Our People
Our Partners, Directors, and senior team bring their extensive international legal experience at leading international law firms (including Allen & Overy and Lovells) and corporations to the operation and management of LegalBase.
Our team’s diverse range of qualifications and experience includes lawyers educated at leading universities (Oxford, Cambridge and Columbia) and qualified in jurisdictions such as England and Wales, New York and the Netherlands along with professors of law and accomplished corporate sector professionals.
Meet the team
Sudath Perera
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Sudath Perera is Partner and Director of LegalBase. Sudath also serves as Senior Partner of Sudath Perera Associates (SPA), a leading law firm in South Asia highly rated by both Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners. Sudath is named as a “leading individual” for Dispute Resolution and Intellectual Property by Legal 500. Sudath represents a wide range of international organisations (including Fortune 500 companies) such as Microsoft, Victoria’s Secret, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lacoste and Shell. Sudath is a member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, the International Bar Association, the Asian Patent Attorneys Association, the International Trademark Association and is a regular participant at the IACC. He has also served on the Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka and as a Director on the Export Development Board. He currently serves on the Board of investment firm Investec Capital. |
Ali Tyebkhan
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Ali Tyebkhan is Partner and Director of LegalBase Ali was previously a solicitor at leading international law firm Lovells where he worked in both the London and Brussels offices advising a range of international, Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 clients. He was also Legal Counsel at Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC), Dubai; a diverse Government of Dubai company with diverse operations and interests including upstream and downstream petroleum products shipping, terminaling and real estate. Ali qualified as a Solicitor in England and Wales and has a M.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Trinity College, the University of Oxford. Ali’s extensive experience includes advising a wide range of international clients (including large multinationals) in numerous jurisdictions, primarily in the sphere of corporate, commercial, banking and finance, intellectual property and EU Law. Ali previously served as a member of the Executive Committee of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in Sri Lanka and is currently a Director of Ceylon and Foreign Trades Limited (a diversified public company listed on the Colombo stock exchange) and serves on the General Council of SLASSCOM (The Sri Lankan IT-BPO Industry Chamber). |
Paul Girvan
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Paul Girvan is Partner and Director, UK and leads the real estate team. A graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, Paul has more than 25 years’ experience in the premium UK commercial real estate sector. He has acted for a diverse range of property owners, ranging from the world's largest pension funds to banks and substantial private investors. Paul spent six years as a Senior Associate with Allen & Overy in the City before setting up his own consultancy, with clients including Hammonds and Wragges as well as smaller, more specialist practices. Projects have included Canary Wharf and the Jubilee Line extension, with urban regeneration schemes and portfolio transactions a speciality. More recently, Paul has worked with leading legal publisher Lexis Nexis as co-author of LexisPSL Property to create bespoke real estate documentation and online resources for property lawyers. Email: paul.girvan@legalbaselaw.com |
Monique Gaw
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Monique Gaw is Director, North America and heads LegalBase’s U.S. office. She focuses on regulatory and public affairs work and is primarily responsible for client relations in North America.
Monique has extensive experience in the financial and regulatory sectors. She has worked for several leading organisations and financial establishments including Paine Webber (now UBS), Dean Witter (now Morgan Stanley), has served as Vice President at Charles Schwab and Countrywide Credit Industries and was Head of Government Relations for the American Financial Services Association. She has advised U.S. and European multinationals, financial institutions and trade associations on regulatory, public affairs and compliance issues. She has also advised on and contributed to the Bankruptcy Reform Act, Patriot Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, the EU Prospectus Directive, the EU Transparency Directive, the Australia-American Free Trade Agreement and Education Reauthorisation. She is a member of the British American Business Association, Women in Housing and Finance and former Board Member of the Kennedy Center Circles. Email: monique.gaw@legalbaselaw.com |
Steven Blockmans
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Steven Blockmans is Director, EU. A graduate of the University of Leiden (The Netherlands), he holds a PhD in international and EU law from the same university. Steven has over 12 years experience in EU and public international law where he has advised the European Union, governments and the private sector. Steven has particular expertise in public sector reform in post-conflict and transition countries advising on the transformation of legislative and regulatory systems and public administrations, Steven has built up a rich expertise in the drafting and approximation of national legislation to meet international (human rights and economic) standards, and administrative and judicial capacity building to ensure political independence, efficiency and accountability. He has worked in eastern Europe and the Balkans. His sectoral expertise includes customs, transport, telecoms and environment. Steven is also a part-time professor of international and EU law at the University of Leuven (Belgium). He frequently acts as guest lecturer (at, e.g., Washington College of Law and the American University in Kosovo), and trainer (at, e.g., the European Commission’s DGs RELEX, TRADE, DEV, and the Integrated Rule of Law Mission for Iraq). He lives in Brussels. |
Dilushi Wikremasinghe
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Dilushi Wickremasinghe is Legal Director at LegalBase. Dilushi was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2003 and to the bar of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka in 2004. She has a LL.B (Hons) degree from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom and is a member of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and of Lincoln's Inn, U.K. |
Dilenthi Warakaulle
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Dilenthi Warakaulle is Legal Director, North America based in Toronto, Canada.
Dilenthi obtained a LL.B (Hons) degree from the University of London and a LLM in International Trade Law from the University of Wales and was admitted to the Bar of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.
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