Commercial and Corporate

We provide legal services in international trade as well as business conducted in the United Kingdom. We have worked on matters of:

Our cross-border expertise and close links through associate offices in business centres across the Americas and Asia, offer the expertise and ability to deliver M&A transactions at both a local and international level. We are able to provide bespoke legal services to companies on every aspect of mergers and acquisitions including due diligence, strategy and management, share and asset sale and purchases, financing the deal, hostile bids and reverse takeovers and tax.  Our lawyers have worked on cases involving multi-million pound deals in the oil and gas, banking, pharmaceutical and constructions sectors. We are characterised by an ability to manage complex work in multiple jurisdictions and ensure optimised standard of transaction..

Many of our international trade clients have benefited from our expertise in this area.  We advise on transactional and non-transactional matters arising from sellers, financiers, shippers, intermediate agents, distributors and buyers.  We provide tailored legal solutions in respect of structure, contractual protection, registration with HM Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise.  We have advised clients on the importation of commodities such as clothing, meats and controlled substances into the UK.

We have drafted numerous commercial agreements ranging from partnership to agency, distribution and franchise agreements, from loan to money transfer agreements. We are able to provide a tailor-made service to meet each of our clients’ commercial objectives protecting our clients’ interests of liabilities, payment provisions, warranties and indemnities, and intellectual property entitlements. Our lawyers are vastly experienced in this area having drafted commercial agreements in the banking, financial, pharmaceutical, technology, construction, engineering and oil and gas and corporate sectors, to name but a few. 

We draft and advise on company’s handbooks and procedures on recruitment, employment contract, restrictive covenants, staff handbook, company procedures and policies, employee’s grievances, employing overseas workers.

With the implementation of the Companies Act 2006, this area of law is undergoing significant changes.  We set up and advise on the incorporation of companies in England and Wales and UK branches of international companies. Our ability to engage with our in-house foreign lawyers and associate offices means that we are able to advise on multi-jurisdictional aspects of international structuring.  Our previous experience has allowed us to become competent with UK, South American, East Asian and a number of offshore jurisdictions so that our clients are not only legally protected but also tax efficient. We assist in the legal administration of a number of companies for our larger multi-national clients acting as their nominated company secretary.  This expertise extends to the fields of tax, property, employment, banking, pensions and regulatory matters to name but a few.

Intellectual property is an area of vital importance for commercial clients in all fields of activity.  The skills and experience of our IP lawyers make us a force to be reckoned with.  Our intellectual property practice covers all aspects of IP law, both contentious and non-contentious, including patents, copyright, designs and databases, trade marks and passing off, domain names, performing rights, collective licensing disputes.

We are able to handle the biggest and most important transactions where the amounts at stake and the issues involved are of key significance to our clients.  Our team of lawyers have scientific or engineering qualifications or background.  We have extensive understanding of, amongst others, the following areas: engineering, chemistry, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, computer hardware and software (including patentability of software and business methods).

In the global marketplace, competition has never been more intense. Cross-border transactions have increased, and antitrust and competition laws - and investigations - have proliferated. Rules governing mergers and acquisitions, cartels and business practices have exploded around the world. Companies are now subject to antitrust and competition regulations in jurisdictions across the globe, from Chile to China. The stakes have never been higher. Increasingly, injunctions and compliance orders go right to the heart of a company, imposing mandatory changes of business practice and causing major disruptions. Moreover, antitrust and competition authorities are cooperating with each other as never before.

With ever increasing and more complex legislation in the areas of fraud, corporate/business activity, health & safety, trading standards, food and hygiene, environmental law, directors duties/obligations and business regulation generally, we can offer prompt and effective advice which is essential in order to avoid expensive and damaging litigation.  We offer vast and genuinely deep expertise in dealing with civil and criminal regulatory compliance and litigation brought by Governmental agencies including HM Customs and Excise, The Department of Trade and Industry, Serious Fraud Office, European Commission (OLAF), Financial Services Authority , National Crime Squad and CPS.