Laurence also brings connections and international experience including in the US, Europe and emerging markets, which will be beneficial as DWF continues to grow its international presence. DWF's corporate practice, and in particular its London team, has seen considerable growth this year, with recent lateral hires including private equity partner Andrew Carpenter from Addleshaw Goddard and DLA Piper corporate partner Mel Sims. As part of this growth, the team has looked to diversify its offering and has increased its focus on establishing broad private equity capability as well as sector-specific expertise in the real estate and financial services sectors.
Matthew Doughty, DWF Head of Corporate in London, comments: "Laurence has the right combination of technical expertise across corporate, finance and real estate, as well as a keen commercial insight that will make him an excellent fit for the team. His experience in real estate investment will give us a very competitive platform for developing a deeper and broader real estate private equity and corporate real estate practice, which we anticipate being an increasingly important offering for our clients. This has been a really good few months of strategic investment for us in London, and we intend to accelerate this growth through the New Year."
Laurence Applegate added: "DWF has a very strong property offering as well as a well-developed corporate practice in London and nationally. With the business's focus on building and scaling out its corporate practice, along with the scale and depth of resources offered by its growing international presence, I have no doubt there is ample opportunity to build a competitive and highly profitable real estate private equity practice."
