Withers LLP

James Shaw

James is a partner in the corporate team and a leading transactional venture capital lawyer, advising entrepreneurs, companies and investors through the funding life-cycle. James is a partner in the corporate team and a leading transactional venture capital lawyer, advising entrepreneurs, companies and investors through the funding life-cycle. He was the co-founder of tech law firm JAG Shaw Baker which merged with Withers to create a new legal offering, Withers tech, in 2018. James has two decades of experience helping entrepreneurs, high-growth technology based companies and investors navigate their way through multiple rounds of financing, growth, scale-up and exit/liquidity events. He's ranked as a recommended lawyer for Venture Capital in the 2017 edition of the Legal 500. James is considered to be one of the leading University spin-out lawyers for life sciences companies and he actively advises on spin-out activity from several of the leading Universities in the UK and Scotland including Oxford and Cambridge University. James works as a mentor and speaker with the Oxford Foundry, part of Oxford University's incubator initiative for past and present students. As a close adviser to many companies and investors, James also acts as Outside General Counsel to a number of innovative science-based companies and is an adviser to Parkinson's UK Biotech Business Group. And through the combination of innovation and other practice areas, James is helping to drive firm-wide Global initiatives to address the rapidly changing landscape of more traditional sectors such Real Estate, Hospitality, Sports and Fashion and Luxury Brands. James is a graduate of both St Andrews University (BSc Hons) and Edinburgh University (LLB), and is passionate about innovation and the environment. As a Scottish qualified lawyer, James also holds a committee position on the Society of Scottish Lawyers in London and is a Writer to Her Majesty's Signet.

Iain Cockburn

Iain is head of Withers tech innovation and client delivery. He has a specialist practice advising venture capital investors and venture-backed companies operating in the innovation economy. Iain has over ten years' experience advising investors, companies and founders on venture capital financings, from seed stage through to later stages, with a particular focus on companies scaling up at the Series A/B stage and beyond. Iain also advises on other types of transaction commonly used in the industry, including convertible bridge rounds (Safes; ASAs; convertible notes), venture debt transactions, and venture-backed M&A. Iain has worked alongside Susanna Stanfield as part of the team that was involved in the publication of the British Venture Capital Association model form documentation for Series A financings, and coordinates the technology and venture capital special interest group within the firm.