Stephenson Harwood

The Firm:

Stephenson Harwood is a law firm with over 1300 people worldwide, including more than 200 partners. Our people are committed to achieving the goals of our clients - listed and private companies, institutions and individuals.

We assemble teams of bright thinkers to match our clients' needs and give the right advice from the right person at the right time. Dedicating the highest calibre of legal talent to overcome the most complex issues, we deliver pragmatic, expert advice that is set squarely in the real world.

Our headquarters are in London, with eight offices across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. In addition we have forged close ties with other high quality law firms and an integrated local law capability in Singapore and the PRC. This diverse mix of expertise and culture results in a combination of deep local insight and the capability to provide a seamless international service.

Principal Areas of Work:

Commercial Litigation: The team has a long track record of advising clients on their most challenging disputes and has acted on many of the largest, bet-the-company cases. Clients span every major industry and sector, ranging from multinational corporations, financial institutions, large and medium sized companies, professionals and trustees, to governments, charities, and high net worth individuals and their corporate interests. The team represent clients in High Court litigation, international and domestic arbitration, manage proceedings in other jurisdictions, and coordinate proceedings across multiple jurisdictions. The firm also advises and assists clients on ADR, including mediation.

Corporate: The award-winning corporate team provides a range of expertise that includes public and private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investment funds, equity capital markets, corporate governance, private equity and venture capital. Comprising of dedicated and pragmatic individuals, the corporate team services an international client base across a variety of sectors, with a particular focus on transportation, healthcare, life sciences, corporate real estate, financial services, decarbonisation and technology.

Employment, Pensions, Private Wealth, Immigration, Corporate Tax & Contentious: Providing solutions for clients in all matters relating to work and wealth, each of the practice areas within the group excels in providing clear, concise and commercially-minded advice. The employment practice handles the full range of contentious and non-contentious, transactional and advisory employment work, and is a market leader in restrictive covenants and employee competition. The pensions practice advise on a variety of matters ranging from advice on day-to-day legal issues to advice on documentation, corporate transactions, investment, member disputes and litigation. The group also includes teams who provide advice in relation to incentives, immigration, and tax. All advise across broad range of industries including financial services, leisure, life sciences, transportation and luxury goods. The firm's award-winning private wealth team is renowned for giving no-nonsense practical advice on complex tax, contentious and non-contentious private wealth issues in an agile and responsive way. It acts for UHNW individuals and family offices internationally, predominantly for entrepreneurial wealth generators.

Finance: The award winning international finance team is highly regarded by clients for its excellence, broad experience and versatility. The team works on demanding and innovative deals globally acting for many leading UK and international banks and financiers, investment companies, corporates, lessors, funds and other stakeholders. The team’s expertise covers a broad range of assets including ship and offshore assets, aviation, rail and bus, machinery and equipment, infrastructure projects, real estate and renewables including EfW and solar. The firm also advises on leveraged and acquisition finance, trade finance, Islamic finance, leasing and restructuring.

Maritime, Trade & Offshore: The international practice is serviced by specialist lawyers based in key shipping and trade hubs worldwide. The firm is well positioned to advise on any shipping or trade-related concern, from the most complex marine incident or financing structure to the more straightforward sale and purchase dispute or cargo claim. The team has acted on some of the most high-profile and important cases in the maritime industry for some of the world’s largest ship owners, ship yards, banks, insurers, P&I clubs, offshore services companies and commodity traders.

Real Estate, Projects & Rail: This combined team provides advice across a full range of infrastructure projects around the world, as well as offering full lifecycle support for the real estate sector. The group provides expert guidance across the full operational cycle of the rail and bus industries, as well as the broader transport sector, including accommodation, energy, and hotels and leisure. With a wealth of experience in securing planning permissions, addressing environmental concerns, and managing construction projects, our team serves a diverse client base. This includes public and private sector participants, including major institutional investors and financiers, developers, fund managers, rail operators and owning groups, manufacturers and maintainers, hotel groups, public sector bodies and corporates operating in the space.

 Other Offices: Dubai, Hong Kong, Paris, Piraeus, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore.
Associated Offices: Athens, Bucharest, Guangzhou, Jakarta.