Edge International

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Welcoming 3 New Principals to Edge International

Edge International
| General

We are delighted to introduce 3 new principals, Gary Hommel, Julia Chain and Suzanne Fine, all of whom are joining Edge International effective 1st November 2025. Their addition builds out Edge’s capacity in two key areas: 

Gary Hommel is an experienced adviser and executive coach, who brings more than 25 years as a partner and leader at global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, as well as having acted as an internal coach and as an internal change agent / catalyst. Gary advises law firms on leadership and strategic challenges including:

He also coaches senior lawyers and leaders / managers around the gamut of issues that drive successful performance and impactful leadership.  Gary is known as “a calm and intelligent character who cuts through complexity”, with “strong commercial acumen”.  

Before joining Edge International, Gary led the turnaround of a material part of HSFK, latterly as a Managing Partner. He was directly responsible for 40 partners and their teams in different jurisdictions, building the strategy, driving smart business development and improving cultural, financial and people performance, resulting in consistent year-on-year profit growth. 

Julia Chain is well-known in the UK legal market as an ex Managing Partner and General Counsel who has been a presence on platforms and at conferences for several decades. She chaired the Economist In-House Conference for several years.  As a consultant, Julia has a wealth of experience advising US, UK and global clients, both law firms and in house legal departments.  She has had her own consultancy (Kite), was a colleague of the late Alan Hodgart at both H4 Partners and Huron Legal and has also been CEO of a Legal Process Outsourcer.  She is known as practical, hands-on and highly effective as an adviser. 

Julia started her career as a lawyer at Shearman & Sterling (NYC) and Herbert Smith (London).  Her career as a lawyer culminated in roles as first woman managing partner of a top 100 law firm (the Andersen’s law firm, Garretts) and as GC of T-Mobile UK (where she was a Board Member and part of the senior executive team). 

In 2004 Julia founded Kite, a strategy consultancy advising law firms and general counsel / in house teams.  Kite later merged with Alan Hodgart’s then consultancy, H4 Partners. H4 having been acquired by Huron, Julia became a Managing Director for several years at Huron Legal and subsequently lead the London Law Firm RPC’s management consultancy, RPC Perform. 

Following RPC Perform, Julia was CEO of an LPO (a tech / discovery process outsourcer), in which capacity she helped turn around the company and prepare it for a successful sale. Currently, as well as legal consulting, Julia has a number of non-executive roles including chairing the UK Fertility Regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.  A long-standing champion of diversity and inclusion, Julia is a former Deputy Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). 

Suzanne Fine is an experienced learning and development professional, adept at teaching globally applicable skills relevant to lawyers and other professionals such as business services, in professional services firms.  She has 25+ years’ experience working at senior executive level in and with global law firms. 

Suzanne was most recently Vice President of Knowledge & Learning for Lex Mundi, the leading global association of independent law firms, where she advised on professional development and training for member firms globally. 

Prior to joining Lex Mundi, Suzanne worked at Linklaters, based in London, where she was Global Head of Knowledge and Learning. There she was instrumental in developing and delivering the Linklaters Law & Business School, a global overarching umbrella for all training and development at the firm, offering a coherent training structure for both lawyers and support staff at the firm.  At Linklaters, Suzanne also implemented new knowledge and information systems and a new global learning and performance management system.

Suzanne has held significant roles teaching in Law Schools in the UK, including The College of Law (now University of Law), where she was a Principal Lecturer and Head of the Bar Vocational Course and Nottingham Law School (where she was a Visiting Professor). She is dual qualified both as a Barrister and Solicitor in England & Wales.

If your firm has any needs which you believe any principal of Edge might be able to help with please do not hesitate to contact the relevant principal, whose details can be found on the contact page of the Edge International website.