CEO Described As The 'Vanguard of Change In The Legal Sector'

John Pickering, Group Chief Executive and Louise Cartwright, Real Estate Associate at Irwin Mitchell have been named in The Lawyer’s list of top lawyers in their Hot 100 2014.

The list features the stars of 2013 – those leading the way in the legal sector. John Pickering features in the Management section for the second time in three years, with The Lawyer describing him as at the ‘vanguard of change in the legal sector’ and also highlighting the continued growth of IM under his leadership, including being one of the first firms to convert to an ABS, the ongoing recruitment drive and the number of acquisitions in 2013.

The magazine says: “Pickering’s leadership has been key to Irwin Mitchell’s success in the past few years. Expect him to continue to play a leading role as the UK market evolves even further.”

Also joining John this year in the Hot 100 table is Louise Cartwright, an Associate in the London Real Estate team. Louise was one of only seven real estate lawyers chosen for the listings after a year in which she acted on Wells Fargo’s acquisition of a £4bn commercial real estate loan book from Hypothekenbank Frankfurt- one of the largest European real estate debt transactions ever. 

She was lead Associate on the deal and project-managed a team of over 25 in reviewing the security registered against a portfolio of more than 100 properties with a completion deadline for the initial review of less than three weeks.

The Lawyer said: “In one week last year, Cartwright completed more than £100m worth of deals and still found time to run the real estate team’s Twitter account. Definitely one to watch.”