David is a Director in our Commercial Property Team.

He specialises in all aspects of commercial property law advising on acquisitions, disposals, leasing and development of assets, joint venture arrangements, construction and property management. David also has significant experience in property finance transactions having spent two years seconded to one of the Irish banks earlier in his career.

David has recently acted on:

• The Agreement for Lease and Lease of a significant city centre office letting in England for a PLC client.

• The sale of a significant city centre site with planning for student accommodation in an English city to a UK based property fund.

• Advising various developer clients of the acquisition and subsequent sale of sites to a variety of housing associations across Northern Ireland.

• Advising a local client on the acquisition and subsequent development of a Belfast city centre site.

• Advising local client on the property aspects of the proposed sale  of its business to a European PLC.

• Ongoing advice to a number of developers on the acquisition of residential development sites in Northern Ireland and England and ongoing unit sales to end users.

• Advising UK based client on the refinance of its purpose built student accommodation portfolio.

David was educated at Queen’s University Belfast. He trained with a leading Manchester commercial practice before returning to Northern Ireland and working at two of the large Northern Irish commercial law firms.

David remains qualified in both Northern Ireland and England & Wales and regularly advises on high value real estate transactions in both jurisdictions.

What industry guides say about David:

"David is very responsive, easy to work with and very accessible." "His communication is excellent and he explains all the matters to us in simple language." – Chambers and Partners 2021

“David McDonnell is very pleasant to deal with and provides peace of mind through the entire legal process. He is available for any questions in a timely manner and explains matters in great detail at the correct level.’ – Legal 500 2023