Melanie Benson > Harbottle & Lewis LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Harbottle & Lewis LLP Offices

Harbottle & Lewis LLP
7 Savoy Court
LONDON
WC2R 0EX
England
Visit website 020 7667 5000 020 7667 5100

Melanie Benson

Melanie Benson photo
020 7667 5000 melanie.benson@harbottle.com View profile View profile

Work Department

Property and Retail & Fashion

Position

Melanie leads the Property Group and deals with all aspects of real estate specialising in high end residential for both resident and offshore clients. She acts for a number of well-known individuals and family offices, often working closely with the firm’s Private Capital and Reputation Protection teams.

Melanie deals with Landlord and Tenant matters, acting mainly for occupiers in the retail and fashion/luxury brands, restaurants, cinema, theatre, media and digital/tech sectors. The matters are often complex involving multiple parties and commercial elements.

She also Co-Heads the firm’s Retail & Fashion Group where she advises clients on all aspects of their bricks and mortar property requirements from acquisitions of flagship stores to management of store portfolios country wide and including within centres and outlets such as Westfield and Bicester Village. She also acquires head office premises for retail/fashion and Tech clients and has assisted in major architecture designed fit outs of both retail and office premises.

Her clients include LW Theatres/Really Useful Group, Gordon Ramsay. Victoria Beckham Limited, Roland Mouret, Wolford, Network Homes Ltd, Kobalt Music Group, Empire Holding/Arch Light Cinemas (at Battersea Power Station) and ultra-high net worth individuals.

Career

  • Greenhouse Stirton & Co; trained and qualified 1999; assistant 1999-2000
  • Harbottle & Lewis associate 2000-2004; senior associate 2004-12; partner June 2012 to date

Memberships

Law Society

Education

  • Skipton Girls High School
  • Queen Mary, London (LLB 2(1))
  • London College of Law LPC (commendation)

Lawyer Rankings

London > Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers

(Leading individuals)

Melanie Benson – Harbottle & Lewis LLP

The property team at Harbottle & Lewis LLP has notable experience in acting for corporate occupiers in the office, retail, and hospitality sectors; The team is led by Melanie Benson, who has ‘excellent eye for detail’ and specialises in landlord and tenant matters. Benson’s main client base consists of occupiers in the cinema and theatre, retail and luxury brands, restaurant, and media sectors in addition to family offices.

London > Real estate > Residential property

With Melanie Benson at the helm at Harbottle & Lewis LLP it had another busy year acting for various wealthy clients on a range of sales, purchases, leasehold management and enfranchisement matters. The group predominantly concentrates on the London prime and ultra-prime markets but also handles matters involving country estates and rural properties. There have been some changes to the team at a senior level as Lee Greaves is now at Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP and Caroline Roberjot joined the department from Adams & Remers.

London > Industry focus > Retail and consumer

Harbottle & Lewis LLP has a full-service practice and its team has industry knowledge within an array of areas including brand management work, commercial contracts, technology mandates, reputation management issues and employment matters. Sandi Simons and Melanie Benson co-lead the team, which also fields Emma Wright and Rupam Dave, who joined the practice from Deloitte LLP in March 2022.

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