Julia is a Legal Director in Darwin Gray’s Commercial Property team. Julia trained at and spent over 20 years at an international law firm before joining Darwin Gray.
Julia has extensive experience dealing with all types of non-contentious commercial property work including advising public and private sector clients on freehold and leasehold sales and purchases, resolving complex title and ownership issues and dealing with all interests in land. Julia has strong expertise in the transport and infrastructure sectors and has spent many years acting for public sector road and rail clients. Julia’s work in this area includes advising on compulsory purchase-related transactions on nationally significant infrastructure projects, advising on land acquisition and compensation strategy, discretionary purchases and dealing with all requirements relating to land in order to fulfil her clients’ compulsory purchase obligations. Julia is particularly skilled at finding pragmatic property solutions to issues arising during project delivery.
- Advising clients on land acquisition for multiple road schemes, with project delivery budgets ranging from tens of millions of pounds to several billion pounds
- Completing many strategic, regularly historic compulsory purchase acquisitions of stretches of major roads, dealing with all exchange land/ open space requirements, access obligations and title requirements and resolving all issues arising along the way
- Completing sensitive acquisitions which had been referred to the Upper Tribunal and working closely with planning colleagues to ensure clients’ requirements were fully addressed and protected all within the Court’s timescales, saving clients tens of thousands of pounds of litigation by avoiding full Court proceedings
- Negotiating conditional agreements for lease and leases for her clients’ acquisitions of strategically important project headquarters
(Julia joined Darwin Gray in January 2024 and the above work was advised on prior to her joining.)
- Acquisitions (whether compulsory or voluntary) and disposals
- Dealing with all kinds of easements (acquisition, disposal and release of) required by landowners following changes to access arrangements, or for services
- Acting for landowners in relation to the acquisition or grant of options to purchase
- Advising on all aspects of property law and rights in land and finding solutions to property issues to progress complex transactions
- Leading on due diligence for complex acquisitions
- Dealing with complicated land registration applications following compulsory and other acquisition, liaising with Land Registry to ensure best practice is being followed and ensuring all aspects thoroughly dealt with to protect clients’ interests
Experience
- Legal Director, Darwin Gray – 2024 – present
- Senior Associate, Eversheds Sutherland – 2014 – 2022
- Associate, Eversheds Sutherland – 2003 – 2014
- Trainee Solicitor, Eversheds Sutherland – 2001-2003
Education
- Cardiff Law School
- University of Manchester