About Us

Meet our experts

Tom Balmer

Tom is a founder at Third Way Legal, and our sister business Montresor Legal. He has worked within the legal recruitment industry since 2001. Tom’s clients include top investment banks, asset managers and fin tech businesses along with selected law firms.

Outside work Tom enjoys exploring new ways to battle his waistline and pretending to be knowledgeable about wine.

+44 (0)7876746728

Hamish Drake

Hamish is a Senior Director at Montresor Legal and leads the law firm practice recruiting lawyers on behalf of US and UK law firms in London and abroad. Prior to entering legal recruitment over 7 years ago, Hamish practiced as a debt finance lawyer with national and international law firms in Australia and his home country, New Zealand. 

+44 (0)7400346101

Holta Loku

Holta specialises in placing Associates within Private Practice, having worked in the legal recruitment industry since 2011. Her client base consists of top US and UK law firms and she has experience across a range of transactional practice areas with a particular focus on Finance, Tax and Corporate.

Outside of work you will find Holta at art galleries and theatres or on her sofa, watching reality TV shows.

+44 (0)7593572771

Hannah Benger

Hannah has worked in private practice associate recruitment since 2011, joining Montresor from another leading legal recruitment firm where she led the associate team. She has placed lawyers at all levels of seniority and across all practice areas into many of the most prestigious and successful firms in the London market. She has extensive experience in retained, exclusive and contingent search mandates.

When not working she enjoys sampling London’s restaurant scene (and running to work it off!)

+44 (0)7593572781

Elizabeth Sotinel

Elizabeth is a Senior Consultant with Montresor's Private Practice team. She joined Montresor Legal after managing a US immigration and asylum practice out of Libreville, Gabon.

Elizabeth is an American lawyer with a JD from the University of Notre Dame and a proud Texpat who's lived in London off and on since 2016. Outside the office you can find her chasing her Havanese around Brockwell Park or forcing TexMex on her friends and family.

+44 (0)7593 572 774

Ruchi Bhalla

Ruchi is a Consultant in the Private Practice team at Montresor Legal, specialising in U.K. and U.S. law firm recruitment.  Ruchi joined Montresor Legal in 2022, previously working as a securities lawyer at a national law firm in Canada and consulted at a "Big 4" consulting firm. Ruchi specialises in bringing international candidates to the London market.

Outside of work Ruchi enjoys exploring the food scenes in both London and Toronto.

+44 (0) 7706 344 014

Alexandra Crabtree

Alexandra is a Recruitment Assistant at Montresor Legal. Alex supports and works alongside the Director of our Private Practice team.

Outside of work you will find Alex binge watching crime documentaries and supporting the Springboks

07562 616 276

Max Campbell

Max is a Consultant in the Private Practice team at Montresor Legal specialising in U.K. and U.S. law firm recruitment in London, New York and across the globe. 

Prior to entering legal recruitment, Max practised as a lawyer at two Magic Circle law firms in London. 

+44 7593 572 780

Tom Balmer

Tom is a founder at Third Way Legal, and our sister business Montresor Legal. He has worked within the legal recruitment industry since 2001. Tom’s clients include top investment banks, asset managers and fin tech businesses along with selected law firms.

Outside work Tom enjoys exploring new ways to battle his waistline and pretending to be knowledgeable about wine.

+44 (0)7876746728

Andrea Hutchinson

Andrea is an Associate Director in Montresor’s In-house Financial Services practice. Andrea specialises in placing lawyers across financial services with particular expertise in insurance, private equity/venture capital and FinTech. She has experience in recruiting both in the UK and internationally.

When she isn’t being a spokesperson for her hometown in Canada, she is often seen showcasing her newly acquired British citizenship by incorrectly delivering Brit slang.

+44 (0)7593572746

Joshua Blake

Josh began his recruitment career in 2015 and prior to joining Montresor was a manager at a global PLC. Josh looks after all Interim roles at Third Way Legal across private practice and in-house. He has particular expertise in financial services and litigation.

Outside the office, Josh enjoys boxing and telling jokes that only he finds funny.

+44 (0)7593572763

Billie Partridge-Naudeer

Billie’s work covers the in-house space in Commerce & Industry. She has been on the team since she graduated in 2015, first as Office and HR Manager and now as a Consultant. She specialises in tech, start-ups, and scale-ups.

Outside of work you will find Billie out with her friends, spending money she doesn’t have on things she doesn’t need.

+44 (0)7593 553 045

Laura Davidson

Laura joined Montresor from a FTSE 250 international recruiter in 2020. She specialises in providing corporates across a range of industry sectors with flexible legal resource, placing candidates on an interim and contract basis.

Outside of work, you will find Laura attempting to keep active, fuelling her shopping addiction or escaping to a beach in Norfolk for the weekend.

+44 (0)7593572776

Elmira Meehan

Elmira is a Senior Consultant in the Transactional practice at Montresor Legal. She has over 9 years of legal recruitment experience, specialising in the placement of finance, funds & regulatory lawyers into some of the major investment banks, buy side firms and law firms.

When not in the office Elmira is busy running around after her 2-year-old toddler!

+44 (0)7593572742

Aishah Mansur-Noibi

Aishah is a Consultant in the in-house team at Montresor focusing on placements at major financial institutions.  Aishah joined in 2022, after working as a banking lawyer at an international law firm. 


Outside of work, Aishah enjoys listening to 90s and 00s RnB and planning her next boujee trip.

Sam Davenport

Sam joined Montresor in 2021 from a boutique in-house legal recruitment agency. With 3 years experience recruiting for companies across C&I with a focus on Fintech & Tech, Sam works on both interim and permanent positions in this area.

Outside of work you will find Sam playing or more likely talking about football, cooking or tending to one of his many houseplants.

+44 (0) 7706 312 346

Libby Britton

Libby is a resourcer for the in-house team at Montresor Legal. She recently joined the team and moved to London as a graduate from university. 

When not in the office Libby can be found enjoying one of London’s many restaurants/bars or dreaming about her next holiday.

+44 (0) 7706 318 218

Lucy Enderby

Lucy focuses on placements at major financial institutions. She has a degree from Oxford and is finishing her masters at LSE. 

Outside of work, she enjoys going to gigs and petting random dogs on the street.

+44 (0) 7706 346 793

Joshua Blake

Josh has 5 years of recruitment experience and was most recently a Manager at a Global PLC. Josh looks after all Interim roles at Third Way Legal across private practice and in-house. He has particular expertise in financial services and litigation.

Outside the office, Josh enjoys boxing and telling jokes that only he finds funny.

+44 (0)7593572763

Francesca Milton

Francesca has been working in legal recruitment since 2005 and is incredibly passionate about her job. At Montresor Legal, Francesca heads up the Business Support and Paralegal division. She can assist candidates looking for either a permanent or temporary position.

If you are looking for a move please get in touch with Francesca; she is always happy to offer advice and guidance and has excellent market knowledge. 

Outside of work, Francesca enjoys spending time with her family, walking her boxer dog and exploring the Kent countryside, in particular the many lovely pubs the area has to offer!

07562 616 281

Laura Davidson

Laura joined Montresor from a FTSE 250 international recruiter in 2020. She specialises in providing corporates across a range of industry sectors with flexible legal resource, placing candidates on an interim and contract basis.

Outside of work, you will find Laura attempting to keep active, fuelling her shopping addiction or escaping to a beach in Norfolk for the weekend.

+44 (0)7593572776

Emma Bennett

Emma joined Montresor from an international ALSP in 2021. She has over eight years experience in legal recruitment and specialises placing lawyers with corporates on an interim or fixed term basis.

Outside of work Emma enjoys yoga, cooking and maintaining a love-hate relationship with running half marathons.

+44 (0) 7593 572 749

Hannah Oluseitan

Hannah has 4 years of legal recruitment experience in the in-house sector. She joined Montresor in 2022 coming from another leading legal recruitment agency in the interim market. Hannah specialises in providing corporates across a range of industry sectors with flexible legal resources, placing candidates on an interim and contract basis. 

Outside of the office, Hannah is a competitive netball player. 

+44 (0) 7513 724 389

Purdeep Sihota

Purdeep is a derivatives lawyer with over 10 years experience. She has worked in both private practice and in-house. She joined Montresor Legal in 2021 and brings with her in-depth industry knowledge and a strong network of legal contacts. Purdeep mainly specialises in the financial services sector. 

In her free time, Purdeep enjoys cooking, travelling and spending time outdoors hiking and cycling.

+44 (0) 7706 312 339

Alex Tudor

Alex joined Montresor in early 2022 after graduating from law school. He works on placing lawyers and paralegals in both Private practice and in-house roles.

Outside of work you can find him jogging/being pulled around his local park by his German Shepard.

07706318211

Lucy Thorpe

Lucy is a Recruitment Assistant at Montresor Legal. Lucy supports and works alongside the Business Director of our Business Support team.

Outside of work you will find Lucy eating her way through London and trying not to get lost on the tube.

+44 7562 687 458

Becky Murphy

Becky has recently joined the Paralegal and Business Support team at Montresor Legal as a Resourcer. Becky has previous experience in a well-established city law firm as well as in legal recruitment. 

Outside of work, you will find Becky either enjoying countryside walks with her miniature schnauzer or drinking cocktails with her friends in London. 

+44 (0)7593 553 044

Infrastructure

Steve Hallam

Steve is the Chief Operating Officer at Montresor having joined in September 2021.

He has worked within the recruitment industry for 27 years. Steve’s experience includes over 20 years in his last role with a FTSE 250 global recruiter, the last seven years as Managing Director running successful businesses across England, Scotland and Ireland. He was the Global Account Director for the world’s second-largest card payment organisation. Steve specialises in recruiting, building, coaching, mentoring and training sales teams.

When not in the office Steve can generally be found cycling around the Surrey Hills in very tight-fitting clothing that his wife says no middle-aged man should be allowed wear.

Samara Rizvi

+44 (0) 7706326869

Megan Muldoon

Megan is the Office Manager at Montresor and Third Way Legal. Megan runs the administrative processes in the office. 

Outside of work you will find Megan either having cocktails and brunches with her friends or probably still lost in London and trying to navigate the tube.

+44 (0)203 457 0282

Stephen Perrin

Stephen is a qualified Finance Director with 35 years financial experience, with more than 15 years in recruitment, and a proven track record of delivering strong financial management and business improvement. In his spare time he likes to read, mainly spreadsheets.

David Higgins

David Higgins is a board advisor to Montresor Legal. David is an entrepreneur and pioneering business leader and was a founder and CEO at Harvey Nash, growing the business into an international market leader with a £500m turnover. David a wealth of experience and demonstrable track record of business growth, strategy and successful acquisitions both in the UK and internationally.

Jez Cartwright

Jez acts as a board advisor and executive coach to Montresor, having worked with the management team for 15 years. Jez has coached a wide variety of CEO’s, leaders and teams across many sectors of the business world, as well as teams and elite performers within the professional sports world.

Our values are core to our ethos and mission to create a genuinely unique legal recruiter

Intelligence

To generate non-publicly available market intelligence that helps clients make smarter hires and candidates in planning their careers.

Innovation

To combine best-in-class technology and recruitment strategy, to improve the legal Candidate experience and help Clients recruit the most challenging hires.

Partnership

To develop durable, long-term relationships with individuals, and institutions, establishing Montresor as a key, highly valued partner firm.