Zimbabwean owned Law firm thrives in UK
FOUNDED by a Zimbabwean, Andrew Nyamayaro, Coventry-based Tann Law Solicitors has made inroads into the United Kingdom market.
Nyamayaro, who is the director of the firm, was born in Harare and he attended the University of Zimbabwe where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws Honours degree in 2000.
He was admitted as a legal practitioner, conveyancer and notary public in Zimbabwe. He then practised as a lawyer in Zimbabwe with two firms before relocating to the UK.
Nyamayaro is also admitted as a Solicitor in the UK, and thus, has dual admission in Zimbabwe and UK. He has volunteered as a parent governor at one of his local primary schools and as a Justice of Peace (magistrate).
He also volunteers as a Deacon in his local church. Andrew is married and has two children. He worked for three solicitor firms before establishing Tann Law Solicitors in 2016.
Tann Law Solicitors is a firm of solicitors ( lawyers) based in the legal district of Coventry. They specialise in employment, immigration, family, civil litigation and charity law. They also draft wills and are Commissioaners of Oaths. They have experienced growth in the firm since it was started.
They started in a one roomed small office and now they occupy two floors in the city centre. In the process of growth they now have more solicitors and caseworkers. They have added more areas of practice and they now utilise cloud-based software.
Nyamayaro said: “We are expanding our online presence through social media marketing and enhanced search engine optimisation. We were also given a legal aid contract by the legal aid agency in 2018. To spice it up all, we have the SQM quality mark to reassure our clients of our work.
“As a (law) firm we are looking to the future. We will expand our offices and we are targeting Birmingham as an area in which we will establish our second branch. We are also recruiting new solicitors and caseworkers who are suitably qualified and registered with appropriate regulatory bodies to join us as consultant lawyers.
“We also have training contracts and we currently have two trainee solicitors and one trainee Cilex. We have given opportunities to several people to do work experience at our firm.
“Under Family Law, we handle various matters including divorce, judicial separation, nullity or civil partnership dissolution proceedings and all issues around children. We advise on separation agreements.
“In employment law, we act for either employees or employers. Our team is experienced in dealing with the opposite party in ACAS proceedings and in Employment Tribunals. We have dealt with cases of unfair dismissal, discrimination, breach of the Equality Act, damages, whistleblowing, unfair references etc.”
Under immigration, Tann Law assists with entry clearance applications for people wishing to visit or re-locating to the UK, Home Office applications, appeals and judicial review applications.
They also do family, spouse visas, asylum, human rights and points-based applications.
“In Civil Litigation, there is no job too big or too small for us.
It might be a simple dispute such as a contractual breach by the local garage to complicated cases. We have experience in negotiations, mediation and conciliation. Two of our lawyers are mediators. Our lawyers have experience in the Small Claims, Fast Track and Multi Track courts. We work with reputable Barrister Chambers in our cases.
“One of the growing areas of our practice is corporate and business advice. We pride ourselves in giving advice to small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). We are looking to develop relationships with bigger corporations and companies.
We are looking to expand internationally. We are knowledgeable in current legislative and regulatory developments in both private and public law.”
An ever-thriving area of their practice is wills, and they hope to expand to deal with probate law in detail.
Tann Law Solicitors are also privileged to give advice to Charities mainly churches and community projects, particularly on regulatory matters
As a firm they have an open-door policy to their clients no matter their background. They pride themselves in excellent customer care, and are dedicated and committed to their clients, Nyamayaro said.
“We believe in social responsibility. We have sponsored and financed several church conferences, music festivals, community events and have given speeches for free to various organisations on leading legal topics.
“Just recently we sponsored the CAPS UNITED UK Legends Dinner Gala who were fundraising to support grassroots talent of disadvantaged children in Zimbabwe. We are also proud to say that we were awarded the Best Business of the Year Award 2019 at the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards Ceremony that was held in London.
“As a business, though we have met some challenges, we have continued to grow and expand.
Challenges faced include rising costs of operation, continued compliance red tape from the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA), recruitment of staff and the BREXIT uncertainty. Despite all this we believe the future is bright.
“Regarding our links with Zimbabwe, we do have lawyers whom we signpost clients and likewise they also signpost clients to us. We act as correspondent lawyers for several law firms in Zimbabwe and we hope to venture into advising corporate clients in the mining and agricultural sectors.
“In our firm we have several lawyers who are duly registered with the Law Society of Zimbabwe. We have future plans of establishing a branch in Zimbabwe and at the relevant time we will approach the Law Society of Zimbabwe for registration,” Nyamayaro concluded.