M&A advisory firm LAVA adds Paul Joyce to partner team
M&A advisory firm LAVA has strengthened its leadership team with a new partner: Paul Joyce.
The appointment sees LAVA, a London-based M&A advisory firm focused on the lower-mid-market deal segment, expand its partnership team to three. Paul Joyce joins Hamish Martin and Simon Woodcock, who founded the company in 2020.
Joyce joins from Forvis Mazars, where he spent the last eight years building and leading the London M&A team. Before that, he held senior roles at Deloitte, Credit Suisse and PwC.
During his two-decade career in M&A and corporate finance, Joyce led and worked on dozens of financial transactions, with a focus on the financial services and professional services industries. He has particular expertise in fund and trust administration, administration services, and people-centric businesses.
Commenting on his appointment, Joyce said: “From my first meeting with Hamish and Simon, I was struck by the clarity of the firm’s proposition, the strength of its team, and the quality of its client base. There’s a huge opportunity to be the boutique advisor of choice for founders and investors who want something more thoughtful, more human, and more transparent than the usual M&A experience. Being able to deliver that is what gets me out of bed in the morning.”
LAVA’s team (currently 15-strong) advises on M&A and financing deals across all sectors and specialisms, including in education, defence, aerospace, energy, construction and technology. The firm works on buy-side, sell-side and advisory deals.
“Paul is a brilliant addition for LAVA. He’s the right partner at the right time, bringing experience, energy and valuable sector insight. It’s testament to everything we’ve built that such an experienced and respected industry figure is so keen to join us and bring his skills to bear for the benefit of the team and our clients. We’re delighted to welcome him to LAVA,” said co-founder Woodcock.
Earlier this year, LAVA was named one of the UK’s leading M&A consulting firms for 2025, in a nationwide benchmark of advisory firms and dealmakers.
