James is a Partner and Head of Mishcon de Reya's Residential Property team specialising in residential conveyancing. He is experienced in dealing with complex deals involving shared ownership, auction sales, portfolio purchases, tenancy and planning issues. That said, his comprehensive background means that he is an expert in handling straightforward sale transactions and purchase and refinancing transactions. James also has a lot of experience working with lenders on joint venture schemes and completing high value loans on residential properties. James' clients are predominantly high net worth individuals. For this reason he often deals with other Private client teams across the firm such Tax and Family, as well as Corporate. James actively engages with the media and has featured on BBC Radio 2 as a result of his expertise. Highly regarded among his peers, Chambers UK notes James as "an integral piece of the jigsaw" in their High Net Worth Guide 2018. He was also recognised by Spear's as Top Six Property Lawyers as part of their Property Advisors Index 2019.
England - London • Real estate
Mishcon de Reya LLP
Mishcon de Reya LLP has extensive experience of working with UHNW individuals from across the globe. It has a diverse client base of wealthy individuals and start up developers as well as investors, banks, corporates and onshore/offshore investment funds. Practice head James Liffen is recommended for his work on a range of complicated transactions involving shared ownership, auction sales, and portfolio purchases, in addition to tenancy and planning issues. Sonal Thakrar garners praise for her advice on all aspects of UK residential property and secured lending to banks. Thakrar has a particular focus on purchasing or selling prime or super-prime residential property in central London, which often have complex offshore structures. Dee Aylward is also recommended for her work with clients when they are buying properties in prime central London. Aylward’s clients are often purchasing second homes or property for investment purposes.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Highly efficient, bright, dynamic, technical, friendly. Sonal Thakrar, James Liffen’.
- 'The words I would use to describe them are Determined, Reliable, Efficient, Awesome, and Magnificent (or D.R.E.A.M. for short). The D.R.E.A.M.team have the Nike approach to work because they Just Do It, no ego, no pride, just great results for their clients'.
- 'I know that when I have a Mischon Solicitor on a property deal the chances of that deal going through are so much higher as they are advisors to their clients and can be the difference between a deal exchanging or falling through. Cost is what you pay and value is what you get, and no property solicitors provide more value than Mishcon de Reya'.
- 'James Liffen is quite simply exceptional at his job and, as head of the department, has trained up a whole group of world-class property solicitors in a sector where the only people who can really compete with Mischcon in terms of service are ex-Mischon employees, who of course were trained by James'.
- 'Humble, kind and sincere, James is always the first person I refer to. He is the definition of going above and beyond'.
Lawyers
Leading individuals
Sonal Thakrar is a Partner in the Residential Property team. She is described as a ‘dynamite conveyancer and hugely energetic’. She provides advice on all aspects of UK residential property and secured lending to banks and her expertise focuses on purchasing or disposing of prime or super-prime residential property in Central London, often involving complex offshore structures and time sensitive lending requirements whilst navigating deal driven sensitivities. Sonal effortlessly navigates the regulatory and fiduciary requirements specific to the region when acting on multi-jurisdictional transactions. She also has strong connections throughout the UK and globally. Throughout her career, Sonal has built a dynamic and diverse client base ranging from overseas investors, UHNW individuals and their companies, and family offices to trust companies, investment companies, trading companies and banks. She is able to adapt effortlessly to cultural and time-based needs that a client may have in the course of a transaction and delivers on very high profile and high value transactions in prime and super prime Central London despite difficult market conditions. Sonal injects infectious drive and enthusiasm into aspects of her work, whilst leading teams of experts both internally and externally on a range of complex matters. Peers describe her as ‘very dynamic, very high-tempo and very client-focused’ as well as ‘commercial and pragmatic’. Sonal leads a team which, through their breadth of knowledge, understanding of their clients’ unique situations and their success in building close working relationships with all parties involved in transactions, has grown to become one of the largest dedicated residential property practices in London.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
James Liffen