Adrian is a corporate lawyer specialising in advising media and technology clients on a broad range of corporate and financial transactions, as well as strategic and governance issues. He has spent over 20 years advising media and technology clients on their transactional work, particularly private company M&A, joint ventures and strategic partnerships and raising equity from angel and venture capital investors. Alongside the transactional work, much of his time is spent advising and guiding boards and entrepreneurs on risk and strategy, on governance and stakeholder relations and in the hard times on their insolvency concerns. He focuses predominantly on the TV, software, sport, music and publishing sectors, but has experience of doing deals involving all sorts of digital businesses.
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Alexander is a partner and head of the Commercial Music and Digital Publishing groups. He specialises in music, publishing and digital media. He advises both copyright owners and licensees in the creation, licensing and distribution of copyright works in the online and mobile environment, and also in media financing, e-commerce and m-commerce. Highly regarded by his clients and senior industry figures, he is known for his expertise, specialist advice, and in-depth knowledge in emerging media, particularly in the music and publishing sectors. He is rated in Chambers as having ‘rare experience in the evolving digital media business’.
Alexander is a partner in Wiggin's Film & TV group and advises clients ranging from the Hollywood studios and major broadcasters to first-time independent producers on all aspects of film and television financing and production, from rights creation and acquisition through to development, finance, production and distribution.
Ben is a partner in the Corporate group. He has a broad range of experience in advising media and technology companies across all aspects of their corporate legal requirements, including private and public M&A transactions, joint ventures, fundraisings and re-organisations. Ben has particular experience in advising on corporate deals in the betting and gaming sector where he works closely with Wiggin’s market leading regulatory gaming lawyers and regularly advises major operators and technology providers on M&A transactions and strategic investments as part of the waive of consolidation currently happening in the sector. In addition, Ben regularly advises on deals in the technology, publishing, TV and film sectors.
Calum has over 20 years’ experience as a lawyer, specialising in IP and technology and acting for a wide variety of clients. Calum previously led the intellectual property function at Barclays Bank and is listed in IAM Strategy 300: The World’s Leading IP Strategists. In addition to his experience in contentious matters, he has regularly advised on software patentability, technology transactions, brand protection, M&A and structuring issues. Calum has a specific interest in emerging technologies, such a quantum computing, blockchain and AI, and he is passionate about how intellectual property can support clients’ businesses; by protecting their innovations and by having an effective IP strategy.
Caroline is a partner and head of the litigation group. She also leads the publishing team. Her expertise includes commercial litigation, with particular emphasis on defamation, privacy, confidence, copyright, trademarks, passing off and contractual disputes. Caroline is highly-regarded in the London media litigation market, with immense experience in resolving complex media disputes.
Ceri is a partner in the tax group advising companies across all aspects of their taxation requirements, including tax transformation projects, with particular expertise in the technology and media sectors. She has a broad range of experience advising in relation to mergers and acquisitions, special projects, corporate structuring and re-organisations, as well as incentive arrangements for management and other employees. Ceri’s practice also includes advising on investment fund formation and carried interest arrangements, asset management and new start up business structures.
Charles is Wiggin’s Senior Partner. He specialises in all aspects of film and television production, finance and distribution and is widely regarded as one of the UK’s leading entertainment lawyers. Charles joined Wiggin in 2004 to establish the Film and TV Group. Prior to that, Charles was a studio executive at Paramount Pictures and Fox Searchlight Pictures in Los Angeles. Charles has an unmatchable list of film and TV clients, representing all of the US film studios, US TV networks and major cable companies, as well as many of the leading UK and European independent producers and distributors. During his career, Charles has been leading legal adviser on feature films such as Oscar-winners Schindler’s List, Braveheart and Shakespeare In Love and more recently has worked on feature films such as StarWars: The Force Awakens (Lucasfilm) and Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (Paramount) and major TV productions such as The Game of Thrones (HBO) and 24: Live Another Day (Fox). Charles initiated the lobbying of the UK Government and played a leading role in the consultation process that resulted in the introduction of the UK TV High End Tax Credit. Charles was Executive Producer of films such as The History Boys, Venus, The Eagle and The Lady In The Van and established Wiggin EP to assist producers source funding and distribution for their projects.
Chris is a partner and media finance expert. He has worked in the media and entertainment sector for 25 years, focussing on the film, television and videogames industries . He has considerable experience in the financing of audio-visual content and companies in the sector. Chris represents Hollywood Studios, banks, private equity, government bodies, corporate and high net worth investors across the US, Europe, Asia and the Far East. Clients include Universal Studios, Sony Pictures, Comerica Bank, Union Bank, City National Bank, Bank of America and Netflix.
Chris is a Partner in Wiggin's Film & TV Group. The focus of his day to day work is advising LA based studios, networks, cable companies and new media platforms on UK and EU related production matters. Particular areas of expertise include advising on guild agreements in the UK entertainment industry and accessing the UK film and television tax credit. He also works with UK broadcasters, producers and talent advising on rights creation and acquisition as well as development, production and distribution. He has previously completed secondments at the BPI (British Phonographic Industry) and NBC Universal.
Chris is a partner in the Betting & Gaming team, concentrating on providing UK regulatory and compliance advice to various stakeholders in the online gambling and gaming industries. He specialises in all aspects of gambling law and has extensive legal, regulatory and commercial experience advising many of the world’s largest online and land-based B2C and B2B gambling businesses. He engages with stakeholders on a daily basis, whether they are operators, software suppliers, regulators, payment service providers, start-ups, investors or financial institutions. He also increasingly advises video gaming, esports, skill gaming and other related media and entertainment businesses and helps clients to navigate developments in regulation and self-regulation as their business models and practices evolve and converge with the regulated sector.
Ciaran is a partner in the Corporate group. With over 15 years’ experience advising on a variety of deals, Ciaran is a corporate adviser specialising in the technology, computer games and digital media sectors. He acts for all types of clients in the technology and media sectors, from leading companies to investors and entrepreneurs. He is experienced across a broad range of corporate transactions including M&A, venture capital, corporate venturing, joint ventures and reorganisations and frequently work on deals spanning multiple jurisdictions. He uses this experience to offer clients pragmatic and valuable advice throughout the process and to ensure transactions are closed successfully. He also leads the team that works with our corporate venturing partners Microsoft Accelerator and Wayra.
Daniel is a partner in the Film & TV Group and advises a wide range of film and television industry clients including financiers, producers, studios, sales agents and distributors. Daniel has worked on a series of structured international finance transactions involving Hollywood studios, networks and independent producers and a large number of single picture financings for banks, funds and producers as well as a broad range of television broadcast financings. In 2013 Daniel spent six months on secondment at Film Finances, Inc. in Los Angeles, working at the heart of many significant independent film transactions.
David is a partner and a member of our Corporate and Betting and Gaming groups. He advises clients on a full range of corporate and commercial matters, principally across the gambling and technology sectors, as well as providing general strategic advice. In terms of his corporate practice, David has a wealth of experience in advising companies across all aspects of their legal requirements, including private and public M&A transactions, joint ventures, fundraisings and re-organisations. Prior to joining Wiggin, David was General Counsel at a leading gambling software supplier.
David is a partner and specialises in media finance. He advises financiers, producers and distributors on all matters relating to the financing of the development, production and exploitation of films, television programmes, video games and music. In particular he advises on all production, financing and distribution documents including loan, security, completion guarantee, inter-creditor and distribution agreements and has extensive experience structuring complex international co-productions and financings (single picture, slate and library financings). David represents a number of the banks and funds active in the media sector.
Flora is a consultant in the Intellectual Property group and advises clients across all sectors on both contentious and non-contentious IP matters. Flora's contentious experience is broad and includes trade mark litigation, ISP blocking injunctions, copyright and licensing disputes, patent litigation, design right disputes and contentious matters involving confidential information. She has also worked extensively on the co-ordination of multi-jurisdictional litigation as well as commercial and advisory work including assisting with brand clearance and brand development issues, marketing and advertising law, advising on copyright and collective music licensing issues and working on a wide variety of commercial agreements. Before joining Wiggin, Flora worked in-house at PPL where she gained extensive experience of legal issues applying to collective management organisations in the recorded music sector and has also spent time on secondment at a computer games company and a global drinks brand.
Gordon is a Partner in the Telecoms group. He is an internationally recognised expert in telecoms and media with over 20 years’ experience in the space. He has a background of working in-house, including executive roles at one of the world’s biggest carriers. Gordon has provided strategic advice on many of the consolidations in the global telecoms sector in the last decade, either as a participant to the consolidation or as a challenger. His clients include FTSE100 telecoms operators and many other internationally recognised names in the telecoms space, as well as niche providers and industry challengers. He specialises in complex issues in market access, regulation of next generation telecoms services, and can also help with the specific data protection, retention and transfer issues telcos must consider, and has expertise in the legal framework in respect of content and broadcasting. He is highly experienced in competition law in the telecoms sector, having advised telcos and industry bodies in respect of several significant competition law cases, at both a UK and European level, and is increasingly working in the important field of litigation funding, having recently enabled a significant client to obtain funding for a portfolio of competition law actions across a number of European jurisdictions, in one of the first funding deals of its kind.
Gráinne is a partner in the Film & TV Group. For over 10 years Gráinne was Vice President, Legal and Business Affairs at the UK’s leading production company, Working Title Films. She was responsible for half of the highly successful WT film slate including, amongst others, the Bridget Jones and Nanny McPhee films, Love Actually, Atonement, United 93, Green Zone and Tinker Tailor. She supervised the launch and international roll out of the musical Billy Elliot, which has now been seen by over 10 million people across five continents and then advised on the establishment of WTTV Working Title Television. Most recently she has been working at NBCUniversal as the Head of Legal and Business Affairs for WTTV, overseeing the company’s recent productions, which include the ten part series for Sky1 You, Me and the Apocalypse, a five-part drama series for BBC2 London Spy, and the returning half-hour comedy series Yonderland.
Jas is a digital entertainment lawyer and business advisor specialising in video games, esports and tech. He can help with the legal, business and operational aspects of running a digital entertainment business and in particular deal negotiation, intellectual property exploitation, regulation and dispute resolution. Jas works with some of the leading digital entertainment businesses in the world, from major games developers and publishers to global esports teams and digital broadcast talent. He is co-author of the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s textbook on digital entertainment law and a contributing author to several other digital entertainment textbooks.
Jason is a partner and co-head of the Betting and Gaming group. He has been a leading adviser to the remote gambling industry worldwide for nearly twenty years and advises some of the largest gambling businesses on their commercial and regulatory affairs as well as media providers and financial institutions. Jason has a particular expertise in electronic betting and gaming, as well as all types of lotteries, competitions and promotions. He represents both the platforms and operators providing electronic gambling and also the brand and media owners who use remote gambling to monetise existing audiences. He advises upon the regulation and marketing of betting and gaming as well as the associated issues of distribution and sponsorship. Jason is a member of the International Masters of Gaming Law and sits on the Editorial Board of the World Online Gambling Law Report.
Jason is a Partner in the Corporate group advising clients across the firm’s key sectors, with a focus on technology, e-commerce and gambling. He advises clients on a broad range of corporate and company law matters including M&A, joint ventures, investments and fundraisings, and reorganisations. He is also a member of the firm’s Betting & Gaming group and, in addition to advising on a wide variety of corporate transactions in the sector, he acts for various stakeholders in the online gambling industry on regulatory matters.
John has over 15 years’ experience as a lawyer, with a broad practice covering all aspects of intellectual property and related issues, with particular focus on brands. His practice covers all aspects of brand management and protection, from advising on risk of using new brands or expanding existing use, through protection and registrations, including management on a global basis, to enforcement and dispute management. He manages and advises on both UK and international brand portfolios for a number of well-known brands in a variety of sectors, and advises on complex issues involving of disputes, enforcement, and related filing strategies in multiple jurisdictions. He has advised in many trade mark and passing off disputes and has particular experience running multi-matter enforcement programs against misuse of trade marks and copyright works, both domestically coordinating overseas. He also has a particular interest in parallel imports and exhaustion of rights. John has acted in the High Court (including shorter trials scheme), Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) and the UK IPO and the EUIPO (including appeals to the General Court of the EU) and in the European Court of Justice. He has helped clients coordinate customs enforcement actions to prevent counterfeit goods entering the UK and with international online takedown programs. He uses digital tools where available to gain insight into infringement activity, to help clients prioritise action and resource allocation, and inform protection strategies. John completed the Bristol University Post Graduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice in 2007, and won the AIPPI national award for the best young contribution for work in relation to trade mark dilution laws in 2010.
Matthew is an experienced litigation partner, specialising in contentious commercial matters and publication disputes in the media industry. He advises clients predominantly in the media, tech and sports industries. On the commercial front, Matthew advises on questions of contractual interpretation and related issues, boardroom fallouts, warranty, shareholder and joint venture disputes and responses to the misuse of confidential information. In the media and entertainment field, he advises film studios, national and international print media groups and broadcasters on high profile privacy and defamation actions, rights disputes and all other contentious issues arising in the sector. Matthew’s practice encompasses cross-border litigation, arbitration and other less formal dispute resolution mechanisms including advice on dispute avoidance: stress testing potentially difficult scenarios, helping clients gain early leverage in commercial matters and to best protect themselves from the risks of publication in the media space.
Medwyn is a partner specialising in television. Medwyn began acting for the UK independent television sector in the late 1980’s and continues to act for many of the leading television production companies, as well as for rights owners, writers, on-screen and production talent. He advises on all aspects of development, finance, production and distribution of television programmes, as well as sponsorship and broadcasting issues, and the exploitation of secondary and ancillary rights. Medwyn spent the first part of his career involved in UK and international corporate acquisitions and disposals before focusing on the television industry, and has been closely involved in a number of sales and acquisitions of television production companies.
Michael is a partner in Wiggin's intellectual property advising on the enforcement and exploitation of all forms of intellectual property, as well as competition law issues which frequently arise in IP matters. His clients hail from a variety of industry sectors, ranging from international fashion brands, multinational technology companies, computer games publishers, industrial and diversified product manufacturers and high-end interior furnishing retailers, to health food manufacturers, airline seat designers and cosmetics and toiletries suppliers. Michael has litigated IP cases in the English High Court, including the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC) (formerly the Patents County Court), the UK IPO and the EU IPO, as well as the Court of Justice of the European Union. He also regularly advises clients on the commercial exploitation of their IP rights. In particular, he has significant experience advising on, drafting and negotiating international franchise agreements, licences and other forms of distribution agreement.
Michael is a partner and co-head of the Media Corporate Group, and has more than 25 years' experience focused on the media and technology space. Michael is the go-to UK corporate adviser in the independent television production sector, where he has advised on over 100 investments and sales. His clients, whom he advises on a broad range of corporate and commercial issues, include household names in the television, film, sport, broadcast and digital and technology sectors. Michael is widely recognised as the leading UK corporate adviser in the independent television production sector, working on sales and acquisitions of companies within that space, as well as on the formation and funding of new production ventures for both creative talent and investors. He is also well-known for his work in the sport sector and is a member of the editorial board of World Sports Law Report.
Neil is a partner in the Film & TV group. Neil advises on all aspects of film and television production, finance and distribution. Neil advises film producers such as Bedlam Productions (producers of “The King’s Speech“) and DA Productions (producer of “Dad’s Army” feature film). Neil also advises TV production companies such as Eleven, Mammoth and Eleventh Hour. He also advises games giant Ubisoft, broadcasters such as Channel 4 and ZDF and distributors such as BBC worldwide. Neil co-heads the firm’s media finance practice advising a range of banks and funds and is described in Legal 500 as an “expert and leader in the media finance field”.
Patrick is a Partner in the Data Protection group. He is a highly experienced data protection expert with specialist knowledge across the Film & TV and Betting & Gaming sectors. He helps clients understand how data protection applies to their businesses and the most effective way to solve their privacy issues. He prides himself on providing commercially focused advice to clients and explaining complicated matters in a clear, jargon-free way. Whether you are a new business or an established multinational, you will need to consider GDPR and other data legislation. Patrick has advised on almost every aspect of data protection, from conducting audits to acting as the DPO for a FTSE 250 company. Patrick's Film & TV experience means that he understands the lifecycle of a production and the data protection issues that will arise – such as appropriate wording in a Casting Director’s agreement or collecting health data of talent for the purposes of obtaining production insurance. On the Betting & Gaming side, he works closely with our market leading gambling team and understands the regulatory obligations that operators face and how data protection fits into licensing requirements.
Paul is a partner who specialises in commercial transactions and regulatory issues relating to the cross-over of technology and entertainment, with a particular focus on the computer games industry. He has extensive experience of the contractual and copyright issues relating to content licensing and distribution through new media platforms and applications, including digital distribution, streaming and web-based services. Paul also advises on the regulatory issues relating to the creation and exploitation of digital entertainment products and services including age ratings, broadcast and telecom regulations, collecting society issues, data privacy, virtual currencies, e-commerce and betting and gaming regulations. He advises a number of leading computer games publishers, studios and other organisations in the computer games industry.
Rachel is a Partner in the Litigation group. She advises media clients in a number of sectors on a wide range of contentious media and commercial matters. Having been seconded to the BPI (British Recorded Music Industry) for six months, she gained invaluable experience of rights protection in a music industry context. Rachel was heavily involved in the Newzbin litigation in 2010 which established key precedents in relation to online copyright infringement. More recently Rachel has acted for the major Hollywood studios in cases that have developed precedents and procedures for obtaining injunctions requiring ISPs to impede access to online locations.
Ross is a partner in the content distribution and transmission group and head of the firm’s sport group. He acts for a number of leading broadcasters, distribution platforms and blue chip media businesses; providing advice in relation to the distribution of channels and programming via traditional broadcast means such as satellite, cable and DTT and the exploitation of content across more nascent internet and mobile platforms. Ross has also developed a particular specialism in relation to the creation, acquisition and exploitation of sports media and data rights. In addition, he advises on the end-to-end chain of transmission, negotiating arrangements with the technical service providers who provide the processes, infrastructure and delivery systems for the distribution of channels and content as well as with the sales houses and media agencies who sell the advertising around this content.
Sara is a partner in the intellectual property team, with over 20 years' litigation experience. Sara has a broad intellectual property litigation practice across all IP rights, with a significant patent practice across a wide range of technical fields, alongside her designs, trade marks and copyright disputes work. She has particular experience and interest in designs law and parallel import matters and, having started life as a general commercial litigator, is particularly adept at dealing with contractual matters and non-standard IP disputes. Sara litigates in the High Court, including under the pilot Shorter Trial Scheme, the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC), the registries (the UK IPO and the EUIPO) and the Court of Appeal, and has taken cases to Europe’s highest court, the Court of Justice of the European Union (the ECJ or CJEU), as well as coordinating with parallel litigation in other jurisdictions.
Sarah leads Wiggin’s advertising, marketing and sponsorship team and is also active in the digital, content distribution and sports sectors. Working for a number of global brands creating, marketing and distributing content across all platforms, Sarah not only understands the needs of clients in the business of developing and acquiring content, but also the complexities surrounding its exploitation and promotion. Sarah also advises on the technical arrangements required for the launch, hosting and operation of a range of media and online services. During her time at Wiggin, Sarah has spent time working as Legal Counsel at Manchester United Football Club where she was involved in a range of commercial sports arrangements, including sponsorship, licensing and media distribution. In addition, Sarah has been seconded to The Walt Disney Company, Virgin Media, Mercury Records (Universal Music Group) and the BRIT Awards; this allows Sarah to advise with a genuine understanding of the client viewpoint.
Sean is a partner and head of the Content Distribution and Transmission group, with a particular focus on the creation, acquisition, licensing and distribution of content via television, online, mobile and other digital platforms. Sean’s many years of experience provides a deep, end-to-end understanding of the commercial, contractual and regulatory issues that confront clients in this sector. Sean is also a director and co-founder of three European video-on-demand businesses and deals with all their content acquisition and platform/OTT regulatory and contractual requirements, as well as helping to formulate and develop their strategy.
Seth is a Partner in the Employment group. He has over 10 years of experience helping media and technology businesses with their HR needs. Seth provides practical and effective solutions to the executives, managers and HR teams that he works with as well as regularly dealing with complicated employment disputes. He will not stop until he is confident the best possible result has been achieved. He recently led the team’s work in relation to HR related Covid-19 advice which included advising all our major US studio and SVOD clients in this area.
Steve is a partner and the co-head of the Betting & Gaming Practice. Steve is a commercial, regulatory and technology lawyer. He concentrates on advising clients on all operational and regulatory aspects of their businesses, with a particular expertise in the infrastructure of on-line gambling and gaming industries. Steve acts for operators and suppliers alike by drafting, negotiating and advising on matters such as intellectual property, software licensing and development, white-label supply agreements and affiliate arrangements and advises on the regulatory aspects of corporate transactions and the corresponding issues affecting investors, lenders and intermediaries. Clients include operators, software suppliers, financial services providers, investors and, generally, stakeholders in the online gambling industry.
Sue is a partner and in the Tax group and has over 35 years of steering media and technology businesses through the maze of corporate tax. Internationally recognised as a leader in corporate tax, Sue has an exceptional range of experience advising corporates and entrepreneurs on all aspects of tax – from VAT to stamp duty, gaming duty to corporation tax, PAYE/national insurance to withholding tax. One particular focus is entrepreneurs and their investors – advising on their journey from start-up to exit to ensure their commercial aspirations are fully realised as tax efficiently as possible.
With over 25 years’ experience, Ted is recognised as a leading expert in international and European copyright law. His encyclopaedic knowledge of all things copyright and the content sectors as well as his commercial insights and deep understanding of the EU institutions, make him the go to adviser for industry organisations and companies navigating the complex legislative and regulatory environment at the international, EU and Member State levels. Ted, who is Head of the Brussels office, joined Wiggin in January 2013 from the Motion Picture Association in Brussels, where he was the General Counsel for Europe. He is known for assisting clients on issues related to policy, litigation, compliance and commercial transactions. Ted is admitted to the bar of Massachusetts, the Brussels Bar and is a solicitor in England and Wales.