Andrew Grima

Andrew has over 25 years of experience and expertise in retail, industrial and commercial leasing. He works with both landlords and tenants to assist with their negotiations, drafting of leases and major leasing and construction projects and other related transactions. Andrew also assists landlords and tenants in their leasing disputes.

Andrew acts for a wide range of clients with regard to leasing premises of all sizes and across a range of industries including retailers and distributors, local subsidiaries of foreign companies, national franchisors, franchisees, public companies, local councils, government departments and their related entities, universities and SMEs.

With his depth of experience and exposure to a wide range of clients and types of real property assets, Andrew is able to identify the various legal and commercial issues relating to any given transaction and the particular context of that transaction.  Andrew’s approach is to identify the needs and goals of each client and work with them to achieve these goals.

 

Qualifications/Memberships

• Bachelor of Laws (Honors) & Economics (University of Sydney)

• Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors

• Member of Law Society of NSW

 

A word from Andrew

I enjoy my role as a lawyer immensely and am passionate about what I do. This enjoyment and passion results in a dedication towards my clients, which assists them to achieve the best outcome that they desire. I seek to achieve that outcome in an efficient and pragmatic fashion. This means I like to spend a lot of time with my clients, getting to know them and their businesses and to gain an understanding of their business and commercial needs. I see being a lawyer as a facilitator of problem solving, risk management and a partner of clients. I need to be accessible and available to my clients, to provide calm reassurance during times of stress, big decisions and key moments in their business journey.

 

Career highlights

• Acting on behalf of many national and multinational companies in relation to design and construction projects for the leasing of their office, warehousing, or manufacturing facilities. This includes assisting with the negotiation of the initial heads of agreement to ensure commercial terms mitigate delivery risk, agreements for lease to map out building and construction covenants through to complex incentive structures. Footprint of individual projects have exceeded 70,000 square metres. Some projects have also required Foreign Investment Review Board Applications.

• Acting on behalf of Government agencies to assist in the negotiation and finalisation of over 500 leases ranging from CBD offices, regional centres, retail footprints, community facilities and infrastructure sites.

• Assisting in the negotiation and finalisation of the leasing of retail and commercial premises for high-end fashion retailers across their Australian and New Zealand footprints.

• Assisting in the management, negotiation and finalisation of the leasing of retail and commercial premises for food and beverage retail brands across their Australia-wide footprint.

• Assisting landlords and tenants in settling many COVID-19 related tenancy disputes including many mediations.

• Assisting private investor landlords and their agents in managing, negotiating and finalising their industrial, commercial and retail footprints, in excess of 500 leases per annum.

• Founder, leader and driving force behind Western Sydney’s largest charity race for almost a decade, raising just under $1.2 million dollars for children with special needs and newborn care, and being awarded Wellness Initiative of the Year.

• Finalist - Lawyers Weekly Wellness Advocate of the Year 2019.

 

Specific areas of focus

• Retail, commercial and industrial leasing transactions

• Leasing disputes

• Non-for-profit

• Government

• Retail

• Franchising

• Motor Vehicle industry

• Manufacturing

• Warehousing, distribution and transport