As rivals pare down in real estate, BLP is standing firm in the market

What a difference a year or two can make. Back when the market was booming, Berwin Leighton Paisner (BLP) seemed to go out of its way to stress its corporate ambitions while downplaying its undoubted strengths in the booming real estate market. Now that the property sector has been thrown into a deep slump and most major legal players have made property lawyers redundant, BLP has not only so far resisted swinging the axe, but has just made up no fewer than five real estate partners.

Even for a firm renowned for property, it is a bold move and could not contrast more strongly with rivals, where a string of comparable firms have drastically cut back on property promotions. Even if this year's promotions contrast with the 2008 round when no real estate partners were made up at BLP, four core real estate partners and one further planning specialist is an impressive tally.

The City promotions will take BLP's core London real estate practice – excluding construction and planning – to 26 partners from 1 May, up from 23 at present after the retirement this year of Ian Lynch. This represents a lot of mouths to feed – even for a firm such as BLP, which is known for its hefty junior equity rank – but particularly when no-one expects work levels to increase significantly before the end of the year.

Still, the consensus among rivals is that, despite torrid market conditions, BLP has had a decent property recession, certainly better than some competitors. Internal indications are that BLP will grind out property revenues in 2009 roughly on par with 2008, when around 35% of its £185m turnover came from property – quite a result, given the wider slump in the market over that period.

Real estate head Robert MacGregor (pictured) stresses the decision to expand now does not mean that the firm has escaped the pain that rivals and clients are feeling (indeed, BLP seems almost embarrassed that hard-pressed clients wouldn't approve of its reluctance to cut staff). But he does concede that BLP is positioning itself for the future of a long-term property revival and as a firm that unambiguously sees itself as a leader in real estate. The promotions also need to be seen against a backdrop of international expansion, with BLP's ambitious launch in Russia, a just-signed deal that will hand the firm a further 18 lawyers in the sector.

In this sense, BLP's stance, counter-intuitive as it may seem, is perfectly timed given that two groups of rivals are scaling back their property commitments. The first group are top City firms downscaling property to focus on the most profitable work and, second, national law firms that were opportunistically diverted into property as the credit boom inflated the practice area.

As MacGregor comments: "We set our stall out clearly three or four years ago to say that we aren't just going to cherry-pick the biggest deals. We are going to stay deep in the real estate market and, for significant clients, we will do all of their work – from the most difficult to the most straightforward."

It's hard to find fault with those sentiments. Could it be time for a reinvention of the traditional City property firm?

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