The corporate and commercial group at Ashtons Legal is led from Ipswich by Geoff Hazlewood but its Norwich office is home to an experienced group of partners whose work spans key sectors regionally and nationally. Franchising specialists Damian Humphrey and John Chambers, who increasingly work for franchisees as well as franchisors, have a nationally recognised practice. CEO James Tarling helped establish the firm's presence in the technology sector, and corporate transaction specialist Richard Bailey is a key adviser to national and international trade organisations and associations. Senior associates Mark Watson and the 'friendly and diligent' David Sloman also play key roles in the practice.
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Vast experience and very knowledgeable and professional in their dealings.’
‘Mark Watson - very easy to deal with and gave me comfort that our interests were well considered. With all legal advisors, we need to have a level of trust in our advisors and with Mark, we had this.’
‘They have been very supportive throughout our start-up growth journey after we met them through a local accelerator helping to introduce us to other local businesses and providing advice on investment raising, intellectual property and corporate structure related queries.’
‘David Sloman is friendly and diligent and has been fantastic in liaising with external investors and financial advisors.’
‘Professional, personable and very helpful, explaining things in a simple and straightforward way! Quarterly meetings ensure that our billing is on track. The team do a lot of contract reviews for us and work very collaboratively to ensure the best outcome for our organisation. We would not consider using another company for our legal work.’
‘Mark Watson is our lead contact and incredibly knowledgeable and friendly in his approach and style working across various people in our organisation.’
Key clients
- Stow Healthcare Group
- Cosworth Group Client focus: Cosworth – Ashtons Legal Solicitors
- Medical Management Systems
- TaxAssist Group
- Signs Express
- Titan Motorsport & Automotive Engineering
- Camgrain
- xDNA Group Limited
- FO Ventures Limited (Flip Out)
- Quadrant Management
- Euston Ventures Limited
- Witnesham Ventures Limited
- Ubisend
- Tech Educators
- Gipping Construction
- Abbey International Finance Limited
- Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment
- Bowmonk Limited
- Akcela Ventures
- Bill Cleyndert & Company
- TryHackMe
- Hemp Innovations
- Natural Building Systems
- The Pixl Club
- Smartspace Software PLC
Work highlights
- Advising Abbey International Finance Limited on the sale of the UK operations carried out by one of its UK subsidiary OneAdvent by way of an MBO led by the UK managing director.
- Advised Tech Educators on the company’s SEIS investment round. Ashtons incorporated the company and advised it and the founders on its spin out from the Akcela business incubator, and have been acting for it ever since in all commercial legal matters across several departments.
- Advising a high performance automotive engineering company on long term technical development and supply agreements.
Lawyers
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Geoff Hazlewood