The Legal 500 > Tees Law > Cambridge, ENGLAND > Lawyer profiles

Tees Law

TITAN HOUSE, CASTLE PARK, CAMBRIDGE, CB3 0BY, ENGLAND

Tel:: Work 01223 311141
Fax:: Fax 01223 460749
DX:: 5811 CAMBRIDGE

Email:

Web:: www.teeslaw.co.uk

Bishop's Stortford, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Royston, Saffron Walden

James Dowson

Tel:: Work 01223 702318
Email:

Profile
Lawyer Rankings

Work Department

Commercial property group.

Position

James Dowson is a partner and heads up the Cambridge property team. He has particular expertise in commercial and rural property work. He acts for a number of developer clients advising them on site acquisition and assembly, options, infrastructure agreements and commercial, residential and ground rent disposals, as well as other related matters. He also deals with landlord and tenant and refinancing work for clients. James has also acted on a number of farm and rural land acquisitions and disposals.

Career

Trained Turner Kenneth Brown; qualified 1994; solicitor in commercial property department Blandy & Blandy 1994-95; locum solicitor in in-house legal department, London Borough of Lambeth 1995-96; Eversheds LLP (formerly Palmer Wheeldon), Cambridge, solicitor in real estate (including a secondment at Cambridgeshire County Council) 1996-2003; Tees Law 2003, solicitor in commercial property, based in Bishops Stortford and subsequently Cambridge where he is Head of Office. Became partner 2007. Trustee board member of East Herts Citizens Advice Bureau.

Languages

French.

Member

Cambridge and District Law Society .

Education

Perse School, Cambridge; University of Southampton (1990 LLB 2(1)); Chester College of Law (1991 Solicitors Final Examination); 2001 Diploma in commercial property.

Leisure

Real Tennis, Golf, Theatre.

East Anglia: Private client

Agriculture and estates

Within: Agriculture and estates

Tees Law brings together a strong mix of practice areas and skilled lawyers to serve its rural client base, which includes small family farms, rural estates, large agricultural businesses, landowning consortiums and agricultural bodies. Its work for these clients encompasses estate and succession planning, land development and diversification projects, employment advice, dispute resolution, business restructuring, and the sale and acquisition of commercial enterprises. The firm is a member of the NFU legal panel. Private client partner Catherine Mowat leads the agriculture practice and has nearly 20 years' experience in estate planning for rural clients. She works closely with property partner James Dowson and head of disputes Sara Stabler. Mowat recently acted as an executor of a multimillion-pound estate with large holdings in the agriculture sector, which required complex inheritance tax and succession planning issues, including advice on agricultural property relief and business relief.

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East Anglia: Real estate

Commercial property: Cambridge

Within: Commercial property: Cambridge

'A fantastic firm offering an unrivalled service', Tees Law is known for ‘very good service levels‘ and clients describe the team as ‘extremely good when compared to some others'. 'The team at Tees is very much part of our business and we are in contact with them on a day-to-day basis for commercial advice' says one client. The broad property practice regularly advises clients on residential development projects, and promotion and option agreements. Its recent work encompassed projects in the leisure industry, as well as local landlords and tenant matters. Practice head James Dowson is ‘knowledgeable and practical in his approach'. He acted for Fraser Capital Management in several transactions in the bingo sector, which involved the completion of a complex reversionary lease extending a tenant’s occupation of one property. Associate Carol Thornton-Swan, who joined from Mills & Reeve LLP in 2017, frequently advises developers on residential development, and landlords on the management of property portfolios. Solicitor Alexander Waples is ‘very professional, knowledgeable and extremely helpful; his response times are very fast and his advice succinct and commercial‘.