Birmingham law firm Wragge & Co's real estate group has extended its relationship with the Miller Group.

It has completed a first deal for subsidiary Miller Developments.

A team led by partner Mark Chester advised the property company on its £33 million acquisition of the Market Gates shopping centre in Great Yarmouth.

Tax partner Lee Nuttall, finance partner Colin Hurt, real estate associates Clare Regan and Catherine Hood, and employment associate Sarah Gill worked alongside Miller Group head of legal, Julie Jackson, and Miller Developments retail director, Mark Hewett.

Mr Chester said: "Miller is a major name in the property industry and our relationship with it deepens with every transaction.

"The Miller team and our team worked as one to complete this first deal together for Miller Developments. Given the size of our real estate practice, we were able to devote a large team to this matter, ensuring a quick turnaround."

The 155,000 sq ft shopping centre has a rent roll of £1.95 million, with tenants including Boots, Dorothy Perkins, Wilkinsons and Jessops.

It is the real estate group's third shopping centre deal in three months. The others were Alanis and Anglo Irish Assurance's £50 million acquisition of Kennet Shopping Centre in Newbury and Parkridge Group's in-town shopping centre fund formed with Morley Fund Management.

Nick Bartlett and Bruce Dear, partners in the London office of Eversheds, advised the sellers, Anglo Halladale.

And Wragge has won an important test case challenging the legality of Thames Water Utilities' current charging system for sewerage.

A team of commercial litigation and regulatory experts advised the Ministry of Defence on its claim.

Partner Andrew Manning Cox said: "This was an important point of principle for the MoD and one we were determined to win. Customers should not have to pay for services they have not received. We are very pleased with the result."

Thames Water is one of the MoD's statutory sewerage undertakers.

It billed the MoD for services based on the assumption that an equivalent volume of sewage leaves the site as the volume of water entering. But, water leaks over a six-year period meant more water was entering than sewage leaving.

Despite receiving evidence showing the extent of the leakage, Thames Water refused to fully reimburse the MoD. Her Honour Judge Kirkham found in favour of the MoD, ruling that it was entitled to pursue a claim for repayment on the basis that it had not received services for which it had paid.

With many in the industry operating similar charging systems, it sets a precedent for other customers overpayments.

The Wragge & Co team comprised commercial litigation solicitor Kate Davies, regulatory partner John Cooper and utilities specialist Ravi Randhawa.

The MoD is a longstanding Wragge client, instructing the firm on PFI and PPP work.