Melanie Benson > Harbottle & Lewis LLP > London, England > Lawyer Profile
Harbottle & Lewis LLP Offices
7 Savoy Court
LONDON
WC2R 0EX
England
- Firm Profile
- Go to...
Melanie Benson
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 > Residential property
Harbottle & Lewis LLP is praised for providing ‘top quality advice’, regularly advising a range of wealthy and high profile individuals on sales, purchases, leasehold management and enfranchisement matters. Under the joint leadership of Melanie Benson and Caroline Roberjot, the group regularly handles matters concerning country estates and rural properties, collaborating with the firm’s private capital and tax departments to advise on various tax and trust planning matters. Sarah Cubacub is experienced in the full range of matters involving new build properties.
London > Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers
(Leading partners)Commended for its ‘excellent attention to detail’, the group at Harbottle & Lewis LLP handles commercial lettings, real estate portfolio management, and property agreements for film and television production studios. Working across the retail, hospitality, and office sectors, Melanie Benson leads the team, drawing from her experience in landlord and tenant matters, in addition to high end residential work for offshore clients. Leo Marino is noted for his strengths in commercial property, and regularly advises property investors and investment syndicates office plots, while Matthew Stephenson’s scope of work includes commercial landlord and tenant work for clients in the healthcare field.
London > Industry focus > Retail and consumer
Harbottle & Lewis LLP’s retail group advises its clients on multidisciplinary issues across the fashion, cosmetics, retail, and food and beverage sectors. The team is able to advise on both contentious and non-contentious matters, with litigation and transactional work both making up regular workstreams for the practice. Practice co-head Sandi Simons
provides support through her litigation expertise. Fellow co-head Melanie Benson works in the retail space, advising luxury brands, designers, retailers and model agencies on the full range of bricks and mortar property matters.
Lawyer Rankings
- Leading partners London > Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers
- Commercial property: corporate occupiers London > Real estate
- Residential property London > Real estate
- Retail and consumer London > Industry focus
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Private client > Contentious trusts and probate
- Private client > Contentious trusts and probate
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Film & TV
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Media finance
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Theatre, publishing and other media
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Video games
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Reputation management
Firm Rankings
- Private client > Charities and not-for-profit
- Private client > Family
- Employment > Immigration: personal
- Corporate and commercial > M&A: Smaller Deals, £10m-£100m
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Advertising & marketing
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Media: Music
- Employment > Senior executives
- Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: mid-market
- Real estate > Commercial property: corporate occupiers
- Employment > Immigration: human rights
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Intellectual property: trade marks, copyright and design
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > IT and telecoms
- Private client > Personal tax, trusts and probate
- Real estate > Residential property
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Sport
- Industry focus > TMT
- Corporate and commercial > Venture capital
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Artificial intelligence
- Industry focus > Hospitality and leisure
- Industry focus > Retail and consumer
- TMT (technology, media and telecoms) > Fintech: corporate and commercial
- Risk advisory > Data protection, privacy and cybersecurity
- Employment > Employers