Most real estate finance lawyers only ever do half the deal.
You either report on title and pass the file to banking, or you draft the facility and take the property position on trust from someone else's certificate. Nobody sat down and decided this. It just happened, and by year five it has decided what you are.
If you have quietly built both halves anyway, this is the one to read.
The work
A top 50 UK firm, London office, real estate finance practice acting for developers, investors, banks and debt funds on domestic and cross-border transactions. Recent matters in the team include:
Development finance for an 80-bed care home, acting for a debt fund.
Development finance for a central London mixed-use scheme, acting for the bank.
Refinancing of a hotel portfolio spanning European and US assets, acting for the sponsor.
The finance elements of an overseas sponsor's acquisition of a four-asset UK business park portfolio.
A private investor's acquisition of four student accommodation sites.
Hotels, student accommodation, care homes, business parks, mixed-use development. Not the same two lenders and the same three structures on rotation.
Why the banking side matters here
This is not a title reporting seat with a banking label on it. You will draft and negotiate facility agreements and security documents as well as run the property due diligence and the reporting.
That is the actual reason for the hire. The partner acts for sponsors and for lenders, so the person doing this job needs to hold the property position and the document position in the same conversation rather than handing one of them across a wall.
If you have only ever done one half and want to learn the other, this is not the role. If you already do both, and you are the only person in your team who does, it is.
Progression and the firm
Top 50 by UK revenue, and named Law Firm of the Year in three consecutive years at national legal awards.
The practice is growing and there is room above this seat. I will give you the promotion route, the timeline and who has come through it recently when we speak, because that conversation is more useful than a line in an advert.
The bit most ads leave out
This is a national full-service firm, not a City finance boutique. If your current firm's name opens doors in a lender's credit committee on its own, you will notice the difference in the first month.
What you get instead is a partner-led practice where the work spans asset classes and both sides of the transaction, and where nobody is going to tell you the facility agreement is someone else's document.
This will suit you if
You are a qualified England and Wales solicitor doing real estate finance now.
You have drafted facility agreements, debentures and legal charges, not just reviewed them.
You have run property due diligence and reported to lenders, whether on CLLS certificates or a firm's standard form.
You have worked sponsor side as well as lender side, or want to.
You would rather have five asset classes and two sides of the table than one specialism and one client type.
What happens next
Email me your CV, even if it is two years out of date. I will call you within 48 hours for fifteen minutes.
On that call I will tell you the firm, the money and the process, and nothing goes anywhere near them until you have said yes to all three.
Everyone who emails me gets a reply.
Seb - Consul Talent
