Regional law firm Lodders has boosted its Real Estate team with two senior appointments.
Theresa Spalding and Donna Bates both join as Senior Associates in the firm’s Real Estate practice, which is one of the largest in the West Midlands with 32 specialist real estate, commercial property, planning, construction and highways legal experts, including nine partners.
Joining Lodders from Gowling WLG, where she was Principal Associate in Real Estate for eight years, Theresa Spalding specialises in acting for major national house builders and regional developers, advising on all aspects of securing and promoting sites through the planning process for residential development, and on acquisition, development, and disposal. She has also worked with landowners on land disposal for development, including navigating the planning process to secure permission and maximise financial return.
Donna Bates has over 15 years’ commercial property experience and will focus on advising clients on her specialist area of landlord and tenant matters, utilising her background acting for national and global retail brands and a restaurant chain dealing with acquisitions, disposals and portfolio management. She joins Lodders after four years as Senior Associate at Oxfordshire real estate firm Brook Street des Roches LLP (now Knights plc). Prior, she also specialised in commercial property law at Brethertons in Banbury and at Needham & James (now Shakespeares) in Stratford.
Mark Miller, partner in and head of Lodders’ Real Estate team, says: “Our Real Estate practice offers a partner-led, proactive service tailored to the particular requirements of each transaction, and focused on providing commercial solutions with speed and efficiency.”
“In step with the sustained growth in demand for our property legal advice from developers and landowners alike, Theresa’s and Donna’s appointments as Senior Associates demonstrate our continued commitment to deliver the very best legal advice and expertise. This enables us to continue to build the team’s resource and maintain the provision of the very best legal advice in strategic and immediate land development and landlord and tenant advice and specifically, in relation to Donna’s retail sector experience. They both possess high levels of experience, technical skill and expertise plus a real desire to understand and realise clients’ ambitions.”