LAVA Advisory Partners, a London-based M&A advisory firm specialising in the lower-mid-market, has appointed Paul Joyce as a new partner as the firm prepares for a phase of accelerated expansion.
Joyce joins from Forvis Mazars, where he spent the past eight years establishing and leading the firm’s London M&A team. With over 20 years’ experience in M&A and corporate finance, his professional background includes senior positions at Deloitte, Credit Suisse, and PwC.
He brings with him a proven track record across financial and professional services, with particular expertise in fund and trust administration, business support services, and people-focused enterprises.
His appointment sees LAVA expand its partnership team to three, joining founding partners Hamish Martin and Simon Woodcock. His experience will offer additional leadership depth and origination capacity during a period of growth and expansion for the firm.
Founded in 2020, LAVA advises on M&A and financing deals across all sectors and specialisms, and transitioned to an Employee Ownership Trust in 2024. The team is known for bringing deep technical expertise to complex transactions, delivering ten bespoke buy-side, sell-side and advisory deals in human rights, education, defence, aerospace, alternative energy, construction and tech in the past year alone.
Commenting on his appointment, Paul 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 real people: founders, investors and teams 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.”
Simon Woodcock, Partner at LAVA, added: “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 and have no doubt he’ll fit right in!”
Joyce’s arrival follows the appointment of five new hires in the past year, with LAVA bringing in three Associate Directors, an Analyst, and its first Operations Coordinator.
