Freeths LLP

Adam Boyd

Adam Boyd acts on a full range of contentious real estate matters on behalf of landlords and tenants alike in relation to all aspects of commercial property. This includes managing landlord and tenant disputes, opposed and unopposed lease renewal proceedings, dilapidations claims, rights of way, party wall claims, right to light issues, rent reviews, disputed break notices, applications to assign/underlet, insolvencies, disclaimer, forfeiture and repossession, recovery of rent arrears and enforcement of restrictive covenants. Adam is listed as a Recommended Lawyer and Next Generation Partner in the Legal 500 (2024 edition) in Personal Tax, Trusts and Probate. · Real Estate

Adam Edwards

Director · Financial Services

Adam Watson

Partner · Real Estate

Adrian Denton

Adrian has 10 years’ experience representing his clients in clinical negligence claims. He deals with many types of medical and dental cases, from those of the utmost severity to complex claims of a lesser value. Adrian is noted for his attention to detail and tenacious pursuit of his client’s interests to obtain the best outcome which properly compensates for the results of negligent medical care. He is a lawyer based in Nottingham. · Clinical Negligence

Adrian Hackett

Tax partner. Specialisms: corporate restructuring, tax structuring of investment funds, property taxes. Cases include a number of demergers, structuring inward investment into large renewable energy projects, recapitalisation of the UK subsidiaries of a large multinational and structuring several private equity and property funds. · Tax

Alison Heathcote

Alison is a construction lawyer who specialises in non-contentious building procurement matters. Her experience includes work for both the private and public sector organisations. Alison has experience and expertise in drafting and amending building and engineering contracts, including all versions of the JCT suite of contracts and NEC and institutional forms of contract. She also advises on the drafting and amendments of consultant’s appointments (industry standard and bespoke), warranties, bonds, guarantees, development and funding agreements, agreement for leases, novation agreements and ancillary project documentation. Alison has previously spent five years working in the public sector for two different County Councils. Her experience there includes advising on public procurement procedures and issues such as state aid, internal governance, and the setting up and operation of framework agreements. · Construction

Amanda Trewhella

Amanda is a specialist employment solicitor based in our London office. She advises on all aspects of the employment relationship, from recruitment and the drafting of HR policies and employee handbooks, through to advising on business reorganisations, disciplinary and grievance procedures, and drafting and negotiating settlement agreements and severance packages. · Employment

Amy Morley

Partner in the construction team specialising in the management of construction and engineering claims with particular expertise in adjudication. · Construction

Andrew Dashwood-Begg

Andrew’s work is split between dealing with commercial disputes, with a particular focus on company and partnership disputes and property disputes, focusing on commercial and agricultural property and development. Andrew also uses his experience of managing disputes to advise clients on contractual interpretation and risk management. · Litigation

Andrew Maxwell

Partner and Head of Competition Andrew leads the Competition team at Freeths LLP. He has extensive expertise on EU and UK competition/antitrust law and all related practice areas. Andrew represents both private and public sector clients in antitrust proceedings before the European Commission, the UK competition regulators and the courts. He advises on all aspects of worldwide merger control, EU/UK merger investigations, merger arbitrage, EU/UK competition law and litigation, antitrust and market investigations, competition compliance, dawn raids and leniency applications, state aid, procurement and litigation, regulatory, trade and EU law. · Competition / Antitrust

Andrew Nichol

Andrew is a leading real estate partner in the Liverpool market. He has over 15 years’ experience in property investment acquisitions, disposals, and management and property finance work. Andrew’s specialisms include acquisition finance, development finance, refinancing, and lending into specific structures around the Business Premises Renovation Allowance. · Real Estate

Andy Francey

Andy is a partner in the Freeths corporate team based in Leeds. Andy is a corporate lawyer advising on the full spectrum of corporate transactions and matters ranging from mergers and acquisitions, disposals, MBO’s, investments and private equity through to start ups, joint ventures and corporate governance. Andy also advises on banking transactions, advising both borrowers and lenders on facilities and security matters. Andy has a wealth of experience in advising on substantial bank re-financings, particularly in the leisure sector. Recently Andy has acted for: Hague SR Limited in their acquisition of iCOM Printworks Ltd; Growth Partner LLP in their investment in Keelham Farm Shop; Panintelligence Limited in its £4.5m investment from YFM Equity Partners and Comhar Capital; and the management team in the management buyout of high performance computing business, OCF Limited. Clients noted Andy Francey “stands out with his logical approach to resolving complex legal matters, coupled with his personable approach and ability to deliver outstanding service on a tight time line, within the budget originally estimated." Clients have praise him for his “top-quality, speedy responses”. · Corporate / M&A

Ania Gabrielczyk

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. · Corporate / M&A

Antonia Williamson

Senior Associate Antonia deals with the full spectrum of complex and privately funded family law matters. She primarily focuses on divorce and financial remedy cases (including those involving contested nuptial agreements, non-matrimonial property, overseas assets and trust structures). In addition, she regularly advises clients in relation to disputes regarding children (including cases featuring complex issues such as parental alienation, high levels of parental conflict, relocation and substance misuse). Antonia is also experienced in assisting clients with cohabitation disputes, wealth protection and injunctions. · Family

Ateeq Ahmed

Member · Corporate / M&A

Atiyya Khaliq

Partner in the real estate department at Freeths Nottingham office. Specialist areas include investment property, site assembly for commercial and residential development, commercial property development and education. · Real Estate

Balvinder Jaj

Partner · Real Estate

Ben Gant

Ben has particular experience in the care, student accommodation and minerals sectors. He advises clients on a variety of matters including real estate finance, acquisition and disposal work, property development, and landlord and tenant portfolio management. Ben won the Nottinghamshire Law Society Junior Lawyer of the Year in 2014. · Real Estate

Beth Jenkins

Beth regularly deals with a wide range of Real Estate Litigation issues. These include trespass/possession claims, forfeiture and termination, contested and uncontested lease renewals, service charge disputes, disrepair/dilapidations claims, break clauses, adverse possession claims, claims relating to rent review and easement and covenant disputes. · Real Estate

Cairo Nickolls

Principal Associate · Planning

Carina Barker

Carina Barker is a Senior Associate in Oxford, specialising in Agricultural Property. · Agricultural Property

Carla Rist

Director · Private Client

Caroline Wofinden

Director leading the Plots & Management team acting for national, regional and local residential and commercial property developers selling new build properties as well as acting for social housing providers in respect of shared ownership and associated work. · Real Estate

Carolyn Lowe

Carolyn has 23 years’ experience of bringing clinical negligence claims. She deals with all types of medical cases, but particularly specialises in representing bereaved parents in cases which involve stillbirths and neonatal deaths. She also represents children who are brain damaged as a result of negligent care during their birth. Other areas of speciality are in relation to complex orthopaedic claims and cardiac claims. Carolyn has represented numerous families of patients who have died as a result of clinical negligence. She also advises them in relation to Inquests and Coronial law. Recent settlements: (1) £8.5m for a 29 year old man who suffered severe brain damage at birth due to negligent medical care at Luton /7 Dunstable Hospital. He has cerebral palsy and requires 24 hour care. (2) Represented a woman who suffered severe damage to her shoulder as a result of a failure to diagnose and properly treat a bone infection at Milton Keynes Hospital. A settlement of £200,000 was achieved. 3) Achieved a £750,000 settlement for a man whose claim related to negligent knee surgery. This left him with severe, permanent pain and being likely to require an amputation. (4) Settlement of £500,000 for a man who has suffered permanent damage to his heart after his GP failed to deal adequately with symptoms of endocarditis, a severe infection of the heart. (5) Settlement of £480,000 for a man and his young children who lost their wife and mother as a result of negligent care by her General Practitioner · Clinical Negligence

Catherine Bell

Catherine is a Director and solicitor-advocate specialising in clinical negligence, with particular expertise in complex neurological claims. She represents both children and adults who have suffered brain damage as a result of medical treatment, including children with cerebral palsy. Catherine also handles a broad range of clinical negligence claims including obstetric and gynaecological injuries, spinal injuries, visual impairment, amputations and fatal claims. Catherine has a proven track record of securing good results in complex high value cases, particularly those involving life changing injuries. She is a strong negotiator who has been praised for her confidence and conviction in fighting for the best outcome. She is recognised for ability to resolve complex issues and to successfully conclude challenging cases, including those considered too difficult by other firms. Catherine is recommended for the way she guides people through the complicated and technical legal process. She helps to secure answers and obtain the compensation to fund care and equipment that can help rebuild their lives. She is praised for her “patience and positivity” and for her supportive, empathetic approach – helping reduce the stress of litigation during what can be a difficult and emotional time. Catherine is listed as a Recommended Lawyer and recognised as a Rising Star in The Legal 500 (2024 edition), meaning she makes a material difference to the firm’s offering. Catherine is accredited as a legal panel member by AvMA, the specialist charity dealing with medical accidents, and also as a senior litigator by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL). Catherine is also ranked as a Leading Individual in Chambers & Partners (2024). · Clinical Negligence

Charlotte Digby

Charlotte is an Associate in the private client team. She deals with the administration of all types of estates, and has experience of dealing with larger and more complex estates including charitable estates. Charlotte advises on the preparation of Wills, Trusts, Lasting Powers of Attorney and the preparation of Declaration of Trusts. Charlotte joined the firm as a Solicitor in March 2015. She is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP) and is currently studying for the examination in Advanced Will Preparation. Charlotte is a member of the Freeths Oxford Initiate team and a member of the Oxford Young Professionals Society. Charlotte has been an active member of the firm’s Charity & Social committee, raising money for Freeths’ chosen charities. · Private Client

Chris Ali

Partner in Manchester Office Chris been recognised as a Recommended Lawyer by Legal 500 in 2018 and 2019. He uses his experience to advise predominantly on the transactional aspects of personal and corporate insolvency, recovery and restructuring. He also runs a specialist real estate advisory practice – assisting the firm’s insolvency clients with their possession, disposal, secured lending and forensic property requirements. He also performs mainstream landlord and tenant, acquisition and disposal work. Chris holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Law from the University of Warwick. · Restructuring & Insolvency

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. · Banking & Finance

Christopher Ainsworth

Member · Real Estate

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. · Construction

Christopher Sing

Partner heading up the employment law team across Freeths’ Milton Keynes and Oxford offices. Head of schools in the Freeths national education team. Specialising in all aspects of employment law with experience in both non-contentious and contentious matters. Having previously trained as a barrister, strengths include identifying and avoiding potential disputes and conducting negotiation and advocacy in the employment tribunals. · Employment

Ciara Sweeney

Ciara is an experienced real estate lawyer working on a wide range of commercial property transactions in the UK. She acts for public and private sector clients including investors, developers and occupiers – with a particular focus on development and regeneration. Ciara also has experience in acquisitions and disposals of land (from pubs and shops to development sites), title investigation, landlord and tenant matters, and all aspects of drafting and negotiating property documentation. · Real Estate

Ciaran Dearden

Ciaran specialises in commercial dispute resolution and has a breadth of experience including in complex contractual disputes of a technical nature, shareholder and director disputes, professional negligence and in matters of reputation management including the bringing and defending of claims in defamation. Ciaran is recognised as a leading junior lawyer, having been shortlisted by The Law Society as Junior Lawyer of the Year in 2017 and Highly Commended as a Rising Star in the Modern Law Awards in 2018. · Commercial Litigation

Claire Bennett

Claire is a Senior Associate based in our Nottingham office. She specialises in Real Estate, Development and Social Housing. · Real Estate

Claire Boyce

Claire is a chartered tax advisor (member of the CIOT) and is based in Sheffield. · Taxation

Clare Bellis

Director · Property Litigation

Clare King

Clare is an energy lawyer with over a decade of experience in the sector. She specialises in clean energy projects and sustainability, focussing on commercial, regulatory and transactional work. She acts for developers, equity and debt investors, joint venture partners, ESCOs, energy consumers, aggregators and suppliers, supporting clients in asset evaluation, structuring, due diligence, project management, contract development and deal execution. Clare has a Natural Sciences degree from Durham University as well as a Law degree from Cambridge University. She trained at Hogan Lovells and worked in their Energy & Infrastructure team for five years post-qualification, following which she was a senior member of the Energy Projects team at Osborne Clarke before joining Freeths in September 2018. · Energy

Clive Pearce

Real Estate

Dahren Naidoo

Dahren is a partner in the Freeths corporate team based in Leeds. He specialises in all aspects of corporate work, including private equity transactions (acting for institutional investors, founder shareholders and management teams) and mergers and acquisitions (ranging from SMEs to larger corporate and institutional clients). Recently Dahren has acted for the management team on the Mobeus Equity Partners backed buy-in management buyout in Star Brand Holdings Limited; Fleetondemand Holdings Limited in their acquisition of FleetEurope; the management team on the Inflexion acquisition of Rosemont Pharmaceuticals; and the management team in Limerston Capital Partners acquisition of Forensic Access and Axiom International. Clients noted that “Dahren Naidoo thinks laterally and proactively tests and challenges the business rationale for a particular action in the context of the legal framework. He manages the project and team cost effectively and on time, and delivers sound advice in a timely fashion and acts very much as a critical friend to the business. He is very highly regarded and the ‘go-to’ corporate lawyer for M&A.” · Corporate / M&A

Daniel McNally

Daniel advises corporate clients who are the subject of criminal and regulatory investigations across the Country. This includes, but is not limited to, investigations that are carried out by the Police, SFO, HSE, CQC, Trading Standards, and Local Authorities. He has over 15 years experience in criminal and regulatory law and was admitted to the Roll of Solicitors in 2012. Following a number of successful appearances before his local Courts, Daniel was awarded Young Advocate of the Year in 2013. He then joined a leading national firm, where he attained a senior appointment within 18 months, before joining Freeths in 2016. As part of his duties, Daniel represents clients who are facing allegations of corporate manslaughter and breaches of health and safety legislation as well as representing corporate bodies who appear as Interested Parties at Coroners’ Inquests. He also provides advice and assistance in relation to allegations of serious fraud, proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act, and allegations of bribery and corruption. This includes advice regarding the issue of ‘self reporting’, reviewing and drafting anti-bribery policies, and, where appropriate, negotiating for Deferred Prosecution Agreements. · White-Collar Crime

Darren Debock

Darren specialises in acting for house builders, commercial developers, and landowners in connection with all aspects relating to the acquisition, site assembly and disposal of development land and brings with him a following of regional house builder clients. Darren is listed as a Recommended Lawyer and Next Generation Partner in the Legal 500 (2024 edition) in Commercial Property. · Real Estate

Darren Williamson

Development, investment and general property-related work of a commercial nature. Clients include a series of developers of both commercial and residential property. · Real Estate

David Lane

Member · Commercial Contracts

David Laurence

David is a City trained real estate solicitor and his practice covers all aspects of property law. He has a proven track record of delivering high value and complicated transactions for both public and private sector clients. Before joining Freeths, David spent five years working in the Restructuring division of a major UK bank. Here, he advised on the acquisition, asset management and disposal of a £1.2 billion property portfolio covering all major asset classes. · Real Estate

David Marsden

David is an experienced property litigation partner based in our Birmingham office. He is the co-author of “Enforcement and Debt Recovery: a Guide to the New Law”, published by the Law Society. He specialises in all commercial and residential disputes including rights to light, possession actions, dilapidations, consent to assign/sub-let, rent disputes, property fraud and insolvency. David has recent experience in the FTT involving the appointment of a manager and in complex property fraud cases. · Property Litigation

David Potter

Partner heading up team of employment lawyers, providing full range of legal risk management services in the employment field. · Employment

Deborah Harvey

Please see full biography at osborneclarke.com/lawyers/deborah-harvey/ · Projects

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. · Real Estate

Emma Anderson

Director · Litigation

Emma Brooksbank

Emma has been a specialist immigration practitioner for over ten years. She was most recently employed as the Head of Immigration at Simpson Millar Solicitors LLP where she oversaw a national team of immigration lawyers. Emma joined Freeths LLP in 2018 as a partner and immigration specialist. Emma can advise and assist corporate, higher education, local authority and individual clients in all areas of immigration law, policy making and business strategy. Her particular specialisms lie in advising investor and entrepreneur clients and guiding businesses and public sector bodies through the points based system and licence process to achieve the recruitment of overseas nationals. Emma advises businesses, the education and health sector on how to mitigate the impact of Brexit with a view to retaining their workforce. She also assists businesses to ensure they have strategies in place to achieve right to work compliance and to protect against the reputational and financial impact of the civil penalty regime. · Immigration

Emna Sfar-Gandoura

Real Estate

Fiona Powell

Fiona is an experienced employment specialist and acts for a diverse range of clients including those in the retail, charities and manufacturing sectors. Fiona advises on all elements of the employment relationship including business reorganisations, redundancies, strategic advice relating to exits, the TUPE Regulations, contracts of employment, employee handbooks and policies settlement agreements and manages all aspects of the Employment Tribunal litigation. · Employment

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. · Real Estate

Francis Dalton

Francis has a broad corporate practice which includes both public and private M&A (including corporate finance, private equity and venture capital) and both main market and AIM capital markets transactions. He has experience in a blend of national and international transactions and is used to working across multiple jurisdictions with different laws. Francis also has a breadth of corporate advisory experience and has advised on a number of joint ventures, corporate and financial restructurings and securities offerings. He has operated in a number of sectors and has a focus on technology, media, communications and healthcare. He is a corporate lawyer based in our London office. · Corporate / M&A

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. · Clinical Negligence

Gemma Nicholls-Webber

Gemma is a senior associate in the family team, and has specialised in financial matters and arrangements for children for over 10 years. Gemma’s work has been recognised by the Legal 500 and the high calibre of her work means she is one of their recommended ‘Next Generation’ lawyers. Her clients regularly include business owners and directors, investment property owners, academics, teachers, medical professionals, those involved in the rural sector and members of the uniformed services (such as military and police). She supports her clients with advice where they feel able to discuss matters with their former partner, either through mediation or direct conversations. Gemma believes her clients benefit from her constructive way of dealing with matters and so has been a member of Resolution (previously the Solicitors Family Law Association) since 2006. She trained at Freeths, when it was known as Henmans, both in Oxford and Woodstock, and has been with the family team in Oxford since qualification. · Family

Gillian Roberts

Partner in real estate. Specialist areas include landlord and tenant, investment property, education and banking. · Real Estate

Graeme Danby

Director · Debt Recovery

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. · Insolvency

Guy Berwick

Partner & National Head of Dispute Management Guy 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. · Construction