Katherine Laurenson
Senior solicitor
Legal & General Property
Katherine Laurenson is a self-confessed ‘deal junkie’ and has carved out a particular niche advising on all aspects of fund structuring for Legal & General Property. It currently has over £10bn of assets under management, making it one of the UK’s largest institutional property fund managers.
Laurenson is now the sole in-house counsel for L&G Property, reporting directly to managing director, Bill Hughes. In the past year Laurenson has been particularly active advising on funds work, working closely with L&G’s preferred corporate law firms: Clifford Chance and Macfarlanes. In 2011 that included completing the £71m refinancing of L&G’s Leisure Fund.
‘She is an excellent forward-looking GC,’ says one real estate lawyer. ‘She knows instinctively what her business needs from external lawyers are and how to get that range of services without fuss or fanfare.’
Law firms used: Clifford Chance, Dundas & Wilson, Eversheds, LG, Macfarlanes, Maples Teesdale, Olswang, Pinsent Masons
2008-present: Senior solicitor, Legal & General Property
2005-08: In-house counsel, BT
2002-05: Solicitor, Howard Kennedy