The appointment of a new partner with “stand-out” experience and skills in the property area is said to reflect Coudert Brothers’ intention to continue building on the range of services it provides the property sector in this country.

Property has always been a core strength for the Sydney office, managing partner Peter Calov told Lawyers Weekly, “in fact it has been very strong in Australia in the last few years”, he said.

Acknowledging that the property sector in Sydney was not currently booming, Calov said the firm’s clients “are not those at the fringes of the overheating market. Our clients would regard a slow down as giving them the opportunities to acquire more sites and do more transactions”.

But he said confidence in the property market and the view that it was currently stable had led to the appointment of the new staff and the promise to expand the services the firm provides in the sector.

“It’s always been a hot sector for [Coudert Brothers]. Property projects is one of the three main practice groups in our Sydney office,” Calov said. “We do have confidence in property. It’s been expanding over the last five to six years and we see no reason why this should stop,” he said. “We opportunistically took the opportunity to take on the extra person,” he added.

New partner Lexia Wilson will be joined by senior associate Catherine Bray, who was also a new appointment to the property team. “They share a deep understanding of the commercial pressures that enterprises face today, and a reputation for excellence in terms of the legal solutions developed in partnership with clients,” Calov said.

Wilson specialises in complex property issues including site acquisition and development, due diligence, title structuring, commercial property acquisition and disposal, project and structured financing and leaseback. Also, Wilson is a director of the Property Council of Australia. Calov said the new relationship “can only strengthen as Coudert Brothers continues to build on already strong foundations in this sector”.