Former Freshfields senior partner Edward Braham is among the legal practitioners to have been recognised in the 2025 New Year Honours List.
Braham, currently chair of investment advice company M&G, was senior partner at Freshfields between 2016 and 2020 and also served as global head of corporate during his 26 years at the firm. He has received a knighthood for services to corporate law and to business.
As senior partner, Braham oversaw the 2020 opening of Freshfields’ Silicon Valley office and is credited with playing a key part in the magic circle firm’s US expansion.
Meanwhile, former Herbert Smith Freehills senior partner James Palmer has been made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), also for services to law and to business.
Palmer, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for upper mid-market M&A, was HSF’s global head of corporate from 2010 to 2012 and was chair and senior partner from 2015 to 2021. Notable deals for Palmer include advising British American Tobacco on its $49bn takeover of Reynolds in 2017.
Former Linklaters partner and ESG pioneer Vanessa-Havard-Williams has been awarded an OBE for services to legal and financial services, to public finance and to tackling climate change. Havard-Williams, a Legal 500 Hall of Famer for ESG, now works as a consultant for Linklaters and previously headed the firm’s global environmental and climate change practice.
Linklaters IP partner Ian Karet also received an OBE for charitable and public service. Karet, who sits part-time as a deputy High Court judge, sat on the Charity Commission Board between 2019 and 2023 including a stint as interim chair in 2021.
Dana Denis-Smith, CEO of outsourced legal services provider Obelisk Support and founder of the First 100 Years and Next 100 Years campaigns has been recognised with an OBE for her services to women in law.
Denis-Smith, a former trainee at Linklaters, set up Obelisk Support in 2010 with the aim of decreasing the amount of female lawyers leaving the profession to raise a family and not returning.
Barrister Professor Eleanor Sharpston KC, who served as an advocate general at the Court of Justice of the European Union from 2006 to 2020 has become Dame Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for services to justice and to the education of law in the UK and Europe.
Charles Pritam Singh Dhanowa OBE, the registrar at the Competition Appeal Tribunal, was recognised with a CBE for his services to competition law. Barrister Christopher Katkowski KC, a silk since 1999, was honoured with a CBE for his contributions to planning.
Judge Sehba Haroon Storey, formerly the principal judge at the Asylum Support Tribunal, retired in July last year and was awarded with a CBE for services to diversity and inclusion. Professor Richard Eric Susskind OBE, who recently served as technology advisor to the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, was recognised with a CBE for his services to information technology and the law. Susskind, a writer and economist, is known for his exploration of how technology, particularly AI, is transforming professions such as law and finance.
Emma Morris, who moved to Fieldfisher in September, and is the lead solicitor to the Infected Blood Inquiry, was honoured with an OBE for public service. Jennifer Leonard, director of operational policing law at the Metropolitan Police Service, was recognised with an OBE for services to diversity and inclusion. Soumya Majumdar, head of the proceeds of crime division at the Crown Prosecution Service, received an OBE for services to law and order.
Claire Louise Croot, a paralegal business manager at the Crown Prosecution Service, received an MBE for services to law and order. Lisa Haythorne, a senior solicitor at Derbyshire Law Centre, was awarded an MBE for services to vulnerable and homeless people. Margaret Kirby, a solicitor and founder of Legacare – a legal charity helping people with life-threatening illnesses – was recognised with an MBE for services to the law and to vulnerable people.
Mayor of London and former solicitor Sadiq Khan was awarded a knighthood in recognition of his political and public service.
