Churches

Andrew Firman is a partner in our corporate & commercial team. His corporate practice concentrates on buying and selling mainly owner-managed SMEs and associated advice on contractual and banking documentation work.  His employment practice covers all aspects of contentious and non-contentious work for both employers and employees. His charity practice majors on compliance and amalgamation matters.

Transactions

In his work, Andrew looks for proactive and pragmatic solutions derived from a proper understanding of the client’s perspective and against the background of the commercial constraints.

Career highlights include

• running a David v Goliath style battle for a former employee of a US based bank related to the late vesting of share options following that employee’s termination at a time when the US markets were in freefall
• negotiating, finalising and drawing down for an off-shore SPV borrower at £310M facility to buy a group of companies which owned, as an investment, the London HQ of a multinational corporation
• reaching settlement terms on a long running shareholders’ dispute concerning a company running a niche members’ gym in a close knit area of London

More recently, Andrew has advised upon

• the purchase of owner-managed companies across a number of different sectors by a leading SME investor, incentivising existing management via equity and loan note positions in the purchasing entity
  
• sale by owner managers of a London based estate agency business with multiple sites, whilst preserving the sellers’ ability to continue business activity in the sector
• sale of SPV off shore companies holding UK property assets
• multi facility refinancing of a major UK specialist facilities maintenance company with asset based receivables, property, cashflow and recovery loan scheme elements
• the negotiation and documentation of departure terms for the CEO pioneer of a cutting edge national charity
• the position of a charity trustee in connection with disqualification proceedings and interim manager appointment by the Charity Commission in respect of two charitable trusts

Andrew has over the years enjoyed advising many owner-managed SMEs on the range of their needs for commercial, employment and dispute related legal advice, something for which the firm has received increasing recognition through awards, repeat and new business which in turn goes to the depth of the relationships the firm has with its clients and its target market in terms of size of business clients.

Andrew was educated at Nailsea School and holds degrees in law from Manchester and Leicester Universities.  He qualified as a solicitor in 1995. He is a co-author of a Practical Guide to Drone Law.

Away from the office Andrew, married to a local GP and of occasional use to his three children, enjoys running and cycling and being involved in various ways in his local church and the fantastic community that is SE24.

Eleri Jones is a partner in the Commercial Property department at Carter Lemon Camerons, having joined in December 2019 from another City-based law firm.

She specialises in commercial property matters relating to the charity sector in addition to acting for a full range of commercial clients.

Eleri is experienced in acting in the sale and purchase of commercial and residential property, Development Agreements, Commercial Lease renewals and Licences, as well as advising on compliance with the Charities Act, charity governance documentation, the transfer of properties to CIO and the development and disposal of school land.

Amongst her notable cases, she negotiated and drafted a development agreement for a large residential development with leaseback to the freeholder, including provision of development by the purchaser and provision for overage. Eleri also acted on a large-scale financial restructuring of a care home business.

Eleri qualified as a solicitor in 1993.

Prod qualified as a Chartered Legal Executive in 1999 and is a Senior Associate in our property team and Carter Lemon Camerons’ foremost residential conveyancer. He joined the firm in 2008, bringing with him a substantial client base from the North London area – where he previously worked for over 15 years.

He has considerable expertise in residential and commercial conveyancing and landlord and tenant matters, handling sales, purchases, mortgages, lease and tenancy grants, assignments, renewals and variations, collective enfranchisement and lease extensions, guarantees, bridging finance and secured lending.

Prod is known and trusted by clients for his exceptional understanding of property matters. He represents property investors, developers, landlords, managing agents, lettings agents, surveyors and residents’ associations.

Prod is retained by an overseas private bank to act on secured lending on high-value Central London and West End residential properties.

Prod is also retained as legal counsel to a number of Christian charity organisations advising them and their associated churches on charity law and the duties and responsibilities of charitable trustees. His church work includes all types of property transactions from buying and selling manses and granting commercial leases and licenses of church space to handling complicated redevelopments of church land and properties.

• Advising church trustees on a multi-million pound church relocation and redevelopment project to create a new church and school with several high value flats, including the negotiation of multi-party development documentation and advice on charity law procedure.
• Representing over 30 leaseholders on a proposed collective enfranchisement of a freehold residential block in Queensway;
• Successfully organising a collective approach by a number of leaseholders in the same block for lease extensions to their respective flats under the 1993 Act;
• Acting on the purchase of a multi-million pound property by acquiring ownership of shares in the selling company; dealing with first registration of agricultural land affected by a number of rights, settlements and trusts created over a number of years;
• Successfully completing a high-value purchase transaction within 10 days of receipt of papers;
• Successfully bringing a claim to preserve and uphold a right of way thought to have extinguished many years earlier;
• Representing a leading mobile telecommunications operator in connection with acquisitions, renewals and transfers of mobile masts; and
• Acting for one of the largest private property investment groups in the UK in connection with the grant, renewal and surrender of commercial leases.

Prod was born in North London to Greek Cypriot parents and enjoys close links to the local and overseas Greek and Greek Cypriot community. He speaks the Greek language reasonably well.

Despite his youthful looks, Prod has vast experience in his areas of practice, gained in a career of over 26 years. He is a firm believer in a non-nonsense approach to his work and the importance of using plain English when dealing with clients, professionals and others.

Outside the office, Prod is a devoted husband and father to two young boys. He is a member of the governing committee of his local Greek Language School, with responsibility for over 200 pupils aged between 4 and 17 years. He is also active in his local Orthodox Christian Church.

Prod enjoys DIY and believes he is really good at it, having helped renovate five houses over the years. He is also a keen gardener and boasts to have a garden with the best figs, grapes and olives around. In contrast to his quiet appearance, Prod is an avid sports-bike enthusiast and enjoys a daily commute to work on his cherished motorbike, dressed in full leathers.