Will Lawes

Will sits on the Governance and Remuneration Committee and is the Senior Independent Director for the Board. Will Lawes joined Lazard, the global financial advisory and asset management firm, in January 2017 as Managing Director, Financial Advisory. He was previously a senior partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer since 2001. Prior to that he was co-head of the firm’s worldwide financial institutions group for six years. Will specialises in corporate governance, public bids, mergers and demergers, private acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, restructurings and equity issues of all types, both in the UK and across borders. He advises a range of corporate, investment bank and financial institutions clients.

Will was educated at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. He joined the firm in 1986 and has been a partner since 1994. He is a visiting fellow at the Centre for Corporate Reputation, University of Oxford.