Meet the team

With over 25 years of experience in asset and motor finance litigation, Mel brings a wealth of legal expertise, strategic insight and leadership to her role as CEO of Solaris Law. Prior to taking on the role of CEO at Solaris, Mel was an equity partner at leading commercial firm Shoosmiths where she built a reputation for her commercial pragmatism and unwavering client focus.

As CEO, she sets the vision for the firm and continues to play a role in client relationships, ensuring the firms values of excellence, integrity and innovation remain at the forefront of everything it does. Mel is deeply engaged with the evolving regulatory landscape, including a sharp focus on the Consumer Duty, embedding fairness and accountability into every aspect of recoveries and supporting clients to achieve good outcomes for their customers.

Mel fosters a culture of collaboration, trust and continuous development empowering people at every level of the firm to thrive and contribute to its success.

Anthony is the Head and Director of Technical Litigation at Solaris Law, leading the three teams of asset based lending, mortgage recoveries and unsecured lending. He qualified at the bar in 2002, having successfully completed his LLB and LLM degrees, spending part of his legal studies in Canada. From 2004 Anthony represented both local, national and international companies in court on a wide range of debt related civil litigation matters, including mortgage recovery, asset based lending and commercial contract disputes. Such litigation was pursued at various county courts throughout the North of England and North Wales, placing client interests front and center in order achieve the best possible outcomes for his client.

From 2015 Anthony expanded his legal experience further at various firms of solicitors through operating his own high value case-loads for clients in relation to debt recovery matters, with a particular focus on commercial and financial lending disputes. Taking hold of the relevant facts of a case promptly, dealing robustly but fairly with challenges from opposing parties and advancing his client’s interests, are key attributes of Anthony’s approach to litigation whilst fostering creativity and collaboration from his fellow colleagues in the process.

With over 15 years industry experience, Victoria leads our Unsecured Lending Recoveries department. Having extensive experience across all stages of the debt recovery lifecycle, including pre-legal recoveries, litigation and enforcement, Victoria’s strategic oversight ensures tailored and effective recovery solutions for a variety of clients and debt portfolios.

Victoria is responsible for ensuring fair and positive outcomes for both our customers and our clients, while maintaining a strong focus on regulatory compliance and operational excellence.

Sarah leads our Asset Based Lending team, overseeing the Live Motor, Standard Litigation, and Customer Engagement teams.  Sarah has over 10 years of experience in the sector and a consequent deep understanding of asset based lending and all motor and asset finance products.  She manages the day to day recoveries processes with precision, efficiency and a commitment to quality.

Sarah works closely with clients to understand their business needs, providing regular updates, clear communication and practical advice that supports our client’s reputation and regulatory expectations.  Internally she fosters a collaborative team culture that values professionalism, responsiveness and doing the right thing for our client’s customers.

Michelle has over 20 years operational management experience ranging across Recoveries, Litigation, Repossession Property Sales, Conveyancing and Professional Negligence Claims.

Michelle joined Shoosmiths in 2020, having spent the previous 9 years at Countrywide as Head of Panel Management working collaboratively with partner firms to deliver performance success and service quality improvements.

Dawn is an MCIPD-qualified, proactive, and enthusiastic HR leader with extensive generalist HR management experience. She currently serves as the Head of HR for Azzurro Associates Group, where she oversees the entire employee lifecycle. This includes managing recruitment, learning and development, employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, performance management, talent management, as well as health, wellbeing, and safety initiatives across the organization.

With nearly 20 years of HR experience across various industries, Dawn has developed a comprehensive skill set and a strong understanding of business needs. Her leadership approach is collaborative and strategic, with a focus on aligning HR practices with organisational objectives. Dawn is adept at challenging the status quo and ensuring that both business strategy and organisational values are reflected in all HR decisions. She consistently works to create a positive and supportive work environment, fostering a culture where employees are valued, developed, and empowered.

Nathaniel has worked in Information Technology of law firms for almost 20 years, across multiple disciplines, training as a Database Developer before becoming an Integration Analyst, then moving into Project and Innovation Management. In the last five years he has led IT teams through mergers and cloud transformation. As Head of IT, he has oversight over all aspects of IT ranging from the continuous improvement of technology to enhance the experience for clients, customers and employees, adoption of Artificial Intelligence, Information Security and supplier management. Nathaniel has a simple delivery method of harmonising people, process and technology to produce positive outcomes for end users.

Steph has been working in FCA debt recovery for over a decade and brings a deep understanding of regulatory frameworks and operational integrity to the business. Specialising in FCA-regulated debt recovery, Steph has extensive experience on consumer credit (CONC) and mortgage (MCOB) compliance.

As the leader of the compliance team, Steph oversees a broad range of regulatory matters beyond FCA, including adherence to SRA standards, data protection legislation and financial crime prevention, with a focus on embedding a compliance culture of transparency, accountability and ethical conduct across the firm.

Driven by a commitment to achieving consistently good outcomes for clients and consumers alike, Steph plays a key role in ensuring the firm operates not only within the rules but also in line with its own values.

Natasha brings over 33 years of experience in financial services and operations, with over 25 years in senior management roles. Starting her career as a qualified PA in a high street building society, she went on to manage the insurance division and contact centre of a leading estate agency firm.

For the past 13 years, she has led Central Operations at Shoosmiths LLP and Equivo Limited, overseeing key business support functions. Natasha is known for her hands-on leadership, delivering against internal and client SLAs, managing suppliers and procurement, and driving process improvement in fast-paced environments. She also oversees facilities management, ensuring a safe and productive workplace for all staff.

Chris has been working in financial services for over 12 years, specialising in Vehicle Finance, Wealth Management & Debt Recovery. He has worked in a variety of roles including asset recoveries, collections, and management.

Chris manages our Learning & Development function and is CIPD qualified, he specialises in Learning & Development; Chris uses industry knowledge and expertise to continuously enhance and improve our learning, helping to deliver a consistent and compliant service for our clients and business.

David is one of our Directors of Technical Litigation leading a team dealing within the technical Mortgage Recoveries. He also provides support and technical expertise to other teams within the business.

David offers clients a commercially sensible approach to recoveries while keeping the impact on customers firmly in focus.

David is a solicitor with more than 25 years of experience assisting clients with recoveries, with an emphasis on secured lending. His strength is his technical knowledge in the field of mortgages combined with a reasonable approach when dealing with customers and their representatives.

David also advises clients on a range of related matters from rectifying issues with security, risks from forfeiture and similar action by landlords to Land Registry indemnity claims.

David started his career with two national firms in Bristol before moving to roles in Shoosmiths and Equivo.

Desnee is an Associate and qualified Cilex of Fellowship status with 25 years litigation experience specialising in complex and defended matters.  She worked at Shoosmiths Solicitors for 30 years prior to deciding to join the Solaris Law team.

Her experience includes advising lenders as to recovery and enforcement options, enforcement of mortgages and guarantees on both a commercial and residential basis, advising banks and lenders as to recovery strategies and on regulation and compliance, issuing claims and all pre-action considerations and concluding matters by way of realisation of assets via court process, settlement, interlocutory strike out/ summary judgment applications or successful trial outcomes.

Desnee also manages a team within the Technical Litigation department dealing with an amalgamation of recovery cases including ROGS, motor commissions and asset based lending. Desnee places focus on the commerciality of any case for the client, pre-empting any potential issues at the outset and invoking a strategy that will be the most commercially viable to secure optimum recovery.

Laura is an Associate within the Technical Litigation team which deals with an amalgamation of recovery cases including return of goods, motor commissions and other asset-based lending matters. She handles both claimant and defendant work, advising clients on complex disputes within the asset finance sector, particularly involving vehicle-based lending and recovery.

Laura completed her training contract with His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service and qualified as a Solicitor in July 2023. She has also previously worked as a paralegal and Solicitor in the top tier Legal 500 debt recovery team at Blake Morgan LLP, a leading national law firm. She is known for her commercially focused, pragmatic advice and her commitment to understanding each client’s objectives. She prioritises building strong working relationships and delivering tailored strategies that align with her clients’ commercial needs.

Ibrahim is a Solicitor at Solaris Law with over a decade of experience in civil litigation. He qualified in 2019 and specialises in banking litigation and asset and motor finance.

Before joining Solaris, he led litigation teams at regional and national firms, managing defended portfolios with a focus on procedural compliance and commercial outcomes.

At Solaris, Ibrahim specialises in complex defended litigation within the motor finance and debt sectors. He is known for his pragmatic, strategic approach.

Sarah is an Associate and the Manager of the Unsecured technical team at Solaris Law with considerable experience in enforcement, insolvency and contentious unsecured litigation. Sarah qualified as a Legal Executive in 2013 and has over 18 years’ experience working in law firms specialising in recoveries and litigation.  Balancing the requirements of the client with that of its customers is central to Sarah’s approach. Sarah strives to draft letters and court documentation in clear and concise language so that it is understood by all individuals concerned.

Ashleigh is an experienced Manager within our Unsecured Recoveries department. Ashleigh has over 12 years of collections and recoveries experience in both banking and legal services.

In addition to managing one of our customer engagement teams, Ashleigh is responsible for a number of client relationships, ensuring that their needs are not only met but exceeded

s of experience in unsecured debt recovery, with a particular focus on optimising high-volume contact strategies. As a customer engagement team manager, she drives a culture of understanding and best practices, ensuring a balanced approach to collections that prioritises good customer outcomes while maintaining operational efficiency

As a Litigation and Customer Engagement Manager, Clayton combines expertise in legal strategy with a customer-centric approach to dispute resolution and communication. With a strong background in litigation processes and compliance, he designs and implements data-driven contact strategies that reduce risk, enhance recoveries, and ensure regulatory alignment. Clayton collaborates across teams to streamline workflows, mitigate exposure, and deliver smart, scalable solutions while preserving brand integrity and fostering customer trust.

Nigel is a Manager in the Unsecured recoveries team at Solaris. Nigel is passionate about leading by example and ensuring he is approachable and has an excellent relationship with both clients and colleagues.

Nigel is a highly motivated individual with over 20 years’ experience of managing volume-based recoveries, predominately associated with consumer credit debt (regulated unsecured), live mortgage arrears and rehabilitation and mortgage shortfall portfolios.

For the last 12 years he has been extensively involved with mortgage shortfall recoveries (prime and sub-prime), overseeing the collections process from client on boarding, pre-litigation recovery all the way through to litigation and enforcement action.

Recently Nigel has been working closely with several debt purchaser clients. Portfolios have included: Unsecured loans, credit cards, shortfall motor finance and utilities.

Jo has worked in law firms for 25 years.  She was previously at Shoosmiths and Equivo before joining Solaris.  Jo is an experienced Manager specialising in Asset Based Lending.  Jo leads a team of Litigation Paralegals who deal with return of goods claims, shortfalls and enforcement.

Kelly Fullthorpe brings over 25 years of experience in the legal industry and more than 10 years specialising in asset-based lending. With a deep understanding of client needs, Kelly oversees client relationships and is known for delivering exceptional service. She excels in strengthening business relationships and continuously improving processes to achieve consistent, positive outcomes for clients. Additionally, Kelly leads a team of five customer engagement agents specialising in collections, ensuring effective and efficient recoveries and resolution for our clients.

With over nine years of experience within legal practice, Olly has built substantial expertise in Motor Finance Recoveries, with a strong emphasis on operational oversight and client relationship management in Live Motor Finance Collections. He has been instrumental in developing and maintaining key client partnerships, driving continuous improvement across processes, and leading high-performing teams. Olly is committed to ensuring that both clients and their customers receive a consistent, compliant, and outcomes-focused service—delivering fair, sustainable solutions aligned with regulatory expectations and client objectives.

Neil is a manager in the standard mortgage lending recoveries team. His team assists customers in mortgage arrears to rehabilitate their mortgage accounts.

Neil has over 20 years’ experience in the mortgage recoveries area. Before moving over to Solaris, he worked for Equivo for 4 years, Shoosmiths as a Manager for 12 years and prior to this he spent 8 years at a specialist law firm.

He has a sharp focus on good customer outcomes and is committed to helping customers in mortgage arrears.

Neil has also been a qualified chartered legal executive since 2015.

Karen is a Senior Manager looking after the Recoveries Conveyancing Team. Karen recognises that through supporting a knowledgeable and approachable team and adopting a collaborative approach with clients and their asset managers, a pro-active sale can be achieved whilst keeping the customer journey at the centre of the process.

Prior to joining Equivo/Solaris Karen worked as a manager at Shoosmiths for over 20 years conveying a variety of properties for a wide range of lender clients. In addition to private treaty and auction sales Karen has considerable experience of shared ownership transactions including assisting clients with claims under the mortgagee protection clause.

Karen has delivered training to both clients and their asset managers on a range of conveyancing topics to promote understanding and best practice and is well versed in the unique challenges that can be presented to clients exercising their power of sale.

Jade is the Manager for the Quality Assurance Team (QAT). Jade started her career in 2008 working in the Collections and Litigation department, then internally transferring to the QAT in 2016 as a QA assessor. Jade was promoted to QA Manager in 2019, and holds this position today. The QAT are responsible for the first line monitoring of FCA requirements and customer outcomes within Solaris, whilst also assisting clients with management information. QAT strive to deliver a good service to our clients through their first line monitoring, training, team call calibrations and ultimately ensuring that the right outcome for customers is achieved.