Real Estate and Property Development

PMH’s attorneys have wide experience in the buying, selling, leasing, mortgaging, and transfer of commercial and residential real estate. We have advised clients on:

Mass housing developments providing a full range of counsel on all issues: planning, development, and financing pre-sale arrangements.
Devising creative solutions for complex lending and security transactions, by working closely with the client and prospective financiers.
Personal investments in residential property involving sale or purchase, liaising with mortgage companies; titling and boundary issues.
Preparing leases, tenancy agreements and licences involving residential and commercial properties.
Assisting in the establishment of rights involving land, including rights of way.
Rectifying title defects including modification of restrictive covenants.
Maintenance of commercial facilities and managing receivables’ recovery

For information please contact: Trevor Patterson, Lynda Mair, Sharon Neil-Smith, Ashleigh McAnuff Williams

Trevor Patterson

Trevor Patterson, the Senior Partner of the Firm, has practiced in Jamaica for more than 30 years within a wide range of commercial law areas including shipping, insurance, banking, telecommunications and taxation.

In recent years, Trevor has focused his practice in the areas of corporate finance, securities law, foreign direct investment and taxation. He has been the lead lawyer in several IPOs and in major take-over transactions involving both public and private companies.

Practice Areas: Banking, Financial Services & Securities, Business/Commercial, Corporate, Restructuring & Insolvency; Mergers & Acquisitions, Taxation

Education

LL.B. (Hons), LL.M.(University of London), J.D., LL.M. (Taxation) (University of Miami, School of Law); A.C.I.I. (Associate of the Chartered Institute of Insurance, Lond.)

Publications

Aircraft Finance (contributor): Sweet & Maxwell, London
Aircraft Liens & Detention Rights (contributor): Sweet & Maxwell, London.

Lynda Mair

Lynda Mair was admitted to the Jamaican Bar in 1979. She carried on a highly successful corporate/commercial law practice at one of the largest law firms in the English-speaking Caribbean before accepting the position of Senior Vice President and General Counsel at one of the then largest private sector conglomerates in Jamaica with significant business interests in housing development, manufacturing and trading and financial services.

She has developed expertise in the areas of Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestments; Take-overs; Financial Instruments; Financial Sector Regulation; Unit Trusts; Loan Documentation; Securitisation Transactions; Capital Raising Issues (Private Placements, Rights and Bonus Share Issues, Debt, Executive Stock Option Plans and ESOPs); Company Secretarial work, Mass Housing Development and General Conveyancing (i.e. dispositions of property generally).

Practice Areas: Banking, Financial Services & Securities, Business/Commercial, Construction & Construction Financing, Corporate, Restructuring & Insolvency; Mergers & Aquisitions, Housing Development & Conveyances.

Education

LL.B. (Hons)(University of the West Indies); Certificate of Legal Education Certificate of Merit, Norman Manley Law School.

Arthur Hamilton

Arthur Hamilton was admitted to the Jamaican Bar in 1982, the Ontario Bar in 2002 and the Cayman Islands Bar in 2003. He has carried on highly successful corporate/commercial law practices in each of the above mentioned jurisdictions.

Arthur has wide corporate/commercial law experience in mergers, take-overs, asset sales, financing transactions (conventional and structured), project finance transactions, banking documentation, construction agreements and construction financing arrangements, capital raising issues and conveyancing matters. He also has significant expertise in the drafting of a broad range of corporate/commercial documentation.

Arthur is also a Notary Public for Ontario (Canada) and Jamaica.

Practice Areas: Business/Commercial, Corporate, Banking, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Services & Securities, Construction & Construction Financing

Education

LL.B. (Hons)(University of the West Indies); Certificate of Legal Education, Norman Manley Law School

Sharon Neil Smith

Sharon was admitted to the Jamaican Bar in 1991 and has acquired a wide range of commercial law experience providing advice to different types of businesses across a gamut of industries in Jamaica.

Prior to joining the firm in 2005 she held legal and managerial positions with a statutory body and a large private sector conglomerate in Jamaica with substantial business interests in housing development, manufacturing, distribution and financial services. Her diverse corporate client base is testimony to the strength and depth of her commercial law knowledge.

Sharon has significant experience in the area of Employment Law, specifically: drafting employment related documentation, training management and supervisory staff. Preparing advice and drafting opinions on employment regulatory issues; termination and disciplinary matters, all employment related aspects of mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and reorganizations as well as contentious employment matters supported by the Litigation Department.

Her other core practice areas include: Commercial Law; Real Estate, Estate Planning and Administration and Information Technology.

She is currently the Firm’s Managing Partner.

Education

University of the West Indies – LL.B. (Hons). 1989
University College London – LL.M. (Merit) 1996;
Certificate of Legal Education Norman Manley Law School, 1991
Admission – Jamaican Bar in 1991

Andrea Kinach

Andrea maintains a diversified corporate and commercial practice with emphasis on financing transactions (traditional lending, public offers of securities and stock exchange listings, and private placements) and regulated services inclusive of securities, other investment products and insurance.

Andrea is a technical advisor to the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) on new product offerings, including the Junior Market trading platform which was established in April 2009. She has advised over 20 companies on their initial public offers and admission to the junior and main markets, and advised listed issuers on further fundraising’s conducted on the market and elsewhere.

Prior to joining the firm, Andrea gained practical experience working in London, England, for two leading firms. Thereafter she worked as a regulator for the London Stock Exchange’s official list and in the General Counsel’s Division of the UK Financial Services Authority where she specialized in financial services inclusive of insurance and re-insurance, banking, securities and their regulation.

Andrea was first admitted to practice as a Solicitor in the United Kingdom in 2000 and in 2008 she moved to Jamaica, re-qualified as an Attorney-at-Law and joined the firm. She was appointed Partner in 2011. Andrea holds a B.A. in Economics from Trinity College, University of Toronto as well as an LL.B (First Class), from the University of Kent, Canterbury, England where she received the Sweet & Maxwell Clive M. Schmitthoff Commercial Law Prize and a Faculty Award for the highest achievement in law examinations.

Andrea has contributed to the UK Financial Services Authority Handbook, Conduct of Business Sourcebook, Permitted Links (rules for linked long term life insurance business) and to Halsbury’s Laws of England and Wales, Admiralty Volume, Civil Procedure (edited by E.J.D. Hill)(contributor).

Practice Areas: Banking, Corporate Finance, Mergers & Acquisitions, Financial Services & Securities, Capital Markets, Insurance, Commercial / Business Restructuring.

Education

B.A. Economics (Hons), Trinity College, University of Toronto; LL.B ( Hons), University of Kent.

Carlene Larmond

Carlene was admitted to practice in Jamaica in November 2000 and has carried on an extensive and successful practice as a civil litigator at both the private and public bars.

She has appeared in major litigation in courts at all levels of jurisdiction including the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. Prior to joining the firm Carlene was Director of Litigation in the Attorney General’s Chambers where she headed the Litigation Division and thereafter a Consultant in litigation at a well-established law firm in Jamaica.

She has held senior roles as Supervising Attorney in contentious civil litigation involving major commercial entities including the execution of search warrants on financial institutions and public figures whilst at the Attorney General Chambers.

Carlene serves as a Member of the Disciplinary Committee of the General Legal Council and sits on that Council’s Protection of Clients’ Assets Committee. She is Chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the Jamaican Bar Association, and has lectured, tutored and provided clinics in Civil Practice & Procedure and Trial Advocacy at the Norman Manley Law School for over a decade.

Carlene is the head of the firm’s Litigation Department

Practice Areas

Civil, Commercial & Constitutional Litigation, Mediation and Arbitration

Education

BA (Hons.) and LL.B (Hons.) degrees – the University of the West Indies
Certificate of Legal Education – Norman Manley Law School

Kimberly HoSue

Kimberly was admitted to practice in Jamaica in December 2010. She holds a LL.B (Hons) from the University of the West Indies (2010) and is a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School

Since joining the firm in August 2010, Kimberly has been involved in a variety of corporate/commercial matters and has worked with most of the partners of the firm for scheduled practice rotations. She has assisted Andrea Kinach with several IPOs and listings on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange. Her current practice concentration is in financial services working with Arthur Hamilton in relation to conventional and structured financial arrangements, but her work extends to corporate/commercial law matters generally.

Practice Areas: General Corporate Commercial

Education

LL.B. (Hons)(UWI); Certificate of Legal Education, Norman Manley Law School.

Damien DaCosta

Damien DaCosta joined the firm following his admission to the Jamaica Bar in December 2012. He holds a B.Sc. (Physics) (Hons) and an LL.B (Hons) (First Class) both granted by the University of the West Indies, in 2001 and 2010 respectively. He is also a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School where he distinguished himself by admission to the Principal’s Honour Roll.

Since joining the firm, Damien’s practice has been in the areas of Corporate and Commercial Law, working in relation to significant commercial law matters, with Trevor Patterson

Practice Areas: Corporate and Commercial Law

Dane Patterson

Mr. Patterson holds a B.A. degree in Economics and International Relations from Cornell University, LLB (First Class Honours) from the University of London and M.Sc. (Oxon) in Tax Law & Finance, awarded jointly by Oxford University and the Saiid Business School.

He was called to the English Bar at Lincoln’s Inn in 2013 and to the Jamaican Bar on July 24, 2014 after being awarded the Certificate of Legal Education from the Norman Manley Law School.

Mr. Patterson’s practice will focus on corporate finance and taxation.

Stephan Morrison

Stephan was called to the Jamaican Bar in July 2016. He holds a LL.B. (Hons) granted by the University of the West Indies and is a graduate of the Norman Manley Law School. He also holds an MBA degree (with distinction) granted by the IPAG Business School in France, where he was the recipient of the International Student’s Scholarship in 2014. Stephan interned at several United Nations organisations in Geneva, Switzerland before returning to Jamaica and joining the firm in May 2017.

Stephan’s practice focuses on Corporate and Commercial Law and he currently supports our Partner Andrea Kinach with private and public offerings of debt and equity, mergers and acquisitions, business restructuring, and corporate governance matters.

Practice Areas: General Corporate and Commercial

Leah Singh

Leah was admitted to practice in Jamaica in May 2019 and began her career with the firm after completing a Masters degree in Business Law at University of Toronto in July 2019.

Leah is an Associate with the firm’s Commercial Department

Practice Areas

Corporate and Commercial Law

Education

LL.B (Hons.) degree (2016), the University of the West Indies, LL.M University of Toronto ( Business Law) ( 2019), Certificate of Legal Education – Norman Manley Law School (2018)

Ashleigh McAnuff Williams

Ashleigh was admitted to practice in Jamaica in December 2017 and spent a year teaching Commercial Law before she began her career with the firm in 2019.

Ashleigh is an Associate with the firm’s Conveyancing Department

Practice Areas

Conveyancing, Commercial Law

Education

LL.B (Hons.) degree – the University of the West Indies, Certificate of Legal Education – Norman Manley Law School