A Black Country law firm — which last year saw its annual turnover top £7.5m for the first time — is spearheading its push into the commercial sector with the appointment of two property experts.
After a 15 per cent rise in its commercial and industrial transactions, QualitySolicitors Talbots has made it a “family affair” after signing up sister-in-laws Jagdeep Kitaure-Kandola and Lucky Mahal.
The pair, who share 20 years’ property experience, will now strengthen the practices’ 15-strong team responsible for working with small to medium-sized businesses, landlords and a number of multi-national firms with interests throughout the UK.
“With the pipeline of work we can see going into 2015, not to mention the expected increase in market activity, I’d expect our property division to grow by over £1.5m this year,” commented Martyn Morgan, a director at QualitySolicitors Talbots, which has seven offices in Codsall, Dudley, Halesowen, Kidderminster, Stourbridge, Stourport and Wolverhampton and has been located in the West Midlands since 1828.
“Lucky and Jagdeep are well respected solicitors, share a passion for the Black Country and the West Midlands and have worked for firms that have also been part of the QualitySolicitors brand,” he added. “They will bring a fresh approach to our company and have proven in their previous roles that they can deliver positive results for clients both large and small.”
European property expert, Andrew Groom, is moving to Cushman & Wakefield’s German office to lead its property capital markets team. He will also become a member of the German board.
Groom is joining Cushman & Wakefield after 13 years at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) where he was head of the property adviser’s German valuation and transaction advisory team.
He has spent the past 22 years working in the commercial real estate investment market in Germany and prior to JLL, was director of cross border investment at CEI Investment, working from both its London and Berlin offices. Groom started his career at Drivers Jonas, which later became Deloitte Real Estate.
In a separate appointment, Cushman & Wakefield has appointed former CBRE director of commercial leasing Hubert Keyl as manager of its Munich office where he will have special responsibly for European leasing and acquisitions.
Lanyon Bowdler — which has law offices in Shropshire and Herefordshire — is strengthening its commercial property and agricultural teams with assistant solicitor, Jennifer Farmer. She joined the firm two years ago after graduating from the University of Liverpool in 2009 with a law degree and his since completed a legal practice course at the College of Law in Chester.
Property services company DTZ has hired Scott Morrison as a member of its Leeds-based industrial agency team. The senior surveyor has worked in the agency and insolvency teams at Eddisons since 2012. Before that he spent 14 months in the valuation team at CBRE.
The South Leicestershire legal practice of Headleys Solicitors has hired property specialist Kal Jamal. With experience across the commercial sector he has recently been responsible for a series of substantial transaction cases, together with re-financing on behalf of a number of large corporations.
Story: Cliff Goodwin
Photo: Bigstock
