Richard Voke, Head of Department
Before becoming a solicitor, Richard spent several years as an inspector in the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). This was followed by a period as a senior risk management consultant for AEA Technology. His experience includes:

• Inspecting and investigating incidents and prosecuting for the HSE;
• Defending HSE, Environment Agency, local authority and Defra prosecutions;
• Advising organisations on environment, health and safety matters in the UK and abroad.

Richard regularly acts as an advocate in the Magistrates’ court and is a regular speaker at conferences, seminars and training courses.  He is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and has a Masters’ in environmental toxicology. He is also a qualified commercial ADR mediator. Richard also led the in-house team that achieved ISO 14001, which ensures that Lyons Davidson meets international standards of environmental management and impact. He is also an accredited advanced environmental management systems auditor.

Ben Derrington
Ben is a regulatory law solicitor with particular expertise in environmental and health and safety law. He has advised on the defence of prosecutions by:

• Environment Agency;
• HSE;
• Defra;
• Trading Standards.

Ben regularly carries out environmental and health and safety due diligence in multimillion-pound corporate mergers and acquisitions. He has a Masters’ in Environmental Analysis and Assessment and holds the National Examination Board in Occupational Safety and Health (NEBOSH) National Certificate in health and safety.

Georgia Sharples
Before joining the EHS Department in 2007, Georgia obtained a law degree and completed the Legal Practice Course. She qualified as a solicitor in September 2011. Georgia is an experienced environment, health and safety lawyer who provides support in the defence of prosecutions by a range of regulatory bodies. including:

• HSE;
• Environment Agency;
• Defra;
• Trading Standards.

Georgia also assists with the environmental and health and safety due diligence in corporate mergers and acquisitions. She holds the NEBOSH National Certificate.

Mary Lavin
Mary came to Lyons Davidson after three years’ experience in industry, where she developed integrated safety and environmental management systems for businesses. As well as implementing ISO14001 with clients, she is responsible for the firm’s own sustainability targets and compliance with the ISO standard across Lyons Davidson’s six main offices. She also works with clients to embed a systems approach to controlling the environmental aspects of their work and improving performance. Mary holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Environmental Decision Making and is an Associate of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA).