Lesley Gregory Senior Corporate Partner

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    Expertise

    Lesley Gregory is Senior Corporate Partner at Memery Crystal. She has led the firm through several strong financial years, worked to expand the firm’s international offering and encourage an internal culture focused on diversity and core values – all while maintaining her top-rated corporate practice.

    She specialises in capital markets work including flotations and secondary capital raisings. She is a non-exec director of Aquis Exchange PLC (the growth market stock exchange). She acts for companies, nominated advisers and brokers and has acted for both UK and international companies from the US, Canada, South Africa and Australia including Petra Diamonds Limited and Gaming Realms Plc. Lesley also advises growth companies on alternative forms of raising finance, including retail corporate bonds for companies and clubs from Hotel Chocolat to the Jockey Club. In addition, she advises on acquisitions and disposals of public and private companies as well as on cross-border transactions.

    Lesley enjoys the challenges of working with entrepreneurs and growth companies and has previously acted as a non-executive director or special advisor to both public and private companies.

    Lesley has been a champion of the firm’s core values programme initiated in 2007, supporting policies and procedures to reinforce the firm’s emphasis on client care, professional development and a supportive workplace. Through her initiative, Memery Crystal became the first law firm to launch a Payroll Giving Scheme with Giveall, a HMRC approved platform enabling employees to donate to any UK charity through their salary on a monthly basis, commission free.

    In her spare time Lesley enjoys running and playing tennis, having been an Oxford hockey and tennis blue.

    Accolades

    • Chambers 2025 - Lesley Gregory
    • Legal 500 2025 - Hall of Fame
    • Chambers 2024 - Lesley Gregory
    • Legal 500 2024 - Hall of Fame
    • Legal 500 2023 - Leading individual
    • Chambers UK 2023 - Lesley Gregory
    • Chambers UK 2020 - Lesley Gregory
    • Legal500 - Leading Individual 2020
    • Chambers UK 2019 - Individual
    • Chambers UK 2017 - Individual
    • Chambers UK 2016 - individual 2016
    • Chambers Europe 2016 - individual
    • L500 UK - individual
    • Chambers UK 2015 - individual
    • Global Awards CorporateLiveWire 2017
    • Women in Finance 2018 Finalist
    • Legal Advisor of the Year - Women in Finance Awards 2019

    "Lesley Gregory is a leading lawyer in the small and mid-cap corporate market."

    Chambers & Partners, 2024

    In detail

    Recent experience

    • Advised on the merger of BDO LLP with Moore Stephens LLP to create the fifth largest accountancy and advisory firm in the UK
    • Advising Petra Diamonds Limited on the issue of a $300 million high yield bond
    • Advising Bond International Plc in connection with the sale of Strictly Education for £11.3 million
    • Advising Harlequins in relation to their bond to raise approximately £5 million
    • Advising Gaming Realms in relation to the acquisition of GameHouse US
    • Advising Cenkos Securities Plc in its role as nomad and broker on a placing for AIM-listed company Science in Sport
    • Advising Cenkos Securities Plc in its role as nomad and broker on a £34m fundraising for AIM-listed Restore Plc, in connection with Restore’s acquisition of the records management business of Wincanton Plc.
    • Advised on the admission of Rainbow Rare Earths to the standard listing segment of the Official List and to trading on the Main Market of the LSE.

    Career history

    • 2016 – Present: Chairman, Memery Crystal
    • 2010 – 2016: Chief Executive, Memery Crystal
    • 1988 – 2010: Partner, Memery Crystal

    Awards and Recognition

    • Ranked by Best Lawyer for Corporate Finance Law 2024.
    • Ranked as an ‘Eminent Practitioner’ by both Chambers UK 2022 and Chambers Europe 2022 for M&A work.
    • Ranked as an ‘Eminent Practitioner’ by Chambers UK 2022 for Capital Markets: AIM work.
    • Selected by her peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in United Kingdom 2021 for Corporate Finance Law. 
    • Shortlisted for the Women in Finance Awards 2020 ‘Legal Adviser of the Year’
    • Highly commended for the Law Society’s ‘Women Solicitor of the Year’ Award.
    • Ranked as an ‘Eminent Practitioner’ for Capital Markets:AIM in the Chambers UK 2020 rankings.
    • Ranked as Band 1 for Corporate/M&A: Mid-Market  in the Chambers UK 2020 rankings.
    • Shortlisted for the Women of the Future’s ‘Mentor of the Year’ Award.
    • Ranked as a ‘Leading Individual’ for ‘Equity Capital Markets – Small Mid-Cap’ and ‘M&A: Small Deals, Up To £50m’ in the Legal 500 2020 rankings.
    • Awarded ‘Legal Adviser of the Year’ at the 2019 Women in Finance Awards.
    • Named in Legal 500’s Hall of Fame for Flotations: Small and Mid-Cap.
    • Selected for a Lawyer Monthly – Women in Law 2017 Award in recognition of her outstanding legal expertise and contribution within the practice area of Alternative Investment Market Law.
    • Awarded ‘Excellence in Flotation Law Services’ by Global Awards CorporateLiveWire 2017.
    • Shortlisted in the 2017 ‘Woman Lawyer of the Year’ category in the Law Society Excellence Awards.
    • Runner up for ‘Legal Business Woman of the Year’ in the 2014 Law Society Excellence Awards.
    • One of 200 lawyers shortlisted for the 2013 edition of the UK Chambers 100, a ranking of the UK’s top business lawyers.
    • Included on the ‘Hot 100’ list for 2012 by The Lawyer magazine.
    • Named as a leading UK lawyer for Corporate Finance in the Best Lawyers directory in every year since 2012.
    • Ranked as one of only three leading (Tier 1) lawyers in England for Capital Markets: Equity (Small-Mid Cap) in the PLC Cross-border Capital Market Handbook 2008/2009.
    • Named a UK Legal Expert in Corporate, M&A, Capital Markets and Sport in the Legal Business ‘Legal Experts’ directory in every year since 2008.

    What our clients think about us

    “Lesley is the most valuable and trusted legal representative we have.” – Chambers and Partners, 2025

    “I particularly value her counsel and appreciate her candour.” – Chambers and Partners 2025

    “Lesley is very good with clients.” – Chambers and Partners, 2025

    “Lesley is a hugely experienced, commercial and sensible lawyer.”– Chambers and Partners, 2025

    “Lesley is well-known in the market, very experienced and commercial.”– Chambers and Partners, 2025

    “She is the queen of AIM.” – Chambers and Partners, 2025

    “The group understands how we operate and what we are trying to achieve. Lesley Gregory in particular has been a long term partner and sounding board for our company.” – Legal 500, 2025

    “Lesley Gregory is very clear with her advice, commercial and reasonable. Her knowledge is vast.” – Legal 500, 2025

    “Lesley is a leading lawyer in the small and mid-cap corporate market.” – Chambers and Partners, 2024

    “Lesley is personable, easy to talk to and able to translate complex documents.” – Chambers and Partners, 2024

    “Lesley displays all-round excellence of understanding and knowledge.” – Chambers and Partners, 2024

    “Lesley Gregory is super experienced, very professional and gives great advice in order to help negotiations or give solutions to problems.” – Legal 500, 2024

    “She is highly experienced and she knows the market and the industry extremely well.” – Chambers and Partners, 2023

    “Lesley Gregory directed the Memery Crystal team effectively and delivered on time and budget despite some unforeseen issues.” – Chambers and Partners, 2023

    “Lesley Gregory (the Chairperson) is an outstanding lawyer, as well as being committed to diversity, equality and inclusion. She is extremely responsive and proactive, and in particular, very commercial.” – Legal 500, 2022

    “She is highly professional, knowledgeable and offers structured and reliable advice. She is always on hand to help and advise.” – Chambers and Partners, 2021

    “Lesley Gregory provided very useful advice – a very experienced partner.” – Legal 500, 2020

    “Lesley Gregory is highly experienced and offers excellent advice. Very professional and approachable and has helped our business a great deal.” – Legal 500, 2020

    Lesley Gregory is known by one source to be “a fountain of knowledge and leading individual in the space.” – Chambers and Partners, 2019

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