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European law firm Fieldfisher has made two key hires in its real estate finance practice.
Iain Thomas and Christian Francis both join Fieldfisher as partners, further strengthening the firm's increasingly recognised real estate finance team.
Iain and Christian come to Fieldfisher from law firm DWF, where they were head of real estate finance and a partner in the corporate and banking team, respectively.
Iain has 27 years' experience in the real estate industry and has acted for a variety of real estate lenders, investors and developers across a range of sectors, including private rental, care homes, student accommodation, hotels and pubs as well as acting for the providers of debt funding.
On the real estate finance side, Iain has acted for the full gamut of lenders, from clearing banks through to non-bank lenders, debts funds, life funds and non-UK institutions.
Prior to DWF, Iain was a partner at Lawrence Graham and before that at Mayer Brown.
Christian has over 17 years of experience acting on a broad range of real estate finance transactions including senior and mezzanine debt, development funding and tax-driven structures.
While acting predominantly for senior lenders, including banks, debt funds and insurers, Christian regularly undertakes work for borrowers and has experience in dealing with a broad spectrum of property in sectors including healthcare, residential, distribution and logistics, student accommodation, hotel and leisure, retail and commercial.
Prior to DWF, Christian was a partner at DLA Piper.
Both Iain and Christian are expected to join the firm at the end of January.
Commenting on the new appointments, Antony Phillips, head of real estate at Fieldfisher, said:
"We are delighted to announce two such high calibre additions to our team.
"Fieldfisher's real estate practice has doubled in size in the last five years and real estate finance is an important part of that growth."
Philip Abbott, co-head of financial markets and products at Fieldfisher, added:
"Iain and Christian join Fieldfisher at an exciting time for its real estate finance practice, which has grown commensurately as Fieldfisher has increased its UK and international presence over the last two years.
"They bring with them a wealth of overseas experience which fits perfectly with our team's growing international client profile and have the contacts and credentials to significantly boost the firm's reach in this sector."
Iain Thomas, newly appointed real estate partner at Fieldfisher, said:
"Christian and I are both excited to be joining one of the UK's fastest growing law firms with the ambition to expand its presence and further enhance its strong reputation in real estate finance.
"We look forward to working closely with Philip Abbott, John Nelmes, Jayne Backett and Oliver Abel-Smith to drive forward further growth in Fieldfisher's real estate finance offering, in step with the aspirations and rapidly changing needs of clients."
About Fieldfisher
Fieldfisher is a European law firm with market leading practices in many of the world's most dynamic sectors. We are an exciting, forward-thinking organisation with a particular focus on energy & natural resources, technology, finance & financial services, life sciences and media.
Our network has more than 1,450 people working across 24 offices providing highly commercial advice based on an in-depth understanding of our clients' needs.
We operate across our offices in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Beijing, Belfast, Birmingham, Bologna, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Guangzhou, Hamburg, London, Luxembourg, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Munich, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Turin, Venice and Silicon Valley.
Fieldfisher is currently Law Firm of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2018.