Alastair is a partner specialising in commercial IT and technology related matters and leads the firm’s Information Technology practice as well as its Fintech group. He has extensive experience in advising on large scale technology implementations, licensing, the use of cloud based solutions, outsourcing and development projects frequently in the financial services, insurance and telecoms sectors. Alastair also advises clients on data protection issues most commonly relating to the use and transfer of customer data (particularly in the context of the type of project referred to above) and has experience in the exploitation of intellectual property rights, particularly relating to software development, the use of open source software and websites. This also involves the support of corporate transactions in these areas, together with advising on linked transitional services arrangements. Alastair wrote and maintains the Thomson Reuters 'PLC' practice note on 'Outsourcing in the Insurance Sector' and publishes other similar work for Lexis PSL. He is also regularly involved in organising and speaking at Fintech related events in the UK and US.
Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP
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Lawyers
Andrew specialises in commercial property transactions, with particular emphasis on the investment, development and leisure sectors. He has wide ranging experience of funding developments, complex sale and purchase contracts conditional on planning, site assembly, re-financings, acquisitions, disposals and portfolio investment management. He also has expertise acting for occupational tenants on pre-lets, sales and leasebacks and portfolio management. His recent work includes: leading on the statutory transfer scheme to separate the legal property interests of Royal Mail and Post Office Limited across 150 properties; acting for an institutional pension fund on various investment asset purchases to a value of over £200m in the last three years, including leisure, industrial and retail property; acting for a national transport infrastructure company on redevelopment projects, including overage arrangements, for retail, leisure, office and residential purposes.
Andrij is a partner and head of the UK Competition Team. As well as obtaining merger clearances, defending clients under investigation for alleged competition law breaches and counselling clients on a wide variety of competition law issues, he deals with competition damages claims, competition disqualification orders, consumer protection enforcement cases, NSIA filings, state aid/subsidy control, procurement challenges and commercial litigation which involves competition defences or heads of claim. Cases include Firstgroup/ScotRail Phase II merger clearance, Toys and Games price fixing investigation, Servier – Perindopril pay for delay investigation, Argos & Ors v Samsung Electronics (UK) Limited & Ors competition damages claim, Eurotunnel v Secretary of State for Transport procurement claim, Tempus Energy & Ors v Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy State Aid JR, Rest & Play Footwear Ltd v George Rye & Sons Ltd standalone damages claim.
Charles is a partner specialising in infrastructure and project finance. He advises project sponsors, lenders and public sector authorities on project structuring, risk allocation and bankability aspects of projects across a broad range of sectors, including energy and defence. In addition to primary market work, Charles also advises on the acquisition and disposal of interests in project assets and on refinancings.
Chris specialises in commercial projects work with particular expertise in the energy sector. Chris spent six years in the energy and projects team at Herbert Smith, advising a range of companies, merchant banks and public sector clients in relation to a wide range of issues connected with the UK electricity and gas markets. The matters he has advised on range from large cross-border mergers and acquisitions to day-to-day advice on the terms of contracts with customers and suppliers. Chris has also spent six months on secondment to Eastern Natural Gas and Calor Gas.
Craig has 20 years’ experience in commercial property acting for a variety of clients, in a number of sectors. He specialises in all aspects of commercial property work, with a particular emphasis on property finance, regularly acting for a wide variety of lenders, insolvency practitioners, property receivers, public bodies, charities, education institutions, investors, developers and commercial clients. Recent experience includes acting for a client on a conditional sale to a supermarket chain, an option to acquire commercial premises, acquisition of a disused airfield, a sale and lease back of an office and factory complex, acquisition of a ship building facility and the purchase of a cemetery. Craig leads the 20 strong real estate team based in Plymouth and heads our property finance work nationally. He led on the property elements of the Game administration following the collapse of the retailer (which had over 600 shops) at Easter 2012.
David is the Head of the firm's national casualty liability and commercial & insurance recoveries teams. His experience covers employers’ and public liability, product liability, disease and motor claims. David deals exclusively with large loss and catastrophic claims, including brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputee cases and fatalities. He advises major insurers on the complexities of these types of cases and works closely with all parties to the claim to bring matters to a resolution. David's teams defend all types of personal injury and disease claims on behalf of insurers and commercial clients, as well as making subrogated and non-subrogated recovery claims.
Fiona is a Partner, Head of the Real Estate Business Group and sits on the Management Board. She specialises in Real Estate with a particular emphasis on advising corporate occupiers. She has over 20 years’ experience dealing with acquisitions and disposals of investment, retail and industrial property, landlord and tenant issues and general estate and portfolio management. She is responsible for the provision of the firm’s Real Estate Services across a spectrum of specialisms and sector expertise.
James is a partner and head of the firm’s property litigation team. He specialises in dispute resolution involving contentious commercial property matters, advising a broad range of clients (both landlords and tenants) in all aspects of contentious commercial property. Particular areas of expertise include dilapidations; service charges; restrictive covenants and easements; rent reviews; contractual and development disputes; nuisance claims; complex contested lease renewals; insolvency related disputes; contested rating appeals and boundary disputes. He has published articles and lectures to clients and property professionals on a wide variety of property litigation topics.
James is a partner in the private capital team advising individuals and their families on tax, succession and estate planning issues. Much of his work is focused on UK resident and domiciled families interested in the long term preservation of inter-generational wealth. He helps with the mitigation of capital taxes through the use of suitable lifetime gifting strategies and the creation of Trusts and other asset structures. James also advises on the preparation of Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney. James has a strong international practice advising non-UK domiciled individuals on UK tax issues impacting them such as pre-UK arrival planning, the remittance basis of taxation, the ownership of UK real estate and the use of Excluded Property Trusts. He regularly advises the trustees of offshore trusts on the UK tax implications of having beneficiaries based in the UK. James has a specialist practice in US/UK estate planning. Typically, clients will be US citizens living in the UK (but they can also be US citizens living in the US with other connections to the UK such as property ownership or children in the UK). He also works with US qualified professionals to provide cross-border transatlantic estate plans mitigating taxes in both jurisdictions.
Described by the Legal 500 directory for 2021 as "a standout individual at her firm", with clients "immensely impressed with her professionalism and her very quick grasp of the situation", Jo advises on all aspects of employment law including organisational change, TUPE, discrimination, whistle-blowing, corporate transactions and employee terminations. Having trained and qualified at a global law firm, and spent many years based in London, Jo oversees legal matters for employers from first instruction onwards; managing costs, client team relationships, commercial imperatives and litigation strategy. She also provides senior executive clients in circumstances of conflict with advice focusing on optimising financial and reputational outcomes. Jo acts across industries and has undertaken a number of secondments, including in the technology and policing sectors. She trains management teams on employment matters, and for a number of years was the author of the Tolley's Loose-leaf Employment Law textbook chapters on Sex Discrimination, Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination, and Gender Reassignment Discrimination.
Jon is a partner specialising in health, safety and environment, whose work covers not only prosecution and enforcement action but also advisory work in relation to risk management, health and safety policies and due diligence in corporate transactions including advice on all aspects of health and safety. Jon’s practice encompasses all aspects of contentious and non-contentious health, safety and environmental issues including advising on formal investigations and prosecutions, advising on appeals against Notices and dealing with judicial review proceedings relating to health, safety and environmental issues. He regularly appears as an advocate before the criminal Courts and employment tribunals on health and safety matters. He also advises on formal investigations and Boards of Inquiry. He advises clients in the private and public sector, including on formal investigations by the Environment Agency and local authorities, criminal investigations and defending prosecutions, statutory nuisance proceedings on behalf of local authorities and others and advising on judicial review relating to environmental issues, particular in the nuclear industry. Jon and his team have been involved in many of the leading health, safety and environmental cases in recent years. He sits on the editorial Board of Lexis Nexis Health and Safety at Work magazine.
Jonathan is a partner and head of the planning and Infrastructure team. His expertise includes major infrastructure, compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), highways, town and country planning and compensation. Jonathan acts for several local authorities and commercial clients both promoting and opposing schemes including a retail and highway schemes for local authorities and a gas storage scheme requiring CPO powers. He has promoted a CCGT power station and offshore wind farms requiring Development Consent Orders and has acted for statutory undertakers making representations in connection with other schemes. He appeared as a Parliamentary Agent for a number of petitioners in the House of Commons on HS2 and represented some petitioners in the House of Lords. Jonathan acts on a number of Lands Tribunal compensation claims for both claimants and acquiring authorities. He also lectures regularly on CPOs & development and has written articles on both policy and legal issues. He is a council member of the National Infrastructure Planning Association. - See more at: http://www.legal500.com/firms/910-bond-dickinson-llp/offices/7971-bristol-england/lawyers/113284#sthash.C8C3gB6E.dpuf
Katherine specialises in commercial property with particular expertise in relation to acquisitions, disposals and regeneration and development work. She has broad experience in drafting and negotiating development agreements, building leases, occupational leases and other ancillary documentation. Katherine is also experienced in acting for both landlords and corporate occupier tenants in drafting and negotiating conditional agreements for lease, leases and other ancillary documentation required for all landlord and tenant relations. She advises numerous local authorities and public sector clients on their property needs. Recent work includes advising South Gloucestershire Council and the University of Bath on the acquisition of Bristol and Bath Science Park and advising the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Justice on their property portfolios.
Senior Counsel Mark has extensive experience of advising high net worth individuals, banks and trust companies on inheritance and capital gains tax planning. He acts principally for families advising on protecting assets and ensuring that they pass to the next generation tax efficiently through wills and trusts. Mark acts as trustee for many family trusts. He also advises individuals on tax efficient giving to charities and acts for charities on a wide range of issues, including governance and charity Commission regulation.
Nikki is a Partner and has specialised in Commercial Property since 2005. She assists Craig Moore in leading the Plymouth Real Estate Team. She acts for a number of high profile regional clients and has a wealth of experience in landlord and tenant work including commercial freehold and leasehold acquisitions, disposals and property management work for a wide variety of large developer and investor landlords. Nikki provides seamless project management experience in leading multidisciplinary teams of lawyers on large corporate share and asset acquisitions and disposals and has led and won a number of successful client pitches in the last year "virtually" during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is the “go to” Real Estate touchpoint for the South West Corporate Team. She leads a core, skilled team to drive this forward efficiently and making use of technology. Nikki develops and grows strong, close collaborative working relationships with colleagues and continually recruits, leads, trains, supports and develops juniors. Recommended Lawyer in the Legal 500 2022.
Philip is a partner in the banking and financial services team. He has extensive experience advising both lenders and borrowers on a range of acquisition, asset, development, real estate, structured and project finance transactions. Philip advises on structuring, risk allocation and security/collateral issues. Philip specialises in complex financing transactions in the financial services sector. His capital markets, investment/treasury products and derivatives expertise provides specialist support for a number of financial institution and other clients.
Richard is a partner in the planning and infrastructure team. His expertise includes town and country planning, judicial reviews and statutory challenges, compulsory purchase, highways, and the consenting of major infrastructure projects. Richard has advised on successful development consent order (DCO) applications for rail, biomass and offshore wind projects and is currently advising a consortium of local authorities on their DCO scheme for restoring passenger services to a local railway and several major road schemes.
Senior Counsel Robert has extensive experience of acting for a range of both individual and institutional farmers and landowners in relation to agricultural and rural matters. These include estate management issues, landlord and tenant matters, sales, purchases and lettings and a particular bias towards acting for landowners wishing to maximise development opportunities and to secure other income streams from land.
Sasha is a partner in the property disputes team and specialises in dispute resolution involving all aspects of property management and general commercial property disputes. Sasha has particular expertise in commercial landlord and tenant disputes and strategic management of national portfolios (including complex 1954 Act opposed and non-opposed lease renewals, dilapidations, rent reviews, consents and termination). Other areas of specialism include development disputes, rights of way, restrictive covenants, rights of light, boundaries and title disputes and advising on the construction and implementation of option agreements and overage. Sasha acts for a wide range of household names in several sectors including retail, developers and investor, energy and transport. She also advises numerous public sector clients, acting for several local authorities and leading on property disputes work for the Ministry of Justices' national portfolio.
Simon is Senior Counsel in the firm's corporate finance team and has led many major corporate transactions and projects. Simon advises on a broad range of corporate matters, but mainly M&A transactions, joint ventures, private equity investments, acting for investor, company or management, and corporate reorganisations. Whilst Simon has advised on a diverse range of businesses, he has particular energy sector, and oil and gas, expertise. Simon regularly advises on cross border and international transactions.
Simon is a partner specialising in real estate with particular reference to infrastructure development work. He leads the firm’s energy and natural resources real estate team and has extensive experience of project development work in relation to both renewable energy and conventional power generation projects, including CCGT power stations and lengthy linear schemes for both gas pipelines and electricity cables. Simon acts for numerous public and private companies and currently has instructions involving various clean energy technologies including onshore and offshore wind, biomass, solar, waste to energy and wave as well as conventional power projects.
Stephen is a partner specialising in commercial litigation. He leads the commercial litigation team in the South West. Stephen deals with complex, heavyweight disputes, based on giving clear, concise and commercial advice to our clients that adds real value to their businesses. He makes extensive use of ADR, mediation and creative fee structures (including the use of litigation funding, discounted Conditional Fee Agreements, ATE insurance and fixed fees) and sharing the litigation risk with our clients to set us apart from our competitors both nationally and in the City. His experience includes supply chain disputes, IT disputes, breach of contract, stock and asset recovery, guarantee claims, fraud, misrepresentation, advice on directors duties, insolvency disputes, banking and FI litigation and shareholder claims.
Tim is a partner in the employment team. He has a wide range of experience spanning the whole human resources spectrum. He has significant experience advising on employment tribunal litigation, Board disputes, business protection actions, union and collective consultation issues and high value/sensitive discrimination matters. He also has a wide range of commercial experience, including transactional, strategic and day-to-day Human Resources support. He has overseen a number of major reorganisation and redundancy projects in a number of different industry sectors. Tim qualified as a pensions and employee incentives lawyer at Allen & Overy. He worked in the City between 1993 and 1997 and this experience gives him the ability to advise on matters which overlap between employment and pensions disciplines. Tim edited the employment chapter in Jordans Secretarial Administration for five years and speaks regularly at training events.
Tom is a corporate partner with specialist private equity, insurance and real estate experience. He works for a number of international, national and south west clients including: private equity investors such as LDC and Piper; insurance clients such as Arch Insurance and Howden Broking Group; property investors such as Moorfield Group; and many south west businesses. Recent work includes acting for: LDC on its investment in digital media company Hybrid; Piper Private Equity on its £33m investment in pet accessories brand Omlet; Arch Reinsurance on its acquisition of Somerset Bridge and Southern Rock from shareholders including Arron Banks; Howden Broking Group on its acquisition on Medical Professional Risk Solutions; Moorfield Group on the £102m sale of a logistics portfolio to Carlyle and ARA Dunedin; Definition Capital on the sale of East London Hotel to Avelios and Crestline; the shareholders of Taste Connection on a sale to Nactarome, backed by Ambienta; and NCR on a significant acquisition
Tom is a Partner in the Banking team advising on a broad range of finance transactions, principally acting for institutional lenders and corporate borrowers. Tom's specialism includes acting for lenders and borrower in real estate finance transactions, including real estate investment and development financings. He also acts for lenders and developers on renewables finance projects, including onshore wind farms and waste to energy projects. In addition, Tom advises on security and intercreditor issues and advisers private investors (including private equity funds) on security and funding arrangements. Tom has completed two secondments with HSBC UK Bank plc, including as Acting Senior Legal Counsel for Real Estate Finance in 2020/2021. Tom's clients include Lloyds Bank plc, Bank of Scotland plc, HSBC UK Bank plc, Ashfield Land and the Eagle One group.
Vicki is a partner in the planning and infrastructure team, specialising in all aspects of contentious and non-contentious planning matters. Vicki’s expertise covers planning, environmental, highways and compulsory purchase law. Vicki has advised on many regeneration and infrastructure schemes, including negotiating complex planning and highway agreements. Recent experience includes advising on judicial review and statutory challenges; advising at called-in and recovered appeals advising on planning enforcement matters, the submission and examination of a number of DCO applications for offshore wind, CCGT, biomass and transport related schemes, and providing strategic advice on mixed-use and housing schemes across the country. Vicki also advises on Neighbourhood Planning including Neighbourhood Development Orders.