Real estate and infrastructure

Wellington Place, Leeds

CMS lands in Leeds with office launch

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang has followed up on several hires in Leeds with the opening of a new office. Located at Wellington Place, the office has been primarily set up to provide a space for its lawyers when working with clients in Yorkshire. A spokesperson for CMS said in a statement: “We have a […]

Dentons triumphs as M&S wins Oxford Street store dispute

Dentons has secured a triumph for Marks & Spencer, safeguarding the retailer’s plans for its flagship store on Oxford Street. In a judgment handed down this morning, Mrs Justice Lieven ruled in favour of the supermarket on five of the six grounds it had brought against the Secretary of State (SoS) for Levelling Up, Housing […]

house for sale home

Linklaters secures first key mandate for Barratt on £2.5bn housing merger

Linklaters and Slaughter and May are advising two housebuilders on their £2.5bn merger. It was announced this morning that listed company Barratt Developments is combining with fellow plc Redrow. FTSE favourites Linklaters and Slaughters acted for Barratt and Redrow, respectively. This is understood to be Linklaters’ first major M&A mandate for Barratt Developments, which has […]

Freeths Manchester

Freeths bucks downsizing trend with UK office expansion

Freeths has expanded its UK office footprint by 30 per cent in recent months in anticipation of future growth. The firm has increased its footprint across its offices in Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Bristol from 29,906 sq ft to 38,853 sq ft. Bristol will expand the most by a whopping 87 per cent from 4,479 […]

all in office

Fladgate to dock pay in switch to four-day week

Property associates at City firm Fladgate have been asked to work a four-day work week, along with a corresponding pay cut, The Lawyer understands. According to RollOnFriday, lawyers were told that the decrease in workdays was a necessary cost saving move. Affected lawyers in the real estate team are understood to have until 22 December […]

Analysis

2024’s newest silks: Why we chose a career in law

A solicitor-turned-barrister and the Bar’s newest doctor KC; The Lawyer speaks to six of the Bar’s newest silks. The group was announced as KCs-in-waiting earlier this year, with 95 barristers in total getting the nod. Among the 95 were Crucible Law’s Clea Topolski – who having been called in 2014 – is the most junior of the set. […]

Ministry of Justice

Legal industry clashes over Government’s vow to reverse PACCAR

Litigation funders, defendant lawyers and claimant lawyers are divided over Lord Chancellor Alex Chalk KC’s plans to introduce a new law to reverse the Supreme Court’s PACCAR ruling last July, which ruled many litigation funding agreements (LFAs) unenforceable. The Government said it is also considering options for a wider review of the sector and how third-party litigation […]

Featured Briefings

End of consultation on the abolition of ASTs – response awaited

By David Perry The recent Government consultation on ending no fault terminations of residential tenancies, which will effectively abolish assured shorthold tenancies, came to a close on 12 October. Many people will be looking to see what, if anything, results from that process. As a generational change in residential letting, many stakeholder groups are likely […]

NPPF: changes to national planning policy on minerals

By Fergus Charlton On 24 July, the government released the long-anticipated revised National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF). Setting the emphasis on building new homes, Secretary of State for Communities, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said: “Fundamental to building the homes our country needs is ensuring that our planning system is fit for the future.” […]

Breaking the chain: Why do Jersey property transactions fall apart

Much focus has been given of late to gazumping and the potential pitfalls of the Jersey conveyancing process. Thankfully in practice the vast majority of transactions do eventually make it across the line and in most cases, completion occurs within the allocated window agreed through the estate agent at the outset. Gazumping, while a genuine […]

Housing white paper – ‘unprecedented steps’

By Hugh Richards The Government has published its Housing White Paper “Fixing Our Broken Housing Market”. It will be recalled that in his speech to the party conference in October 2016, the Secretary of State, Sajid Javid, called for “unprecedented steps” to increase the delivery of new homes – his “number one priority” and a […]