James Madill

Expertise

James is an expert in investment transactions and landlord and tenant matters. He is known to be pragmatic and commercial with a focus on getting the deal done. 

He leads a team who act for London-based and regional funds and advises on acquisitions, disposals and asset management work over a wide range of UK assets. 

James has advised on c.£500m of property acquisitions and disposals over the past few years. He is particularly experienced in dealing with large-scale complex transactions with conditionality, land assembly requirements or time critical transactions where clients are able to secure a commercial advantage by contracts being exchanged within a few days of instruction. 

He also acts for national retailers and corporate occupiers providing a wide range of strategic and operational advice in relation to their property portfolios.

James is a director of Gateley Hamer, specialists in compulsory purchase orders and utilities compensation, and Gateley Capitus, our capital allowances and financial incentives practice. 

He has a particular specialism in dealing with telecoms matters including capital acquisitions and leases acting for code operators and landowners.

James is a member of Gateley Plc’s Operations Board.

How do you help clients?

Once our clients have gone through the hard work of getting a deal agreed, it’s our job to deliver that deal. There are risks and issues which come up in every deal, but our considerable experience means that we’re almost always able to find a solution, be it commercial, legal or insurance-based, to find a way around the issue and deliver the deal. We’re known for our pragmatism. 

Costs certainty is important to our clients and we regularly work on fixed fees set against a scope of work and deliver to those budgets. 

We know that a common complaint about lawyers is that they don’t take calls or respond to emails, leaving clients in the dark about progress. We go out of our way to ensure that all of the team take calls when we’re contacted and respond to emails – even if briefly – to provide updates on transactions. 

Experience

1. Acting for a major financial institution with a substantial property portfolio across the UK (including Scotland and Northern Ireland) on all property management work, on an exclusive appointment basis won via a competitive tender.
2. Advising Avignon Capital on its rolling investment programme into expansion of an independent cinema chain.
3. Leading a multi-disciplinary investment team advising and completing approx. £100m of sales and acquisitions for a new London fund within a 12-month period, many of which were exchanged within five days of instruction.
4. Advising several national operators in relation to substantial and complex new build and pre-let warehouse and distribution spaces, including acting for Wiggle Limited on its acquisition of a 323,000 sq ft warehouse space in 2015, the largest warehouse letting in the Midlands.
5. Acting for a number of London fund clients on substantial financing and refinances of their property portfolios to free up capital for further growth.