Legal Counsel – Real Estate Development

About Realty Income
Realty Income (NYSE: O), an S&P 500 company, is a real estate partner to the world's leading companies. Founded in 1969, we invest in diversified commercial real estate and have a portfolio of 15,600 properties in all 50 U.S. states, the UK and six other countries in Europe, with a gross book value $58bn. We are known as "The Monthly Dividend Company" and have a mission to deliver stockholders dependable monthly dividends that grow over time. Since our founding, we have declared 656 consecutive monthly dividends and are a member of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats index, having increased our dividend for the last 30 consecutive years.

You will be joining one of the largest Real Estate Investment Trusts in the world as we rapidly expand into the UK and European markets, including moving into new offices at 3 St. James's Square.

The European portfolio, including the UK, has experienced consistent growth quarter-on-quarter since our first international acquisition, a £429m 12-property portfolio from Sainsbury's in 2019. In just five years the portfolio now includes investments of over $11bn, and 483 distinct properties.

You will be joining a dynamic legal team, with an ever increasing pipeline of IC approved real estate development projects, you will be working on cutting edge transactions across the UK and multiple European jurisdictions, this opportunity will give you the chance to focus on and run development transactions, whilst being part of the internal decision making process with exposure to senior management and IC members. There will be dynamic opportunities for career growth as the company and our portfolio expands.

Position Overview
Our expansion into Europe is well underway, and with a portfolio of several $ billions of assets acquired in the UK and in Europe, we need your contribution to continue to build and expand our international portfolio with a particular focus on real estate development projects.

Key Responsibilities

• Supporting Senior Legal Counsel in driving the execution of complex development transactions and joint ventures with many moving parts across different European geographies;

• Working closely with Senior Legal Counsel in relation to:

• deal structuring and negotiating offer letters and heads of terms;

• coordinating legal and technical due diligence exercises by external advisors and reviewing and reporting on their findings;
• instructing and managing external counsel in relation to drafting and negotiating development and joint venture documents;
• reviewing and approving project documents including construction contracts, agreements for lease, leases, funding documents etc.;
• reporting to and advising the project company board on legal issues; and

• assisting with the coordination of monthly funding processes for ongoing developments;

• Individually managing projects with accountability for delivering the business objectives in a timely fashion;

• Potential opportunities for involvement with real estate acquisitions and sale and leaseback transactions as well.

Key Responsibilities
Transactional work:

• Coordinate, analyse, manage, negotiate, document, and close a wide range of multifaceted transactions with a particular focus on development projects and joint ventures but with potential opportunities for involvement with real estate acquisitions and sale and leaseback transactions as well.
• Manage complex and significant deals that cut across workstreams and teams.
• Management of external law firms and multi-disciplinary transaction teams.
• Assess transactional risks and recommend strategies to mitigate them advising colleagues of issues/opportunities that may have meaningful consequence.
• Progress transactions with careful attention to proceeding on time, on budget and in accordance with deal strategy.
• Input into growth strategy, market intelligence and initial deal terms.
• Collaborate with internal teams to devise optimal approaches in the context of assigned transactions.
• Attend board meetings and present transactions to the board of directors, coordinate execution of documents, and assist with entity management responsibilities where required.
• Analyse transactions and structure transactions in the UK and other European countries as necessary.
• Assist with co-ordination of entry into new markets.
• Review, evaluate, and approve information and reports from external advisors concerning development projects and investment transactions.
• Manage and monitor environmental issues from a legal perspective. Review and analyse environmental reports.
• Supervise Legal Analysts performing transactional support.
• Develop and make recommendations to the Legal team regarding improvements to internal policies and procedures for handling transactions.
• Provide clarification on legal language or specifications.
• Research and evaluate different risk factors regarding business decisions and operations.
• Apply effective risk management techniques and offer proactive advice on possible legal issues.
• Communicate and negotiate with external parties (brokers, external counsel, third-party vendors, etc.), creating relationships of trust.
• Provide professional legal counsel and advice to Company executives.
• Promote the external reputation of the Company with tenants, partners and counterparties.

Corporate & Finance

• Assist the Company with projects to rationalize its corporate structure and manage hive-ups and corporate re-organizations as assigned.
• Hands on management of JV partners and building personal relationships.
• Review and draft third-party supplier agreements as assigned.
• Handle miscellaneous and various corporate legal matters including engagement letters etc.
• Work with the acquisition department to coordinate the review and analysis of confidentiality/non-disclosure agreements on the front end of potential acquisition targets.
• Assist with the implementation of equity and debt strategies.
• Preparation of intergroup loan documentation and equity documentation.

General

• General legal research and investigation as assigned.
• Routine advice/counsel to all departments on various legal matters.
• General legal document review, drafting and negotiating.
• Special projects and duties as assigned.

Candidate Requirements
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
Must Have For The Role- Minimum 2:1 undergraduate degree.
- Qualified Solicitor (England & Wales).
- While we do not set upper or lower limits of PQE for any of our vacancies, candidates with at least 3-6+ years' post-qualification development focused legal experience in the real estate department of a City or US law firm or a real estate focused investment fund or a real estate developer are likely to have the right level of knowledge and experience for this role; strong candidates outside of this range will be considered.
- Experience in negotiating and closing real estate transactions including development projects; with exposure to:

• Development constraints
• Development documents (inc. tenant agreements / leasing)
• Development Management Agreements
• Familiarity with different investment structures and JV arrangements.
• Familiarity with corporate transactions and company law.
• Dynamic with bias for action, committed and principled.
• Happy and capable to be hands on with transactions.
• Ability to manage external law firms and external advisory teams.
• Highly effective written and verbal communication skills; ability to communicate complex ideas and issues clearly and concisely.
• Ability to read, analyse and interpret a wide variety of complex legal documents and agreements.
• Adept and proficient at advanced legal document drafting and negotiating.
• Ability to effectively identify, research, and analyse routine-to-complex legal issues, assess potential exposure, propose alternative courses of action, and make well-reasoned recommendations.

Desirable But Not Essential

• Some experience in real estate development in continental Europe is helpful.
• European language helpful

Our Mission & Values
For more than 50 years, Realty Income has been guided by our mission to invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. We do this by nurturing long-term, meaningful relationships that enable people to achieve a better financial outlook. We understand that when individuals succeed financially, they are able to provide for their families, support local businesses and pursue their greatest ambitions, creating a lasting positive impact on communities.

Realty Income is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or educational background.

Our Mission & Values
For more than 50 years, Realty Income has been guided by our mission to invest in people and places to deliver dependable monthly dividends that increase over time. We do this by nurturing long-term, meaningful relationships that enable people to achieve a better financial outlook. We understand that when individuals succeed financially, they are able to provide for their families, support local businesses and pursue their greatest ambitions, creating a lasting positive impact on communities.

Realty Income is committed to diversity and inclusion and welcomes all applicants regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation or educational background.