Bird & Bird grows its Real Estate Finance practice with the arrival of real estate and hotel finance specialist James Salford as a partner in London

Joining from Addleshaw Goddard where he was a partner for 14 years, James specialises in all aspects of real estate and hotel finance. He has extensive experience advising lenders and borrowers at all levels of the debt stack; including senior, mezzanine and preferential equity providers and focuses on reviewing and negotiating hotel operating agreements. With over 20 years’ experience in the sector, directories rank James as one of the leading hotel finance experts in the UK.

James' appointment alongside the recent hire of Peter Nicholson will help develop the group's real estate offering for retail and consumer clients. Both James and Peter will work closely with Karen Friebe, an expert in the hotel space, as well as Mark Abell and Graeme Payne in hotel franchising and partners in areas such as commercial, IP, trademarks, branding and data protection. The hire of James Salford will significantly expand the firm's real estate finance capabilities whilst strengthening its offering and profile in the hotels space.

Jonathan Baker, head of the Real Estate practice at Bird & Bird says: "We are thrilled to welcome James, a real estate finance expert, to Bird & Bird. He has a first-rate reputation in the hotels space with a sizeable practice in one of our key subsectors, making James an ideal partner to join our group. Welcome to Bird & Bird James!"

Mark Abell and Graeme Payne, co-heads of the Retail & Consumer sector group comment: "The arrival of James alongside the recent hire of Peter Nicholson will significantly bolster our profile in the real estate finance space, particularly in hotels. James will be a valuable addition to the Hotels & Leisure team and will play a key part in taking forward the team's strategy and initiatives to grow the practice."

James commented: "The real estate and hotel markets are becoming increasingly internationalised. Bird & Bird's growing real estate practice and international platform will help broaden my practice and secure work on pan-European portfolios. I'm very much looking forward to working with the real estate finance team and the rest of my colleagues at Bird & Bird."