Browne Jacobson has strengthened its award winning real estate practice with the arrival of Mark Lewis and Ben Couch.
Commercial property lawyer Mark Lewis joins as an associate from Shakespeares where he spent three years prior to which he was at Cobbetts Solicitors in Leeds. An expert in the retail sector, Mark has advised large scale retailers including Dominos Pizzas Group, Vision Express, KFC, Jones Bootmaker, Timpson, Paperchase and Magnet UK on a range of contentious and non contentious property matters including store acquisitions, portfolio disposals, renewals, notices, compensation, licensing, insolvency and general estate management work.
Ben Couch joins the team as a solicitor after three years at Shoosmiths where he gained significant experience acting for major clients on national property portfolios, specialising in lease management, franchising and joint tenancy acquisitions, in particular for major healthcare and retail sector clients.
Barry Sully, property partner at Browne Jacobson, said:
“These are two talented commercial property solicitors and their impressive track record in advising some of the leading names on the high street complements our current portfolio perfectly. They join one of the leading real estate practice teams in the country and we are confident that their expertise and skills will be a real asset to our clients”
These latest appointments culminate in a momentous twelve months for Browne Jacobson’s real estate team which saw it secure a number of high profile clients including being appointed to the legal panels for Wm Morrisons’ convenience store acquisitions and regulatory work and Pets at Home’s veterinary practice acquisitions as well as the Government Procurement Service Panel for property projects. Other highlights included advising Geopost on the development of a 330,000 sq ft state-of-the-art parcel hub on Sketchley Brook’s Hinckley Commercial Park and the sale of Vets4Pets to Pets at Home.
A successful year culminated in the firm being named Real Estate Law Firm of the Year (regional) at the inaugural Legal 500 awards. The firm was announced overall UK regional winner after being shortlisted as the leading real estate team in the East Midlands. In doing so the team beat off competition from seven of the leading regional real estate law firms in the country including Mills & Reeve, Bond Dickinson, Eversheds, Charles Russell, Osborne Clarke, and Walker Morris. Both the shortlisted and overall winning firms were chosen from the body of research collected for this year’s Legal 500, one of the most authoritative research guides of the legal sector in the UK
Dominic Swift, Head of Property at Browne Jacobson, said:
“The award underlines us as one of the premier real estate practices in the market and a true leader in this field.
“It is also testament to the expertise and commitment to client service demonstrated by our team over many years. As a firm and a team we are bucking the trend on so many fronts and this accolade clearly demonstrates that we are at the top of our game.”
Browne Jacobson’s 70-strong legal property team acts for a wide range of public and private sector clients including high end luxury and volume retailers; developer and housing associations; public and independent health providers and schools.
