Lamplighter Group

Lamplighter is a boutique advisory firm that helps senior executives, investors, and counsel manage contentious situations and make better decisions at moments of commercial opportunity. Its offering combines bespoke intelligence and investigations services with specific expertise in the management of political and diplomatic relationships and in the workings of complex financial structures. The business is owned and led by a group of former senior managers with top Chambers-ranked business intelligence firms Alaco Limited and Control Risks and strategic advisory firm Albright Stonebridge Group. James Birkett and Austen Josephs, who run Lamplighter's London office, previously worked with Michael Auerbach to establish an intelligence business within consultancy DGA Group, which won recognition from Chambers in its first year of operation. They launched Lamplighter in September 2025, after raising investment to carve this business out as an independent entity. Simon Watson, a former senior partner with Goldman Sachs, has worked with Lamplighter as a senior advisor from its inception.

Lamplighter offers a full suite of investigations services across three broad themes:

• Disputes support and asset tracing;
• Investigative due diligence;
• Strategic intelligence.

Its reporting is differentiated by the experience of its senior team, who boast decades of collective experience in the sector. The firm's ability to produce accurate, timely and focused reporting, even in low information environments, reflects longstanding and wide-ranging source networks and a deep understanding of where, and how, to obtain and utilise information from the public record.

Lamplighter operates globally. Reflecting its background in strategic consultancy, recent assignments have included supporting clients involved in early stage disputes against politically-connected counterparties and complex commercial situations, including planned international M&A activity.