INTERNATIONAL law firm CMS has strengthened its Data Centre division adding two colleagues to its ranks. Charlotte Miller and Keith Barber, both Senior Associates and transactional real estate specialists at the firm, join the team advising data centre clients throughout the UK and across Europe.
Charlotte brings more than 20 years’ experience acting for developers, funders and occupiers of datacentre space complementing her work in the industrial and logistics sector. Keith has advised institutional landlords, developers and corporate occupiers across all asset classes for more than a decade with particular experience in investment and development work.
An emerging asset class, data centres are typically large facilities housing networked computer servers used by companies and organisations. They provide remote storage, processing, or distribution of large amounts of data.
The CMS Data Centre division supports data centre asset owners, who face a range of complex problems when seeking to acquire or develop sites, advising on all planning and environmental matters. The team also provides support for clients on ESG compliance, as the data centre sector comes under increasing public and political scrutiny.
Led by Glasgow-based partner Chris Rae, the Data Centre team is supported by colleagues from specialist divisions across CMS covering core issues including construction, planning, power and technology. Its clients include Mizuho Bank, Emirates Airlines, McDonald’s Restaurants, and IBM.
Chris Rae said: “While CMS’s real estate team has been advising data centre investors, funders, developers, and occupiers for over two decades, the significant growth of this sector combined with emerging legislative issues is creating new opportunities which require people with Charlotte and Keith’s immense expertise.
“Their experience and understanding of real estate, landlord and tenant issues is integral in helping our clients meet these challenges to ensure companies and organisations across the UK and throughout Europe have the data storage capacity they require to thrive.”
