Laytons ETL, the internationally focused City of London commercial law firm, has made a significant lateral hire with the appointment of James Brumwell as a Partner in its real estate and company/commercial teams.

James Brumwell has joined Laytons ETL from Axiom Ince Solicitors, where he was a Partner in the commercial and commercial property departments.

A bilingual British-Chilean joint national, Mr Brumwell specialises in commercial real estate, company/commercial, cross border transactions and joint ventures, investment and real estate development work and funding, hotels and leisure and aviation. He has particularly strong connections with Spain, Latin America and the Middle East.

Commenting on his appointment, he said, “Laytons ETL, with its outstanding reputation in cross-border matters and culture of close collaboration across departments, pulling together multi-disciplinary teams to deliver for clients, is the perfect platform for my practice. I am particularly excited to explore the opportunities afforded by working with our partner firms in the ETL GLOBAL group, and the other international networks of which the firm is a member.”

Mr Brumwell has previously been a Partner at leading UK law firms including DAC Beachcroft as well as the Spanish firm OSB ABOGADOS.

He was also the General Counsel and European Managing Director at the UK-listed property developer Howard Holdings Plc, where he was responsible for the company’s operations throughout continental Europe including Spain, Portugal, Poland and Italy. Here he was responsible for the acquisition, development and management of projects comprising mixed-use properties including hotels, residential and leisure, shopping centres and retail parks, inner city regeneration, parking and airports with a GDV of approximately €1.9bn.

Mr Brumwell was also the lead investor in a consortium that, in an 18-month period, successfully bought, restructured and then sold a first division Football Club in Spain.

David Lewis, Head of Real Estate at Laytons ETL, said, “James is a great addition to the team and his appointment is a reflection of the strength of Laytons ETL’s proposition for clients and solicitors alike – attracting the very best solicitors with an environment that provides the scale to support their ambitions but also a close-knit culture that provides the flexibility for partners to build the practice that suits their talents, without the constraints of heavily siloed practice areas.”

Laytons ETL, which celebrates its 150th year of legal practice in 2025, became part of the ETL GLOBAL network of professional services businesses in 2021. Last year it moved to new Grade A offices on Cannon Street, providing enough floorspace for it to double its headcount.