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.
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”.
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.
Claire is a chartered tax advisor (member of the CIOT) and is based in Sheffield.
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.”
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.
Elizabeth advises on the management of all aspects of employment law and has experience of working with private companies, from SMEs up to multinational corporations, public sector organisations and NGO clients.Elizabeth also provides extensive in-house training to clients on a range of employment matters, including handling disciplinaries and grievances and tackling discrimination within the workplace.
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.
Emma is an experienced real estate lawyer advising landlords and tenants in their investment, acquisition and disposals strategies and the management and letting of their real estate portfolios.She offers practical, solution-based advice and – having worked with some of the UK’s most prestigious retailers for over 12 years – has a comprehensive understanding of retail.
Helen is a Director of Freeths and heads up the Corporate Recovery, Insolvency and Restructuring team in the Leeds office. Helen is a well-known and highly regarded lawyer with over 17 years’ experience. Helen acts for many national and regional Insolvency Practitioners, lenders, creditors, debtors, companies, directors, business owners, guarantors and individuals, dealing with all aspects of both corporate and personal insolvency, including director disqualification proceedings. Helen undertakes both contentious and non-contentious work, regularly bringing or defending claims, advising businesses and individuals in financial distress and regularly advising the various parties to transactional matters, whether this be the seller, buyer, guarantors, funders or other parties to a transaction. Helen has conducted numerous high-profile and complex matters, including various multi-million pound transactions and court cases. Helen is known for her technical skills and her commercial and practical approach. She is often referred to as being robust, pragmatic and a “safe pair of hands” with an ability to always find a solution.
Litigation and arbitration partner, with a focus on high-value and ‘high stakes’ matters. Currently handling a number of significant cases, including a major Group Action, several high value finance/banking litigation cases, competition litigation and professional negligence cases. He regularly advises commercial clients on complex litigation risk management solutions, including funding and risk transfer/insurance. He is well respected in the London litigation funding market.
. James leads the Dispute Resolution team at Freeths’ Sheffield office which prides itself on building long-term client relationships by being outcome-driven and providing commercial and pragmatic advice. James advises a diverse range of clients with a particular focus on the manufacturing, construction and technology sectors. He deals with a wide variety of commercial disputes including complex IT issues, shareholder disputes, enforcement of restrictive covenants, claims arising from the sale and purchase of businesses, warranty claims, professional negligence claims and commercial contract disputes. The Legal 500 recognises that he “works stupendously hard and is clever and easy to work with“. James has extensive experience of dealing with High Court litigation particularly in the context of handling interim injunction applications, unfair prejudice proceedings and high value/commercially sensitive contractual disputes. He is an active proponent of alternative dispute resolution including mediation, expert determination and negotiation and has experience of dealing with international claims involving companies who are based overseas including Australia, India, Pakistan, France and the US, dealt with through court proceedings and arbitration. He has considerable experience of working with senior board members of companies across SMEs, PLCs, AIM and Fortune 500 – with a proven track record of success and particular emphasis on client care and delivering a high quality service.
Jonathan is a partner in the Real Estate team in Leeds. He has wide ranging specialist knowledge in all aspects of Commercial Real Estate. His work includes property portfolio management for large national retailers, dealing with largescale investment acquisitions and disposals and commercial development projects often involving complex overage/profit sharing arrangements.
Katie has experience in advising a wide variety of clients including corporate occupiers, institutional landlords, local authorities, and other public bodies. She offers legal advice on acquisitions, disposals, asset management and general property holding.Katie’s experience spans public and private sectors on assets including offices, retail, industrial and healthcare properties.
Lisa works in Freeths’ Sheffield corporate team and advises on a range of corporate and commercial law. Her expertise includes share sales, asset sales, MBIs, MBOs, company restructuring, loan and investment arrangements, joint ventures, partnership arrangements and a range of commercial agreements including distribution agreements, supply of goods and services agreements and service level agreements.Lisa deals with a range of clients in various sectors, including manufacturing, engineering and technology, from local SMEs to larger corporate and national clients.
Mark is an experienced Senior Commercial Dispute Lawyer, based at Freeths’ Sheffield office. He is recognised as a “Next Generation Lawyer” in the Legal 500, which means he makes a material difference to the firm’s offering.He acts for private and public clients, both national and international, on the avoidance and resolution of a diverse range of complex and high value commercial disputes.
Matthew Thompson is a busy Real Estate Partner based at Freeths' Leeds office.
Nichola Faith is an Associate based at our Leeds office. She specialises in construction disputes.
Nigel is a pensions lawyer with 20 years’ experience of advising employers and trustees in relation to all types of pension arrangements, he has widespread experience of dealing with both public sector and private sector schemes, and has spent 19 years acting as director of an independent trustee company. Nigel is a member of the Association of Pensions Lawyers, and presents regular seminars and webinars on a range of pensions and employee benefits topics and is renowned for delivering a plain English approach to a technical area. Nigel has extensive experience in pensions and corporate reconstruction work, having dealt with both RAA’s and FAA’s on a number of occasions.
National head of corporate defence and regulatory. Represents and advises companies and/or their boards of directors in high-profile criminal investigations, inquests or any other regulatory enforcement matters. Jarvis plc – Potters Bar tragedy; Dupont – Ladbroke Grove disaster; British Airways in the Jimmy Mubenga Inquest; NATS in the Central London helicopter crash.
Penny is considered by Legal 500 to be a Leading Individual in the field of Environment. Having trained in the City (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s environment team) and with 20 years’ experience in both private practice and in-house roles, Penny is a solid and experienced all-round environmental lawyer with particular expertise in “natural environment” law. Within the “natural environment” niche, she has built a strong, national reputation in advising a wide range of private and public sector clients on the regulation of protected habitats, protected species, water resources, air quality and environmental impact assessment. Her clients are most often developers, environmental consultancies, mineral sector operators and water sector operators, for whom she works to overcome the constraints imposed by natural environment law so as to deliver planning permissions and the other environmental consents they need (eg protected species licences, environmental permits, abstraction licences). She also advises local authorities, objectors and environmental organisations on these issues. She has significant experience in defending public and private sector clients when faced with environmental-related regulatory or criminal proceedings brought by the Environment Agency, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, the Forestry Commission or the police (eg pollution offences, protected species offences, breaches of permits / licences). More generally, she advises on the environmental aspects of property and company transactions where she negotiates to limit her client’s environmental liabilities. She also has significant experience in health and safety law and frequently advises her clients on health and safety compliance.
A highly experienced litigator, Philip acts on a full range of contentious property matters on behalf of public sector, retail, developers and corporate occupiers. This is in relation to all aspects of contentious commercial property work.He advises on diverse aspects of property litigation issues including rights of way, party wall claims, rights to light issues, dilapidation claims, applications to assign, insolvencies, forfeiture and repossession, lease renewals and applications to assign/underlet.
Partner in the construction team, specialising in the management of construction and engineering claims. Working with clients from all sectors of the construction industry and advising in adjudications, mediation, litigation (in the Technology and Construction Court) and arbitration (both domestic and international).
Rachel is Head of Real Estate in Sheffield. She has wide experience in dealing with all property matters including sales, purchases, auction sales, landlord & tenant including new lease, lease renewals together with surrenders and assignments. Rachel also handles a wide variety of work developers and registered providers. Her broad knowledge enables her to deal with all property aspects from site acquisitions and development work, including off-site easement, section agreements relating to planning, highway and drainage adoption through to the onward sale and leasing of the property. With an emphasis on acting for a number of large institutional lenders in connection with real estate finance transactions along with acquisitions, disposals, in particular nomination and Section 106 Agreements including drafting of shared ownership and other specialist leases. Acted for a large Registered Provider of Social Housing in relation to refinancing facilities in excess of £5 million. Acted for a large Registered Provider of Social Housing, in connection with a site acquisition, within very tight timescales in order to ensure that the client did not lose their grant funding in relation to the scheme. recently (i.e. February 2019) acted in connection with site acquisition and real estate/development finance for a corporate developer, and handling/dealing with site issues such as rights of light and squatters. Have a pending instruction in connection with a large-scale development with a GDV of circa 52 million and 100 + sales. Acting for Keepmoat in relation to a variety of disposals under standard and auction conditions and in connection with various agreements for lease/leases and site licences. Acting for a recognised leading construction company (based in the North of England, Central and Southern Scotland) with a group turnover of circa £242million in connection with a site acquisition, with a back to back sale to an Registered Provider and onward joint venture in connection with the development of the scheme
Richard is a real estate lawyer who deals with all aspects of commercial property work. He has particular experience in acting for major investment clients in relation to high value acquisitions and disposals of retail and industrial property. He also acts for both landlords and tenants in relation to a wide range of estate management work.
Stephen has over 20 years of dispute resolution experience, serving the requirements of businesses, insurance companies and private individuals.Stephen’s areas of expertise include Fleet and Highways Damage Recoveries Programmes and Material Damage – Flood, Fire, Subsidence, Landslip and Impact. He is also a specialist in Product Liability, Professional Negligence Claims and Disputes regarding Insurance Policy, Commercial Contracts and Construction.