Since Land Law was founded 20 years ago, we have placed great emphasis on adding the very highest calibre of lawyers to our ranks.

Within the last week, one of the most experienced and most capable professionals in our team has been talking of her decision to retire.

Diana Craven has written an article for the Law Society Gazette reflecting on her experiences during a 45-year career as one of the country's foremost commercial property lawyers (https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/my-legal-life/my-legal-life-diana-craven/5069443.article).

Most of the last two decades of Diana’s career have been spent with Land Law after Managing Partner, Angus Whyte - one of many prominent lawyers to have worked with and learned from her – invited her to join the firm when she decided to leave her previous position. 

We're delighted to say that whilst Diana will no longer be working full-time, she will still work with us on individual projects - and both her colleagues and her clients look forward to the benefit of her continued input, wisdom and property insight.

Diana’s role as consultant illustrates how Land Law has embraced the need to be flexible in order to provide clients with the best possible level of legal support.

That is not just reflected in how we work - pioneering the use of technology in and out of the office, for instance, to further improve speed, accuracy and efficiency - but via our recruitment policies too.

Diana is one of a number of very senior lawyers who, having previously spent time at large corporate firms have been attracted by the opportunity to work in a different way – choosing to join Land Law as consultants, because they subscribe to our belief in being agile while offering a quality service and first-rate legal advice.

Those who have done so in recent years include Stephen Birchall, who manages an extensive portfolio of often complex work; Hans Scheiwiller, a leading lawyer for many years in the property finance sector with involvement in some of the North West's high profile developments and, most recently, property litigation heavy weight Steven Jennings, who leads our Litigation team. 

Our desire to reinforce the pool of talent that we can lay at the disposal of clients means that we're constantly looking to add other skilled lawyers and are prepared to adapt our staff structures and practices to ensure that we do so.

As the clients and colleagues who have worked with Diana will testify, a commercial property law firm is only as good as the individuals who work for it.Land Law regards itself as having a team able to meet any challenge with which our clients are confronted, drawing on a wealth of experience gained over many years of practice.