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National law firm Gilbert + Tobin has launched a dedicated real assets team, bringing together its real estate and infrastructure expertise in a dedicated practice.
Gilbert + Tobin has established a dedicated real assets team, bringing together lawyers from across the firm into an integrated practice designed to advise investors on Australia’s increasingly complex real estate and infrastructure market.
The new practice will be co-led by partners Stuart Cormack, who has been with Gilbert + Tobin for nearly nine years, and Ben Cosentino, who joined the firm last year.
The team will comprise more than 40 lawyers drawing on expertise across real estate transactions, asset management, and a range of related disciplines.
Partners Amanda Hempel, Nick Lazarou, and Ben Fuller will also form part of the practice, supporting the broader team’s work across complex real assets matters.
In a statement, the national law firm said the launch reflected a “structural shift” in the market, with capital allocators and deal teams pursuing transactions of increasing scale and complexity as traditional boundaries between asset classes, equity, debt, and hybrid investments continue to blur.
Gilbert + Tobin co-founder and chairman Danny Gilbert said the new practice was created in response to the changing way investors deploy capital, moving beyond traditional legal structures and towards a more integrated approach.
“The real assets sector is increasingly central to how the world’s leading investors think about driving long-term value in Australia,” Gilbert said.
“We have built this team around the way our clients actually deploy capital, rather than the way law firms have traditionally been organised. That is what sets it apart.”
The real assets team will provide expertise across direct asset transactions, banking and finance, development, planning and environment, and regulatory clearance expertise within a single group.
As real assets transactions become larger and more complex, Cormack said, investors are increasingly seeking advisers who can connect every part of a deal – from financing and assets through to development and regulation.
“These deals are getting bigger and more capital-intensive, and the line between real estate and infrastructure has all but disappeared,” Cormack said.
“Clients get the best result when the finance, the equity, the asset, the development, and the regulation are joined up from day one, and that is how we have built this team.”
Cosentino also added that the growing complexity of modern investment strategies had created demand for advisers who could work across multiple asset classes and funding structures, rather than being limited by a narrow sector focus.
“The best investors don’t confine themselves to narrow sandboxes. In a single strategy, they build value in platforms, operating businesses, hard assets, and development pipelines,” Cosentino said.
“They need dedicated advisers who work across real asset classes, structures, and the whole capital stack. That is exactly what this team is built for.”
