I qualified in December 1978 and therefore have over 45 years of experience in both residential and commercial property law.
This includes:
- Administration of estates with some associated inheritance tax advice
- Will drafting
- Lasting powers of attorney and similar private client work - this includes statutory and private lease extensions
- Leasehold enfranchisement
- Equity release matters
- Development work, acquisition of businesses as a going concern
- High net worth transactions
The two previous firms which stand out most in my professional career over the decades are Victor Mishcon & Co (now Mishcon de Reya) where I cut my teeth on qualifying and reached the ranks of partner, and also my own law firm under my banner which I had for the best part of 10 years. This gave me the most wonderful experience of the practise of law 'at the coalface' and put my networking and communication skills to the test in terms of my acquiring a very substantial client base and following over the years. Many of those clients for whom I acted when I had my own firm are still clients of mine today which I hope says something about my reputation and abilities as a lawyer.
I can think of a number of the cases where I acted for businesses in their acquisition of their headquarters buildings and on the other side of the coin numerous instances of acting for individuals as prospective tenants on their startups. I like to think my clients would agree that one of the reasons they instruct me is that I'm perceived to be a good communicator and will keep clients informed even if there has not been much progress in a particular matter. I have received very nice testimonials over the years, two of which I have singled out below:
Testimonials
From estate agents
“I have been an estate agent for almost 15 years and have owned and run my own estate agency for almost 8 of those. As you can imagine, during this time, I have dealt with hundreds (if not thousands) of property lawyers. David Barchan is, without doubt, the best lawyer I have ever dealt with. Pro-active, courteous and (most importantly) he is an excellent communicator keeping all parties up to date in a concise and detailed manner. What is more, he uses his common sense- something about 90% of solicitors fail to do. I simply cannot recommend him highly enough and now use David (wherever possible) on every sales transaction my company is involved with.”
From clients
“I have had the privilege of knowing David for 10 years during which time he has overseen the conveyancing of many property projects, large and small. He is skilled in property acquisition, lease extensions, probate and contracts reliable friendly and courteous.”
I'm something of a history buff so in my spare time among other things I do enjoy reading articles in the BBC History Magazine to which I subscribe as well as podcast - my take on this being is that how are we able to understand the present unless we understand what happened in the past? I also have an amateur's interest in architecture, music, the visual arts and enjoy going to the theatre as often as I'm able to. I also enjoy walking.
