Kathryn Paisley

Kathryn leads Rix & Kay’s Corporate and Commercial team

Kathryn invests significant time and energy into ensuring that she makes difficult corporate legal matters as easy as she can for her clients, many of whom return to her on numerous occasions for their corporate legal needs.

Kathryn is a specialist in corporate law with particular expertise in the sale and purchase of businesses and companies, as well as corporate governance work and internal reorganisations and the establishment of partnerships and other joint ventures.

Having trained and worked for many years for two major City Law firms, Kathryn has a wealth of experience of working on high-value and complex corporate transactions.  Today, her clients benefit from City-level expertise and advice without the cost one might expect from a London law firm.

Kathryn’s clients

Kathryn works closely with businesses of all sizes from sole traders and partnerships to SMEs and national and international organisations.  Her experience allows her to advise fledgling and fast-growth companies to realise the next stage of their strategic growth plans and to support more sophisticated businesses to achieve their commercial objectives.  Kathryn has assisted a great many owners of SME businesses to achieve their exit from their business in as stress-free a way as possible.

Kathryn is also a regular attendee at meetings of Eurojuris, the leading network of independent law firms in Europe. With members based in 650 different cities/locations in about 50 countries, not only in Europe but worldwide, Kathryn is able to draw on this trusted network when clients require specialist cross-border advice. She recently completed a term on the board of Eurojuris.

Kathryn is a fluent German speaker.

Experience and approach

Kathryn invests time to gain a real understanding of her clients and their needs in order to meet their goals as effectively as possible.  She aims to be involved in the preparation of a business for sale or purchase from an early stage to ensure that the process runs smoothly and without unnecessary risk, helping to reduce time, cost and anxiety for her clients. Kathryn’s clients have described her as becoming a friend during the course of a transaction.

Areas of expertise

• Sale and purchase of businesses and companies
• Shareholders’ agreements and articles of association
• Corporate reorganisation and refinancing
• Joint ventures
• Management buy-outs and buy-ins
• Partnerships

Some of Kathryn’s work

• Advising on the sale of Arthur E. Mason Limited (trading as Masona Plastics) to global export business, Aspen Pumps Group.
• Advising on the the sale of a highly-regarded learning disability care home in East Sussex.
• Advising on the restructuring of East Sussex-based independent financial planning business, LawlerDavis.
• Advising on the sale of Charlton Athletic Women’s Football Club Limited
• Advising the shareholders of Construct on a majority share sale to Melbourne-based Online Education Services (OES)

In addition, Kathryn has recently assisted clients with the following:

• A major internal reorganisation of a professional services group;
• A major internal reorganisation of a significant group of companies in the region;
• Creating special purpose vehicles for the acquisition of aircraft – and acquiring the aircraft;
• The creation of security documents for a European company;
• A hive up for a thriving local business expanding its operations;
• Reorganising the share structure of a regional producer;
• Advising on options for exit for a principal shareholder anticipating retirement;
• A major internal reorganisation, undertaken in stages, and succession planning options for a large family-owned group of companies.

“Kathryn worked tirelessly to ensure a good outcome for me on the share purchase of my business. Kathryn always came up with a solution which allowed a positive outcome for both parties. She not only provided professional advice but also was a good sounding board for me, especially when the situation became more stressful. I felt Kathryn genuinely had an interest in the case, she kept me fully informed at all stages of timescales and became a good friend during the transaction. That personal touch is what makes all the difference and I have recommended her services to other professionals since”

Rix & Kay recognised as ‘a highly capable team of lawyers offering proactive advice’ delivered with ‘personality’

I’ve been so impressed with the service I received from Rix & Kay. I received legal advice from Kathryn Paisley, and felt that I was in safe hands throughout the sale of my business. Kathryn was clear and professional, and struck the perfect balance of making sure that I was aware of every granular detail of the contract while also taking a pragmatic approach to completing the deal in good time and making compromises in the right places. I would absolutely recommend Kathryn and Rix & Kay to anyone selling their business.

Alice Best, Google Review, January 2022

I just wanted to say how impressed I was with the way that you approached this engagement, particularly negotiating all various changes that were needed to the contract, but also all the other help and advice you gave along the way… What an excellent job you did.

Review by our client’s tax and accounting advisor