Management Team

Andrea Cohen

Chief Executive

Andrea qualified as a solicitor in 1988 and specialised in bringing negligence claims against professionals, including solicitors, accountants, surveyors etc. In 2006, Andrea moved into the management team of a Top 100 law firm, developing a niche expertise in risk and compliance. Following five years as Consultant in her own risk and compliance business, ARC Risk & Compliance, and Head of Risk and Compliance and Training Principal at a law firm, Andrea joined Weightmans as a Consultant in March 2018 to work in Compli, Weightmans’ bespoke regulatory consultancy service for law firms, alternative business structures, barristers and in-house lawyers. Andrea also delivers training on a wide range of areas, most recently on GDPR.

Andrea is a founder member and Chief Executive of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association, member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Professional Negligence and member of the Manchester Law Society regulatory affairs committee and COLP and COFA Forum.

Edward Aczel

Marketing and Events co-ordinator

Ed has many years’ experience in the marketing industry. Ed manages all marketing for the association and seminars including co-ordinating speakers presentations.

Harry Fehily

of Holmes O’Malley Sexton - Ireland Representative

Harry is Managing Partner of Holmes O’Malley Sexton one of the most highly regarded professional negligence solicitors in Ireland. He has particular expertise in relation to the defence of professional negligence actions against solicitors, barristers and accountants as well as defending construction companies.

With the benefit of his wealth of experience, Harry is trusted to act for most leading professional negligence insurers operating in Ireland to deal with the most complex, high value and challenging negligence claims. He has extensive experience of acting in cases before the Commercial Court and prides himself on his ability to deliver optimum results.

Harry is an internationally ranked lawyer for Dispute Resolution with Chambers Global 2019, an international legal directory that ranks the world’s most outstanding lawyers. Client feedback to Chambers described him as practical, realistic and commercial. Harry is a keen advocate of dispute resolution and is himself a CEDR-qualified mediator.

Finally, Harry is also a member of the Law Society of Ireland’s Guidance and Ethics Committee’s Panel to assist solicitors in difficulty with the Law Society. He is a member of the International Lawyers’ Network and has experience of coordinating multi-jurisdictional litigation, including in relation to a recent solicitor’s cyber attack

Karen Cornwell

Joint Scotland Representative - Associate Kennedys Solicitors

Karen is a Notary Public and qualified as a solicitor in Scotland in 1999 and England and Wales in 2010.

Her background has exclusively been in litigation with a strong emphasis on all manners of commercial, property, banking litigation and professional negligence.

Karen is one of only nine solicitors to be Accredited as a Specialist in Professional Negligence Law by the Law Society of Scotland. She is also an active member of the Professional Negligence Lawyer’s Association

Steven Newdall

of Levi Solicitors - North of England Representative

Steven Newdall is head of the Professional Negligence team at Levi Solicitors. He combines this role with his responsibility as Managing Partner of the firm.

Steven is a highly experienced commercial litigation solicitor and he has been advising clients for over twenty five years in the professional negligence field. He has a reputation for his ‘no nonsense, pragmatic approach’ when protecting the interests of his clients.

His expertise and success within the field of professional negligence cover claims against all manner of professionals. These range from solicitors and insolvency practitioners, to construction professionals and accountants.

Steven also has extensive experience of insurance indemnity policy coverage and policy application issues, particularly in respect of solicitors’ indemnity insurance policies.

Outside of professional negligence claims, Steven deals with complex commercial issues including partnership and shareholder disputes and construction disputes.

Notable cases
Steven has regularly litigated in both the High Court and Court of Appeal during his career with notable cases being:

Halliwells LLP v NES Solicitors & Quinn Insurance `{`2011`}` P.N.L.R. 30
Axa Insurance Ltd v Akther & Darby Solicitors `{`2009`}` EWCA Civ 1166
Leslie v Farrar Construction Ltd
Sykes v Taylor-Rose
Levi Solicitors locations:
Leeds, (Central & North), Harrogate, Wakefield, Bradford, Manchester, London
www.levisolicitors.co.uk

Tim Edward

Dentons Solicitors Edinburgh - Joint Scotland Representative

Tim is a partner and a member of our Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice, focusing on insolvency and company litigation with experience of handling large-scale commercial litigations. He heads up the Dentons Commercial Dispute Resolution practice in Scotland. He has almost 30 years of experience in handling commercial disputes.

Tim is an accredited specialist in professional negligence by the Law Society of Scotland.