Commercial Property Solicitor

Tony joined us a few months ago and is already involved in a number of transactions for clients of the firm.  Before Ortolan, Tony worked for the largest commercial law firm in the Cayman Islands and prior to that for a well-known City of London law firm.  Having qualified as a solicitor more than 20 years ago, his experience spans a wide range of property issues with commercial lease landlord and tenant work and the purchase and sale of commercial property at its core.  He has also advised developers of office and industrial estates as well as property investment businesses and institutional lenders.

Taking full advantage of Ortolan’s flexible working structure, Tony lives in South-West France from where he can easily get to the UK or elsewhere for meetings when required.  We asked Tony a few questions to allow him to add some colour and personality to this brief biography.

Why did you decide to specialise in commercial property rather than another legal specialism? 

It’s the most interesting area!  I had a lecturer who spent half the time talking about the history of land law, going back to William the Conqueror, which brought the subject alive.

Working in the Cayman Islands sounds exotic.  Is the legal system there very different from the UK? 

Not as different as the tax system!  Basically, if you’re a lawyer trained in a commonwealth jurisdiction, there’s no requirement to re-train before you can practise there as the systems are fairly similar.  The Cayman system is based on commonwealth country statutes where these were relevant, e.g. with the Registered Land Law and the Companies Law and has developed from there.  The main difference from the UK in my particular area is the very widespread use of strata titles to govern land ownership in buildings in multiple occupation like office blocks and condominium developments.  This was developed from the Torrens system in Australia and has probably been the main vehicle for land ownership in Cayman for several decades, with the UK only really embracing this over the last few years via commonhold. Probably the most difficult things to get used to are the American-ised terms that have crept in; lawyers are all attorneys (solicitors being something else entirely), and completion of a transaction is a closing.

Has technology changed the way property lawyers work over the last 10 years? 

Hugely, yes, and not just in the way that I can do everything that I used to do from an office in London and more from my home office in France.  The Land Registry has automated most of its work so I can get titles, documents, searches etc instantly online and submit documents online as well.  I can remember many occasions having to walk down to the Land Registry in Cayman to buy documents over the counter if I had a tight deadline.

Tell us a little about yourself outside the law. 

I live in south west France about an hour from the Spanish border and spend a lot of time walking my very exuberant dog in the hills and vineyards.  I previously helped run a small brewery here, and I’m in the process of putting together a much smaller kit so that we can continue to brew beer on a smaller scale at home.  Despite working in the Cayman Islands for 7 years, I’ve never been asked to carry a suitcase full of money.