GSC Solicitors Continues Substantial Recognition in Legal 500 2018

Once again, we are proud of our achievements in the newly announced rankings in the Legal 500 2018 Guide to the UK legal market, published last Tuesday.

We are especially proud of a substantial spike in the ranking for GSC Solicitors’ Commercial property work. Headed by Harvey Posener, this practice area has now moved up from tier 6 to tier 4, which is a very rare occasion for a law firm’s rankings to happen. The ‘highly recommended’ Harvey Posener has considerable experience in corporate letting work and assisted Universal Music with the 20-year lease of its King’s Cross HQ. Posener is also instructed by EMI and Channel 4. Peter Belcher is acting for a hotel owner in relation to the creation of a new hotel brand and the subsequent rebranding and franchising of its existing hotels. Matthew Phillips acted for a fast food franchise owner in relation to its high-value restaurant acquisition as part of a major fast food company’s strategic move toward a greater number of franchise operated stores. Also recommended is Amee Popat, who has experience with HQ leasing transactions.

Legal 500 stated that ‘be it pure property work, or related fields such as tax, real estate finance or litigation, GSC Solicitors LLP is ‘exceptional by every metric’.

The highly ranked Property Finance team under Peter Belcher, ‘who ‘understands the client’s needs completely from a speed and commercial perspective’’, also noted Matthew Phillips and Amee Popat. The team has been recommended once again as it handles acquisition, development and investment financing for a range of borrower and lender clients, including developers, institutional, private and overseas investors, and UK financial institutions on a very high level.

Legal 500 refers to the hotel and restaurant sectors, which are ‘areas of particular strength: the team represents a number of major hotel owners and fast food franchise owners.’.

GSC’s personal tax, trusts and probate team has also been regarded as ‘a knowledgeable and professional team’.  The team is led by the Senior Partner Saleem Sheikh, who is referred to as a ‘hands on negotiator with an all-round ability to grasp the issues and assist in their resolution’. The ‘very practical and responsive’ James Cohen  has also been noted as an expert who ‘deals with matters both ably and expeditiously’, with substantial knowledge of dealing with matters where clients have assets located in multiple jurisdictions, especially for Pakistani and Indian clients.

Commercial Litigation & Dispute Resolution team is described by Legal 500 as ‘a strong cohort of partners providing a huge range of litigation nous and subject matter expertise’. The department head    Michael Shapiro focuses on general commercial, contractual and shareholder disputes, as well as property litigation, company and personal insolvency-related disputes; and senior consultant Barry Samuels who has decades of expertise dealing with international clients, ‘wins the unwinnable’.

GSC’s Media and Entertainment practice that regularly acts for longstanding client PPL of the on a number of enforcement rights issues, and also for PRS for Music on enforcement matters, has been recommended once again. Head of IP litigation Justin Goldspink advises on a range of IP matters, and is particularly experienced in mandates relating to music, copyright and branding. Clive Halperin specialises in IP litigation.

Commenting on the 2018 rankings, Senior Partner Saleem Sheikh said: “The Legal 500 is a leading independent guide into the best law firms in the UK. We are delighted that GSC is consistently recognised for our key specialisms including commercial litigation, commercial property, personal tax, trusts and probate, Media and commercial litigation as well as the strong importance we place on providing innovative legal services to all our clients, regardless of the size of their business, location or aspirations.”