TLT strengthens national real estate offering with strategic partner hire trio

National law firm TLT has further expanded its market-leading Real Estate team with the appointment of three new partners - Andrew Batterton, Julie Simms and John Webster.

They join the firm from DWF and bring a collective 60 years wealth of experience in real estate development, infrastructure planning, and regeneration, with a strong track record advising public and private sector clients across a range of urban development, energy, utility and infrastructure projects.

They are nationally recognised for their expertise in advising on complex grant funded projects requiring partnership working between local authorities, government agencies and the private sector. They have acted on some of the most recent nationally significant transformational regeneration projects including Guildford’s Weyside Urban Village, the redevelopment of Wythenshawe Town Centre, Tameside’s Godley Green Garden Village and Festival Gardens Liverpool and North Leigh, Wigan.  

Julie Simms co-led the UK National Regeneration Development and Infrastructure Team at DWF and was office managing partner of the Liverpool Office. She leads on site investigation and assembly, development agreements and real estate funding structures.

Andrew Batterton led the National Development and Infrastructure Planning Team at DWF and was office managing partner of the Leeds office. He leads on strategy for statutory consenting, land assembly by compulsory purchase and delivery of major projects.

John Webster was a Partner in the Development and Infrastructure Planning Team at DWF and advises on urban development and large scale commercial and residential development, regeneration schemes and energy projects.  He has significant experience in bringing forward enabling development and compulsory purchase.

The hire of Julie, Andrew, and John follows the recent arrivals of licensing duo Felicity Tulloch and Rebecca Lowe and commercial Real Estate Partner Fosia Solomou, and of Colin Brown, Neal Bhattacharyya and Jonathan O’Hagan in 2025. The appointments further strengthen TLT’s ability to offer a range of strategic real estate related advice to clients across its eight principal sectors and bring the size of the Real Estate practice to 299 colleagues, including 55 partners.  

Andy Bell, Partner and Head of Real Estate Investment & Asset Management at TLT, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Julie, Andrew, and John to TLT. Their combined expertise in real estate development, infrastructure planning, and public sector projects will be invaluable as we continue to support our clients with top tier real estate advice across the public and planning sectors.

“Their arrival reflects our ongoing commitment to investing in top talent and expanding our capabilities in key growth areas, particularly in the public sector, energy, and infrastructure. We look forward to working with them as we help our clients navigate an increasingly complex and dynamic market.”

Maria Connolly, Partner and Head of TLT’s Real Estate sector said: “Bringing in a trio of partners with such deep, complementary expertise reflects the continued evolution and ongoing expansion of our Real Estate offering. Their experience across regeneration, infrastructure and large-scale development strengthens our ability to provide seamless, end-to-end support to clients navigating increasingly ambitious and interconnected projects. This is a significant step forward in further aligning our national team with the opportunities we see across the market and our core sectors.”

Julie Simms added: “We’re delighted to be joining TLT at such an exciting time for the firm’s Real Estate, Infrastructure and Planning practices. With growing demand for advice on complex development, regeneration and infrastructure projects, TLT’s strong reputation, national platform and integrated approach provide an excellent foundation to support clients across the full project lifecycles. As the real estate landscape continues to evolve, clients are increasingly seeking clear, commercially focused and technically robust advice to unlock ambitious schemes, and we look forward to working with colleagues to help deliver high-profile projects and drive continued growth.”

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