Matthew Lea
Legal Director, Corporate and Commercial Law
Matthew Lea
Legal Director, Corporate and Commercial Law
t: 01189 898 155
m: 07557 371 939
e: matthew.lea@herrington-carmichael.com
Working in the Corporate and Commercial department since 2012, Matt acts for clients with corporate legal requirements including advising on M&A, corporate funding and corporate restructuring. Matt has particular expertise in advising clients in the technology and healthcare sectors.
Experience | Key projects
- Care home buy and build: advising care home consolidator group on 4 acquisitions and CQC regulation.
- Exit of investors and funding for UK-Europe group: advised on complex buybacks and term loan and revolving credit facility totalling up to £16m of funding based on a £72m equity value of the client
- Series Seed funding round: Advising DataOps.live, a unique data operations platform built around Snowflake, on its US$10.3m USD Series Seed funding round
- Life-sciences sale: Advising life sciences companies on their sale to a US-based sector consolidator, adding a new product line to its current offering. Carried out CQC and GMC regulation analysis.
- Advising on strategic buy, build and sale project: Advising UK headquartered international banking security and maintenance provider on several buy and build acquisitions prior to partial sale to US hedge fund including a rollover of existing management shareholders with a total project value in excess of £100 million.
- Private equity investment into international electronics manufacturer: Advising UK headquartered international electronics manufacturer on investment from private equity investor with an enterprise value of £110 million.
- Demerger and restructure of IT and services infrastructure business: Advising £45 million turnover client on restructuring of its business by way of three cornered demerger to provide for two distinct businesses.
- Advising on pre IPO investment facility for home services software provider: Advising client on £15 million investment from overseas listed investment company to include undiluted roll over of existing investors.
Interests and Hobbies
Matt enjoys watching rugby and walking his Bulldog-Rottweiler cross called “Nacho”.

Testimonials
Our experience with the whole of the Herrington Carmichael team has been excellent. Matt Lea and his team worked tirelessly to complete our transaction within budget and on time, helping to achieve a fantastic deal for the shareholders. The advice Matt provided was clear, commercial and strategic, his response times were great and he was always available at any time I needed him. I would highly recommend Herrington Carmichael as an invaluable partner to anyone selling their business. I am looking forward to working with Matt and his team again in the future.
In July 2021, the Corporate and Commercial Team at Herrington Carmichael acted in the sale of our network infrastructure company. The transaction was both complicated, involving an acquiring entity and private equity backer, and extremely time pressured. The deal took just six weeks to complete from the commencement of due diligence. Yavan Brar, Matthew Lea and their whole team gave the transaction their full attention throughout and were readily available both day and night to oversee all legal aspects as required. They quickly became an invaluable part of our transaction team, and worked closely alongside our other professional advisors to drive a final result that we were delighted with. We would have no hesitation in recommending the services of Herrington Carmichael and hope that we will have a chance to work with them again in the near future.
Our experience with the whole of the Herrington Carmichael team has been excellent. Matt Lea and his team worked tirelessly to complete our transaction within budget and on time, helping to achieve a fantastic deal for the shareholders. The advice Matt provided was clear, commercial and strategic, his response times were great and he was always available at any time I needed him. I would highly recommend Herrington Carmichael as an invaluable partner to anyone selling their business. I am looking forward to working with Matt and his team again in the future.
We enjoy working with Matthew, Chris and the team because they always take a pragmatic approach to any legal issue we discuss with them. While some lawyers can complicate and confuse a situation, we find that the team at Herrington Carmichael like to simplify and solve a problem in a real-world way that is very encouraging to the client. We would highly recommend them.
– Nick Wallwork and Chris Sturmer, directors of Redbrick Capital Limited
Matt Lea and his corporate team at Herrington Carmichael were very professional and really supportive as they guided our clients in the sale of their technology business to a foreign buyer. As the transaction went through an onerous due diligence process and a complicated sale and purchase agreement, the team’s clear legal advice and proactive negotiating approach were essential in protecting the sellers’ interests and reducing the risks to them.
– Alex Dyce , Managing Director, Lennox Hamilton Ltd
Thanks for all your help along the way Matthew. We wouldn’t be where we are without you & your firm.
Yavan and his team at Herrington Carmichael recently advised us on the assignment of two loans and associated security from third party lenders onto our books. Yavan and Matt provided advice of the highest quality and ensured the transactions completed swiftly. They were available whenever we needed to contact them and kept their advice commercially focused to our specific requirements. We have built a good relationship up with the whole team at Herrington Carmichael and would certainly recommend them.
I was really happy with Matt and Emma’s approach, thorough, concise and an honest analysis of the risks, given in plain English which was good. I was always kept up to date with progress and would recommend them with no hesitation
– Simon Arnold, Grundon Waste Management Ltd
Matt, Thank you for everything. Could not have asked for a better legal lead to navigate us through & be fighting in our corner. Hope to have the opportunity to work with you again
– Byrne’s Dental Laboratory Limited (The)

Award winning legal advice
We are solicitors in Camberley, Wokingham and London. In 2019, Herrington Carmichael won ‘Property Law Firm of the Year’ at the Thames Valley Business Magazines Property Awards, ‘Best Medium Sized Business’ at the Surrey Heath Business Awards and we were named IR Global’s ‘Member of the Year’. We are ranked as a Leading Firm 2023 by Legal 500 and Alistair McArthur is ranked in Chambers 2022.










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