Katten Muchin Rosenman UK LLP today announced a triple hire in its London Real Estate Team. The firm has recently hired Stephen John (special counsel) and Ranjeev Kumar (partner) from the London Office of US law firm Fried Frank, with Joe Payne (partner) being set to arrive shortly from the UK law firm of Field Fisher Waterhouse.
Stephen John is a well-respected and well-known member of London’s real estate community. His practice covers a broad range of real estate transactions, with an emphasis on development, restructuring and corporate occupier work. Clients include University College London and leading brand retailers Coach, Hackett and Tommy Hilfiger. In the current edition of Legal 500, clients praise Stephen for providing a “top class service.”
Ranjeev Kumar’s practice primarily focuses on real estate finance work, including mezzanine debt structures and refinancings. Other core specialisms are investment, fund formation and joint venture real estate work. A frequent theme to Ranjeev’s work across all areas is the international and cross-border nature of the work he handles.
Joe Payne is a specialist property litigator and solicitor advocate whose expertise has been recognised by legal directories for the last seven years. He has experience of a broad base of contentious real estate work, and is particularly known for his work in the fields of rent review, professional negligence and insolvency disputes. Being considered very much an expert’s expert, Joe regularly lectures and participates in external seminars, writes for trade and national newspapers, and contributes to professional text books.
These hires come swift on the heels of Katten’s hire of industry heavy hitter Peter Sugden as managing partner of the London Office, and head of its UK Real Estate Team. As a result of these hires, Katten’s UK Real Estate Team will have a core of six real estate focused lawyers – all highly experienced, and broad in capability – not just technically, but commercially, and as transaction managers.
“We are thrilled to have Stephen, Ranjeev and Joe join us. Their arrival marks a key milestone in our strategy to build three core practice areas in London – real estate, corporate and financial services,” said Vince Sergi, Katten’s national managing partner. “The opportunities for the firm and our clients on both sides of the Atlantic are tremendous. We now have in London a formidable practice in the making, catering for all aspects of the raising and deployment of capital, on a UK and cross-border basis.”
Peter Sugden, managing partner of the London Office and head of the UK Real Estate team added “As old friends and colleagues, I am very pleased to welcome Stephen, Ranjeev and Joe to the firm. With the broad capabilities we now have in the team and our shared commitment to providing a client-first, commercial service, I am genuinely excited by the opportunity that we now have in London to offer clients a product and service standards which are tangibly different from those now available in the marketplace. Clearly, I am biased, but one would be hard-pressed not to agree, that we look like “the ones to watch” in the building our transatlantic capabilities”.
