Property
Property lawyers act for a variety of domestic and international clients – including property investors and developers, farmers, governments, landowners and public sector bodies – on a wide range of transactions and disputes, involving everything from offices and housing to retail developments and industrial units. The common legal issues arising for commercial property lawyers include acquisitions and disposals of land, investments, landlord and tenant matters, developments and contracts, and environmental law and associated liabilities. Like his namesake, the father of modern economics, Adam Smith took a measured and well-thought out approach to his future career: “I was always interested in law and had done some work experience at school. I went on to do several mini-pupillages, which definitely encouraged me towards the Bar. I liked the idea of being self-employed, as it would give me more direct control over my career. I also thought that, as a litigation solicitor, it might be frustrating to get to know a case well, and then, potentially, have to refer it on to someone else to provide advice on the key issues. I was also drawn to the day-to-day nature of the work: the advocacy, providing advice on merits and tactics, and preparing pleadings and skeleton arguments – it all appealed.” Pupillage at 9 Old Square offered Adam solid insight into the realities of the profession, especially by virtue of having four separate pupil supervisors, all with different practices: “It was useful to see how my pupil supervisors worked and presented things, and, although it was an intense time, they made it as stress-free as it could be.” He joined as a tenant at the end of 2002 and the set merged with Maitland soon thereafter. Property matters Today, property is a large part of what Adam’s practice is about. He describes a handful of the
varied cases he has dealt with recently: “My Gibraltar-based client had provided finance to two BVI companies backed by a number of charges over English properties; the borrowers defaulted, and there was an underlying dispute over the terms of the loan agreements and whether they had been varied. It was a commercial dispute, but the focus of the trial was the alleged release of a major part of the security and whether the client had bound itself to that in return for a part-payment. There were technical points about mortgages and a large amount of disputed evidence. Another involved a wealthy family that owned a large portfolio of commercial and residential properties on a fairly informal basis; they had fallen into disagreement with each other and the ownership of the properties was in dispute – it was in large part a fight over who had said what.” Acting as junior to an eminent silk in the House of Lords was a career highlight for Adam, especially as the case concerned “issues that were of some significance to a lot of property owners; the committee, unsurprisingly, quickly got to the heart of the issues and asked some very probing questions.” A notable arbitration relating to a metal-producing business, post- Soviet break-up, also stands out: “Our client had been involved in the management of the business. There had been a management buy- out, with external investment, and the dispute was between the external investor and our client. The ultimate investor was a well-known oligarch with all the financial and political cards in his favour. But we achieved a good result for the client, so that was very satisfying.” Pros and cons of self-employment Referring back to one of his original reasons for choosing the Bar, Adam cites the freedom of self-employment as one of the best features of the job: “Although it may sometimes be illusory, if a gap in your diary opens up (for example, a case has just settled) and you want to take advantage of that by getting away, you are able to do it –
For more chambers that work in this practice area, please use the “Pupillage index” starting on p519.
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