Offices: London, United Kingdom

Geographical Areas of Activity

Nordic

For more than 30 years, our London lawyers have been at the forefront of the London legal scene when it comes to advising clients from Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark and Iceland or clients from outside the Nordic region wanting to undertake business there. Over the last decade, the team has grown rapidly and today consists of lawyers and tax advisors all of whom focus primarily on cross-border legal work, within our corporate and commercial, employment, litigation, private client, property or tax departments. In addition, we regularly advise on restructuring issues and generation planning in relation to family owned businesses.

Russia & Eurasia

We have senior London professionals who have been active for a generation or more in multinational firms – engaged in legal services in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Latvia, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, as well as the other newly independent states (NIS).

Several of our senior solicitors and lawyers have lived and worked in Russia and Central Asia as regional managing partners in global firms and practice groups. We have developed contacts and associations throughout the region in the legal, accountancy, banking, finance and business communities, as well as in governmental and regulatory agencies, and have served clients throughout the volatile transition of the legal systems throughout the former Soviet Union and its successor countries. Each of our Russian and CIS lawyers has established themselves as scholars in both high quality Western and regional educational institutions. All this has put us in a position to navigate Western clients through the intricacies of these emerging legal systems; and Russian, Kazak and CIS clients through the peculiarities of the ever dynamic Western markets.

Our experience in this region includes mergers and acquisitions; private and public equity and debt finance; upstream natural resource extraction and development; fund development, management and regulation; project finance; restructurings; privatisations; tax; commercial regulatory and legislative matters; international litigation and arbitration; and intellectual property.

Of note is our extensive experience in the energy, oil, gas, mining, technology, communications, construction and real estate sectors.

Eastern Europe

We have substantial experience to advise generally on all matters in Eastern Europe with excellent contacts within top local law firms, and detailed insider knowledge of cultural nuances required in association with our local counsel. Through the office’s membership of OASIS, (a lawyers organisation specialising in Eastern European contacts), and now in association with the McGuireWoods Consulting office in Romania, the London office can undertake transactions and assist in project managing matters in Eastern Europe, and in particular in the following countries: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.

During the last five years, transactions have included joint ventures for Western companies in Eastern Europe involved in industries including tobacco, mining and property development; a Hungarian property development project; investment in Polish property; a number of Eastern European projects have listed on AIM in London, and there have also been abortive AIM listings, including a Hungarian gold mine and an Eastern European property fund; assisting a Croatian bank on English law security documents including registrations in Cyprus and the BVI and involvement in a number of EBRD led infrastructure projects.

China

The London office offers comprehensive advice on China related matters, both inward and outward bound. Unlike other firms that are prohibited from practising Chinese law, we offer local Chinese law advice and produce opinion letters in accordance with Chinese law, with more than 300 Chinese qualified lawyers throughout our associated offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chengdu and Shijiazhuang.

With these resources and our own experience in Western regions, we offer unrivalled experience to clients wishing to do business in China, as well as Chinese companies doing cross-border business. Areas of experience include real property, mergers and acquisitions, private equity and corporate investment, intellectual property (filings and enforcement of rights), tax, finance, the establishment of wholly foreign-owned entities, the creation of joint ventures, and the conduct of litigation and arbitration.

Africa & the Middle East

Offering significant experience in Africa and the Middle East, we have represented clients before the courts and the financial authorities in Qatar and the UAE; and have worked extensively in the oil and gas, manufacturing and financial sectors throughout the region. We have also advised a leading high-end retail brand on franchise and distribution agreements in Kuwait, UAE and Saudi Arabia.

In Africa, our experience is primarily in the financial and natural resources sectors in Sub-Saharan and southern Africa. In northern Africa, our work has focused primarily on the financial and real estate and resort development sectors. We have also worked closely with several African governments, advising on anti-corruption related matters.

Spain, Portugal & South America

We are actively involved in close collaboration with other prestigious law firms in Spain, Portugal and Latin America in providing high quality multi-jurisdictional integrated advice for corporate and commercial, commercial litigation, real estate and private clients for these areas. We have particular experience in the sectors of financial institutions, retail, hotels, energy, family business, and governmental institutions.

Differences in the legal systems between these jurisdictions and the UK and the United States directly affecting our clients’ interests is explained using terminology that our clients understand. We are advising on property development in Brazil; carbon credits derived from rain forests in Brazil and the issue of Eurobonds; securitisation of financial services in Argentina; tax advice for expatriates in Uruguay; oil exploration in Guatemala (including listing on AIM); mining in Peru; and assisting in investment for expatriates in Spanish and Portuguese property.

India Sub-Continent & South Asia

Our first-hand knowledge of the Indian market allows us to advise and assist both Indian and multinational corporations with the seamless provision of services needed to meet the legal requirements of businesses, financial institutions and private clients. We have acted as lawyers on various types of inward and outward transactions, in a variety of areas including mergers and acquisitions, stock exchange related transactions and IPOs, commercial agreements, joint ventures, financing, corporate structuring, intellectual property, information technology, litigation, employment law, property and tax.