Freeths LLP

Freeths LLP

freeths.co.uk

East Midlands

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Patrick Adie

Patrick Adie

Patrick is an award-winning Real Estate Partner and is National Head of Housebuilding & Strategic Land. He is recognised as one of the leading residential development lawyers in the UK. He has won ‘Solicitor of the Year 2022’ (Notts Law Society) and is a previous recipient of ‘Junior Lawyer of the Year’. He was also named as one of the ‘Top 10 Remarkable East Midlands Real Estate Lawyers to Watch’ in 2023 by Business Today. The Housebuilding & Strategic Land team that Patrick leads won ‘Law Firm of the Year 2024’ at the Insider Midlands Residential Property Awards 2024 and won ‘Deal of the Year 2024’ at the Insider East Midlands Property Awards He is the Client Relationship Partner for several FTSE100 companies including Barratt Redrow Plc (the UK’s largest housebuilder), Vistry Group Plc (the UK’s 2nd largest housebuilder), and recently won a place on the legal panel for Taylor Wimpey (the UK’s 3rd largest housebuilder). He is also Client Relationship Partner for regional housebuilders William Davis Homes and Owl Homes, national multi-service housing and infrastructure company United Living Group, and (jointly with Darren Williamson) the FTSE250 national regeneration company Harworth Group Plc. He is currently an Executive Sponsor of the Balance Network at Freeths, in order to ally with and promote gender equity initiatives at the firm.
Gemma Bedford

Gemma Bedford

Gemma works alongside Jane Williams on a wide range of cases including birth injury cases, complex orthopaedic surgical cases, sepsis and obstetric and gynaecological claims. She has over six years experience of bringing clinical negligence claims.Gemma is recommended for being approachable and helpful, helping you to feel at ease in difficult and emotional personal situations. She is dedicated to seeking answers and obtaining compensation – enabling you to pay for the care and equipment which you may require after the mismanagement of your medical treatment.She deals with all types of clinical negligence cases, but specialises in representing children with cerebral palsy and in representing families in fatal cases involving sepsis.
Guy Berwick

Guy Berwick

Partner & National Head of Dispute ManagementGuy has a wide-ranging experience of disputes arising out of all aspects of the built environment. He has time-served experience of managing closure of final accounts, defects and professional negligence claims, but with many years’ experience in wider commercial disputes including the demands of acting (and winning for clients) in emergency and injunctive applications.Guy prides himself on his ability to deliver the result that any client deserves quicker, cheaper and better than others in the market. His team remains the only construction group to publish its track record in adjudication work.His personal performance is: “Played 108, lost 9.” Clients who have benefited from his team’s approach include businesses within the construction, retail, logistics, materials, food and manufacturing sectors.Over 25 years’ specialist industry and sector experience have given Guy a highly developed understanding of ‘what should go where, why and when’ in relation to any construction or infrastructure project. This allows him, when any dispute or problem occurs, to get quickly to the heart of what has gone wrong, why and who is/should/could be accountable.Guy is recognised as an “Elite Leading Lawyer” in Construction by The Legal 500.
Rachel Clarke

Rachel Clarke

Rachel has over 12 years experience acting for the Social Housing sector in the area of residential development. The procurement route for Registered Providers tends to be through Development Agreements with housebuilders or land agreements with City Councils with associated Grant Agreement.Rachel acts for Registered Provider clients in the refinancing of their housing stock. She also acts for developers buying/selling land through conditional contracts or option agreements, and in relation to promoting land for development through Planning Promotion Agreements.
Jade Flint

Jade Flint

After training at a niche litigation practice, Jade joined the firm in 2014. She works within the Commercial Litigation department and Insolvency Unit in Nottingham, under the supervision of Graham Greenfield (the head of both departments).Jade acts on behalf of both claimants and defendants in a range of civil matters, including claims of professional negligence and breach of contract. Jade has particular expertise acting in relation to claims arising out of transactions undertaken prior to bankruptcy or liquidation. Jade regularly acts for Insolvency Practitioners and individuals in connection with these matters.
Chris Freeston

Chris Freeston

Partner specialising in all areas of finance, particularly property and project finance. Chris is head of the firm’s banking and finance team. Recent transactions include advising the issuer on a £100m mortgage bond issue, acting for the lender on enforcement and insolvency issues relating to indebtedness of approximately £180m secured against a portfolio of properties and advising Bridges Ventures on the £84m acquisition of a portfolio of offices from Regus Plc. Chris acts for investors, developers, development agencies and a number of lenders including ICG Longbow, HSBC, RBS, and Santander.
Thomas Golding

Thomas Golding

A partner in Freeths’ Real Estate department, Thomas advises businesses (and individuals) on a variety of commercial property matters. These include acquisitions and disposals, refinancings and property development.Whilst working across a broad range of areas, Thomas has particular expertise in the private care sector and acts for a number of household name care operators and developers. He offers significant experience in dealing with property aspects of banking / refinancing matters. Thomas also has extensive experience of dealing with institutional “sale and leaseback” funding transactions, including involving UK and US REITs.Whilst he is a property lawyer by trade, Thomas has extensive experience of property aspects of corporate transactions, and has led property aspects on many share and business sale transactions. Thomas is also experienced in property finance transactions.
Graham Greenfield

Graham Greenfield

Head of commercial litigation department and also head of the insolvency unit, Graham is widely recognised as one of the East Midlands’ leading insolvency lawyers with over 26 years’ experience in this field. He has acted nationally and internationally and has complimentary experience in banking litigation. Graham frequently represents a wide portfolio of insolvency practitioner clients acting regularly for many of the larger firms of accountants as well as the quality smaller firms. Graham’s commercial litigation experience is vast, including representing clients all the way up to the Court of Appeal. He regularly deals with complex, commercial, financial and professional negligence matters and has a depth and breadth of knowledge that is commensurate with his many years of experience.
James Hart

James Hart

Property development with particular emphasis on major projects. In recent years James has acted in some of the largest urban regeneration projects in the country, including in Solihull, Leeds, Derby and Greater London. In acting for private residential and commercial developers, public authorities, funders and housing associations James has developed a holistic understanding of major project and development work and regularly advises upon joint venture and structural agreements, site assembly, development agreements, overage, conditional contracts and options, infrastructure and funding arrangements. Recent projects include: major schemes to regenerate 1970s housing stock in Solihull and Greater London; the £70m extension of Touchwood Shopping Centre for the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull; and a large-scale transfer of New Town legacy assets from the HCA to Milton Keynes Council, in which James headed the 25-strong project team representing the Council and its LLP subsidiary which acquired the majority of the assets in a pioneering use of local authority-controlled companies. James is also advising Bedford Borough Council on several significant development and disposal projects in the borough along with existing clients such as Halton Borough Council, Bassetlaw District Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and the London Borough of Havering on a range of property acquisition, management and disposal projects. For Derby City Council he has advised on the property aspects of a major, 30-year LLP joint venture proposed to be entered into with a private sector partner to transform a deprived inner-city neighbourhood through housing regeneration, and for the past ten years James has been closely advising Bellway Homes Limited in the highly successful public-private housing regeneration scheme covering four wards in the north of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull.
John Heaphy

John Heaphy

Head of banking and finance division specialising in all aspects of corporate finance and banking; recent deals include: negotiating and advising the Lloyds Bank acquisition finance team on providing senior debt facilities on the ISIS equity partners backed MBO of Impetus Automotive. Advising shareholders of Gyron Internet Ltd on the sale of 85% of the shares of Gyron Internet Ltd. Advising the sellers on the sale of Viaton Industries. Advising Merlin labels on the acquisition of Labelsco from MSO.
Robert Hill

Robert Hill

Robert has worked in our Dispute Resolution department since qualifying at Freeths in 2010. He has a broad range of litigation experience and of cases covering a varied range of different legal areas. Robert has acted for a wide breadth of clients, from private individuals through to large commercial organisations (including the public and not for profit sectors). This means that he is well placed to understand not only the needs of his own clients, but, significantly, those of the other parties to the dispute.Robert is a keen advocate of developing case strategy at the initial stages of litigation and providing a clear route to achieving client outcomes. Robert can provide helpful and practical advice from the outset, with a particular focus on how to resolve disputes in a cost-effective and timely way. He is sensitive to the needs of each client, focussing on the commercial and practical realities of the dispute.Having specialised over recent years, Robert’s case load now primarily focuses on disputes concerning contracts, estates, land, probate and trusts. He has dealt with a number of large contractual disputes, property disputes (including jointly owned property) and he has a busy caseload in relation to disputed estates, lifetime gifts and disputed trusts.
Christopher Holwell

Christopher Holwell

Partner and National Head of Construction, specialising in construction procurement work including building, engineering and process plant contracts. Currently advising: London Luton Airport in relation to its major expansion project; Gleeds in relation to numerous projects in the UK and overseas; developers in relation to projects including hotels, student accommodation, PRS, offices and distribution centres; contractors and specialist sub-contractors in relation to a variety of projects; a major national retailer in relation to store, distribution centre and fit-out projects; a global company in relation to highways contracts.
Mark Keeley

Mark Keeley

Partner in charge of private litigation unit; the unit covers a range of civil disputes for private clients, but specialises in contested trust and probate disputes; caseload comprises high-value contested probate and trust disputes including IPFDA 1975 claims, will disputes, contested court of protection proceedings and related professional negligence claims against other solicitors. Mark is also a qualified commercial mediator and regularly mediates contested trust and probate disputes.
John Kelly

John Kelly

An experienced dispute lawyer, John specialises in complex construction defects cases, including dealing with matters of professional negligence. He also has significant experience in bringing and defending construction adjudications on matters of termination, payment, extension of time and defects. John has growing experience with international construction disputes. He has been involved within the construction industry since leaving school in 1982, until re-training as a solicitor in 2000 focusing solely on construction law. John’s in-depth sector knowledge is a significant advantage in assessing a client’s position. It allows John to work efficiently with his clients and enables him to obtain a quick grasp on the issues to be resolved. John is frequently brought in to assist on problem projects to help guide the project team, protecting a client’s position against a back drop of a live contract.
Rahul Kotecha

Rahul Kotecha

Rahul qualified as a Solicitor in 2009 advising clients on their tax, trusts and estate planning. Rahul joined Freeths in February 2020 and is responsible for leading the Trusts, Estates and Tax team in the Midlands. Prior to joining Freeths he spent 7 years at a well established large regional firm who were recognised in Tier 1 Legal 500 and Chambers Top Tier. Rahul has a particular interest in advising business owners on their succession planning having completed a STEP Advanced Certificate in Family Business Advising as well as advising clients who have a particular International presence such as those looking to reside in or leave the UK. Rahul is a full member of STEP and Solicitors for the Elderly.
Rena Magdani

Rena Magdani

Rena is a Partner and Head of the Employment team in Leicester.  She deals with all aspects of contentious and non-contentious employment law for public and private sector clients. She has particular experience of representing clients at employment tribunals, advising on business reorganisations, redundancies, discrimination, unfair dismissal, TUPE regulations, providing strategic HR advice and bespoke training. Rena is recognised as a leader in the field of employment by Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500.
Frances McKinnon

Frances McKinnon

Frances has over 10 years post qualification experience as a property lawyer, has worked in residential conveyancing, and specialises in working with developers and their new build developments.She acts for a wide range of developers including national house builders, local developers with smaller developments, bespoke exclusive developments, local authority and care home providers.Frances has experience with varying funding arrangements and government purchase schemes. She has a track record of working with smaller developers to guide them through, what may be, their first new build development process.
Julian Middleton

Julian Middleton

National Head of Employment, Pensions and Immigration.A highly specialised lawyer, Julian specialises in the ever-changing world of employment law. His main focus is on proactive risk reduction through the client’s internal skill development and the production of a commercial approach to human resource and managing people.Clients include:Aldi Stores Ltd;2 Sisters Food Group Ltd;British Psychological Society;British Dieticians AssociationDe Montfort UniversityEast Midlands Business LtdOakham SchoolThe Royal Air Forces AssociationThe Chairman and Directors of Leicester City Football ClubThe Chairman of Derby County FCDerby County FCJohn GregoryJulian advises businesses on implementing strategies for creating modern workplaces and delivering the most productive and engaged workforce. This is achieved through internal management training; planning and implementing reorganisations, collective consultations and individual case-handling. Always focussing on securing the best possible commercial outcomes, and maximising financial and reputational gain.During his career at Freeths, Julian has helped take it from a £2m turnover single-office solicitors practice into the circa £80m turnover 12 city law firm it is today. He has been Managing Partner of the Leicester Office, Managing Partner of the Head Office in Nottingham and National Head of the Employment, Pensions and Immigration Team.Julian is one of the few solicitors identified by Chambers Guide to the UK Legal Profession as an Eminent Practitioner.
Natasha Molloy

Natasha Molloy

Partner and Head of Court of Protection (Nottingham) Natasha is a highly experienced professional deputy who has acted for hundreds of clients who lack capacity to manage their own property and affairs. She deals with all types of cases but primarily specialises in acquired brain injury, representing both adults and children who lack capacity as a result of personal injury or clinical negligence. Her clients also include those with mental health issues, learning difficulties and birth injuries.
Sarah Phillips

Sarah Phillips

Sarah specialises in advice relating to the creation, administration and termination of settlements, including the taxation aspects. Her specialism is personal injury trusts – trusts set up to hold and manage compensation awarded for personal injury.She advises the successful claimant or the parent, if the claimant is a minor, on merits of such trusts and their creation. She also deals with the day to day administration of the trusts on behalf of the trustees and prepares annual accounts and tax returns.Sarah qualified as a solicitor in 1995, having previously studied accountancy. She joined Freeths LLP in 2009 and is also a member of the Association of Taxation Technicians.
Edward Pickard

Edward Pickard

Edward deals with all Real Estate litigation issues, including lease renewals, exercise of break options, easements, and covenant disputes. He has a focus on landlord-and-tenant work, particularly dilapidations disputes for both landlords and tenants. Edward has been praised for being very approachable.Whilst Edward is experienced in litigation, he prefers to work with his clients to avoid disputes reaching such a stage. Instead, he focusses on managing the issues to commercial and practical resolutions.
Isobel Radford

Isobel Radford

Specialist areas: landlord and tenant, investment property, banking and education. Recent significant deals include: sale of investment properties in London valued at a total of £50m; dealing with the property aspects of a complex data centre services agreement; acquisition of an office park for redevelopment as a data centre site; several high-value refinancing transactions, acting for both banks and borrowers; dealing with a group reorganisation for a retail client involving the transfer of 50 freehold and leasehold properties. Clients include a number of corporate occupiers, national retailers, a data centre provider, a university and a number of banks.
Kishen Ravalia

Kishen Ravalia

Director – Real Estate. Kishen has been qualified for over 12 years and has a considerable breadth of experience in all aspects of real estate work including landlord and tenant matters and real estate finance. He has a particular specialism in dealing with complex development and development finance matters. Recent transactions include: Advising a developer in connection with the forward sale of a £63m PRS scheme Advising a funder on its forward funding of a new £6m hotel development. Advising an investor in connection with the acquisition and disposal of a residential development site for the construction of 52 dwellings. Advising the land owner in connection with a hybrid promotion and option agreement to promote land for a predominantly residential development scheme.
Ian Rowson

Ian Rowson

Partner in real estate development, dealing primarily with commercial property development and property finance for a range of developers, financial and educational institutions end users and public sector bodies and advising in relation to distressed property transactions. Notable transactions this year have included: advising Metropolitan Borough of Solihull in relation to a highly complex development agreement relating to an extension to the Touchwood Shopping Centre; advising a developer in relation to the purchase of a 200 acre estate from an administrator; advising Loughborough University in relation to a complex deal to take place at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.
Mona Schroedel

Mona Schroedel

Mona qualified in 2008 and has wide-ranging experience in acting for private clients and commercial clients. She has expertise in contentious probate and trust disputes, professional negligence claims, property claims, web fraud claims, and commercial matters.Mona is always keen to explore alternative solutions for clients and has experience of mediation as well as arbitration. Mona deals with all types of will disputes and claims over lifetime gifts, often involving lack of testamentary capacity and/or undue influence. She has experience of trust disputes acting for trustees in multimillion pound estates.Clients like the clear and structured advice Mona provides and private clients appreciate the sympathetic manner in which Mona assists them through often very difficult cases (both emotionally and legally). Clients can rely on receiving a detailed and easy to understand explanation of the law from Mona and having their options set out for comparison.
Ania Vernon

Ania Vernon

Ania is a Corporate Partner and joined Freeths in June 2024 from Shoosmiths. Ania has significant sector expertise in tech, retail and asset-manager M&A, and rich credentials for advising management teams on buy-outs, institution-sponsored deals and other transactional processes, as well as for routinely leading delivery of high quality indirect real estate deals (both offshore and domestic). Ania has been noted by The Legal 500 for her expertise in delivering private equity investments, exits and M&A and was a “Leading Associate” in the 2024 edition.
Jane Williams

Jane Williams

Partner advising on clinical negligence and catastrophic injury claims with particular expertise in brain and spinal injury claims. Jane is head of department and has more than 24 years experience of bringing clinical negligence claims. She has an active practice dealing with cases of maximum severity including spinal, neurological and birth injury clinical negligence claims.  She also has a strong track record in misdiagnoses of cancer and epilepsy having co-ordinated two high profile group actions. She is renowned for her friendly and sympathetic approach putting her clients at ease from the outset.Jane’s aim is always to do the best for her clients and to take away the stress of bringing a claim at what is often a difficult and emotional time. She advocates a team approach and her clients are always involved and integral to this.Testimonials:“A warm heartfelt thank you for your support, dedication and hard graft over the last 5 years. Your professionalism has assured our daughter got what she deserved, a secure future with superb living standards and care team.  You are a credit to your profession”.   “Just wanted to say a very big thank you for all your help over these past few very emotional years ... we are so grateful for the way you have handled everything putting us at ease and getting the best for our son. You have truly been so nice, kind and friendly, it has been lovely knowing you!”   “Jane has always been professional, thorough, helpful, kind and friendly and every time we have met or spoken put us at ease”.  “We are extremely grateful to Jane for all her hard work and support on our behalf ... we are indebted for everything you have done for us as a family”.
Guy Winfield

Guy Winfield

Partner and head of the Real Estate team in Nottingham specialising in commercial development (town centre, retail and industrial) as well as residential development, property investment and property finance. Guy also leads the team acting for one of the UK’s leading gym operators. “Clients comment that he provides a best in class service with the ability to respond to matters very quickly, accurately and efficiently and has a skill of thinking laterally and "outside the box" often keeping deals alive and finding solutions to problems that would otherwise make a deal not happen”
Liz Young

Liz Young

Liz is an RTPI Chartered Town Planner with over 5 years planning experience in the private sector. Liz joined Freeths as a Graduate Planner in 2012 and qualified as a Chartered Planner in 2015.As a result, Liz is recognised as having a strong understanding of the legislative framework within which the planning system operates and is able to practically apply this to client’s queries regarding their developments.Liz deals with a broad scale and range of planning applications in the retail, commercial and residential planning sectors. She provides strategic planning advice, undertakes specific site appraisals and deals with the submission of Local Plan representations as well as managing the preparation and submission of a wide range of applications and appeals.She also has recent and up to date experience of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), Listed Building Consents, Prior Approval Applications, Housing Land Supply Calculations and CIL mitigation advice.