Mishcon de Reya LLP

Drawing upon a deep pool of talent across London, Cambridge and Oxford, following the recent merger with Taylor Vinters, Mishcon de Reya LLP  provides a ‘practical, commercial and very cost-effective’ service to clients attracting and deploying capital in the innovation economy. Although the firm handles work through the funding cycle, it is best-known for its early stage prowess, where it has ’the flexibility to understand the idiocyncracies of earlier-stage businesses’. Appreciated for his ‘conscientious and hands-on approach’, Cambridge-based Chris Keen remains pivotal to the firm’s success in the space and has built up a strong reputation in the field, including as it relates to university spin-outs, an area that, according to one client, he ’has a better knowledge than anyone else’. Erika McIntyre is also very adept at handling early stage work for both investees and investors, with a level of ‘strategic thinking allowing her to align legal strategies with clients’ business objectives’. London-based Hayley Cross, who combines ’practical, commercial advice with excellent legal knowledge’, is also a key member of the team and has been pivotal to growing the firm’s offering beyond its Cambridge roots. Charles Fletcher co-heads the team alongside Keen and has ‘a fantastic knowledge of EIS funds’.