Expertise
Karen is a commercial property lawyer with over 20 years’ experience. This has been gained both as an employee of pre-eminent top tier real estate practices, and also as a freelance legal consultant to assist with the resourcing needs of numerous City law firms. Karen has considerable experience and a deep sector knowledge across the full array of property matters, having worked on many high-profile and multi-faceted transactions, including numerous major urban regeneration projects. She is well practised across the key market sectors, including office, retail, industrial and leisure, as well as the more niche asset classes of student accommodation, public sector, senior living, education and renewable energy. Karen is adaptable and proactive, with an acute attention to detail, whilst being commercially-minded and committed to getting the optimum results for her clients.
Karen Advises
- Banks and financial institutions
- Property investment and development companies
- Tenants
- Business owners
Experience Highlights
- Acting for several well-known commercial lenders on an ongoing basis in connection with the financing and refinancing of various high value commercial, mixed use and residential property assets.
- Advising property owners in relation to all aspects of the growth and management of their investment portfolios including acquisitions and disposals, portfolio finance arrangements, document management, lease negotiations, landlord consents and all other landlord and tenant matters.
- Working with both developer and lender clients in connection with the acquisition, financing, and disposal of development sites, with particular recent expertise in the delivery of pioneering regeneration projects in Birmingham and Liverpool.
- Key focus is providing targeted due diligence and real estate support in relation to the acquisition/financing/re-financing of portfolios of commercial and residential properties across the UK (e.g. CLLS certificates of title, reports on title, development constraints reports and occupational lease summaries).
Career History
Previous Law Firms
- Berwin Leighton Paisner (now Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP)
- Eversheds (now Eversheds Sutherland LLP)
Previous Businesses
- Appointed as legal counsel on the core real estate panel for numerous freelance legal services providers, including Lawyers on Demand (now LOD), ES Agile (now Konexo) and Simmons & Simmons Adaptive.
Education
- University of Manchester B.A. (History).
- The College of Law, London (now University of Law) (Common Practice Examination and Legal Practice Course – with Distinction).