Spear’s Review

When residential property lawyer Emma Sear joined Wedlake Bell from Trowers & Hamlins in 2025, she brought with her a well-established network of clients and contacts across the Middle East and the Far East. Much of that client base grew from her work with banks that operated international desks, creating a steady stream of cross-border referrals.

Today, her practice reflects the breadth of that global clientele. She notes that her Far Eastern clients ‘often invest in a lot of smaller properties, so smaller buy-to-lets. They’re interested in new builds and places like Manchester or Oxford.’ By contrast, the Middle Eastern families she advises ‘will have trophy properties in London for their own use. The younger generation of these families invest in new builds, but mainly in London.’

This range of clients results in a wide spectrum of deal sizes. Over the past few months, she has worked on transactions from £500,000 to £20 million, though she notes that her team’s ‘sweet spot’ tends to sit between £2 million and £5 million.