Town Legal appoints Arnett to partner as one of co-founders retires

Planning law firm Town Legal has promoted Paul Arnett to partner, with effect from 1 April.

Arnett specialises in all aspects of planning, infrastructure, and compulsory purchase law delivering high-profile projects across a variety of different sectors for clients such as Royal Mail, IM Properties and CIT.  

Before Town Legal, he worked for the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and the Department for Transport advising on the revised National Planning Policy Framework, the Letwin Review and the CPO reforms in the Housing and Planning Act 2016 and Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017.

He joins the partnership of 12 at a time when one of Town Legal's founding partners, Patrick Robinson, retires. 

Robinson has worked in real estate and planning law for more than 45 years and spent 38 of those years at Herbert Smith Freehills before founding Town Legal with others in 2016. 

He has worked on many high-profile projects over that time including: Broadgate, The Supreme Court, 22 Bishopsgate, The Tate Modern and Royal Brompton Hospital.

Clare Fielding, Managing Partner at Town Legal, said: “We’re incredibly grateful for Patrick’s service to our partnership over the past eight years.  As a founding partner and our first Managing Partner, he was instrumental in the setup of the firm, its establishment as a leading planning law practice and the development of some of our key client relationships.”

Fielding added: “We are delighted to promote Paul to partner.  As a firm we place a lot of emphasis on organic growth and its importance for long-term succession and deep client relationships.  This is our third partner promotion in as many years with Spencer Tewis-Allen joining the partnership in 2022 and Victoria McKeegan last year and shows our dedication to the next generation of lawyers at our firm.  We congratulate Paul on this very much deserved promotion and look forward to developing our partnership further over the coming years.”

Commenting on Robinson’s retirement, Sir Stuart Lipton of Lipton Rogers Developments said: “Patrick has had a special place in town planning. His focus has been on a wide range of subjects but predominantly where they are of substance.  He’s always had an approach of being cautious and thorough with an ability to produce legal opinions of the highest order. 

“His subsequent record at winning cases has given him the unusual position of being recognised by clients, government, and local authorities as a man of the highest integrity and the most expert knowledge. Patrick’s humanity and generosity to his clients and colleagues will be hugely missed as well as his concern for benefits to the publics needs of town planning and their social context.”