Andrew Ashley-Edwards

Andrew is a partner and head of the commercial department at the firm. Specialising since 2008 in Commercial Property, Business and Corporate matters, Andrew has broad experience looking after small and medium enterprises with particular emphasis on family businesses. With a loyal following of businesses of all sizes from a variety of sectors, Andrew advises the business community in Kent and beyond.

In addition to his commercial work, since 2008 Andrew has specialised in Landlord and Tenant matters in relation to leasehold flats and houses. He advises both Landlords and Tenants in connection with lease extensions, collectively purchasing freeholds and right to manage claims.

Andrew has dealt with an extremely broad range of transactions during his career, focusing initially on buying and selling commercial properties for owner occupiers and investors and negotiating leases of business premises on behalf of landlords and tenants. This quickly diversified to a full range of business services, buying and selling going concerns and companies

Whilst always undertaking a degree of corporate work, since joining Martin Tolhurst, Andrew has increased the amount of this type of work and is now largely occupied with buying and selling companies.

In recent times Andrew was involved in a high value transaction selling a national engineering company. The transaction included a diverse range of issues and challenges which were met by Andrew and his team to the satisfaction of the client.

What Andrew says:

I left school with a real passion for business and decided to study law with the intention of a career advising and assisting businesses. I spent three years at the University of Derby studying for my law degree and then achieved a distinction in the Legal Practice Course at De Montfort University in Leicester.

I continued my association with the Midlands, training and qualifying at a firm in the West Midlands. I accepted partnership at the age of 26 having achieved growth in the commercial department each year since qualifying.

I joined Martin Tolhurst Solicitors in 2012 when I relocated to the south east. Given the task of growing the commercial department I brought my unique brand of straight talking practical advice with a commercial focus to the firm's existing clients and started to increase the business client base beyond that. I was offered partnership and duly accepted in 2015.

My aim is to speak to business owners old and new in a way they recognise and relate to. Businesses need lawyers but do not have the time to try to decipher advice so I always try to speak to my clients in a way that enables them to relate to me as a fellow business professional. I spend a considerable amount of time working with my growing team of commercial lawyers to ensure this ethos runs through the entire department.

My particular area of interest is small and medium sized businesses with a particular emphasis on micro and small businesses. These businesses make up more than 95% of the businesses in the UK but often have difficulty finding a reliable lawyer that thinks like them. This is what I aim to provide.

When I am not working I have no problem filling my spare time with my passion for cooking, live music and comedy. I have also recently started learning to speak Greek and hope to get plenty of practice when I continue travelling around the Greek Islands.

If I were not a lawyer, I would be...

Selling doughnuts and watermelons to tourists on a beach in the Greek Islands!