Slater Heelis

Solicitors who work at Slater Heelis

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  Mike Fox

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  Mike first joined Slater Heelis in 1977, was appointed Managing Partner from 2008 to 2013 and then took up his current position as Senior Partner . Mike has been instrumental in the growth and development of the business in addition to previously heading up the Commercial Property Department. His main area of expertise is in relation to commercial landlord and tenant matters and commercial property acquisitions and disposals. Outside of the office Mike has been appointed President of the Altrincham & Sale Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber provides Business support and Business mentoring along with networking and training sessions. Mike is recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 law directory.

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  Helen Brown

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  Helen trained and qualified with a major city-based practice, gaining fifteen years’ experience before moving to a smaller South Manchester firm. This move allowed her to work more closely with owner-managed businesses and entrepreneurs, where her extensive skills and legal expertise have made a significant impact with her clients. Whilst comfortable putting up a fight when necessary, she believes that more is often achieved at a lower cost by entering into dialogue with an opponent. As a result, Helen has conducted numerous mediations with a high settlement record. Helen is primarily focused on handling contract disputes, debt collection, bankruptcy and insolvency, professional negligence disputes, and contentious probate. However, her expertise extends to partnership and shareholder disputes, directors’ disqualification, intellectual property disputes, breach of warranty and breach of covenant claims.

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  Hannah Al-Shaghana

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  Hannah is a commercial property lawyer whose expertise encompasses all aspects of commercial property work including acquisitions and disposals, secured lending and all landlord and tenant matters. Hannah acts for a wide variety of clients including limited companies, partnerships, entrepreneurs, schools and educational providers. Notably Hannah acts for a national restaurant chain and handles all their leasehold transactions including acquisitions, disposals, licences for alterations and surrenders. She is also a member of our Schools and Academies Team. In a Legal 500 Review (2011), Hannah was described as “particularly active in leasehold matters” and “is an up-and-coming member of the team and is praised for her great communication skills”. She was also ranked in Chambers UK (2013) as a “leading individual” and an “Associate to watch”.

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  Jay Lafinhan

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  Jay joins the firm with extensive knowledge and experience in all areas of commercial and residential property law. He acts for a variety of clients including property investors, developers, corporate investors, private landlords, corporate landlords, commercial property portfolio managers, mainstream lenders as well as private corporate lenders. He also specialises in acting for lenders on short-term development loans, bridging finance and for private property developers. With the high-level of experience and expertise he has acquired throughout his career, Jay provides an efficient, knowledgeable and user-friendly service to all the clients he acts for.

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  Katharine Mellor

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  Katharine Mellor is a corporate partner based at our Sale Commercial Office. She is a former corporate partner in DWF LLP who joined Slater Heelis in 2013. Katharine’s client service offering in the healthcare, education and professional services sectors enhances the firm’s expertise in corporate and commercial matters. With over 40 years’ experience of mergers and acquisitions, reorganisations, partnerships and LLPs, and charities, Katharine was the former senior and managing partner at Elliotts in Manchester who ultimately merged with DWF in 2007. Katharine was the first female President of the Manchester Law Society and has held non-executive director positions on the National Blood Authority and South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She is currently a member of the Association of Partnership Practitioners and a trustee of the Brockbank Foundation. Katharine is recognised as a leading individual in the Legal 500 law directory.

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  Patricia Robinson

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  Patricia is a Partner who specialises in Resolution and is a senior member of the team. Patricia specialises in all aspects of family law and has particular expertise in resolving complex financial issues arising from divorce and the dissolution of a civil partnership and dealing with the arrangements for children both within and outside the court process. Patricia’s cases often involve successful entrepreneurs, business owners and high profile figures. Patricia is an active committee member of Resolution whose extensive members consist of specialist family lawyers and other professionals committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes. She sits as the Chair of Resolution’s Greater Manchester Region and is also a qualified collaborative solicitor. Patricia frequently writes for legal and non-legal publications on family law issues and has presented several family law lectures to her peers. Outside work Patricia’s spare time is spent with her husband and two young children enjoying days out and camping trips. Patricia is recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 Law Directory.

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  Phillip Rhodes

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  Phillip is a Resolution accredited mediator and Partner in the Family team at Slater Heelis. He helps separating couples deal with the many issues that arise following the breakdown of a relationship, both in relation to divorce/civil partnership dissolution and children. Phillip practises exclusively in family law with a particular emphasis on complex financial cases, often with multi-jurisdictional elements (international) and those involving business interests, trusts and pensions. He has extensive experience in cases involving children disputes and also advises unmarried couples in relation to cohabitation issues and prenuptial agreements. Phillip is a committee member of Resolution, whose 6,500 members comprise family lawyers and other professionals committed to the constructive resolution of family disputes. Members adhere to a code of practice which promotes a non-confrontational approach to family disputes. Members also encourage solutions which consider the needs of the whole family and, in particular, the best interests of children. He also sits as treasurer to the committee of Resolution (Manchester). Phillip comments on family law issues in both national and local media. He has been quoted in The Telegraph and has been interviewed on Radio 5 Live. He frequently writes for legal and non-legal publications on family law issues, including online support tools for other family lawyers for whom he also delivers lectures. Outside work, Phillip’s spare time is spent with his wife and two young children.

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  Sarah Calderwood

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  Sarah is a Human Resources/Employment lawyer with over 15 years’ experience. Throughout her career Sarah has been involved in a broad range of employment related issues including conducting tribunals, advising on personnel issues and drafting related documentation, providing employment related support for corporate and commercial transactions, negotiating settlements and pursuing injunctive action in respect of restrictive covenant matters. Sarah contributes to articles including for the Executory News and MEN Business Week. She is also a member of our Schools and Academies team. Sarah is recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 law directory.

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  Tracey Guest

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  Tracey has specialised in employment law for more than 18 years. She joined Slater Heelis in November 2009 as Partner and Head of the Employment department, having previously worked at various city centre law firms. Tracey’s work focuses on providing clear, practical advice on all aspects of employment law, including executive terminations, compromise agreements, redundancies, restrictive covenants and all types of employment law claims. She handles unfair dismissals, discrimination, TUPE, disciplinary and grievance procedures, family friendly rights and drafting documentation for a wide range of clients. Tracey is a regular speaker at seminars and provides client training at their premises on a variety of employment-related topics. She is frequently quoted in the press and is the featured expert for workingmums.co.uk providing regular advice on employment matters affecting mothers in the workplace. Tracey is recognised as a leading lawyer in the Legal 500 law directory.

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  Zara Banday

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  Zara is a Partner in the Residential Property Department at Slater Heelis. Prior to her appointment at the firm, Zara worked for Darbys before their recent merger with Knights. Before working for Darbys, she worked for a large city centre firm where she gained superb experience in all aspects of residential property transactions, ranging from sale and purchase transactions to boundary disputes and landlord and tenant issues. Zara has a wide variety of clients and has acted for numerous sports personalities. She is often asked to act for high-net-worth individuals in complex property transactions. She also acts for lending institutions providing short-term lending. She has a loyal client base with most of her work generated from personal recommendations and referrals. Zara has strong links with a football club in Manchester and regularly gets asked to act on behalf of the players in complex sale and purchase transactions as well as tenancy agreements. Further to her legal expertise, Zara is also fluent in Urdu and Punjabi.

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  Mark Heptinstall

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  Mark joined Slater Heelis in 2005 and is Head of the Family Department. Mark is recognised as a leading lawyer in the Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession and is described as a “very thorough, proactive and a hard negotiator.” Mark is recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500. Mark specialises in family finances including high-net worth, complex cases and often appears in court as an advocate. He has clients across the UK and these typically include business owners, other lawyers, accountants, footballers and clients with overseas connections. He has a keen interest in the resolution of cases involving contested trusts, estates, inheritances and Court of Protection matters. He is both a past President and Vice-President of The Trafford Law Society. Mark is also a member the Manchester Law Society Council and of Resolution, formerly known as the Solicitors Family Law Association. Mark is a Resolution trained Collaborative Lawyer.

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  Simon Wallwork

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  Simon Wallwork is a corporate partner based in Manchester and Head of our Corporate and Commercial team. With over 28 years’ experience advising on acquisitions, disposals, fundraising, private equity and public market transactions, for a wide variety of clients including public and private companies, banks, venture capital funds and partnerships, Simon also has considerable client side experience spending a number of years working in-house with Pilkington plc. In addition to general corporate work, Simon specialises in the Technology and Life Sciences sectors. He has built up expertise in these sectors developing a deep understanding of their drivers. Simon was ranked the most active corporate lawyer in the North West in the Corpfin Deals Review 2015 produced by Experian, with 18 deals completed in that year. Simon is recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 law directory and the Chambers Guide.

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  Will Henson

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  Will joined Slater Heelis in 1998, qualified in 2000 and was promoted to Partner in early 2010. Will has built an excellent reputation for his keen commercial approach and his established client base includes a wide variety of private and corporate investors, landlords and tenants. He acts for a number of high-profile regional developers and has particular expertise in residential and commercial property development. Will is recognised as a recommended lawyer in the Legal 500 law directory and is now Head of Commercial Property at Slater Heelis LLP.

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  Nicky Collins

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  Nicky is a corporate and commercial partner and joined Slater Heelis in 2016. She has over 20 years’ experience advising clients on their acquisitions, disposals and restructures as well as their banking facilities and re-finances and commercial contracts. In addition to general corporate and commercial work, Nicky has a keen interest in the health and education sectors and, in particular, advises numerous GP Federations which are emerging around the country in response to the ever-increasing pressures in the health sector. Nicky is a trustee and director of the Alder Hey Children’s Charity and a member of its Spending Committee and director of its trading subsidiary. She has also recently taken on Non-Executive position on the Board of PRASIS, which is a specialist indemnity scheme established for plastic surgeons. Nicky is described in the Legal 500 in connection with her work with healthcare clients as being “exceptional in providing the benefit of her wisdom and expert knowledge in a non-patronising and readily understandable manner”.

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  Nicola Deutsch

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  Nicola joined the Residential Department at Cottrills in 2013 specialising in social housing development and has become an integral part of the team at Slater Heelis LLP. She headed the social housing team in the north of England whilst at Eversheds dealing with regeneration projects such as Pathfinder, then working at Trowers & Hamlins for the housing project team acting on behalf of numerous registered providers. Nicola also has public sector experience having been the in-house lawyer for a registered charitable provider and a local authority. Having worked in social housing for approximately 30 years, Nicola’s expertise is in residential development, all elements of social housing, site set ups, Section 106 Agreements, easements and property finance. Out of the office she enjoys reading, gardening and exploring European cities.