Praised for its ‘commerciality’ and ’speed of response’, the ‘extremely switched on’ team at Fieldfisher regularly advises on complex leases, financing arrangements, acquisitions, and redevelopments. The team also draws on the expertise of its dedicated franchising team to advise its clients on global expansion. The hotels and leisure team is led by Paul Houston, who advises on acquisition and disposal of investment portfolios, sale and pre-letting of development sites as well as the real estate aspects of corporate transactions. David Wilkinson supports the team as an M&A specialist alongside David Bond, who heads the franchise and licensing group. Bond advises on the negotiation of franchise agreements, hotel management agreements and related commercial and advertising issues. Ramatu Banga and Alex Campbell are also recommended.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Its commerciality, speed of response and dedication to meeting client needs.’

  • ‘We have frequently recommended Fieldfisher to our client portfolio in relation to corporate transactional work. Their team is extremely switched on to the key deal issues and carry out their work timeously and diligently. We have used them in this capacity for many years. They have a good working knowledge of the travel industry sector which is one in which we work extensively.’

  • ‘Our main partner contact is David Wilkinson who is extremely experienced on corporate transactional work, communicates well and goes the extra mile for the firm's clients.'

Key clients

  • Al-Seef Tourism Investment LLC
  • Ambassador Cruise Line
  • BlackRock
  • Booking.com
  • Capricornus
  • Coffee-Bike International Limited
  • CoCo Fresh Tea & Juice
  • Creams Café Limited
  • Cynergy Bank
  • Dominus
  • DWS
  • EasyHotel
  • EL&N International
  • Expedia, Inc
  • GHG London Holdings
  • Haulfryn Group Limited
  • Millenium & Copthorne Hotels
  • Secret Escapes Limited
  • Serani Hotels
  • Silk Limited
  • Smith Global Limited
  • The shareholders of Cruising Excursions Limited
  • TDA Capital
  • Vastint Hospitality B.V
  • Viacom/MTV

Work highlights

  • Acting for Dominus on the £173m development and forward funding of a development site at the former Hammersmith Magistrates' Court in London.
  • Advising EL&N on its international expansion and supporting its franchise expansions into Saudi Arabia, Malta, Italy and Germany.
  • Advising Taiwanese company, Lumania, with the European expansion of its global bubble tea brand, CoCo Fresh Tea and Juice.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Paul Houston

Other key lawyers

David Bond, David Wilkinson, Ramatu Banga, Alex Campbell