Banking and finance in North West

‘Addleshaws have market leading expertise in the small / mid-ticket asset finance market. Andrew Maskill is the best in-house lawyer in private practice! Experienced, with commercial risk appreciation and technically solid.’

‘Andrew Maskill is always available and provides market leading experience and service on transactional matters.’

‘Their in depth knowledge and understanding of the client requirements is a real strength. There is a broad offering of expertise which means Addleshaws can act as a one stop shop for legal advice.’

‘Really proactive, driven team who are very capable at handling complex matters.’

‘Ben Edwards – exceptional client service and technical knowledge. Jessica Burgess – strong associate, commercial and responsive.’

‘Team led by Simon Prendergast is incredibly knowledgeable, collaborative, commercial and experienced. I have worked with Simon for many years in the asset based lending market and find him and his team a huge support.’

‘The AG team has expert knowledge of the market, the technical legal knowledge that is expected of a large law firm and will always be able to put a large team on a deal, if needed.’

‘Martin O’Shea – extremely experienced; always very receptive to calls / queries even when not billing for the advice. Katie Ridehalgh – very specific technical expertise and my go-to person in the industry for advice which I can fully rely on.’

‘Joe Frew is our main contact at DLA and he coordinates all aspects of the financial side of our transactions, liaising with his property colleagues as appropriate to give my firm seamless support. We work on quite complex mezzanine finance development transactions and Joe has the ability to grasp intricate concepts and draft clauses to protect our position both with the borrower’s lawyers and also the lawyers of the funder providing senior debt facilities.’

‘Alastair Carruthers stood out as dedicated, commercial and fully on top of transaction and all its moving parts.’

‘My go-to individual is Rebecca Williams. I couldn’t ask for a more attentive and responsive lawyer to get deals across the line. DLA Piper also has the depth of resources in asset finance, and more generally as a major international operation to meet deadlines.’

‘I’ve worked with DLA for many years focusing on their asset based lending expertise. I find the partners and their teams exceptionally knowledgeable, helpful, commercial and sensible in their approach. They work collaboratively with us and do not take a opposing stance just for the sake of it. They are true professionals.’

‘They give you their time and their views, feel able to challenge where necessary but never make you feel inadequate.’

‘The practice have a good understanding of our documents as they do all of our banking for loans. They give helpful market information also and give excellent service. They always answer small questions very promptly.’

‘The individuals are a pleasure to deal with. Deal mainly with Matthew Christmas and Alastair Carruthers. Occasionally I have had an unreasonable rush job and they have been able to complete this for me unbelievably quickly. They are both very hard working and effective.’

‘Matt Christmas –  excellent advice, always available, leads from the front (ie doesn’t overly delegate), a trusted adviser.’

‘I mainly work with Taslima Salam – high-quality lawyer that is easy to work with, responsive and provides good advice.’

‘Debra Cooper, very efficient and reliable, gets things done on time.’

‘Personal approach to understand your business and working together collectively to reach the overall goal.’

‘Good communication & collaboration – good technology.’

‘High-quality advice from a regionally-focused firm with international reach.’

‘Prompt and pragmatic.’

‘Claire is an extremely intelligent, proactive, incisive and effective lawyer. She is my ‘go to’ banking lawyer in the North West region. She is smart, personable and humorous. She has excellent commercial aptitude and she distils complex legal issues in concise and effective language that allows me to make important legal decisions with confidence.’

‘Claire Shepherd is our main partner contact in Manchester. We value her in depth knowledge of our portfolio and procedures together with her common sense and practical approach to getting things done.’

‘The practice is knowledgeable and service orientated/partner led. Partners lead the conversations and are solution orientated, able to juggle workloads to ensure timelines are met. The partner we deal with is able to smoothly manage transactions/negotiations in a positive/constructive manner, easily able to put egos aside.’

‘Good quality people, very pleasant and helpful, pragmatic and always try and get a deal done. Take a view rather than stick to rhetoric.’

‘DWF Law Manchester provide excellent support and cohesion to complete matters in a timely manner.’

‘James Szerdy provides proactive and practical support to help move forward at pace and with precision.’

‘James Szerdy – Always reachable and a pleasure to work with. Delivers against required deadlines.’

‘Personal service and going beyond the call of duty to get deals done make Gunnercooke an outstanding legal partner. In particular Georgina Tripp and her team are a refreshing change to the legal profession.’

‘Great teamwork for a small firm, punching above their weight and feels like a big city firm. Great structure where the relationship built with clients is key. Plus, working with Gunnercooke allows us to agree the best pricing structure, giving us complete transparency.’

‘Georgina Tripp is the standout partner – Georgina brings the right balance of legal expertise and practical help to the most complex of matters. She is the foremost expert capital markets lawyer with comprehensive knowledge of funding programmes documentation. She knows how to get things done, the detail and the timescales.’

‘I have been dealing with Fieldfisher for the last 18 months and they have been looking after my larger and more complex cases, several of which have been time critical. The work has been a mix of property and banking and the team in Manchester have been first rate. Cannot speak highly enough. Their banking lawyer (Charlotte Round) is exceptional and the property performed to seriously challenging deadlines to deliver a company purchase transaction on a pubs portfolio. Would not have happened without Fieldfisher.’

‘Quality and professionalism of the staff.’

‘Kuits are a firm that punches above its weight. They have very experienced partners who are accessible. They are commercial in their approach and client service is very important to them. They develop their people in a consistent manner which is very important to us as we focus on long-term partnership relationships – therefore quality and consistency of people is very important to us. They have utilised technology to remain in close contact with clients and to continue to collaborate with us and our customers where we instruct Kuits to act for us.’

‘My dealings with the TLT’s banking team are via Paul Crighton who I have known for over 10 years. I always find him top rate. Knows his stuff and happy to help.’

‘Supportive; go the extra mile.’

‘Flexibility and taking the initiative are standout qualities. The team is very knowledgeable and can bring in experts in related fields to assist when and where necessary.’

‘All the partners are extremely knowledgeable in their respective fields and bring this expertise to bear constructively.’

‘The team have an excellent understanding of the sector nuances and are able to support negotiations in respect of banking and debt capital market products. Thorough understanding of the legal process.’

‘Eleanor James has excellent knowledge of the debt capital markets from a legal perspective which enables her to support complex transactions in a short time period. Always makes herself available to answer questions, even out of hours. This comprehensive knowledge and flexible approach allowed us to advance from starting the documentation to launching the deal in just 4 weeks.’

‘Responsive, commercially astute, not just the typical lawyers – able to provide pragmatic astute advice.’

‘Patricia Grinyer exemplifies all the qualities needed in a 21st century lawyer, an exceptional lawyer who is the least lawyerly type you will encounter.’