Goodwin Procter snares Linklaters partner in property push

Conder, who formerly served as global co-head of Linklaters’ real estate group, joins Goodwin Procter as a partner in its real estate capital markets practice.

He joined Linklaters as an associate from Taylor Joynson Garrett (which later merged and became Taylor Wessing) in 1999 and made partner at Linklaters in 2005. Conder is experienced in aspects of commercial real estate deals, including sales and purchases of investment properties, development funding and outsourcing transactions.

A real estate partner at a competitor commented: “It’s pretty well known that basically Linklaters are de-emphasising on that side and are really just going to do corporate support. There will be further moves in terms of that. It’s sad really, as five or six years ago they were good.”

However, another source close to the firm insisted that Conder’s leaving was not part of any restructuring and was not anticipated by the firm.

A spokesperson for Linklaters said: “We thank Joe for all his work at the firm and wish him well.”

In October last year (11 October 2011) Goodwin Procter hired two partners from Ashurst to build its real estate private equity practice.

Goodwin Procter could not be reached for comment.