Chris Schwer

Practice Areas

Commercial Property Development

Commercial Property Investment & Management

Commercial Property – Services for Business

Strategic Land Development

Career

Chris joined Birketts in 2000. He is a Partner and Head of our Property Division.

Chris specialises in all aspects of commercial property matters and acts for many of the region’s leading investors, developers, landlords, tenants, funders and charities. He trained with Birketts between 1986 and 1988 and upon qualification he joined a City law firm. After a spell living and working in New Zealand, Chris re-joined the firm becoming a partner in June 2000.

Chris is based in our Ipswich office but manages teams in all the firm’s offices. He became Head of the firm’s Property Division in 2005. He is also a member of the firm’s Partnership Board.

Chris has considerable experience of investment and development work, as well as real estate finance. However, in more recent years his main focus has been on strategic land and joint venture type collaborations and arrangements.

As Head of the firm’s Property Division, Chris has extensive management and leadership responsibilities. He is Client Relationship Manager for many of the firm’s largest clients and is often consulted on strategic, structural and other issues over and above pure transactional property matters.

With overall responsibility for service levels across the division, Chris oversees all professional appointments and ensures that all teams within the division carry sufficient resource at all times. He is also responsible for talent management within the division and takes pride in mentoring and assisting colleagues to optimise the career opportunities available to them at Birketts.