Excello Law has welcomed two senior lawyers to its Midlands team with the arrival of commercial property lawyer Satpaul Dard and family lawyer Swati Somaiya. This follows the successful launch of the firm in the Midlands last year and the opening of its new office in Birmingham.
Satpaul qualified in 1998 and his career has spanned partnerships with a number of Top 100 firms, including Shoosmiths, Spearing Waite (now Knights plc) and Gateley.
Satpaul specialises in retail agency, occupation and restructuring, dealing with all aspects of non-contentious landlord and tenant matters for national retailers and occupiers with large, complicated prime leasehold property portfolios including household brands such as Dreams and Optical Express. He has significant expertise and experience in retail restructuring having acted on some of the largest retail portfolio acquisition transactions over the last 20 years including Blockbuster, Bonmarche, Brantano and Blue Inc.
Swati has practised in Leicestershire and the wider East Midlands for over 20 years, joining Excello from Knights plc (formerly Spearing Waite) where she has been head of the family department since 2012.
Qualifying in 1998, Swati is an experienced accredited family and collaborative lawyer, and mediator. She is recommended in the Legal 500 and Chambers. Swati advises clients on all issues arising from the breakdown of their relationship, the care of their children and their finances, including divorce/civil partnership dissolution, domestic violence issues, pre/post nuptial agreements, cohabitation contracts and children matters. Swati is known for providing specialist family advice to individuals with complex financial divorces involving owner-managed businesses, properties, pensions, third party loans, trusts, offshore and overseas assets.
George Bisnought, managing director of Excello, said: “Our investment in our Birmingham office has been a catalyst for growth across the region. We are fully committed to significant expansion in the area, both in terms of the numbers of consultant lawyers we take on as well as looking at additional office facilities across the wider Midlands region.
“Our focus, as always, remains on quality candidates and we are seeing significant interest from lawyers across all disciplines who are looking for greater freedom to build their practice and support their clients. Satpaul and Swati bring valuable additional expertise to our expanding team in the Midlands and we welcome applications from senior specialists looking for a more liberating working environment and collaborative culture.”