Julie Gervais de Lafond Consultant Solicitor - Commercial & Residential Property

I specialise in commercial real estate, qualifying on 1st September 2017. While my primary focus is commercial property, I also handle residential property matters. I have 15 years of legal experience working in private practice, including 6 years as a commercial real estate associate.

My areas of expertise include:

• Reporting on title and searches.
• Landlord and tenant matters, including the negotiation of business leases and ancillary documents (rent deposit deeds, authorised guarantee agreements, exclusion from security of tenure), lease renewals, assignments, sub-lettings, licences, and surrenders.
• Site acquisitions for property developers, including unconditional contracts, options, and conditional contracts (on planning or on letting).
• Forward funding.
• Retail store disposals (asset sale and purchase agreements).
• Residential acquisitions and sales.
• Bilingual French-English: assisting French clients purchasing residential or commercial properties in the UK.

As a property investor myself, I understand my clients' pain points and can easily put myself in their shoes. I pride myself on my thorough attention to detail and ability to explain legal concepts and jargon in everyday language. I am also a good negotiator, acting in a friendly yet firm manner to reach my clients' objectives.

I previously worked at Squire Patton Boggs (UK) LLP Manchester for ten years, which is ranked tier 2 (Legal 500) for Commercial Real Estate.

Notable cases:

• Acted for a major developer of supported living accommodation, leading on key aspects of forward funding structures, site acquisition (options & conditional contracts), letting and disposal of over ten sites across the UK.
• Managed a large retailer’s property portfolio, including 50+ store disposals by way of asset sale and day-to-day asset management (licences, lease renewals, surrenders).
• Spearheaded the acquisition of a £6 million luxury investment property in Kensington, London, for a Luxembourg-based investment company, working both in French and English.
• Acted for a fine-dining French restaurant in the Northern Quarter on the lease of their business premises.
• Publications: I authored an article on racial diversity in the judiciary, which was published in The Messenger by the Manchester Law Society.