As well as knowledge and expertise in real estate and real estate finance, lawyers working in this area today need to grasp a wide range of legal and commercial skills to maximise the value property adds to our clients' businesses. At Clifford Chance we specialise in providing commercial advice in the UK and internationally on all transaction types where real estate is the core asset.

Typical work | What you might do | Notable deals | Awards

We are involved in a multitude of UK and international property transactions relating to the sale and acquisition of property portfolios or significant stand-alone properties, real estate investments (including private equity investments and joint ventures), development projects and leasing transactions. The group also acts on the promotion of and investment in real estate investment funds and unit trusts as well as representing hotel operators on property and hotel management matters.

Acknowledged as one of the market-leading practices for real estate and real estate finance in the UK, we also have a number of specialist groups:

• Environment & Planning
• Real Estate Finance
• Litigation
• Construction
• PFI/PPP

Sophisticated alternative funding methods have widened the scope of real estate work, which now encompasses equity investment, joint venture structuring, debt origination and securitisation, among others. We work with clients representing every aspect of the market, from investors, developers and occupiers to commercial and investment banks, private equity groups, and asset and fund managers.

Typical work

The department deals with a wide range of issues including:

• Large and complex transactions featuring property-related structured finance; debt finance and securitisation; private finance initiative (PFI) financing
• Acquisition and disposal of properties
• Development agreements
• Leases and licences
• Planning and environmental matters
• Restructuring

In addition, our Construction group advises on construction and engineering projects in the UK and overseas.

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What you might do

The type of work and level of responsibility given to trainees in the Real Estate practice is varied.

At one end of the scale, you might manage your own files for small matters, dealing with clients and taking on real responsibility, but on large one-off deals you are likely to be involved in research, due diligence, drafting, organising and managing completions, conducting local authority searches, completing stamp duty tax forms and so on. You could be asked to draft contracts, briefing notes, agreements or other documents or to take on proofreading or associated document management duties. You will also have good contact with clients and lawyers throughout the group.

In the property finance-related group, you might be expected to draft debt agreements and certificates, legal charges, deeds of release, fee letters and legal opinions. You could also become involved in drafting amendment agreements, security packages and other transaction documents.

Whatever tasks you're given, you will find the nature and scope of the work to be extremely broad.

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Notable deals

• BBVA - on the sale and leaseback of approximately 1,000 bank branches to RREEF for approx. €1.2 billion.
• Continuing to advise Canary Wharf Group plc on the development of the Isle of Dogs Crossrail Station to be situated in the West India Dock North at Canary Wharf. The Station is part of the Crossrail railway project, and provides for a railway system to be built between Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport through Central London to Shenfield and Abbeywood.
• Europa Capital on the structuring of a joint venture for the acquisition of Plovdiv Retail Park in the Republic of Bulgaria. The purchase gives Europa Capital ownership of one of Eastern Europe's largest retail outlets and will be the first commercial retail park of its kind in the Republic of Bulgaria.
• German asset manager Union Investment on its £148m sale of Whitefriars (Freshfields' headquarters) at 65 Fleet Street, London EC4 to the Employee Provident Fund of Malaysia. The Whitefriars site comprises office and retail space across two separate buildings of 20,759 sq m (223,458 sq ft).
• Hammerson / Oman Investment Fund (OIF) on the corporate real estate and tax aspects of the landmark £557m sale of Bishops Square, Spitalfields, to two funds managed by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. The transaction has twice been nominated as real estate deal of the year / real estate team of the year in The Legal Business Awards 2010 and The Lawyer Awards 2010. This follows our advice to Hammerson on all aspects associated with the sale of a 75% interest in Bishops Square to OIF.
• Helical Bar plc on the setting up of a joint venture and the acquisition of the freehold interest in land and buildings at Bartholomew Close, Little Britain and Montague Street for approximately £55m from Barts and The London Charity. This site will be available for a major mixed use redevelopment, following the completion of the new St Bartholomew's Hospital on an adjacent site.
• Legal & General Assurance Society and the Bucklersbury House Unit Trust on the disposal of Legal & General's former headquarters building at Walbrook, a prominent development opportunity site in the City of London. We were appointed to act for the seller after having originally worked on the acquisition of the opportunity for Metrovacesa and the termination of Metrovacesa at Bucklersbury House new trust arrangements
• Lend Lease and Quintain on the sale of their interest in Meridian Delta Dome Ltd (MDDL), owner of the O2, to Trinity College Cambridge for approximately £24m. The transaction included a range of complex rights and lease structures, including the entitlement of Trinity College to receive rental income linked to O2 ticket sales - the highest ticket sales of any arena in the world.
• Long-standing client Canary Wharf Group on the £495m sale of the former Lehman Brothers building at 25 Bank Street, Canary Wharf, to J.P. Morgan. The building, which has over one million square foot of floor space, will become the new European headquarters for J.P. Morgan's Investment Bank.
• Ongoing advice to NEINVER on setting up a joint venture with MAB Development to build outlet centres in France.Oxford Properties (the real estate subsidiary of the Canadian pension fund OMERS) on the structuring of a joint venture with British Land for the development of the £340m Cheesegrater building at 122 Leadenhall Street in the City of London. • Standard Life - on the acquisition of a company owning a to-be developed commercial centre in Northern Italy, the joint venture arrangements with US developer Panattoni and the relevant financing.
• Whitehall Funds on the acquisition of a property portfolio valued at over €2.45bn - the largest real estate transaction in Germany.

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Awards

• European Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation) - fourth year running, Private Equity Real Estate Awards 2010
• European Law Firm of the Year (Transactions) - awarded the third time in four years, Private Equity Real Estate Awards 2010
• Asia Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation), Private Equity Real Estate Awards 2010
• Global Law Firm of the Year (Transactions) - second year running, Private Equity Real Estate Awards 2009
• Global Law Firm of the Year (Fund Formation) - second year running, Private Equity Real Estate Awards 2009
• Real Estate Law Firm of the Year for UK and Germany - ACQ Finance Magazine Awards 2009
• Construction Law Firm of the Year for UK - ACQ Finance Magazine Awards 2009
• North America Law Firm of the Year (Transactions), Private Equity Real Estate Awards 2009
• The Best Real Estate Law Firm in Poland - Forbes 2009, 208, 2007
• The Best Real Estate Law Firm in Poland - Rzeczpospolita 2009, 2008, 2007.

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