"Qualified as a solicitor in December 1976 and has for many years specialised in property work. In 1984 he was also admitted as a Legal Associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute. Charles has a mixed professional background spanning private practice, industry and local government. From 1984 to 1988 he worked as a conveyancing solicitor with Unilever Plc. Between 1988 and 1992 he worked as a property lawyer with Capsticks solicitors. This was followed by a series of back-to-back assignments which included Bedford Borough Council, Epping Forest District Council and Unilever. Since 1997 he has worked as a senior property and contracts lawyer with the London Borough of Sutton. He has had first hand experience in setting up and running a leaseholders' management company that assumed ownership and management of a block of flats in circumstances where there was no traceable ground landlord. He has written extensively for Estates Gazette, ""Mainly for Students"" as well as for other professional journals including Local Government Chronicle and Legal Executive Journal. From 1996 to 2000 Charles was also a senior examiner with the Institute of Legal Executives and still assists with this work."