Michelle Harris

Michelle has over 20 years’ experience of advising individuals and corporates from start-ups to PLCs on the full spectrum of corporate matters, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, reorganisations, directors’ duties, shareholder arrangements, fundraisings, investments, management buy-outs/ buy-ins and other private equity and corporate finance transactions.

Michelle was a partner in a City law firm in London before leaving to establish her own successful legal consultancy business in 2013. She founded law firm illume Legal in January 2017 with Kate Partridge.

Michelle has been recognised in the London Super Lawyers list which recognises lawyers who have distinguished themselves and demonstrated excellence in their field of practice.

About illume Legal

Awarded Best Corporate Finance Law Firm 2022, Global Business Award for Distinction in M&A Law 2022 and Female Founded Law Firm of the Year 2022.

illume Legal is a full service business law firm, founded in 2017 by Kate Partridge and Michelle Harris, two former City lawyers who could see that New Law had much to offer the world of corporate transactions. They believed the legal profession needed a shake up – for the benefit of both clients and lawyers alike.

At illume we use the latest technology and flexible working practices to deliver the very best service for our clients and the optimum work/ life balance for our lawyers.

Our lawyers combine technical brilliance with commercial acumen – we understand that clients don’t want their lawyers to just recite the law to them at their expense, they want their lawyers to work in partnership with them and to become part of their team as trusted business advisors. Many of our clients have been with us for a long time and our lawyers have become their indispensable “external, in-house counsel”.

illume’s lawyers are all consultants, entrepreneurs in their own right. They understand business, because they run their own.

All our lawyers are at least 15 years PQE (post qualification experience), meaning your work will never be passed down to an inexperienced junior (which invariably leads to increased fees and a lack of commerciality on transactions). Our lawyers have trained and worked in private practice in large Magic and Silver Circle City law firms and/ or have held senior Head of Legal in-house positions.

Our fantastic team of corporate lawyers is supported by first class banking, commercial, employment, property, data protection and privacy, litigation, technology and intellectual property lawyers.

Our flexible business model allows us to provide City quality advice and experience without the City price tag. We understand that price transparency is absolutely key for our clients. At illume there will never be any nasty surprises on fees.

Put simply, we offer the very best parts of a City law firm but our clients don’t have to contend with lawyers trying to meet their billable hours targets, the City law firm overheads or the antiquated structure.

We are illume.