LLM Alumni Panel

Panel 1

Dr Christian Mecklenburg

International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Chris obtained his LLM in International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation from WLS in 2011. After completing off-cycle internships in private practice (banking in finance) and an investment bank (front office role), he returned to WLS to embark on a PhD supervised by Dalvinder. He briefly worked in private practice before moving to the general counsel division at investment banks in London and Hong Kong. He now heads a team of lawyers advising on counterparty credit risk and regulatory capital relating to clearing, OTC derivatives, prime and securities transactions in APAC and EMEA; and advises on regulatory implementation.

Chris teaches an LLM course on the Legal Aspects of Financial Risk Management at Hong Kong University and has previously taught at SOAS and Queen Mary University of London. He also holds an LLB (London), BSc (TiSEM) and MBA (Bayes formerly Cass).

Varun Lamba

International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

Varun Lamba, Partner in the Delhi Office, specializes in Corporate Commercial Litigation, M&A and General Corporate matters. With over 16 years of experience, he regularly advises on shareholder disputes and its off-shoots, corporate frauds, corporate restructurings involving NCLT sanctioned schemes and other general corporate matters. In addition, he has varied experience in advising on commercial law matters which include advisory on Indian foreign exchange laws.

Experience

• Partner, AZB & Partners (2018 – Present)
• Senior Associate, AZB & Partners (2015 – 2018)
• Associate, AZB & Partners (2010 – 2015)

Key Practice Areas

• Litigation & Corporate Restructuring
• White Collar
• General Corporate

Bio coming

Panel 2

Mary Wanjohi

International Economic Law

Mary is an international development professional with 10 years of progressive experience in donor assurance. Mary began her career at KPMG Kenya in the Audit-Public Sector and Development department, and in 2020, left as an assistant manager to pursue her master’s in International Economic Law at the University of Warwick. She graduated in 2021 and joined BDO, the fifth-largest accounting network in the world, and is currently a Senior Manager in the International Institutions and Donor Assurance Department (IIDA) based in London, UK.

Leon Hurd

International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

I commenced my career in the City where I trained and qualified as a solicitor at Linklaters LLP. Following qualification, I practiced as a Litigation lawyer with a heavy focus on banking and contentious regulatory disputes given the challenging economic and financial regulatory environment for banks and other financial institutions at the time. In the early years after qualification, I was fortunate to gain experience working as an inhouse lawyer at a multinational HR business and a blue-chip financial services provider, in addition to working on substantial regulatory investigations in private practice.

I became fascinated with policy developments and approaches to global financial regulation and in 2013 I decided to undertake the University of Warwick LLM in International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation. I graduated with distinction and was awarded the prize for Best Graduating Student. Most importantly the LLM gave me an opportunity to engage in detailed research around the purpose, and effective implementation, of financial regulation and the policy considerations underpinning regulatory frameworks in the UK, EU and North America. Having a robust academic understanding of financial regulation and governance has been of great assistance to me when advising internationally operating clients in relation to typically novel and complex regulatory matters.

After completing my LLM, I opted to move offshore to Jersey in the Channel Islands where I predominantly advised clients on financial regulation, financial crime compliance and governance matters. I subsequently became a specialist financial crime prosecutor for the Government of Jersey's Economic Crime and Confiscation Unit (ECCU), where I worked on high-profile cross-border money laundering and financial crime investigations.

I returned to practice in the UK in 2021 to work as a senior consultant at Keystone Law where I primarily assist tech sector clients with advisory and contentious matters arising in respect of their disruptive and emerging tech businesses, with particular expertise in blockchain and digital assets. I often assist clients with regulatory compliance, legal diligence and advice in respect of the rollout of innovative products and services and the drafting of governance policies and procedures to help ensure that their businesses are being operated in a compliant manner. I am recognised in the Legal 500 2025 for my work in FinTech.

I recently joined Gosai Law, an Australian headquartered international law firm, where I lead the UK office with a particular focus on emerging tech, Web3 and crypto, advising clients across borders on how to innovate responsibly and operate effectively within evolving global regulatory landscapes.

In 2023 I co-founded Cybersandbox, a company that provides strategic assistance to businesses aligning innovation with regulation, helping them develop and scale in a compliant and commercially successful manner. I often work with early-stage founders, start-ups and established businesses to help them along their scaling and growth journey.

International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation

International Economic Law

Elina is a central banker with over six years of experience at both EU and national institutions. In her current role at the Bank of England, she serves as the liaison to the BIS Innovation Hub London Centre, where she works on technology-driven projects aimed at enhancing the global financial system. Elina graduated from LLM International Economic Law in 2018.