Primas Law has significantly strengthened its Real Estate team with two senior partner hires in Liverpool and Manchester, adding more than 50 years’ combined experience and taking the team to six partners.
James Harris joins as Partner in Real Estate and will lead the firm’s property offering in Liverpool. Paul Bibby joins as Partner in Real Estate in Manchester, where Sanah Ahmed also joins the team as a Solicitor.
All three are new roles created to meet rising client demand and expand what the firm offers. They bring the number of new lawyers in the Real Estate team this year to four. Paul and James also bring with them strong client relationships in their own right.
Senior leadership in Liverpool
James brings more than 20 years’ experience in commercial property, with particular expertise in development and asset management. He qualified in 2003 and has been a partner since 2006.
He joins from Bermans and has previously been Managing Partner at Jolliffe & Co and Head of Team at Pannone Corporate. Having spent much of his career working with businesses, investors and property professionals across Liverpool and Cheshire, he brings well-established connections across the region and will lead the growth of the firm’s Real Estate offering in the city.
Finance, funds and development in Manchester
Paul brings 29 years’ experience in the real estate market, with particular expertise in commercial and residential development, real estate finance and portfolio asset management. He has extensive experience acting for listed real estate funds and institutional investors on complex transactions.
He joins from Freeths, where he spent seven years and was a Partner in the Real Estate team, having previously worked at Turner Parkinson. His arrival adds further depth in real estate finance and fund work for investors, funders and developers.
Also joining the Manchester team, Sanah Ahmed is a newly qualified Solicitor who recently completed her training contract. Her appointment adds strength to a team that is growing at every level.
More depth for clients
The appointments build on a strong year for the team, which retained its Commercial Property ranking in the latest Legal 500 guide, with clients praising its “high-quality, solution-focused services”. The firm’s mission is to be number one for client satisfaction, and growing the team in step with demand is a big part of that.
Simon Baxter, Partner and Head of Real Estate at Primas Law, said: “Demand from our clients keeps growing, and these appointments mean we can give them more senior, partner-led advice in both Liverpool and Manchester.
“James and Paul bring a huge amount of experience across development, asset management, finance and fund work. That widens the work we can take on and gives us the capacity for bigger, more complex deals. Sanah is a talented solicitor who’ll grow with the team.
“We’re building a Real Estate team that can compete with anyone in the North West, and this is a big step.”
Growing with demand
The hires also come as Primas Law continues to grow across the North West. In Liverpool, where the firm is based in the Royal Liver Building, its Corporate and Commercial team entered the Legal 500 rankings in the latest guide.
Adam Kerr, Managing Partner at Primas Law, added:
“The North-West is an incredibly exciting place to be for businesses at the moment. We’ve recruited quite heavily this year, and these are all growth hires. We’re looking to add even more ‘best in class’ people into the business and these three hires certainly tick that box.
For our clients, it means more senior people, more expertise and more of us on the ground in both cities.
Liverpool’s a good example of our direction of travel. We’ve been getting more and more people into that office on a permanent basis, and getting to a stage where we need more square footage because we’ve grown so well, which is really good to see. James will lead our property work in the city, and there’s more to come. Watch this space.”
To find out how James, Paul and the Real Estate team can support you or your business, contact James at james.harris@primaslaw.co.uk or Paul at paul.bibby@primaslaw.co.uk.