England - London • Corporate and commercial
Goodwin
Goodwin is a strong choice for clients across the real estate, technology and life sciences arenas, who seek out the ‘outstanding’ team of M&A lawyers for its ’deep sector knowledge’ and ‘global experience.’ The team frequently acts for clients on the buy and sell side in a full spectrum of transactions including divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, spinoffs, joint ventures and stock deals. The group of lawyers heading up the practice include: Graham Defries, who also co-chairs the firm’s UK life sciences team; the ’extremely competent’ David Mardle, who offers significant experience in M&A and capital markets in relation to technology, life sciences and emerging companies; James Spence, who is a specialist in domestic and cross-border real estate M&A and investment transactions; and the ‘remarkable’ Andrew Davis, who attracts praise from large corporates and venture capital investors in the life sciences, technology and media sectors. Other key figures include Ali Ramadan, Adam Thatcher, Raymond Fang and Kenny Walker-Durrant. Venture capital, M&A and private equity practitioner, Richard Bloomfield, is also recommended.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Highest caliber people with a very sophisticated approach to transactions.'
- 'Graham Defries is simply the best. He is sharp, reads the room well, hugely experienced and advises clients on all aspects of the transaction.'
- 'Having worked with Goodwin for a number of years they demonstrated a strong understanding of our business combined with a depth of M&A experience.'
- 'Adam Thatcher is a very strong technical lawyer and understanding, giving confidence in terms of process and execution. Richard Bloomfield also has a good technical understanding and good project management abilities to ensure delivery of collateral to schedule.'
- 'Goodwin have an outstanding M&A team with global experience and reach. They are particularly strong on UK-US transactions. They are fast, efficient and available whenever needed and they find solutions to even the most intractable-seeming problems. They are superb.'
- 'Andrew Davis is just remarkable. He has a huge amount of expertise and is a joy to work with. In any transaction 101 different issues are going to emerge and he just steers you through them all with confidence, charm and humour.'
- 'The team led by David Mardle is extremely competent and made the entire process much easier for us. David Mardle had been highly recommended by our M&A advisory team. We found the legal advice on aspects of long-standing contracts to be of high quality. It was reassuring to have the assistance of a great legal team behind us during the transaction, covering all aspects fast and diligently. We felt that with David Mardle, Adam Thatcher and their team, we were very well looked after. We would have no hesitation in recommending their services or indeed, using them again.'
- 'Deep sector knowledge and a large, experienced team that know the market and market norms.'
Key clients
- Biocon Biologics Ltd
- Ducentis BioTherapeutics Ltd
- DJS Antibodies Ltd
- MiroBio Ltd
- ReViral Limited
- Play Ventures Pte Limited
- Backed 2 GP Limited
- Codeplay Software Limited
- Symphonic Solutions Limited
- Profile FSH Limited
- FARO Technologies, Inc
- Knowledgemotion Limited
- Future Health Works Ltd
- Frogmore
- Kennedy Wilson
- Citymapper
- OKRA.ai
- Mayfair Equity Partners
- HUMA Therapeutics
Work highlights
- Advised Biocon Biologics Ltd. on its US$3.335 billion acquisition of the global biosimilars business of its partner Viatris Inc.
- Advised Citymapper Ltd on the sale of its entire issued share capital to Via Transportation, Inc.
- Advised global real estate investment manager Kennedy Wilson on the acquisition of a portfolio of logistics assets located in the United Kingdom from Leftfield Advisors for a purchase price of c.£228 million.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Graham Defries, David Mardle, James Spence, Andrew Davis