our firm
A Note From the Senior Partner
From Strength to Strength
DJB was founded in 1999 with four core objectives: focus on real estate, focus on top-quality clients, focus on providing exemplary service with top-quality solicitors and only working with nice people. As we move into our third decade of operating these objectives still run at the heart of DJB.
DJB have proven that great people are also gracious and that hard working people who will never let a client down can also spend time with their families. By focusing on building the best team and removing the barriers often encountered by those people, you can achieve a diverse and brilliant membership with equal gender balance at all levels, without having to strive for that as an end in itself. These ethics pervade the firm and are what everyone at DJB buys into.
With three offices and a dedicated Business Services Centre throughout the UK and in excess of sixty lawyers, DJB is now the largest and most experienced (in terms of aggregate PQE) specialist real estate law firm in the UK. We deliver the full spectrum of real estate legal services to the UK’s largest institutional and corporate landowners, both in the public and private sector.
MADELEINE DAVITT, Senior Partner
We are unique in the way we work
The Ethos
Our approach allows our solicitors to focus solely on legal work, from anywhere in the world.
Whilst our solicitors are focusing on the legal practice, our specialist Client Directors, Client Partners and Account Managers build and maintain our client base on your behalf.
DJB’s Client Partners and Client Directors are responsible for building relationships, working to understand clients’ business goals and individual requirements to ensure we always deliver a tailored service. Their priority is to ensure our clients’ needs are always fulfilled in terms of price, quality of lawyering and service. The Account Management team take care of all client and matter administration, supporting clients on a day-to-day basis. Their goal is to facilitate and deliver excellent client care.
At DJB everyone goes the extra mile. We take care in ensuring that we share values with our clients, that all of our solicitors will work to maintain our values and standards, and that we only work with suppliers who endeavour towards the same goals that we do.
DJB aim for lawyers to have 0% non-chargeable work , compared to the City average of 30%. Our solicitors non-chargeable hours are consistently less than 0.01% of their overall hours. This is because of the twin track model used at DJB which separates the firm’s legal and commercial activities, meaning that lawyers are able to do what they do best: the lawyering, and commercial professionals take care of the rest.
Benefits to our Clients
Since our foundation we have been ahead of the field in shaping a structure to develop an excellent service for the best possible value. Our client base includes occupiers, developers and investors. We also provide specialist real estate support to other law firms, both large full-service law firms and niche practices.
The experience of our solicitors, combined with the fact that they focus entirely on delivering quality legal advice, means that our solicitors can deliver fast, accurate results first time round. DJB achieve exceptional commercial value by only charging for legal dealings: all commercial and client dealings are completed at no charge to our clients.
Ensuring complete service satisfaction and delivering expert advice, whilst still retaining commercial value, is a task often struggled with by competitors using the traditional partner-led approach.