Sixteen More Make The Switch From SJ Berwin As New London Real Estate Team Grows To 20

TWELVE more lawyers have joined Irwin Mitchell’s new real estate team in London along with four support staff – just six weeks after it emerged that the firm had recruited one of the most respected property lawyers in the capital along with key members of his team.

The news sees all 16 switch from SJ Berwin to Irwin Mitchell’s City office – with three becoming Partners through the move – to join Jon Vivian and three other senior real estate Partners, who all announced they were leaving SJ Berwin just over a month ago.

This brings the total number of people in the London real estate team to 20 as Irwin Mitchell drives forward a strategic growth plan for its corporate, real estate and finance division.

The leading national firm announced at the end of September that Vivian, Head of Real Estate at SJ Berwin, and three other real estate partners - Lewis Myers, Rob Thompson and Jo Footitt – would be joining to build a strong new team covering all aspects of real estate law including construction, corporate real estate, real estate finance, funds, joint ventures and tax.

Now, the quartet has been joined by real estate lawyer Rupert Dowdell and construction expert David Parton, with finance specialist Simon Tweedle also joining shortly and all three becoming Partners at Irwin Mitchell. Nine other lawyers with expertise in real estate, construction and real estate finance complete the legal team.

Niall Baker, Head of Business for Irwin Mitchell, said this latest news was the next stage in the firm’s strategic plan to establish a leading commercial practice in the UK and laid down a marker for its intention to keep on building a high quality real estate practice in London, in addition to the firm’s existing regional offering.

He said: “This demonstrates the strength of our firm and the strategic direction we have laid out, and is a further sign of our rapidly growing reputation in the business and corporate market in London and nationally.

“The news that Jon was joining us was significant in itself but the fact that we have been able to attract such a large number of high quality recruits into our London team shows that Irwin Mitchell is now firmly on the map as a leading provider of real estate legal advice.

“However, we’re not stopping here and we will continue to look to build on the large steps forward we have taken in recent weeks.

 “We have seen significant growth in our corporate finance work in London over the last two years but this new and highly respected real estate team means we have an even stronger platform going forward to provide a full service offering to our corporate clients.

The real estate team joins a growing level of high quality business lawyers to move to Irwin Mitchell in London in a year which has also seen respected Corporate lawyer David Glover join from Eversheds along with highly regarded property law strategist Geoffrey Lander.