JUDGES
JUDGES
Alexandra Hollingshead
Partner, Farrer & Co
Billy Stephenson
Managing Director, Stephenson Executive Search
‘Our business has thrived, and our focus is on appointments in the family office, wealth management and asset management sectors,’ Stephenson Executive Search founder Billy Stephenson told Spear’s. ‘We partner with clients and help them across the whole of their business, appointing CEOs, CFOs and heads of divisions. ‘Supporting the continued drive for diversity is critical,’ he continued. ‘It is always our policy to present the best possible candidate, and we work hard to make sure that our selection pool is representative of the total population.’ The firm, he said, is a signatory of the Black Talent Charter and has ‘committed to help promote black talent in the UK’. Stephenson, a former Credit Suisse private banker, founded his firm in 2012. In addition to traditional recruitment services, it also provides high-level board reviews, advice on governance and non-executive hires.
Dean Main
CEO, Rhodium
Dean Main is a British entrepreneur and one of the leading figures shaping the future of luxury residential real estate. As founder and CEO of Rhodium, he has built the only firm of its kind providing a fully integrated, turnkey operating solution for branded residences – partnering with the world’s most prestigious luxury brands and developers to deliver end-to-end advisory, mobilisation and operational expertise across every stage of a project’s lifecycle. Under Dean’s leadership, Rhodium has become the quiet force behind many of the most recognisable developments in the world. The company now manages more than $15 billion in assets across landmark branded and non-branded developments, serving as the trusted adviser and operating partner for some of the world’s most coveted names. Dean’s focus on protecting brand equity, elevating the homeowners’ experience and maximising long-term asset value has made him a sought-after adviser to developers, brands and investors navigating the convergence of hospitality, design and real estate. Alongside his role at Rhodium, Dean is CEO and the founding partner of Henigman, one of London’s most discreet and accomplished ultra-prime residential developers. Henigman has an uncompromising approach to craftsmanship, quality and discretion, creating some of London’s most exceptional private homes for an international clientele. This dual perspective – combining deep operational expertise with an insider’s understanding of design, development and ownership – gives him a uniquely holistic view of the ultra-high-net-worth client and the evolving dynamics of private wealth and property investment. His insight into how affluent buyers think, live and invest continues to inform the next generation of branded residences and hospitality-led living.
Edmund Fetherston-Dilke
Partner, Farrer & Co
Edmund’s practice includes agricultural estates work, residential and commercial property. His clients vary from institutional land owners, charities and property companies to individuals and farmers. Edmund was appointed the solicitor to the Duchy of Cornwall in June 2020. Edmund has significant experience in looking after a variety of landed estates. He is familiar with the panoply of issues that can be encountered including rights of way, forestry issues, agri-environmental schemes and the special regimes applying to agricultural tenants. He advises both on the management of landed estates as well as the sale and purchase. Edmund also has experience in the sale and purchase of super-prime London residential property.
Edwin Smith
Editor-in-Chief, Spear's
Edwin Smith is the Editor-in-Chief of Spear's, the multi-award winning media brand for high-net-worth individuals. His writing has also appeared in the Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Spectator, Esquire, Wired, Private Eye and other national titles. He is a regular commentator on the world of private wealth in the national press and provides analysis to private banks and law firms.
Emma Woollcott
Head of Reputation, Mishcon de Reya
Heather Hostetter
President, IAFL
James Rivett KC
Barrister, Pump Court Tax Chambers
Morag Ofili
Barrister, Edwin Coe
Tax barrister Morag Ofili leads the private wealth tax disputes offering at Edwin Coe. With a focus on advising high-profile individuals and international families, she has provided her expertise across a gamut of tax-related issues including commercial fraud, conduct/fairness proceedings against HMRC, insolvency-based disputes, professional negligence, failed tax planning and cross-border tax investigations. Prior to joining Edwin Coe, Ofili cut her teeth at Big Four firm EY then later served as managing associate at Mishcon de Reya and Harbottle & Lewis. She also spent time at the criminal bar where she specialised in corporate and financial crime.
Nichola Gray KC
Barrister, 1 Hare Court
Nick Beckett
Partner, Knight Frank
Nick Beckett is Co-Head of Knight Frank's Central London Super Prime Lettings department and has been with the firm since 2014. Over the past decade, he has advised on some of London's most significant residential rental transactions, specialising in private capital and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Nick is recognised for delivering exceptional results and providing a best-in-class service to landlords, tenants, and advisors alike.
Nick Dogilewski
Partner, Exeter Partners
Nick Dogilewski, managing partner of Exeter Partners, has been providing consultancy, human capital services and exclusive executive search with a global reach for nearly 20 years. His client base mainly consists of investment banks, wealth management boutiques and family offices. The successful entrepreneur took over his father’s recruitment business, revamped it, steered it through a financial crisis and has now run it for many years. Dogilewski’s expertise in finding and training talent has attracted many high-calibre clients, including leading Tier 1 banks, boutique investment houses and family offices. Exeter Partners takes pride in its practice of ‘trading on discretion’, has a successful track record and aims to give clients true confidence in their choices.
Oliver Shah
Founder, Newcome Advisory
Rhian-Anwell Hamill
Director of family enterprise, Institute of Entrepreneurship & Private Capital
Robert Creighton
Chair of the Family Mediation Standards Board, Family Mediation Council
Robert Creighton is the founding Chair of the Family Mediation Standards Board, having served on it since its inception in 2015. His interest in and commitment to family mediation came after his retirement. In his career he had various senior roles in the public sector, principally as a Chief Executive in the NHS. He was Chief Executive of NHS Ealing (Ealing Primary Care Trust) from 2002 to 2012, and before that Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust for five years. Previously he was a senior civil servant in the Department of Health, including a two-year stint as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State Virginia Bottomley. His early career was as a teacher and a director of an international educational charity, the United World Colleges (UWC).
Rupert Phelps
Adviser
Rupert Phelps has had a storied career. Having risen to the rank of Captain in the Life Guards, he began to make his way in the City with Merrill Lynch, which he has described to Spear's as 'an aggressive American bank with an international presence, a meritocratic culture and excellent training'. Phelps is now an independent and valued adviser to a number of single family offices. With an encyclopedic knowledge of the people involved in the high net worth financial industry he consults on stewardship, strategy, philanthropy, governance and succession planning. He also chairs the Gull's Egg Luncheon, which raises significant sums for charity each year.
Salamander Davoudi
Co-founder, Tancredi
Former Financial Times journalist Salamander Davoudi co-founded the Tancredi Group in 2015 to offer a bespoke communications service with a ‘results-driven’ approach, acting for corporates, private equity firms, luxury brands and private individuals. ‘Clients consider me to be their Praetorian Guard,’ Davoudi says. Her decade at one of Britain’s most respected newspapers – reporting on European businesses as well as from the paper’s Washington DC bureau – often informs her work, giving her a richer perspective than those who have never worked for ‘the other side’. When it comes to crisis communications, Davoudi adds that the firm’s philosophy is to grasp the issues as quickly as possible and develop a strategy to ensure the accurate representation of facts in the media and by third parties.
Sam Longworth
Partner, Stewarts
Sam Longworth is a partner at Stewarts and one of England's leading divorce lawyers, acting in international and high-value family law cases. He was lead partner for the husband in Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on the treatment of pre-marital wealth. He acts for leaders in finance and technology, figures from sport and entertainment, and families holding generational and dynastic wealth, with a client base concentrated in the US, Asia and the Middle East. Individuals, families and trustees instruct him on divorce, on pre- and post-nuptial agreements, and on complex parental disputes, particularly international relocation. He is also among the leading practitioners in 'private court' arbitration. Longworth trained in London and joined Stewarts in 2007, becoming partner in 2013. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and vice chair of the American Bar Association's International Family Law Committee.
Simon Chadowitz
Partner, Fladgate
'When I was young, my dad told me the harder I worked, the more opportunities I would get,' Fladgate partner Simon Chadowitz tells Spear's. 'And he wasn't wrong.' It's advice that the property lawyer has taken to heart. 'Even now, I make sure I'm available 24/7 to my clients. And I know many of them really value that.' One example is property broker and Spear's Award winner Becky Fatemi, whose former firm Rokstone was sold to Sotheby's International Realty in a deal that was orchestrated by Chadowitz. The former Mishcon partner joined Fladgate after recognising that its 'smaller size enabled a more attentive, bespoke and entrepreneurial service'. This embodies Chadowitz's own approach to his work. 'At Fladgate, I am able to holistically service my clients,' he says. 'My work is anchored in real estate, but I feel more like a private client lawyer.' In line with this, Chadowitz also works across Walgate, a company 'owned and powered by Fladgate' that provides debt solutions and family office services to prominent clients such as UK Sotheby's International Realty and UHNW families.
Sophie Rogerson
Managing Director, RFR
Sophie is recognised as one of the leading buying advisers in London. She has spent two decades finding and acquiring the finest homes in London for clients. Her knowledge of London’s key markets is truly exceptional, and her former career at Macfarlanes adds unparalleled transactional expertise. With what peers describe as an ‘enviable track record’, the RFR team are afforded access to the very best properties offered discreetly off-market or privately for sale. Clients commend her as ‘superbly knowledgeable’ and a ‘calm and effective negotiator’. Named Property Adviser of the Year and Buying Agent of the Year by Spear’s in 2018 and 2025, respectively, and the UK’s Leading Buying Agent by Chambers, she is credited as a pioneer of the role of the buyer’s adviser.
Aisha Alli
Head of Research, Spear's
Alexandra Hollingshead
Partner, Farrer & Co
Billy Stephenson
Managing Director, Stephenson Executive Search
‘Our business has thrived, and our focus is on appointments in the family office, wealth management and asset management sectors,’ Stephenson Executive Search founder Billy Stephenson told Spear’s. ‘We partner with clients and help them across the whole of their business, appointing CEOs, CFOs and heads of divisions. ‘Supporting the continued drive for diversity is critical,’ he continued. ‘It is always our policy to present the best possible candidate, and we work hard to make sure that our selection pool is representative of the total population.’ The firm, he said, is a signatory of the Black Talent Charter and has ‘committed to help promote black talent in the UK’. Stephenson, a former Credit Suisse private banker, founded his firm in 2012. In addition to traditional recruitment services, it also provides high-level board reviews, advice on governance and non-executive hires.
Dean Main
CEO, Rhodium
Dean Main is a British entrepreneur and one of the leading figures shaping the future of luxury residential real estate. As founder and CEO of Rhodium, he has built the only firm of its kind providing a fully integrated, turnkey operating solution for branded residences – partnering with the world’s most prestigious luxury brands and developers to deliver end-to-end advisory, mobilisation and operational expertise across every stage of a project’s lifecycle. Under Dean’s leadership, Rhodium has become the quiet force behind many of the most recognisable developments in the world. The company now manages more than $15 billion in assets across landmark branded and non-branded developments, serving as the trusted adviser and operating partner for some of the world’s most coveted names. Dean’s focus on protecting brand equity, elevating the homeowners’ experience and maximising long-term asset value has made him a sought-after adviser to developers, brands and investors navigating the convergence of hospitality, design and real estate. Alongside his role at Rhodium, Dean is CEO and the founding partner of Henigman, one of London’s most discreet and accomplished ultra-prime residential developers. Henigman has an uncompromising approach to craftsmanship, quality and discretion, creating some of London’s most exceptional private homes for an international clientele. This dual perspective – combining deep operational expertise with an insider’s understanding of design, development and ownership – gives him a uniquely holistic view of the ultra-high-net-worth client and the evolving dynamics of private wealth and property investment. His insight into how affluent buyers think, live and invest continues to inform the next generation of branded residences and hospitality-led living.
Edmund Fetherston-Dilke
Partner, Farrer & Co
Edmund’s practice includes agricultural estates work, residential and commercial property. His clients vary from institutional land owners, charities and property companies to individuals and farmers. Edmund was appointed the solicitor to the Duchy of Cornwall in June 2020. Edmund has significant experience in looking after a variety of landed estates. He is familiar with the panoply of issues that can be encountered including rights of way, forestry issues, agri-environmental schemes and the special regimes applying to agricultural tenants. He advises both on the management of landed estates as well as the sale and purchase. Edmund also has experience in the sale and purchase of super-prime London residential property.
Edwin Smith
Editor-in-Chief, Spear's
Edwin Smith is the Editor-in-Chief of Spear's, the multi-award winning media brand for high-net-worth individuals. His writing has also appeared in the Telegraph, Guardian, Daily Mail, Evening Standard, Spectator, Esquire, Wired, Private Eye and other national titles. He is a regular commentator on the world of private wealth in the national press and provides analysis to private banks and law firms.
Emma Woollcott
Head of Reputation, Mishcon de Reya
Heather Hostetter
President, IAFL
James Rivett KC
Barrister, Pump Court Tax Chambers
Morag Ofili
Barrister, Edwin Coe
Tax barrister Morag Ofili leads the private wealth tax disputes offering at Edwin Coe. With a focus on advising high-profile individuals and international families, she has provided her expertise across a gamut of tax-related issues including commercial fraud, conduct/fairness proceedings against HMRC, insolvency-based disputes, professional negligence, failed tax planning and cross-border tax investigations. Prior to joining Edwin Coe, Ofili cut her teeth at Big Four firm EY then later served as managing associate at Mishcon de Reya and Harbottle & Lewis. She also spent time at the criminal bar where she specialised in corporate and financial crime.
Nichola Gray KC
Barrister, 1 Hare Court
Nick Beckett
Partner, Knight Frank
Nick Beckett is Co-Head of Knight Frank's Central London Super Prime Lettings department and has been with the firm since 2014. Over the past decade, he has advised on some of London's most significant residential rental transactions, specialising in private capital and ultra-high-net-worth clients. Nick is recognised for delivering exceptional results and providing a best-in-class service to landlords, tenants, and advisors alike.
Nick Dogilewski
Partner, Exeter Partners
Nick Dogilewski, managing partner of Exeter Partners, has been providing consultancy, human capital services and exclusive executive search with a global reach for nearly 20 years. His client base mainly consists of investment banks, wealth management boutiques and family offices. The successful entrepreneur took over his father’s recruitment business, revamped it, steered it through a financial crisis and has now run it for many years. Dogilewski’s expertise in finding and training talent has attracted many high-calibre clients, including leading Tier 1 banks, boutique investment houses and family offices. Exeter Partners takes pride in its practice of ‘trading on discretion’, has a successful track record and aims to give clients true confidence in their choices.
Oliver Shah
Founder, Newcome Advisory
Rhian-Anwell Hamill
Director of family enterprise, Institute of Entrepreneurship & Private Capital
Robert Creighton
Chair of the Family Mediation Standards Board, Family Mediation Council
Robert Creighton is the founding Chair of the Family Mediation Standards Board, having served on it since its inception in 2015. His interest in and commitment to family mediation came after his retirement. In his career he had various senior roles in the public sector, principally as a Chief Executive in the NHS. He was Chief Executive of NHS Ealing (Ealing Primary Care Trust) from 2002 to 2012, and before that Chief Executive of Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Trust for five years. Previously he was a senior civil servant in the Department of Health, including a two-year stint as Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State Virginia Bottomley. His early career was as a teacher and a director of an international educational charity, the United World Colleges (UWC).
Rupert Phelps
Adviser
Rupert Phelps has had a storied career. Having risen to the rank of Captain in the Life Guards, he began to make his way in the City with Merrill Lynch, which he has described to Spear's as 'an aggressive American bank with an international presence, a meritocratic culture and excellent training'. Phelps is now an independent and valued adviser to a number of single family offices. With an encyclopedic knowledge of the people involved in the high net worth financial industry he consults on stewardship, strategy, philanthropy, governance and succession planning. He also chairs the Gull's Egg Luncheon, which raises significant sums for charity each year.
Salamander Davoudi
Co-founder, Tancredi
Former Financial Times journalist Salamander Davoudi co-founded the Tancredi Group in 2015 to offer a bespoke communications service with a ‘results-driven’ approach, acting for corporates, private equity firms, luxury brands and private individuals. ‘Clients consider me to be their Praetorian Guard,’ Davoudi says. Her decade at one of Britain’s most respected newspapers – reporting on European businesses as well as from the paper’s Washington DC bureau – often informs her work, giving her a richer perspective than those who have never worked for ‘the other side’. When it comes to crisis communications, Davoudi adds that the firm’s philosophy is to grasp the issues as quickly as possible and develop a strategy to ensure the accurate representation of facts in the media and by third parties.
Sam Longworth
Partner, Stewarts
Sam Longworth is a partner at Stewarts and one of England's leading divorce lawyers, acting in international and high-value family law cases. He was lead partner for the husband in Standish v Standish [2025] UKSC 26, the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on the treatment of pre-marital wealth. He acts for leaders in finance and technology, figures from sport and entertainment, and families holding generational and dynastic wealth, with a client base concentrated in the US, Asia and the Middle East. Individuals, families and trustees instruct him on divorce, on pre- and post-nuptial agreements, and on complex parental disputes, particularly international relocation. He is also among the leading practitioners in 'private court' arbitration. Longworth trained in London and joined Stewarts in 2007, becoming partner in 2013. He is a fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and vice chair of the American Bar Association's International Family Law Committee.
Simon Chadowitz
Partner, Fladgate
'When I was young, my dad told me the harder I worked, the more opportunities I would get,' Fladgate partner Simon Chadowitz tells Spear's. 'And he wasn't wrong.' It's advice that the property lawyer has taken to heart. 'Even now, I make sure I'm available 24/7 to my clients. And I know many of them really value that.' One example is property broker and Spear's Award winner Becky Fatemi, whose former firm Rokstone was sold to Sotheby's International Realty in a deal that was orchestrated by Chadowitz. The former Mishcon partner joined Fladgate after recognising that its 'smaller size enabled a more attentive, bespoke and entrepreneurial service'. This embodies Chadowitz's own approach to his work. 'At Fladgate, I am able to holistically service my clients,' he says. 'My work is anchored in real estate, but I feel more like a private client lawyer.' In line with this, Chadowitz also works across Walgate, a company 'owned and powered by Fladgate' that provides debt solutions and family office services to prominent clients such as UK Sotheby's International Realty and UHNW families.
Sophie Rogerson
Managing Director, RFR
Sophie is recognised as one of the leading buying advisers in London. She has spent two decades finding and acquiring the finest homes in London for clients. Her knowledge of London’s key markets is truly exceptional, and her former career at Macfarlanes adds unparalleled transactional expertise. With what peers describe as an ‘enviable track record’, the RFR team are afforded access to the very best properties offered discreetly off-market or privately for sale. Clients commend her as ‘superbly knowledgeable’ and a ‘calm and effective negotiator’. Named Property Adviser of the Year and Buying Agent of the Year by Spear’s in 2018 and 2025, respectively, and the UK’s Leading Buying Agent by Chambers, she is credited as a pioneer of the role of the buyer’s adviser.