About Us

The Team

The team at Manleys have gained a wealth of experience at some of the UK’s leading law firms and came together to create a niche legal practice dedicated to giving first class service, building rapport with clients and focusing on achieving results.

Manleys lawyers feature as UK leaders in their fields of law in Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 directories.

Legal 500 | Hall of Fame
Mark Manley

Mark Manley

Managing Director

Mark has more than 35 years’ experience obtaining outstanding results in disputes and litigation for clients.

He is nationally renowned for his work in reputation management, defamation, brand protection and privacy matters, on behalf of high profile individuals, corporates and organisations. 

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Mark was appointed to sit as a Deputy District Judge on the Northern Circuit in 2004. Mark became an accredited mediator in 1999 and has since successfully mediated over 700 disputes including many sports-related cases, contract/commercial cases, libel actions, professional negligence claims, intellectual property issues, and substantial shareholder disputes.

Mark is a member of CEDR Chambers (the set of the UK’s leading Mediators) and is also a mediator and arbitrator on the Sports Resolutions Panels. He has arbitrated several cases including an Olympic Games selection dispute and a large case between the FA and a football Club.

Mark has successfully won litigation cases at every level including in the House of Lords (now Supreme Court) and Court of Appeal including the landmark confidentiality/injunction case of Cream Holdings Ltd v Banerjee and Liverpool Daily Post & Echo Ltd [2004] HL.

Clients

Mark’s clients include: Members of the Royal Family, the Government, several NHS Trusts, national and regional newspapers, TV companies, magazines and radio stations, football clubs, (managers and players), boxers and musicians, to name just a few of our clients within the general business, entertainment, music and sports sectors.

Some of the individual clients Mark has represented include Members of the Royal Family, Kylie Minogue, Tyson Fury, Amir Khan, Steven Gerrard, Trent Alexander Arnold, Jamie Vardy, Rebekah Vardy, Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Vicky Pattison, Charlotte Crosby, Michael Owen, Megan McKenna, Dawn Ward, Ricky Whittle, Kerry Katona, Robbie Kean, Ricky Tomlinson, Stan Boardman, Claire Sweeney, Micah Richards, Marouanne Fellaini, Joe Hart, Juan Mata, Marcos Rojo, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov, Gary Neville, Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Ji Sung Park, Edwin Van der Saar, Joey Barton, Sven Goran Eriksson, Thaksin Shinawatra, Jamie Carragher, Simon Webbe and many others.

He has also handled a variety of cases for various media and sports organisations including Trinity Mirror, Bauer Media, Insider Media, Lime Pictures Ltd, ITV, Sunday Sport, Baron Publications and football clubs and players from the English Premiership and other Leagues.

Mark has also chaired or served on several footballer testimonial committees including Leon Osman’s Testimonial Committee (Everton), Jamie Carragher and Ronnie Moran.

Recognition

Mark continues to be recognised in Chambers & Partners UK and The Legal 500, where he is described as “media savvy” and a “great litigator” and is the Legal 500 “Hall of Fame”

What our clients say about Mark
Rebekah Booth

Rebekah Booth

Chief Operations Officer

Rebekah was appointed the firm’s COO in May 2022. Her role involves, managing the overall operations and resources of the company, setting the strategy for the future, building and maintaining relationships, as well implementing existing plans and policies. 

Rebekah is analytical, driven, extremely motivated, and has a strong desire for not only her own success, but that of the firm. 

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Along with her Honours degree in business management, Rebekah utilises her wealth of financial management and leadership experience from a variety of business sectors within her role at Manleys. 

In supporting all areas, Rebekah ensures Solicitors within Manleys are free to offer clients the best possible service in managing their case, as well as safeguarding the overall success and growth of the firm.

Jessica Turner

Jessica Turner

Associate Solicitor

Jessica is an Associate Solicitor at our Chester office.

Jessica helps her clients protect their reputations, intellectual property, private and confidential information and commercial interests. She advises on a broad range of legal issues including Reputation Management, Commercial Litigation, Intellectual Property, Defamation, Privacy, Breach of Confidence, Harassment, Data Protection, Advertising Law and Shareholder Disputes.

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Jessica acts for a wide variety of individuals and corporate clients, including celebrities, agents, social media influencers, footballers, media organisations, political parties and medical professionals.

Jessica is highly results-driven. She always has consideration for her clients' commercial interests and reputations.

Jessica has a First Class Honours Degree in English and History (graduating first in her class), a Graduate Diploma in Law and an LPC MSc in Law and Business Management.

What our clients say about Jessica
Peri Mornington

Peri Mornington

Solicitor

Peri has 9 years post-qualification experience and deals with breach of privacy, breach of confidence, defamation and civil harassment matters at Manleys. She also has experience in dealing with sports matters including bringing a petition in the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber and responding to an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

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She has acted for a high profile celebrity client in relation to extensive online ‘trolling’ and abuse which constituted breaches of her privacy and civil harassment.

Peri is currently involved in libel litigation for her client against HarperCollins Publishers Ltd and has recently secured a favourable judgment from Mr Justice Pepperall following a trial of preliminary issues on meaning.

Peri has recently appeared at court in the Southern District of New York in relation to the unsealing of court papers in the Guiffre v Maxwell defamation case. https://www.businesscheshire.co.uk/2022/11/29/chester-law-firm-secures-stay-of-us-court-decision/

She has successfully secured numerous ‘take-downs’ of online articles and social media posts which are in breach her clients rights and the law, along with contractual undertakings and apologies.

What our clients say about Peri
George Leeming

George Leeming

Trainee Solicitor

George joined the team in November 2021. Prior to joining Manleys, he read law at university before going on to complete the LPC MSc in Law, Business and Management.

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George works closely with all fee earners on a wide range of matters, not limited to commercial litigation, reputation management, IP, and defamation, for clients in business, sport, and media.

He has a particular interest in disputes within sport and has completed various courses to expand his knowledge of this area.

Jennifer Yates

Jennifer Yates

Senior Consultant Solicitor

Jennifer specliases in Employment Law, discrimination at work, and Special Educational Needs Tribunals, offering representation and support to both employees and individuals, and employers and educational settings.

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Jennifer qualified as a solicitor in 2007 and spent ten years practising law in a top 40 law firm. As a consultant solicitor at Manleys, Jennifer has built a reputation as a trustworthy and committed representative coming alongside clients in difficult times.

In addition to legal practise, Jennifer is a qualified mediator and a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators focussing on workplace and commercial disputes.

Eleni Iles

Eleni Iles

Senior Consultant

Eleni joined Manleys in 2012, having spent the previous 3 years working as a professional support lawyer dealing with regulatory/quality compliance at a North West firm. At Manleys, she is a consultant specialising in advising the practice on its compliance, risk and quality issues.

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Eleni qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and spent the first 8 years of her legal career as a property solicitor at a law firm in the North West, dealing with all aspects of commercial and residential property. She focused on commercial freehold and leasehold, commercial lending, business sales/purchases linked to property, and all types of residential property work.

Eleni gained an MA in modern history from Corpus Christi, Oxford before undertaking a Post Graduate Diploma in Law at the College of Law, Chester.

Stephen Lea

Stephen Lea

Consultant Solicitor

Stephen qualified as a Solicitor in 1979 and started representing musicians the following year. The clients he has represented are some of the music greats from the past 25 years and include Take That, New Order, The Charlatans, Tears For Fears, Teenage Fanclub, Russell Watson and James.

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As well as musicians, Stephen has also represented actors, TV presenters, songwriters, record and production companies, publishers and promoters and he is recognised as one of the leading Solicitors in the music industry.

Henna Riaz

Henna Riaz

Consultant Solicitor

Henna has more than 10 years' experience working with entertainment brands and has developed an enviable reputation particularly in the field of music industry contracts.

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After graduating in law from the London School of Economics in 2001, Henna trained at a national law firm before working for Mercury Records and Universal Studios in Los Angeles, USA. She returned to the UK as a senior media lawyer at DLA Piper and later Hill Dickinson before demonstrating her entrepreneurial expertise in establishing 360Royalty Audit, which ensures that licensors and intellectual property owners are getting paid accurately under their commercial agreements.

Henna's prestigious client base includes the BBC, Liverpool FC, and Entertainment 1, which produces the hugely popular Twilight films and owns the Peppa Pig franchise and reported over £200m UK retail sales in 2010. Henna also acts for Hit Entertainment, which owns Bob the Builder, Barney and Thomas & Friends.

Henna's services sectors including music, entertainment, technology, sports, pharmaceutical and bio-technology.

Laura Olson

Laura Olson

Consultant Solicitor

Laura qualified as a solicitor in 2001. Laura specialises in all aspects of relationship breakdown and in particular divorce and financial settlement upon divorce.

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She is experienced in dealing with high net worth individuals and high value divorce cases including business assets, trusts, shareholdings and pensions. Laura is also experienced in advising on and preparing pre-nuptial agreements. She also advises in relation to private child law disputes including contact and residence issues.

She also deals with cohabitation agreements and advises unmarried parties upon relationship breakdown including dealing with property disputes and financial provisions for children.

Laura has a firm and pragmatic approach and is extremely aware of her client's needs.

Laura has acted in several high-profile divorces and financial relief applications since working with Manleys. These have included cases involving one of the world's leading golfers, a multi-national entrepreneur and several household name celebrities.  

Sarah Bridge

Sarah Bridge

Consultant Solicitor

Sarah qualified as a solicitor in 2001 and has specialised in private client law ever since. Her expertise covers all aspects of private client work from wills, lasting powers of attorney, trusts and probate to estate and inheritance tax planning, capital gains tax planning and trust planning for both UK and non UK domiciliaries.

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Sarah was formerly head of private client at west end media and entertainment law firm, Harbottle & Lewis LLP. She acts for a broad spectrum of clients including high net worth individuals and entrepreneurs, families, landed estates and trusts. The discrete nature of her work means that her clients would prefer not to be listed but these have included high profile musicians, sportsmen, models and actors, ultra high net worth owner-managers, offshore trustees and trust corporations.

Sarah is a real ‘people person’ and is praised for her down to earth, pragmatic and personal approach and her ability to solve clients’ problems without boring them with legal jargon.

For all enquiries, please call 01244 230000 and a member of our team will be happy to help. Alternatively, you can fill out a quick form on our contact page.

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