Sydney Mitchell—senior promotions

Sydney Mitchell has announced five senior promotions; Andre Minnaar to partner and Mike Sutton, Lorna Payne, Ian Sheppard and Marta Konieczna have all been promoted to senior associates (all pictured).

Andre Minnaar joined Sydney Mitchell in 2019 and is an expert in resolving complicated UK immigration, asylum and nationality problems of all kinds and is well known and respected for his in-depth knowledge, guidance, support and thorough preparation. He is an experienced tribunal advocate, having successfully represented hundreds of appellants during his long career, often succeeding where others have failed.

Mike Sutton has worked diligently in developing Personal Injury Services for the firm, dealing with many million-pound claims for clients in obtaining deserved compensation for both personal injury and clinical negligence. Mike heads the Personal Injury Department; he has a proven track record in dealing with complex cases having worked in the sector for over 30 years. Mike handles all types of personal injury claims, including those of a more serious nature using his experience of the court process and understanding of insurer's approach to obtain the best and most realistic outcome for his clients.

Lorna Payne joined the firm in 2020 and has continually built on the complex work delivered by her team.  She has helped private clients for over 15 years on wills, trusts and probate dealing with many complex estates and advises on succession planning.

Ian Sheppard has over 15 years litigation experience, most recently working on high value, diverse claims. Ian is a personable and straight-talking adviser providing commercially astute legal advice.

Marta Konieczna is an experienced forward thinking and proactive lawyer and a safe pair of hands when dealing with freehold and leasehold conveyancing.  She deals with new build purchases, re-mortgages, transfers of equity, shared ownership, lease extensions, unregistered property sale and purchase. Marta has a strong client base of clients both UK based and international investors and property developers. She helps both companies and individuals to build up residential property portfolios. She is a favourite with Polish buyers being fluent in Polish and helps break through the complexities of purchases for her clients.

Karen Moores, senior partner, Sydney Mitchell LLP, commented:“We would like to congratulate all of them and to thank them for their efforts and look forward to their ongoing contributions to the future of the firm.”