Trowers & Hamlins promote fifteen to partner

City, national and international law firm Trowers & Hamlins is pleased to announce the promotion of fifteen new partners across its London, Manchester, Exeter, Dubai and Bahrain offices.

The promotions are spread across disciplines including Real Estate, Corporate, Dispute Resolution and Litigation, Banking and Finance, Employment, and Projects and Construction.  All of the appointments will take effect from 1 April 2016.

Jennie Gubbins, Trowers & Hamlins’ senior partner, commented:  “I want to offer my sincerest congratulations to each of these new partners.  They have all demonstrated exceptional legal acumen, top-notch business skills, and are capable of delivering the highest levels of client service.  On behalf of everyone in the firm, I welcome them to the partnership.”

The new Trowers & Hamlins partners are:

Emma Barnfield, Dispute Resolution and Litigation, London
Emma advises in relation to a wide range of property litigation matters including development disputes, in particular, those concerning rights to light, property related insolvency issues, questions relating to the Electronic Communications Code and landlord and tenant disputes.

Ian Brown, Dispute Resolution and Litigation, Exeter
Ian specialises in claimant and defendant personal injury matters occurring in the UK and abroad. These include tour operator claims, skiing accidents and road traffic accidents. He also deals with a number of insurance-related issues.

Alison Chivers, Corporate, London
Alison specialises in UK buy-out and M&A work acting for investors, private equity houses, corporates and management teams on investment and divestments, with particular expertise advising on transactions in the health and social care sector.

Rachel Collins, Real Estate, London
Rachel specialises in advising a wide range of clients from private developers to non-profit private Registered Providers, as well as care providers, charitable and other UK not-for-profit organisations on all property matters. She leads complex transactions involving the acquisition and development of housing for the provision of market sale, market rent and affordable products, as well as the development and operation of senior living. Rachel also advises clients on ways to implement care and support reconfiguration and care and support contracts.

Melanie Comer, Real Estate, Manchester
Melanie heads the real estate finance security team based in our Manchester office, part of our national real estate finance practice. Melanie specialises in the property aspects of loan security work, including capital markets issues, and also large scale due diligence exercises. Her clients include registered providers, funders, developers and investors.

Frank Cook, Corporate (Private Wealth), Exeter
Frank advises in relation to the drafting of powers of attorney, Court of Protection matters, wills, estate planning, estate administration and trusts.  Frank is a member of the Solicitors for the Elderly and is a full member of the Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners.

Mairead Finlay, Real Estate, Bahrain
Mairead has extensive experience advising real estate and developer clients on all aspects of their projects from inception to completion. Mairead also advises landlords and tenants on a full range of complex commercial property transactions.  She has extensive experience in the area of banking and financial services advising both domestic and international lending institutions in connection with the review of existing loan and security packages, all with a real estate focus.

Sam Folley, Real Estate, London
Sam acts for both institutional and overseas investors on a range of property issues.  In particular, Sam has wide experience in acting on sales and acquisitions of investment property and secured lending transactions acting for borrowers on new acquisitions and the refinancing of existing debt.  Sam also acts for occupiers in securing and managing commercial premises for their own use, including for several leading hedge funds, restaurant chains and airport operators.

Patrick Morris, Real Estate, London
Patrick has a wide range of clients in both the public and private sectors and specialises in real estate development, including property aspects of major projects. He has a number of large institutional clients and deals with acquisitions and disposals of commercial and mixed used assets, as well as property management. He also has extensive experience of real estate transactions in the education sector.

Elias Moubarak, Banking and Finance, Dubai
Elias has a broad range of experience both in the conventional and Islamic debt finance spheres. He has significant experience in representing the full spectrum of stakeholders on a range of banking and finance transactions including project financings, corporate financings and real estate financings as well as capital market issuances. His significant Islamic finance experience includes liaising with Shari’a scholars to develop Shari’a compliant debt finance products and structuring and documenting Shari’a compliant debt instruments across various asset classes.

Eddie O’Hanrahan, Banking and Finance, London
Eddie has experience acting for corporate borrowers, institutional lenders and other sponsors in the UK and internationally.  Eddie primarily advises on bilateral and syndicated real estate, development and acquisition finance transactions.

Amanda Rainford, Corporate (Private Wealth), Exeter
Amanda advises in relation to the drafting of wills, estate planning, trusts, probate and estate administration. She also provides advice on elderly client matters, lasting powers of attorney and other Office of the Public Guardian issues. Amanda acts as a trustee, executor or attorney for clients where appropriate.  Amanda is a Member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

Nia Stewart, Projects and Construction, London
Nia is a non-contentious construction lawyer who advises private and public sector clients including central government, local authorities, institutional investors, property funds, registered providers, employers, developers, contractors and consultants on a range of commercial, residential and mixed use sites and developments. Nia has particular expertise in education projects, advising institutional investors/property funds on commercial developments, and alliancing/partnering projects.

Michael Surry, Corporate (Tax), London
Michael deals with a wide range of taxation work with a focus on real estate tax.  He specialises in advising on large scale property developments including care homes, student accommodation and private rented sector schemes and acts for a broad range of clients including international funds and registered providers of social housing.  Michael is a Chartered Tax Advisor.

John Turnbull, Employment, Exeter
John is well versed in all areas of employment law and advises businesses, charities and RPs on restructuring, collective issues, and Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) – TUPE – matters arising out of business transfers and outsourcing.  John is experienced in providing advice on senior executive termination, board disputes and restrictive covenants.   John has expertise in drafting bespoke contracts of employment and director’s service agreements, in addition to providing day to day guidance on managing difficult employees.