Meet the team - Goldstein Legal

Catrina Newman

Franchise Relationship Manager and Legal Advisor

Catrina joined Goldstein Legal in June 2011, which has since merged with Nexa on 31st March 2021. As franchise relationship manager, Catrina liaises with clients on a wide range of commercial issues and ensures that matters are dealt with in an efficient, organised and friendly manner.

Before joining Goldstein Legal, Catrina spent her formative years working for Infocus, a consultancy specialising in sales and management training for professional service firms. Known for her precise attention to detail, Catrina progressed from being PA to the Managing Director to Practice Manager, and lastly, Franchise Relationship Manager.

Areas of Expertise:

Catrina also manages Goldstein Legal’s presence at national trade fairs. Her cheerful disposition is well suited to meeting and greeting prospective clients and, being a natural problem solver, she enjoys the opportunity to explain exactly how Goldstein Legal can help their businesses.

Catrina was awarded Qualified Franchise Professional (QFP) by the British Franchise Association in February 2017. Catrina’s role developed into Legal Advisor, using her extensive knowledge of the franchising industry.

Likes:

Catrina has lived in Windsor for over 20 years and has two daughters; they share their home with their black and white cat. Catrina is a keen runner and competed in her first half-marathon in 2021.

My clients:

“Goldstein Legal was the second practice I approached about reviewing a franchisee contract, the first practice I rang which were recommended made me feel very intimidated and wasn’t approachable. This made me very nervous of approaching somebody else but it had to be done, I rang Goldstein and spoke to Catrina she was brilliant , I straight away felt at ease and she was really helpful, she used language I understood and from then everythjng was done fluently and quickly.”

Roz Goldstein

Founder

Roz gained almost 20 years of experience as an in-house lawyer in some major publicly-listed companies before founding Windsor based solicitor firm, Goldstein Legal.

She qualified as a lawyer with Alsop Wilkinson (now DLA Piper), and then became Legal Manager at Laura Ashley, where she gained commercial legal experience on an international level, managing contract negotiations, corporate acquisitions and disposals, and managing Laura Ashley’s Global Intellectual Property portfolio. After Roz Goldstein stepped down from leading Goldstein Legal in August 2023, it was a natural progression for Catrina to take over the leadership of the firm alongside the directors of Nexa.

She moved to O2 in 1998, where she acted as Legal Adviser and Company Secretary. There she worked on software licence agreements, distribution agreements, and procurement contracts. She advised the business on legal compliance for TV, radio and print advertising. Roz was also extensively involved in advising the business on intellectual property strategies to underpin mobile data services, including e-commerce.

In 2001 Roz was appointed Legal Director for Burger King UK where she acted as a member of the UK Executive Board and headed a legal team providing legal support for the UK business, and functional expertise and co-ordination across Europe on consumer law and purchasing. At Burger King she developed her commercial and legal experience of the franchising sector, working extensively with franchisees to help them develop their businesses, dealing with franchise terminations and managing franchisee disputes. She also provided support and advice on the company’s UK property portfolio of around 150 sites.

Roz founded Goldstein Legal in 2006, utilising her business acumen and years of commercial legal experience to provide practical, business-focused legal advice to clients. Roz is a bfa accredited Qualified Franchise Professional (QFP) and was appointed to the Board of the British Franchise Association (bfa) in December 2016.

Chambers & Partners 2018 legal rankings said: “Roz Goldstein of Goldstein Legal is a rising name in the world of franchising, having established a specialist firm which offers complementary expertise in employment and broader commercial issues.”

Chambers & Partners 2019 legal rankings said: Roz Goldstein of Goldstein Legal has experience acting in both franchisor and franchisee-side negotiations, with knowledge extending across the span of franchising issues. She draws praise as a “rounded commercial lawyer able to advise on the most practical way forward.”

Belle Ghaleb

Commercial Lawyer

Belquis (better known as Belle) qualified as a solicitor in 2017 into commercial property, where she advised clients and handled transactions, from start to finish, on their new leases and lease assignments for restaurants, shops, cafes, estate agents, vet clinic to name a few. Since joining Goldstein Legal in 2018 (which was then acquired by Nexa in 2021), her specialism expanded into mergers and acquisitions, focusing particularly on sales and purchases of franchised businesses.

Belle’s calm, pragmatic and open approach creates a sense of working together to solve obstacles. She helps her clients focus on their main objective, applying realism to the risks clients face during negotiations. She has been praised by her clients for her clear and uncomplicated communication in a way that simplified the legal process for them. Quoting her clients’ own words, she has been described as “diligent”, “efficient” and “tenacious”.

Areas of Expertise:

New leases
Licence to assign
Deed of surrender
Deed of Variation
Sales and acquisitions of shares or assets
Advice on lending
Franchise agreement reviews

My clients:

“Belle was an amazing solicitor to work with during the sale of our business. She was efficient, informative and well organised. When things got stressful, Belle was always on hand to assist. She worked diligently to help protect my rights during and after the sale and I am immensely grateful for her support. I can’t recommend her enough.” – Jyoti Kohli – sale of assets

“I couldn’t have asked for better service from Belle. Under difficult circumstances she managed to complete a deal saving me considerable amounts of money, time and stress. I would strongly recommend Belle to anyone seeking a pain free legal process when purchasing a business. ” -Anonymous

“I recently used Goldstein Legal for a franchise resale purchase with a positive result. Belle and her team are very professional, knowledgeable, friendly and pro-active. I would highly recommend them.” – Paul Airey, Energie Fitness Hoddesdon

“Thank you for getting us there. It’s been a pleasure working with you and we appreciate your diligence and professionalism throughout.” – Anonymous

Glenn Gordon

Employment Lawyer

Glenn is an experienced employment lawyer who qualified as a solicitor in 2000. He has many years of extensive experience providing advice, guidance and support to commercial clients / HR professionals and individual clients (of all levels) on a full range of employment law areas.

His previous legal experience is wide ranging and includes working in-house for a major multi-national telecommunications company and private practice roles with a leading South-East commercial firm, a national trade union law firm and most recently, as a consultant with Goldstein Legal (now part of Nexa).

In addition to his advisory work, Glenn has also supported his clients with training and seminars on legislative changes and best practice. He is also an ADR group accredited mediator and a highly regarded visiting lecturer of employment law at several universities.

Amy L

Franchise & Employment Lawyer

Amy qualified as a solicitor in 2010.

Amy graduated from University with a First Class law degree, she trained and qualified at a niche commercial firm with a strong reputation in franchising. Amy became a partner in 2013 and headed up the franchise, dispute resolution and employment practice of the firm before moving to a more local firm in 2015.

Amy continued to work in local firms in Essex until 2020.

Amy is also a trained and qualified mediator.

Amy is widely known in the franchise industry and has a strong reputation for her dispute resolution work. Amy handles the majority of Goldstein Legal’s dispute cases. Amy also regularly receives referrals from other franchise professionals and lawyers and acts for many franchisees and a growing number of franchisors.

In recent times she was featured in What Franchises “Top UK Franchise Lawyers Profiled” article where she was described as being “widely respected as a safe pair of hands who protects her clients’ interests and achieves successful outcomes in the face of challenging situations.” Amy has also appeared on the radio discussing franchising issues and has been the legal judge for the Working Mums franchise awards.

In addition, Amy regularly advises on both contentious and non-contentious employment matters with the majority of her commercial clients having worked with her for close to 12 years.

Amy prides herself on helping her clients find effective solutions quickly and cost-effectively so that her clients can focus on the operation of their businesses.

Abby Minns

IP Rights & Litigation Lawyer

Abby is a senior lawyer with over 12 years’ experience, she specialises in intellectual property matters.

Having trained at the highly regarded IP firm, Bird & Bird, she moved to the IP team at Osborne Clarke. Abby obtained a first class honours degree in biochemistry which led her to initially focus on advising clients in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, but she has significant experience across a number of industries, including digital media and telecommunications.

Abby’s expertise covers a wide range of IP rights, including copyright, trademarks, database rights and patents. Her science background enables her to grasp new technologies quickly and understand the application of the relevant IP rights to that technology.

She is an experienced IP litigator and has broad experience working on patent, trade mark, copyright and database right litigation. She also provides strategic advice in connection with the protection and exploitation of clients’ IP assets such as advising on brand management issues or advising on patent portfolios.

Melanie Harrison

Commercial Property Lawyer

Melanie qualified as a Solicitor in 1999 at a Top 30 law firm. She specialises in commercial property and agricultural land matters. Her broad range of experience covers the retail and hospitality sector, industrial units, investment property, agricultural land and mixed-use properties. Melanie joined Nexa in 2020.

Melanie has acted for blue chip companies, large public sector organisations and banks/building societies holding large property portfolios while working at national and regional commercial law firms. She also spent several years working in-house in the financial services sector and for boutique commercial law firms with a focus on SME clients. Melanie delivers practical commercially-focused advice with a friendly approach.

Simon Harrison

Corporate Partner

Simon is a corporate lawyer with over 25 years experience in blue chip legal practice then FTSE100, FTSE250 and Family owned industry.

Simon has detailed knowledge of various consumer segments – spanning Sport, FMCG, Food, IT and Life Sciences – and industry sectors – including Aerospace, Defence, Oil & Gas, Marine, Nuclear and Rail.

He qualified in 1997 and holds business accreditations from Oxford Said, Warwick, McGill and Harvard Universities.

For the last 7 years he has built a thriving consultancy business and founded / invested in a number of tech SMEs.

Areas of Expertise

General Counsel Services
Company Secretariat
Corporate, Commercial
Start Ups and Scale Ups

Jonathan Hodge

Commercial & Civil Litigation Partner

Jonathan qualified as a Solicitor in 2015 and specialises in commercial dispute resolution and contract law.

Before qualifying as a solicitor, Jonathan worked as a speech-writer and policy researcher in the Houses of Parliament. With a Masters Degree focusing on commercial litigation, since qualifying Jonathan has worked exclusively in dispute resolution, regularly in the High Court. His clients include directors, companies and public bodies, and international corporate groups. Jonathan also regularly advises private individuals, and is particularly fond of building relationships with entrepreneurial clients to help them achieve outcomes which match their long-term plans.

With considerable experience in bringing and defending disputes over contractual obligations, professional negligence, and debts, Jonathan can advise his clients in matters ranging in value from thousands of pounds to millions (where he can organise and lead a team of lawyers and experts if necessary).

Jonathan’s cases to date have set several precedents, including the first injunction in this jurisdiction permitted to be served via WhatsApp. He was named the Rising Star of the Year at the Modern Law Awards, and has received national recognition at both the Solicitors’ Journal Awards and at the Law Society Excellence Awards.