CMS

Partner, Head of Enfranchisement and Residential Disputes

Eleanor Murray is a Partner and heads up our enfranchisement and residential disputes team.

She is an expert in all aspects of residential disputes, specialising in enfranchisement, residential service charges and right to manage instructions where her primary role is as the principal legal advisor to The Wellcome Trust Limited (“Wellcome”).

Eleanor has significant experience advising in relation to the 1987 Act Rights of First Refusal and Estate Management Schemes. She also acts for other residential landlords in Prime Central London, including The Portman Estate and a subsidiary of Derwent London as well as investors and large institutional clients such as RBS, Legal & General, Pocket Living, M&G, Prudential UK Real Estate Limited, National Grid and the BBC Pension Fund.

Prior to joining CMS in June 2013, Eleanor spent 7 years in the real estate disputes team at Speechly Bircham LLP where she acted for the Howard de Walden Estate and RBS. She trained at Jeffrey Green Russell providing Eleanor with a strong litigation background.

Eleanor is recognised as a leading practitioner in enfranchisement and is highly regarded within the Residential Property and Enfranchisement field. She was voted Young Professional of the Year at the 2014 Enfranchisement and Right to Manage Awards and was Highly Commended for Solicitor of the Year at the awards in 2019. She was also listed in the News on the Block 100 most influential people in residential property 2015-2018. Chambers 2015 Directory says “Eleanor Murray is exceptionally knowledgeable on enfranchisement” and she is described as “an acknowledged star in the Enfranchisement firmament” where she has developed a comprehensive network of enfranchisement professionals.

Eleanor sits on the ALEP Advisory Committee (Enfranchisement industry body) and is a member of the Residential BPF Board Committee and was invited to join the Law Commission’s advisory committee established to consult on the proposed reform in enfranchisement.

2001 - Law LLB Honours, University of Sussex, Brighton

Eleanor is co-authoring a legal text book on the Right to Manage.