header-logo header-logo

03 February 2025
Categories: Movers & Shakers , Profession
printer mail-detail

Lawrence Stephens—five appointments

Lawrence Stephens welcomes real estate team from Memery Crystal
Full-service law firm Lawrence Stephens is pleased to announce the appointment of directors John Aynsley, Chris Cagney, Matthew Hind, Nickhil Mandora and Sam Silverman to their commercial real estate department, who all join from the highly regarded real estate group at Memery Crystal.

John Aynsley (pictured) was previously group head of real estate at Memery Crystal, specialising in the acquisition, disposal, development, regeneration, financing, and management of high-value assets in commercial real estate. He acts for clients ranging from international real estate funds and listed house builders to private investors.

He is joined by fellow directors:

  • Chris Cagney, who has extensive experience in a range of commercial real estate matters as well as advising on development projects and property finance transactions.
  • Matthew Hind, who specialises in general commercial real estate with a mixture of investment, development, finance, occupier, and management work. He also has considerable experience dealing with distressed real estate on behalf of banks and insolvency practitioners.
  • Nickhil Mandora, who acts for a wide variety of clients ranging from retail landlords and tenants to institutional lenders and property developers.
  • Sam Silverman, who has acted for major international and domestic clients including developers, funds, corporate occupiers and supermarkets within the office, industrial and retail sectors.
Commenting on his appointment, director John Aynsley stated: 'We are very pleased to join Lawrence Stephens at this important moment for the firm. Their extraordinary growth over recent years is evidence of their ambition and can-do attitude, which we share and clients clearly value. We look forward to building on what are already strong foundations and working closely alongside the rest of the Lawrence Stephens team.'

Managing director Steven Bernstein commented: 'We are delighted to welcome John and his team to the Lawrence Stephens family. Their arrival coincides with a period of exciting growth for the firm and will provide both bench strength to our existing team as well as extending the range of expertise and experience we can now offer to both existing clients new prospects.'

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Clarke Willmott—Matthew Roach

Partner joins commercial property team in Taunton office

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Farrer & Co—Richard Lane

Londstanding London firm appoints new senior partner

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Bird & Bird—Sue McLean

Commercial team in London welcomes technology specialist as partner

NEWS
The legal profession’s claim to be a ‘guardian of fairness’ is under scrutiny after stark findings on gender imbalance and opaque progression. Writing in NLJ this week, Joshua Purser of No5 Barristers’ Chambers and Govindi Deerasinghe of Global 50/50 warn that leadership remains dominated by a narrow elite, with men holding 71% of top court roles
A legal challenge to police disclosure rules has failed, reinforcing a push for transparency in policing. In NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth examines a case where the Metropolitan Police required officers to declare membership of groups like the Freemasons
Bereavement leave is undergoing a quiet but profound transformation. Writing in NLJ this week, Robert Hargreaves of York St John University explains how the Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a day-one right to leave for a wider range of losses, alongside new provisions for pregnancy loss and bereaved partners
Courts are beginning to grapple with whether AI-generated material is legally privileged—and the answers are mixed. In this week's issue of NLJ, Stacie Bourton, Tom Whittaker & Beata Kolodziej of Burges Salmon examine US rulings showing how easily privilege can be lost
New guidance seeks to bring order to the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) in expert evidence. Writing in NLJ this week, Minesh Tanna and David Bridge of Simmons & Simmons set out a framework stressing ‘transparency’, ‘explainability’ and ‘reliability’
back-to-top-scroll