The commercial property practice at DLA Piper has Alison Mills, who divides her time between Liverpool and Manchester, at its head. The team's caseload primarily consists of investment and development mandates. Liverpool-based Mark Beardwood acts as managing partner, and has notable experience in assisting with the full spectrum of real estate matters. Manchester’s Tom Kelsall has vast expertise in real estate development and investment matters, often assisting energy to retail sector clients. Claire Henderson is a key name within the team who ‘goes the extra mile’ for clients.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Andrew Walker is very commercially aware and always on top of what the client actually wants out of a transaction and what they care about.’
‘A very commercial team with capabilities across Liverpool and Manchester. They are easy to work with, give excellent support and nothing is too much trouble. They are good at realising the different perspectives of landlords and tenants to come out with suitable compromises that protect the client but get the deals completed.'
'There is a strong senior resource, but all the staff are of good quality and training.’
‘Richard Thompson, Alison Mills and Claire Henderson are a few of the names worthy of mention - they are all very commercial and work hard to resolve any issues for the deals to progress quickly. They are also very user-friendly and they go the extra mile to find solutions to get deals completed.’
Key clients
- Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited
- Heineken UK Limited
- Downing Developments
- Elite Partners Capital
- CBRE Global Investors
- Schroder Real Estate Managers
- Maslow Capital
- Nuveen
- Elan Homes Limited
- Picton Capital
Work highlights
- Acting for Maslow Capital on the development funding of the £190m One Port Street, a development of 477 premium apartments in Manchester City Centre.
- Advising the client on the development of a new Marine Lake Events Centre regeneration scheme, delivering major economic impacts to Southport.
- Playing a key role in the launch of the Bee Network, Mayor Andy Burnham’s landmark policy whereby Greater Manchester became the first place in England to retake control of buses after 40 years of deregulation.
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Practice head
Alison Mills
Other key lawyers
Andrew Walker; Richard Thompson; Claire Henderson; Tom Kelsall; Mark Beardwood