Herbert Smith Freehills real estate practice welcomes new Executive Counsel

Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) welcomes new Executive Counsel (EC), Katrina Swift, to its Real Estate practice.

Having started her legal career at HSF, the EC re-joins HSF following an 11-year career at QIC. During her time at QIC, Katrina led multi-jurisdictional teams in the role of General Counsel – Product and General Counsel – Real Estate.

Katrina said she is thrilled to be joining one of Australia’s leading Real Estate practices to continue to support industry clients at a time of significant transition.

“The demand for our expertise among the real estate industry has never been greater. Inflation, higher interest rates, planning roadblocks and climate change, are creating new challenges as well as opportunities for investors and developers across the country and overseas. I’m excited to collaborate with the team to assist our clients in navigating the dynamic landscape ahead,” Katrina said.

Real Estate Managing Partner, Luke Simpson, said he is delighted to welcome Katrina to the team to work with our clients on some of Australia’s largest real estate transactions.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working closely with Katrina over many years.

“Katrina’s extensive experience in the creation, reshaping and management of global asset funds, along with her outstanding advisory work across a large portfolio of real estate assets, will only bolster our leading practice and ensure our clients continue to be represented by the best legal practitioners in the industry,” Luke said.

Katrina has worked on the establishment of numerous new global funds, including the establishment of a Luxembourg-domiciled global asset fund in 2023 and a Delaware-domiciled private assets fund in 2016.

In addition to fund creation, Katrina has experience in fund advisory work and client mandates. This includes a 300 million Euro private equity mandate with a large European investment fund to provide exposure to European private equity investments over a 3-year period.