Jane Colston

Practice Areas

Jane Colston's practice focuses on complex and high-value commercial banking, contract and tort disputes as well as company, shareholders and partnership disputes. Jane has acted in numerous complex fraud cases and has extensive experience of forensic investigations, most of which have involved working with teams of investigators and accountants, and coordinating lawyers in multiple jurisdictions to trace and freeze assets. She has managed numerous cases involving freezing, proprietary, search, disclosure, gagging, imaging and delivery up injunctions as well as breach of confidence and privacy claims. Jane is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.

Jane has acted in numerous cases where millions to billions of pounds have been at stake including involving states. Jane therefore has a deep technical knowledge but also real experience of how to run these cases successfully.

Jane has been recognized as a "Global Elite Thought Leader" by Who's Who Legal for Asset Recovery and Commercial Litigation. Peers have called her a "skillful and very adept" and “a very dynamic, tough operator.” Sources have commented, “She really works hard for the best results for her client,” and "Jane Colston is a top-class lawyer who garners strong support thanks to her great expertise in high-value commercial banking, contract and tort disputes among others.”

The Legal 500 has named Jane a "Leading Individual." Her clients have described her as a "stand-out commercial and fraud litigator." Jane was part of the team which won The Legal 500 award for crime, fraud and licensing in 2018 and 2019.

Jane is ranked Band 1 in Chambers for civil fraud. The directory guide commented that she is "one of the top fraud lawyers in London" and "incredibly clear in her strategic thoughts and knowledgeable about civil fraud procedure." She is also ranked in Chambers Litigation Support Guide for asset tracing and recovery. The guide commented that “market peers and clients both past and present consider her to be a strong practitioner and a formidable litigator.”

Jane has substantial experience of acting as a supervising solicitor appointed by the Courts of England and Wales in regard to the execution of search, imaging and door-step delivery up orders and leads Brown Rudnick's Supervising Solicitors team. Jane also lectures on topics including the impact of artificial intelligence on the legal and insolvency professions at international conferences such as those hosted by the International Bar Association, C5 Fraud Asset Tracing and Recovery, the Standing International Forum of Commercial Courts and the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and INSOL Academic Group, INSOL Asia Hub and SGRI (SMU).

Jane serves as Diversity, Equity & Inclusion partner ("DEI partner"), along with her counterpart Chelsea Mullarney in the New York office. As a DEI partner, Jane works alongside the director of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion to develop and implement the Firm's strategy for maintaining an inclusive work environment. In this role, Jane is a visible champion for the Firm's efforts to recruit, hire, develop and promote diverse and women lawyers, and actively engages Firm leadership to ensure equity and inclusion remain strategic business priorities.

Jane's passion for inclusion extends beyond her role as DEI partner to her practice and external activities. Since 2016, Jane has organized the Firm's Women in Business speaker series, bringing together women lawyers and business professionals from across industries to discuss their careers. Jane also serves as the diversity & inclusion officer for the International Bar Association's Litigation Committee and has spoken at several diversity-related conferences on topics related to inclusion in the legal profession.

Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Jane trained and then qualified into Hogan Lovells’ litigation department. She then joined Baker & McKenzie. In 2004 she co-founded the litigation boutique Masseys which was described by The Times as "go to" for banking disputes. It merged with Stewarts in 2010.