People
A little bit more about our people
Our team has experience in:
- Site acquisition and development
- The retail and office sectors
- The industrial and warehouse sectors
- Leisure, hotel, and restaurant sectors
- Freehold acquisition and disposal of large apartment blocks and mixed use blocks
- High value residential property
- Creating solutions for property structures
- Property investment, including acquiring assets for foreign investors
Jeffrey White
Jeff qualified as a solicitor in 1994 and has been in continuous practice ever since. He was made a partner in 2000. Jeff has experience in all aspects of non-contentious commercial property advising banks and private investors in connection with secured lending, development and portfolio disposal; advising developers in connection with site acquisition, development, management and disposal; advising both landlords and tenants in connection with the creation, management, disposal and termination of leases and the buying and selling of both freehold and leasehold property. Jeff has particular expertise in site acquisition and development and in the retail, leisure and office sector. Jeff also sits on the board as vice chair of a further education institute and charity.
Sandra Rankine
Sandra qualified as a solicitor in 1987 and has a Law degree from Strathclyde University. She has been in continuous practice and worked at a number of Scottish and English law firms and is dual qualified from 2001. Sandra has a broad commercial property background and currently focuses on leases for occupiers including retail, office, hotels and leisure occupiers and property investment, particularly for foreign investors. She has acted on multiple shop leases for UK retailer White Stuff both in England and in Scotland. She has recently been involved in the forward purchase of a block of 125 new build apartments in Manchester and subsequent purchase of the freehold of the whole site of 268 flats for a Middle Eastern investor. She has a lot experience in the letting of restaurants both for landlord and tenant and in the letting and management of shopping centres. Sandra is dual qualified and entitled to practise in Scotland as well as England & Wales.
Hanna Barel
Hanna joined the practice in 2018 and has been dealing with a broad range of commercial and residential matters with the focus on commercial leases and acquisitions, development work, and plot purchases. Hanna has been acting for corporate and private clients, foreign investors, lenders and developers and has a varied client base. In addition to being a qualified solicitor, Hanna has a degree in linguistics and speaks a number of languages. Hanna exhibits the highest professionalism, with strong technical knowledge, good commercial awareness, and fast and efficient completion of work.
Simon Thornton-Graham
Simon is a highly skilled and commercially astute real estate lawyer and has extensive experience working for both institutional and private investors and also developers on the full life-cycle of real estate matters (acquisition, development, leasing, management, disposal and financing), and numerous businesses on the occupancy side. Simon qualified in 2000 and has worked at magic-circle, national and international law firms, in addition to gaining invaluable in-house experience, before joining Elliott Matthew.
Tom Svedberg
Tom is an experienced solicitor in commercial and residential matters and joined the practice in 2023. Tom has strong practical knowledge and one of his strengths is finding efficient commercial solutions to the everyday issues of contemporary real estate transactions. He also has a good eye for detail and prides himself on his timely delivery. Tom has had previous experience in a fast paced property conveyancing firm as well as a 'referrals-only' boutique City of London firm with high net worth value clients, properties, and transactions.
Amanda Perrotton
Amanda is a highly professional property solicitor with over 20 years of experience in private practice and is an expert in commercial and residential property. She also has expertise in Land and Trust structures and established experience in creating solutions for property structures. Amanda has a broad spectrum of experience in relation to commercial, corporate, and property transactions and is qualified in Ireland as well as England and Wales.
Eleanor Smith
Eleanor is a senior lawyer with a real passion for commercial property. She qualified as a solicitor in 2002 and has a law degree from Oxford University. Eleanor trained and practised in London and has over 10 years of experience in the City as well as further experience as a consultant. In developing her depth of experience, Eleanor has represented the interests of domestic and foreign corporate tenants on occupier issues as well as financial institutions, individuals and everything in between. Her experience covers a wide range of commercial real estate matters including high value acquisitions and disposals, redevelopments, lettings, and acting for lenders and borrowers in property finance.
Sarah Marangoni
Sarah is dual qualified as a French Avocat and an English Solicitor. She holds a Masters Degree (LLM) in Intellectual Property and European Competition Law from UCL (University College London), a Post Graduate Degree (DEA) in International Private Law from Paris Pantheon- Sorbonne University, and a Law Degree (Maitrise) from Paris II Assas University. Sarah has been working in Paris and in London, with a focus on international and cross border situations, dealing with intellectual property, commercial and corporate contracts, and immigration law. Within her corporate and commercial activity she has been involved in publishing, media and in the consulting sector of scientific research, dealing with institutional bodies as well as with multinational corporations; additionally she has been dealing with corporate pre-dispute matters. She is trilingual in Italian, French and English, and thanks to her international background she has been able to assist clients in cross border and multicultural/multilingual matters between Italy, France and the UK. Sarah is a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association.
Ransford Addo-Quaye
Ransford is a litigation solicitor specialising in property disputes. He brings over 7 years’ experience of commercial and residential property disputes including arrears, breaches of lease, disrepair, lease termination including break notices, 1954 Act and section 8/section 21 notices, and possession claims. Ransford also deals with non-contentious specialist areas including licences for alterations, wayleave agreements and rights of light. Ransford represents both landlords (individual and commercial) and tenants (leaseholders, RTMs, company lets) in all manner of disputes and civil litigation.
Nikita Solovjov
Nikita plays an integral role in assisting our solicitors with commercial property, residential property and property litigation matters, handling tasks from the initial stages to final resolution. Since joining our firm in 2021 as a paralegal, he has demonstrated a strong commitment to supporting our legal team. Nikita completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Sunderland and earned a distinction in his master’s degree in Corporate Law at UCL. Before joining our firm, he gained valuable experience working in a start-up within the property sector. Now, as a Trainee Solicitor, Nikita is enhancing his legal skills and knowledge under the guidance of our experienced practitioners. He is passionate about deepening his expertise in the property sector and is dedicated to achieving his goal of becoming a qualified solicitor.
Caitlin Verrill
Caitlin provides assistance to our solicitors in commercial and residential property transactions from onboarding through to post-completion matters, and also enjoys her involvement in property litigation matters. Prior to joining Elliott Matthew in 2023, Caitlin had a background in insolvency. Caitlin has a Law degree and completed the LPC MSc with a distinction. Caitlin is enjoying expanding her knowledge in the property sector and looks forward to progressing to qualify as a solicitor.
Dilan Cinar
Dilan has background in finance, business and management. She deals with legal accounting and supports the solicitors on their transactional work. She also provides support on HR and facilities management matters.
David Bird
David has an engineering and finance background. He has worked in industry as an engineer and manager for 10 years and has been in the financial markets as a financial analyst for the past 25 years. His last position was at Goldman Sachs. During his time, he also gained a Masters in Finance at LBS and remains a Chartered Engineer.
