Six new appointments at Milton Keynes law firm Shakespeare Martineau have further bolstered its commitment to specialist expertise in healthcare, education, social housing and real estate development. The appointments build on the growth of the Milton Keynes office over the past 18 months, making the office one of the fastest growing within Shakespeare Martineau.
Partner and Head of Milton Keynes office Mark Thompson believes the strengthening of the team will support the ongoing approach to creating sustainable communities, offering clients advice and guidance for life and business.
Taking a bigger picture view of a client’s ambition and needs, whether that be through wills and inheritance planning or raising investment funds for a growing business, has made Shakespeare Martineau a leading law firm. In the last quarter, the national team supported more than £4bn worth of deals and achieved the Gold Trusted Service Award from Feefo.
Joe Soul, Jordan Glackin and Allawee Albaghdadi have joined the firm as partners, while Hannah Brassington has been appointed as an associate, Hayley O’Leary as a paralegal, and Georgina Tilley as due diligence manager.
Joe, who will lead Shakespeare Martineau’s national commercial property and development team, brings more than 20 years’ experience and expertise in real estate and property development, specialising in sectors such as social housing, healthcare and education. He has particular expertise in the ownership, development and funding of care homes, private medical hospitals, medical diagnostic operators, private medical hospitals, GP surgeries, pharmacies, dentists and vets.
He said: “Milton Keynes is an exciting place to work because it’s a relatively young city and is highly inclusive – it also has a number of great connections with Oxford, Cambridge, London and Birmingham, and in recent years we’ve seen an influx in businesses setting up offices in Milton Keynes.
“My personal opinion of the company is that it is one with a moral compass. Building sustainable communities, and working to help provide the social care, education and property development that improves our lives, matters a great deal.
“From previous experience I know how important culture is when trying to deliver a strategic growth plan and it was clear to me that everyone at Shakespeare Martineau shares a positivity and common goal.”
Jordan brings with him specialist knowledge of healthcare and education sectors. He has over 10 years’ experience acting for healthcare clients, particularly buying and selling business for owners and operators in the social care, dental, GP and pharmacist sectors. Jordan’s education experience includes academy conversions, setting up and advising free schools, setting up and acting for multi academy trusts, various corporate matters for independent schools, buying, selling and advising children’s day care nurseries and advising local authorities in relation to schools and academy conversion.
Allawee specialises in real estate development with wide experience both within private practice as well as in-house for major retailers Amazon and Frasers Group. He has worked extensively with commercial and residential developers, corporate occupiers and clients within the education and leisure sectors on acquisitions, lettings, development funding, corporate real estate as well as other operational real estate matters within the UK and overseas.
Allawee said: “We already have an incredibly strong development team in the MK office and our intention is to develop the team over the next few years to become one of the leading real estate practices in Milton Keynes. The development team advise in respect of commercial, residential, mixed-use schemes and strategic development. Our sector experience extends to university expansions, student accommodation, retirement living, development of new hospitals, care homes, new schools and building new communities.”
Hannah Brassington is an experienced real estate development lawyer, assisting commercial and residential developers as well as education clients on a variety of development projects across the region.
With a focus on Milton Keynes and its surrounding areas, and the development of opportunities along the Oxford-Cambridge Arc, the future of Shakespeare Martineau is very much based on growth and expansion to better serve its clients.
Mark Thompson said: “Our Milton Keynes office is ideally placed to work with our London and Birmingham offices, and while the firm’s growth has typically been through mergers and acquisitions, we’re now at a stage where we’re looking to concentrate on bringing talented individuals with specialist expertise into the business to add to and benefit from our national presence
“What we do is about geography, politics and people, and as we build our team in Milton Keynes we really think we can offer something different – strength in depth, utilising our national network but at the same time working closely in partnership with our clients to do our best to serve them, across the whole of the firm.”
Shakespeare Martineau is a full-service law firm providing professional legal advice for life and business, from residential conveyancing and divorce through to corporate and commercial, and social housing.
Contact Shakespeare Martineau on 01908 696002 or visit www.shma.co.uk
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