to help the next generation of female lawyers reach the top in greater numbers than her peers.

Burch says that her biggest regret was not working flexibly until she had her third child. Now, as chairwoman of The Mentoring Foundation — a not-for-profit that runs programmes for future women leaders — this sexy solicitor is striving to change corporate culture for the better.

3. Oliver Hunt, Onside Law

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Knowing us The Sexy Solicitor Specialists, knowing you Oliver Hunt, “arguably the leading golf lawyer in Europe”, ah ha!

OK, so his firm profile blurb may be a little Partridge-esque, but try to look beyond that to the incredible blond quiff sported by the sports solicitor, not to mention the faraway look in his eyes — which hints at a breadth of interests that may extend to cricket and even Formula One.

Not convinced? Well, consider Hunt’s background as a corporate lawyer at Nabarro, and the entrepreneurial zeal he showed to set up Onside Law back in 2005 with two City law pals. Certainly, what the “Shrewsbury”-educated (Shrewsbury Technical College?) chap lacks in renaissance man credentials, he makes up for in connections.

4. Sally Wokes, Slaughter and May

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Blueblood magic circle outfit Slaughter and May is considered the hardest firm in the City in which to become a partner. But for the tiny percentage who make it the rewards are mind-blowing — S&M top dogs pull in as much as £2 million per year.

Imagine being anointed into this select group aged just 33 having already won the life lottery for looks and intelligence? Welcome to the world of Sally Wokes, Slaughter and May’s latest golden child.

The UCL graduate is an expert in international corporate deals, jetting around the world to advise on multi-billion pound transactions from the firm’s base in Bunhill Row in Moorgate. Not bad for someone who only qualified as a solicitor eight years ago.

5. Matt Holder, CMS Cameron McKenna

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Sometimes in life you just need a bit of totty. And CMS Cameron McKenna trainee solicitor Matt Holder is exactly that. Having previously worked at Abercrombie & Fitch — whose legally problematic penchant for hiring the good-looking is well documented — you can be sure that the Lancaster University graduate has the body to match his beautiful face.

What else of Holder? Well, it’s still early days in this lad’s career, but he likes rugby, skiing and going to the gym. And he’s a Scorpio. Plus, being from Bolton, he has a charming northern accent.

6. Robert Bishop, DLA Piper

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A girl would feel safe with Robert Bishop on her arm. The head of DLA Piper’s international corporate group exudes a calm, policeman-like authority; his chiselled jaw a symbol of strength and steadfastness in the often cut-throat world of M&A.

But Bishop is no one dimensional superhero figure. Formative years spent at the International School of Brussels have ensured that this sturdy dealmaker is highly sophisticated, as much at home munching on a pain au chocolat as he is crunching through the due diligence on the latest big-money corporate acquisition.

7. Selina Sagayam, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

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Corporate finance specialist Selina Sagayam has comfortably navigated the well-worn pathways of the global elite to reach the top of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher’s City of London office. On the way she has passed through educational establishments as fine as Raffles School in Singapore and St Paul’s Girl’s School in London, before slumming it at King’s College.

But her spell at “Strand Poly” didn’t dent Sagayam’s prospects as she began her career as a barrister, before going into banking and then qualifying as a solicitor. She looks barely a day over 30, but don’t be deceived: Sagayam is an experienced operator, having made partner back in 2004 at her first firm, Simmons & Simmons. 11 years on and she is one of the most respected dealmakers in the City.

8. Louis Dewfall, TLT

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So busy has lovely Louis Dewfall been studying law at Bristol University, and then doing his Legal Practice Course and training contract, that he is blissfully unaware that the Hoxton Fin went out of fashion many years ago.

It is, of course, this very innocence that brings Dewfall his charm. Like a good-natured shepherd boy who through some mix-up finds himself in London, the TLT banking & finance associate is so determined to do the best for his new paymasters that new hairstyles can wait!

One day, a few years from now, when Dewfall is a partner and the Hoxton Fin is all the rage again, this lad will be an incredible catch. Hook him while you can.

9. Fiona Woolf, CMS Cameron McKenna

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There’s a legendary show biz story about how Hollywood hearthrob Colin Farrell — then 28 — spent two hours begging veteran actor Dame Eileen Atkins for sex. Atkins apparently turned Farrell down because he is 42 years her junior.

We imagine much the same interaction happens each day at CMS Cameron McKenna, where the firm’s stunning partner Dame Fiona Woolf, 67, sets trainees’ pulses racing.

Woolf, who is one of the top energy lawyers in the world, has been widely feted for her legal skills and — following her stint as Lord Mayor of London — public service, but in The Sexy Solicitor Specialists‘ opinion not enough column inches have been devoted to her Bond Girl looks.

10. Michael Sergeant, Holman Fenwick Willan

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Gerard Butler, is that you? Holman Fenwick Willan’s London construction partner Michael Sergeant is a dead ringer for the Hollywood star (who legal geeks will of course know is a trained solicitor himself). But enough about Gerard and more about Michael…

Educated at Manchester University in the late 80s, The Sexy Solicitor Specialists imagine a long-haired, indy-loving Sergeant hanging out with The Stone Roses before they found fame, while harbouring a barely-contained longing for the world of construction law.

“One day I’ll pen a book on construction contracts,” he probably told a young Ian Brown, as the latter worked on the lyrics for ‘I wanna be adored’. And sure enough, last year out popped the Sergeant-authored tome Construction Contract Variation, which has already been described as an “an indispensable classic” by the Law Society Gazette.

11. Mariana Lavanchy, White & Case

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Schooled in Geneva before heading to London’s King’s College for uni, multi-lingual Mariana Lavanchy is every inch the glamorous international lawyer. To date, the career of the newly-qualified associate at the City office of New York giant White & Case has included six-month stints in Singapore and Paris. Prior to that she did not just one but two masters — at the College of Europe in Brussells and at La Sorbonne in Paris.

But Mariana is by no means just about global glitz. No, the commercial litigation and international arbitration specialist is also hot on her pro bono work, advising in her spare time at Whitechapel Homeless Mission’s legal advice clinic and at the Citizens Advice Bureau.

12. Oliver Lyons, Mayer Brown

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With designer stubble that tantalisingly threatens to extend to a full hipster beard, Oliver Lyons is equally at home in the sandwich shops of either Liverpool Street or Shoreditch High Street during his fleeting lunch breaks at global megafirm Mayer Brown.

And what stubble it is! With the bristles perfectly encasing Lyons’ cherub-like lips, above which sits that perfectly symmetrical nose, bordered by those cheeky eyes…

Lyons’ evidently deeply poetic soul was developed at Warwick University, where he studied English and American Literature. A law conversion course followed before he landed his City gig in 2012, but the whispers of Ginsberg, Hemingway and Falconer continue to flicker in that far-off stare.

Need or want to see more?  Head to Legal Cheek

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