The Role of a Commercial Property Solicitor
A Commercial Property Solicitor is responsible for dealing with legal issues, both contentious and non-contentious, for a range of commercial clients who have properties or premises, either owned or rented, such as investors, developers, governments, retailers, and public sector organisations. While some commercial property law jobs have a caseload that covers both contentious and non-contentious matters, many Commercial Property Solicitors choose to specialise in one or the other.
Commercial Property is always being bought and sold, there are always contractual disputes arising between landlords and tenants and new shopping centres, public sector buildings and railways are always being developed. So, despite natural fluctuations in the property market, there is always a good level of demand for Commercial Property Solicitors.
A Commercial Property Solicitor has a variety of responsibilities and caseloads that are often spanning broad and complex matters. The matters to which they represent clients for are vast and include some of the following:
- The sale, purchase and lease of land or property.
- Development, infrastructure, and planning projects.
- Property finance and investment.
- Leasehold management.
- Landlord and tenant disputes.
- Regeneration projects.
- The drafting, reviewing and negotiation of contracts.
- Mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and disposals.
- Property litigation.
A Commercial Property Solicitor acts for a variety of clients including government bodies, public sector organisations, investors, developers, funders, landlords, energy and utilities providers, high street businesses, media companies and corporate groups.
As a Commercial Property Solicitor, you could find yourself working on cases relating to hotels, railways, high street buildings, shopping complexes, restaurants, roadways, airports and any other property or premise used for commercial purposes. Commercial property law also overlaps with several other legal practice areas such as conveyancing, construction, litigation, finance, planning, environmental, corporate, and more. Knowledge of other practice areas and a willingness to take on new challenges in unfamiliar areas can enhance your career prospects significantly.
Once established in your legal career you may also be required to carry out business development activities and potentially manage or supervise junior team members.
To find out how to become a Commercial Property Solicitor please click here to view our route to becoming a qualified solicitor.
What skills are essential to becoming a Commercial Property Solicitor?
In addition to your academic qualifications and qualifying as a solicitor, there are some essential skills which will help you to have a long and successful career as a Commercial Property Solicitor. These include:
- Excellent client-facing and relationship building skills.
- The ability to communicate complex legal matters in every-day terms.
- Keen business development and networking skills.
- Strong drafting and negotiating skills.
- Flawless commercial awareness.
- The ability to work as part of a team made up of legal and non-legal professionals.
- IT skills in Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and case management systems.
How Much Does a Commercial Property Solicitor Earn?
Take a look at our annual Salary Survey here to gain more of an understanding of the salary you can expect to earn based on location and sector.
Commercial Property Solicitor vacancies & how can eNL Legal Recruitment help you?
Since 1999, eNL Legal recruitment has provided insight, guidance and support to clients and candidates to support the legal recruitment process. We are a leading, legal recruitment agency who are able to assist you on your journey to finding a new legal position, offering a personalised, tailored, and confidential service.
Our friendly, experienced team all have a strong knowledge-based approach to matching the right candidates with the right clients and roles. Our strategic and commercial focus can be depended upon to deliver straight-forward and practical advice which will achieve positive end results.
To see a full list of our current Commercial Property Solicitor vacancies please click here.