Richard Spooner is a results-driven U.S. and U.K. qualified lawyer with extensive legal and business experience acquired in multiple companies across international regions.  

Prior to founding Diaconate Advisors, Richard acted as in-house legal counsel of Situs in London. There, he managed all legal affairs pertaining to the company’s London, Irish and Spanish operations, including corporate business, regulatory compliance, employment law matters, litigation, and data protection. He worked with internal and external stakeholders and external counsel to develop and execute strategies to resolve distressed commercial real estate loans on a pan-European basis.  Richard served on numerous boards of directors, the European credit committee, the European senior management team and Situs’s Global Leadership Council.  

Prior to the acquisition of LNR/HPI by Situs in November 2016, Richard was the in-house counsel based in London for the HPI/LNR group of companies where he also managed the advisory team overseeing all activities related to LNR’s European fund. The fund was originally comprised of investments in real estate debt products and equity investments across the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands. He also managed the company’s independent Real Estate group, which supported the special servicing, primary servicing and advisory business lines.

Richard previously worked at Wachovia Bank, N.A. in London as a Vice President in its European Real Estate Capital Markets group where he originated and syndicated commercial real estate loans and negotiated and closed warehouse lines to fund the purchase or origination of commercial real estate debt. Prior to his time at Wachovia, he was an Associate in the Capital Markets group of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft in both Charlotte, North Carolina and London, where he represented numerous issuers, loan sellers and servicers on CMBS and CDO transactions across the U.S. and Europe. 

Richard holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Economics, cum laude, from Wake Forest University and received his Juris Doctor, with an honours distinction, from the University of North Carolina School of Law. He is also a member of the North Carolina bar and is admitted to the roll of solicitors of England and Wales.