After a lengthy tender process, leading law firm Shakespeare Martineau has been appointed to national developer Lovell Homes’ Core Legal Services Panel.

Led by partners Neil Gosling and Kevin Joynes, the residential development team successfully took on the highly-competitive tender process, securing one of four available slots on the three-year panel, sharing a legal spend of more than £3 million per annum.

The firm’s role will largely involve carrying out residential development work, including land acquisition, strategic land, legal planning and later living, as well as providing advice on property disputes and construction matters in England and Wales.

Head of residential development at Shakespeare Martineau Neil Gosling said: “To be one of the four firms chosen to form Lovell’s new legal panel is hugely exciting, especially as we were competing against a number of large, national firms.

“We’ve invested significantly in our people in recent years to ensure we have an incredibly strong group of talented lawyers across numerous disciplines who are all perfectly placed to provide the best advice at all times.

“The appointment adds to our already impressive list of existing residential development clients and will help us to achieve our growth ambitions. We very much see this as the start of a long-term relationship with Lovell, and we are looking forward to delivering outstanding service to the developer and becoming one of its key suppliers of legal services.”

With more than 60 high-experienced and wholly specialist residential development experts nationally, Shakespeare Martineau supports housebuilders at all stages of their residential and mixed-use developments.

As a full-service law firm, the team also draws on the deep expertise of its colleagues to help clients with any related matter, including planning issues, construction warranties and building agreements, property disputes, and corporate and tax structuring.

Tonia Atkinson, Lovell’s head of legal, said: “We're pleased to welcome Shakespeare Martineau onto our panel as legal advisers. The fresh thinking shown by the team during the tender process really impressed us and we're excited to work with them moving forward.”