Evidence of a thriving real estate sector in the UK can be seen through hires by the established real estate practices at Addleshaw Goddard and Ashurst, which bolstered their benches in property litigation and planning with notable appointments before Christmas and the new year.
One standout hire was made by Addleshaws, which has recruited Linklaters real estate disputes head Frances Richardson. Although holding the role of counsel at the Magic Circle firm, Richardson joins Addleshaws as a partner. Having spent 17 years at Linklaters after arriving as a trainee in 2002 and working her way up to managing associate, she became head of real estate disputes in 2017.
Her practice focuses on complex disputes for investors, developers, landlords, tenants and insolvency practitioners as well as property-related insolvency matters, joint venture disputes and professional negligence claims. While at Linklaters, Richardson regularly represented clients before the High Court and Court of Appeal, including PwC, Lendlease and CBRE Global Investors.
She joins a firm that has invested heavily in its highly-ranked team. The real estate practice at Addleshaws focuses on hotels and leisure, housing, logistics, offices, retail and student housing.
Recent standout mandates for the firm include advising UPP, the residential and academic accommodation provider, on the £43m acquisition of 411 rooms at Bay Campus from Swansea University with St Modwen Homes, as well as ongoing advice on the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, alongside Linklaters and Norton Rose Fulbright.
Divisional managing partner of Addleshaws’ retail estate practice, Adrian Collins, told Legal Business: ‘Despite having a relatively modest team here in London, the type of work that we’re doing and the demand from clients meant that we really did need to boost the team here with a partner who had the type of skills and experience that would support our strategic objectives.
‘If you look at the fundamentals, we’re not in a structural recession and there is a wall of money that’s looking for a home. We’re not expecting things to pick up just yet. We did see a falloff in the summer, driven by retail assets generally and overseas investors who paused while they waited to see if the sterling devalued. That will return to a new normal and the outlook remains pretty positive.’
Richardson added: ‘The plan is to do a lot more high-value and complex, standalone litigation, to support the real estate practice and to broaden out the scope of the practice so that it aligns with the sector approach AG has towards real estate. It’s exciting to be on a platform where there is real strength in real estate, planning and construction.’
Meanwhile, Ashurst has lured Hogan Lovells’ head of planning, Claire Dutch, to become co-head of its planning team in London. Dutch, who was a partner at Hogan Lovells for nine years before becoming head of its planning team in 2017, is experienced in planning, highway law and heritage law, and has previously managed regeneration projects, particularly in energy and waste. Development and infrastructure projects she has worked on include Bishopsgate Goodsyard and key sites within the Nine Elms district.
Elsewhere, Lewis Silkin has hired Blake Morgan’s head of planning, Sara Hanrahan, to its real estate practice group. Hanrahan joined the firm as head of planning and advises on contentious and non-contentious matters with clients including private developers, infrastructure and utilities firms, retail and leisure operators, and high-net-worth investors.
The hire of these three prominent real estate specialists in London were not the only significant property recruits in recent weeks. Leading property firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner has hired two partners to its Paris real estate practice, along with other partner hires, from French independent firm Franklin (for more on this story, see ‘Record year for ethnic minorities in latest silk round but number of female applicants falls’).