Julie Jones - Director & Solicitor

"As an employment lawyer I come from the traditional law firm background, where I worked my way up to being a partner in a large and well respected regional law firm. But before I became a lawyer, I spent many years running my own business and employing other people, and I felt that the traditional law firm structure wasn't always able to provide the support that clients were looking for in finding the right solutions for their people.

I started Starford because I wanted to work more closely with my clients, genuinely becoming part of their in-house team, without them worrying about exorbitant legal fees. I wanted to work only with people who want to do the right thing, whether by their company, by their people or by the law.  

I also wanted to create a law firm that could offer flexibility for its lawyers, and that's what Starford does. We don't have a head office, and all of my consultant solicitors work from home, during hours that suit them and the clients they work with. All good relationships are built on trust - the trust that I have built with my clients and the trust that I have for the consultant solicitors who work with me."

Sally Hillman - Director, Management Consultant

"With a pragmatic approach, borne of many years’ experience in multiple industries at a senior level, my career has spanned 5* sports and leisure clubs, hotels, restaurants, corporate hospitality, fine dining and contract catering. With experience in sales, marketing, procurement and operations at director level.

Working for many notable FTSE 100, Fortune 500 organisations as well as private independent businesses, I have repeatedly identified ways to improve the operation of the businesses I was responsible for as well as driving financial benefits, through both tactical methods and sustainable strategic change. Now I want to use that experience to support my own clients. I am committed, energetic, adaptable and driven by a desire to continuously improve business performance.

A great deal of my success has been built through the strong relationships I have with clients and my own team. Integrity too is of critical importance as I see it as the most important principle of leadership and it underpins everything I stand for.

As part of the Starford team I know how important client relationships and integrity are, both as individuals and as a team."                            

Amanda Lyons - Consultant Associate Solicitor

"I am a qualified solicitor specialising in employment law. Having previously worked as an associate at a traditional law firm, and more recently in-house as Head of Legal and then Head of People & Policy, I have joined Starford and am engaged by them as a consultant solicitor.

I have extensive experience in advising businesses on complex and strategic HR matters, and can draw on both my legal and operational experience to give advice that is relevant, practical and to the point. I am also able to advise employers who require more day-to-day HR assistance, as well as providing bespoke in-house training programmes for managers and HR professionals. 

I work closely with all of my clients to really understand their requirements and their working culture, and to help them achieve their wider business objectives. Working as a consultant solicitor with Starford gives me the working flexibility that I need, and Starford allows me the opportunity to work with our clients more closely, providing the support that they need when they need it."     

Caroline Brown - Consultant Associate Solicitor

“I trained and qualified as an employment lawyer at a magic circle law firm.  As a senior associate in a City law firm, I spent many years advising on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law from large scale strategic reorganisation programmes and multi-national corporate transactions to discrimination issues, executive disputes and in-house training programmes.  I also spent six months on secondment to a major internet portal provider.

Having taken an extended career break to raise three young children, I am excited to return to work as a consultant employment solicitor engaged by Starford.  Drawing on my wealth of previous experience, I bring a commercial and strategic approach to the increasing array of employment issues that clients face. Starford enables me to build close working relationships with my clients at affordable rates, so that I can work alongside clients as part of their team.  I enjoy being able to understand a client’s working culture more closely and implementing solutions together.”

Kate Forde - HR Consultant

I have over 20 years of experience working in Human Resources and I am a Member of the CIPD.  Having worked at Senior Manager and Business Partner level, most of my career has been spent focusing on employee relations. I have advised internal colleagues on complicated employee relations issues, acting as an advisor to help line managers work through performance management issues or grievances within their teams.  I have also been involved in many periods of restructuring and helped organisations to develop and deliver their strategic aims of the business, while working through the necessary consultations and communications required to help the business achieve its goals. 

From a practical perspective I have hands on experience as a line manager and in a general management position, working within industries as diverse as the art world, transport and the veterinary profession.

I very much believe in the Starford model. By working alongside our clients and becoming part of their team I have a greater understanding of how they work, which increases my ability to provide them with the support they need.  From a personal perspective I also love the flexibility offered by Starford and the support offered by the rest of the team.

Jane Masey - HR Consultant

A senior HR professional with 15 years’ experience of delivering people-related change and improvement projects, I was head of HR for the Spanish practice of one of the world’s largest international law firms, based in Madrid. I implemented projects in pay and reward, performance management, training and development, recruitment and promotions - all with the end goal of embedding the firm’s global standards in a local context. I speak fluent Spanish, which definitely helped!

I held various roles in London that involved policy development, employee relations matters, restructuring projects and the setting up of a national charity to encourage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to access careers in law. I managed initiatives to address the lack of diversity in the legal profession and the need to nurture a more inclusive workplace culture. These included training, data analysis and communication projects.

I joined Starford because of my ability to support senior management with the changes they want to make in their organisation and to help them to make the right decisions about their people.  I especially enjoy coaching senior leaders to communicate in an authentic and consultative way. I like working alongside clients to find the best solutions for the challenges that affect their people, however complex these might be.

Outside of work, you’ll often find me near the sea - either rowing in a Cornish gig with my local club or attending the Newhaven Lifeboat Station where, as volunteer Launch Authority for the RNLI, I am the first point of contact for the Coastguard in the event of a request to launch our lifeboat.

Charlotte Allfrey - HR Consultant

A Senior HR Consultant with over 20 years experience a lot of which has been gained working in standalone or independent advisory roles. I have worked with many small and medium sized businesses across many different sectors and really enjoy working with business leaders and decision makers because I get to  see the value I can add to their business.  I am a true generalist with a strong employment relations casework background and have worked on some very complex cases including a large scale fraud which resulted in imprisonment of the employee and an investigation where two employees collectively raised in excess of 150 grievances (and subsequent appeals) which were judged to be vexatiously raised at tribunal.  I also provide coaching and mentoring to business leaders 1-1 and management development training to line managers.

I am a Chartered member of the CIPD, co-director of HR Independents which supports Independent HR practitioners across the UK, and an HR Growth Champion for Coast to Capital which supports small businesses in the South East.

When not working I am a keen baker and crafter and love making things, I am a budding gardener and starting to venture into growing fruit and vegetables.

Dawn Packham - HR Consultant

I have 25 years experience working in senior HR positions and have been a full member of the CIPD for the same time.

Most of my career has been spent in HR leadership roles within the wonderful world of hospitality and I have been fortunate to have worked for some of the world's leading hotel brands. Alongside this, I also have experience from working within retail, recruitment and electrical & electronic engineering.

I have held both stand alone and team leader roles. I am a true HR generalist and I love the variety of what this brings to my days. I enjoy working alongside leaders who truly want to do the right thing by their employees and who strive to make their workplaces the best they can be.

Being a generalist has enabled me to gain exposure across a wide spectrum of HR disciplines including; recruitment, training and development, employee relations, employee engagement and compensation & benefits.

When I'm not working you will typically find me in one of two places; the beautiful Hampshire countryside where I live, walking with my very spoilt Cairn Terrier, Archie or, in my kitchen baking cake!

Mike Jones - Director

“After growing up in Africa and graduating from Business School with qualifications in Business Administration and Accountancy, I spent ten years working for the Singer Sewing Machine Company in several global positions across their Finance, Marketing and Sales divisions. I then spent the next two decades working in Finance and IT with Initial, Guinness, Diageo and Shell, and I have been specialising as a Finance and IT Trainer since 2013.

At Starford, I head up our own Finance and IT Operations as well as offering training programmes for our clients. From creating bespoke presentations to developing interactive learning sessions, I enjoy working with our clients to understand their training needs across several areas of expertise, including; Accounting, Finance, IT Development, Cloud, Operating Systems (UNIX, MS), and Google applications.

Not only do I enjoy training others, but I am a passionate learner myself and recently completed an Open University BSc Degree in Computer Science, Finance, Astronomy & Cosmology.” 

Nicky Loutit - HR Consultant

As a Senior HR Consultant with over 30 years’ experience, I am very much a generalist with a strong employee relations and HR training background.

My career started in the City within the legal sector where I progressed to working in a number of senior roles within national legal and accountancy practices.  Following a break to have my two children, I started consulting 18 years ago and have been lucky enough to work with some wonderful and diverse businesses including those in hospitality, education, media, manufacturing, insurance and the charity sector to name a few.

I consider myself to be someone who quickly builds strong, trusted and lasting relationships with clients, becoming very much part of their team; be that working alongside them on-site on projects or providing support and guidance at arm’s length.

I have extensive experience working with multi-site operations and in helping businesses restructure and reorganise to manage their people in the most effective way.  I also design and deliver a variety of practical HR workshops for Line Managers and have recruited and mentored in-house HR teams for clients.

Having lived in Sussex for over 25 years, my husband and I have recently moved to Wiltshire I am enjoying getting to know the wonderful countryside that surrounds us and am putting to good use my new wellies!

Claire Winstone - HR Consultant

I am a senior, CIPD accredited HR Professional who has built up over 12 years’ experience across a variety of industry sectors (ranging from leisure and hospitality to large global financial institutions) and continents, in fact my HR career started in the Middle East.

I am very much an HR generalist, with my breadth of experience built from stand-alone HR roles to Business Partnering C-Suite business leaders, across all HR disciplines (employee relations, reward and benefits, advisory, talent acquisition, organisational change).

I consider myself highly organised, approachable, and trusted to ‘get the job done’. I enjoy building relationships and partnering a business to help it achieve its strategic goals, in a manner which is both sympathetic and engaging for the employees.

Having had an extended career break to have, and care for my two children, one of which has a complex disability, it is refreshing to work as a Consultant for Starford. Starford is a forward-thinking organisation which has recognised that the traditional model of work no longer exists. You can balance family needs, whilst still offering a superior service to your clients.

Outside of work, when not running around after 2 young boys, I enjoy fitness, baking and going anywhere the sun is shining.

Lucy Strange - Executive Assistant

Having worked for a number of years in London as an Executive Assistant, solely within the Legal and Economic Consulting sector, I decided to return to full time education as a mature student to pursue a BSc (Hons) in Business Management as I wanted to gain an understanding of all business functions to obtain a holistic view of how Businesses operate.

After gaining a 1st class degree, I took a short career break to have my two children but quickly decided it was time to put my knowledge into practice and set up my own Property Inventory Company which I ran for 2.5 years, establishing solid relationships with leading Estate Agents whilst building a team of 8.

Wanting to return to my Executive Assistant roots, I sold the Business and have joined Starford where I hope to build on all my previous experiences to help assist a very busy and growing team in the most efficient way I can.