Lundie Smith is an expert in patent litigation, with experience and significant success in leading complex patent infringement and validity disputes, often as part of wider, multi-national litigation strategies. With a background as a general IP litigator, his role is varied and encompasses IP matters and contentious trademark work.

His wealth of experience in hard IP and patent disputes, which complements the firm’s established reputation in soft IP and brand protection, will add a new dimension to the team’s offering, the firm said in a statement. Lundie Smith works closely with major corporates and has strong connections with leading attorneys and litigation funders in the UK, Europe, and the US which will broaden the firm’s reach and expand its global IP offering.

“Robert’s strengths in hard IP and patent disputes add an exciting new string to our bow and will significantly enhance the services we offer to clients,” Stewart Hey, partner and divisional managing partner of the litigation and dispute resolution division, said. “His appointment supports our strategic ambition to expand our global IP offering following recent hires into our Milan team, and we are very pleased to welcome him into our fast-growing dispute resolution team.”

Lund Smith’s arrival follows the recent appointment of Annapaola Negri-Clementi and her team in Milan which added corporate, fintech, IP and art law service lines to the firm’s multidisciplinary private capital offering in Italy. Dewdney William Drew also recently joined the London office as head of brand protection in the intellectual property team.

Quilter
 UK wealth manager , a London-headquartered wealthtech SaaS provider, has appointed John Herlihy (pictured below), who joined initially as an angel investor, as chairman at a “pivotal moment in the company’s trajectory,” the firm said in a statement.

John Herlihy

Following a career spanning more than 30 years, John Herlihy brings experience in leading European growth strategies for some of the world’s biggest online companies. After spending many years in California leading teams for Adobe, Oracle and First Data, Herlihy returned to his native Ireland in 2005 to scale Google’s EMEA operations. He spent a decade building Google’s multi-billion dollar revenue engine through a 3,500-strong team. Herlihy then spent a further six years at LinkedIn as VP for EMEA and LATAM. Today, Herlihy holds non-executive directorships at high-growth European tech companies, including OpenAI (Ireland).

Founded in 2019 by Anton Padmasiri CEO and Chamat Arambewela, WealthOS is a cloud-native, middle- and back-office SaaS provider. Its technology enables global wealth management businesses to accelerate their adoption of digital tools – tools that improve not only how they work, but the experience they offer to their end-clients. 

“Since John joined WealthOS, his depth of experience has had an immediate impact across our organisation. John is one of the rare executives who truly understands company scaling, he knows the critical breakpoints as companies grow and how to navigate them gracefully,” Padmasiri said. “With John now stepping into the chair role, I'm confident that 2026 will be even more successful as we scale to meet the opportunity ahead.”

L&G’s Asset Management
, a global asset servicer to both asset managers and asset owners, has recruited Mano Mathews (pictured below) to the newly-created role of global head of capability centres.

Mano Mathews

He will work across the business, including service lines and functions, ensuring that Ocorian’s operating model standardises, streamlines and automates global processes.

Based in Mauritius, his role involves taking a strategic approach to Ocorian’s capability centre locations and operations around the world. The leaders of Ocorian’s Global Operations team and offshored functions will report into him, and he will report to the newly-appointed chief digital officer, Arvinder Mudhar.

Previously he was a managing director, Markets and Securities Services Operations at HSBC in India and has worked at Citi and Northern Trust Corporation in roles across Hong Kong, India and London. He started his 26-year career in Australia and has also worked for Insight Investment and State Street.

“Mano is an experienced operations executive with strong experience across the financial services industry and will play a crucial role in ensuring that Ocorian’s operations are fit for the future and we are continually enhancing our client experience,” Mudhar said.

Brown Shipley
, has appointed Melissa Buray (pictured below) as client advisor in its Birmingham office. She reports to Katrina Johnson, head of the North region.

Buray will work with the Birmingham team and colleagues across Brown Shipley to support private clients and strengthen relationships with professional intermediaries throughout the Midlands, the firm said in a statement yesterday.

Prior to this, Buray worked at HSBC’s private banking division, where she was a relationship manager serving clients in the East Midlands. Earlier in her career, she worked at Crédit Agricole, State Street and Citi.

Melissa Buray