The Legal 500

Within Commercial contracts, tier 5

The UK-wide commercial group at Osborne Clarke is ‘willing and pleasant’ and has ‘a strong team ethos’. Led by Paul Gardner, it is sole legal adviser to Western Power Distribution and recently advised on procurements ranging from the purchase of helicopters to electricity distribution, with a total value in excess of £100m. It also advised The Environment Agency and Everything Everywhere. The ‘fantastic’ Lara Burch is recommended; she ‘listens, and tailors advice accordingly’.

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Within Corporate tax Corporate tax

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Within EU and competition EU and competition

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Within Financial services, tier 5

‘Innovative firm’ Osborne Clarke is noted for its experience in the areas of securities regulation, payments advice and FSA investigations. The ‘technically proficient’ David Blair, who joined from Addleshaw Goddard LLP, heads the regulatory practice.

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Within Flotations: small and mid-cap, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

Osborne Clarke’s team, under Adrian Bott, is ‘excellent on tight timetables, practical and responsive’, with the ‘always flexible’ Jonathan King and Patrick Graves also standing out. King advised Allenby Capital on Jellybook’s AIM IPO, while Graves represented WH Ireland on the £14m admission to AIM of Wessex Exploration.

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Within M&A: mid-market, £50m-£250m, Osborne Clarke is a second tier firm,

Adrian Bott’s team at Osborne Clarke advised on 48 deals in 2011, an impressive deal flow largely attributable to its strong sector focus and near-exclusive concentration on mid-market transactions. Highlights included advising Wirecard AG on its acquisition of Newcastle Business Society’s prepaid cards business, and Allegis Group on its acquisition of UK-headquartered recruitment company Aston Carter Group.

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Within Partnership Partnership

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Within Private equity: transactions, tier 7

Osborne Clarke has a ‘very pragmatic and commercial approach’ on mid-market deals, and advises clients such as LDC and Inflexion.

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Within Venture capital, Osborne Clarke is a first tier firm,

Jointly headed by the ‘pragmatic and experienced’ Matthew Lewis and the ‘responsive and client-focused’ Rob Wood, Osborne Clarke’s seven-partner team provides a ‘very practical’ service to an investor-based client list active across sectors including digital business, online gaming and energy. Wood recently advised Imperial Innovations and Invesco Perpetual on their £40m investment in Nexeon. The ‘creative and dependable’ Greg Leyshon and Mike Turner, who ‘has excellent knowledge of the digital business sector’, are also recommended. Clients include Foresight, Bridges Ventures, and Amadeus Capital Partners.

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Within Fraud: civil, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

The ‘insightful’ Adrian Lifely leads a ‘strong’ team at Osborne Clarke. It has been advising Grant Thornton as liquidators of Global Roaming in the investigation of an international MTIC fraud involving up to 20 companies. Senior associate David Kendell is also recommended.

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Within Gaming and betting, tier 4

Nick Johnson at Osborne Clarke recently advised Facebook in relation to gambling advertising.

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Within Commercial litigation, tier 5

Simmons & Simmons LLP’s team head Ian Hammond provides ‘commercially realistic advice’. The team advised the representative respondents for the unsegregated class of LBIE client money creditors, successfully defending a judgement at Supreme Court level. The firm is active across corporate crime matters, IP disputes, and insurance and professional risk litigation, and is noted for contentious anti-trust matters. Colin Passmore, Robert Turner, Nick Benwell, Philip Vaughan, Christopher Braithwaite, Richard Bunce, Caroline Hunter-Yeats and Marc Thorley are experienced litigators. Ed Crosse, who ‘quickly creates relationships with clients’, joined from Osborne Clarke.

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Within Acquisition finance, tier 6

At Osborne Clarke, ‘commercially attentive’ team head Hugh Jones has a good reputation for smaller and mid-market domestic deals, for both banks and sponsors. The team was bolstered by the arrival of Dominic Ross from Taylor Wessing LLP.

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Within Asset finance and leasing, tier 7

The arrival of the ‘very practical and commercial’ Clive Smith from DLA Piper UK LLP was a fillip for Osborne Clarke, on the rail finance side; he ‘lives and breathes the rail industry and knows it backwards’.

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Within Investment funds Investment funds

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Within Employee share schemes, tier 5

Karen Cooper is recommended at Osborne Clarke.

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Within Employment: employers and senior executives, tier 4

Osborne Clarke has an ‘approachable’ team which ‘punches above its weight’. Department head David Cubittis ‘first class’ and ‘tactically and commercially astute’, and Richard Brown is ‘impressive’, providing ‘tailored advice in a no-nonsense way’. Its impressive following includes Nomura International, Lazard, Eurostar, Marks & Spencer, and Crédit Agricole; it recently advised the latter in the leading case on career loss of earnings.

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Within Health and safety, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

Osborne Clarke has ‘a highly specialised niche practice’, and provides clients with a ‘Rolls-Royce service’. Its client base spans the utilities, infrastructure, electricity distribution and construction sectors. It recently assisted Western Power Distribution in relation to fishing activities by a local business near power lines. Senior associate Andrea Tithecott and Richard Bretton are both ‘outstanding’.

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Within Pensions, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

CMS Cameron McKenna LLP is recommended for its ‘seamless fusion of technical pensions expertise and litigation know-how’. The firm advised on the pre-pack insolvency of the Silentnight Group, and oversaw the merger of six schemes into a new scheme set up by Honeywell. New client wins included Barclays and Sainsbury’s. The firm also acted in the Stena Line v MNRPF Trustees case and the Pilots litigation. Pensions group head Nigel Moore is recommended for ‘his ability to clearly and succinctly articulate the law, and formulate and execute strategy rapidly’. Mark Atkinson is ‘one of the best technical pensions lawyers around’. Mark Grant is ‘unrivalled in any matter involving black-letter pensions legal knowledge, and litigation strategy’. Neil Smith ‘always has his eye on the big picture, is a tough negotiator, and is terrific at making the right calls at the right time’. In 2011, the firm hired James Parker and Mike Munro from Barlow Lyde & Gilbert LLP, to set up a new life, pensions and longevity risk group. Keith Webster and Rebecca Smith left the firm, to join Osborne Clarke and RPC respectively.

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Within Product liability: defendant, tier 5

Osborne Clarke’s product regulation team, led by Catherine Wolfenden, acts for a number of leading brands on product liability and compliance issues, among them Nintendo UK, Energizer, Imperial Tobacco and BOSE.

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Within Mining and minerals, tier 5

Osborne Clarke has recently expanded work for its primarily private investor clients to include investment into Africa and South America. Mining group head Alex Worner advised CD Capital on its $25m investment in a potash mine in Brazil.

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Within Oil and gas, tier 7

Osborne Clarke recently advised Nighthawk Energy on a £15m placing and convertible loan note issue to acquire a further 25% working interest in its existing Jolly Ranch oil project in Colorado, USA.

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Within PFI and PPP, tier 6

Osborne Clarke advised Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited on the construction of an energy-from-waste facility at HM Naval Base Devonport, and remained active in defence and blue-light projects.

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Within Power (including electricity, nuclear and renewables), tier 5

Maintaining a longstanding reputation in renewables, Osborne Clarke also has an impressive roster of utilities clients, among them British Gas. Team head David Ferris is recommended.

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Within Water, tier 5

Osborne Clarke’s litigation team continues to act for Thames Water in a large group action relating to Mogden sewage works. Recent work also includes advising a water technology company on its joint venture with an international services company to sell a new product.

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Within Healthcare, tier 5

Janita Good’s team at Osborne Clarke advises NHS, private sector and PPP clients, among them Bromley PCT and Monitor.

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Within Commercial property, Osborne Clarke is a first tier firm,

Osborne Clarke ‘provides an excellent, commercial service’. Work highlights included advising Topland on the acquisition of Brighton Metropole. Kathryn Reid leads the team, which includes the highly regarded Colin Kearney and Nadine Strahl, and associate William Gay, who has ‘all the necessary qualities of command and dedication’. New arrival Rajindh Mangat, who joined from Norton Rose LLP, ‘provides a truly first-class service’.

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Within Construction, tier 5

Osborne Clarke’s national construction team is now headed by London-based Philip Davies. It regularly acts on the construction of headquarters for blue-chip clients. Other recent work includes acting for Mercon Steel Structures in a £10m final account claim.

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Within Environment, tier 4

Osborne Clarke provides ‘very commercial advice’, with practice head Brian Greenwood noted as ‘a star in this field’. The team is acting for Thames Water in a group action (with over 1,000 claimants) concerning Mogden sewage treatment works, and is also advising on the Gwynt y Mor wind farm project off the coast of North Wales.

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Within Planning, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

In a busy year, the team at Osborne Clarke acted for Associated British Ports in transactions relating to the ports of Southampton, Hull and Newport; defended two judicial reviews brought against Asda by competitors; and advised City of London (among others) on the Spitalfields Market redevelopment. Brian Greenwood heads the planning team, which is based across London, Bristol and Thames Valley.

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Within Property finance, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

Osborne Clarke provides ‘an excellent commercial service’. Key clients include RBS, HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group. Ian Wilkinson and Madeleine Clark are recommended.

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Within Property litigation, tier 4

Osborne Clarke has experience including vacant possessions and rights of light disputes linked with developments in London. Gary Lawrenson has ‘very good knowledge of the field’ and is ‘extremely thorough’, and Leona Briggs is also recommended. UNITE Group plc is a client.

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Within Brand management, Osborne Clarke is a second tier firm,

Osborne Clarke’s Stephen Groom acts for media sector clients and brand owners on advertising and marketing issues, while Nick Johnson advises on advertising and sponsorship.

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Within Data protection, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

Valued for its ‘hands-on, creative approach’, Osborne Clarke has a focus on the technology, energy and financial service sectors. James Mullock, who has longstanding expertise in data privacy matters, recently advised Everything Everywhere on a mobile payment service launch and represented several water companies in SmartSource v ICO, which involved freedom of information issues. The team also handled cross-border compliance projects and data transfer issues for clients such as Motorola Solutions and Dell.

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Within Franchising Leading individuals

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Within Intellectual property, tier 4

Osborne Clarke’s Theo Savvides continued to defend Marks and Spencer plc in a Google AdWords trade mark infringement claim brought by Interflora, and also advised Biome on patent litigation and transactional matters. Other highlights included advising Nintendo on licensing arrangements, and assisting Expedia with pan-European copyright and trade mark issues.

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Within IT and telecoms, Osborne Clarke is a third tier firm,

Osborne Clarke is noted for its involvement in outsourcings and projects, including cross-border matters. Practice head Angus Finnegan advised P&O on a £15m outsourcing agreement with Getronics; and Simon Rendell acted for Everything Everywhere on a mobile payments joint venture with Vodafone and O2. Other highlights included advising Motorola on the UK aspects of the sale of its wireless network business to Nokia Siemens Networks. Dell, Acision, Vodafone and Virgin Media are also clients.

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Within Media and entertainment, Osborne Clarke is a first tier firm,

Osborne Clarke’s ‘commercial, pragmatic’ practice is underpinned by the wider firm’s expertise in technology and advertising. Marquee clients include Facebook, Motorola, Netflix and News International. Nick Johnson provides advertising, marketing, sponsorship and digital marketing advice. Reading-based Mark Webber advised creative agency TH_NK, and head of digital business Mike Turner attracted new client Virgin Media. Head of interactive entertainment Paul Gardner is ‘commercial, helpful and prompt’, and advised Nintendo on launching the hand-held 3DS. Ray Berg’s publishing team advises on print and digital media. Privacy expert Sue Gold joined from Disney.

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Within Media finance, Osborne Clarke is a second tier firm,

Paul Gardner, head of Osborne Clarke’s interactive entertainment team, advised on the establishment of two games funds for Fund4Games and Standfast Vision; advised game developer Two Way Media on the financing of various mobile and interactive TV games; and advised Ukie, the trade association for UK interactive entertainment publishers, on an initiative to facilitate crowdfunding in the UK.

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Within Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, tier 4

At Osborne Clarke, Reading-based practice head Janita Good leads on transactional matters, including cross-border deals such as Takeda Pharmaceuticals and Takeda Ventures’ £65m global collaboration agreement with Heptares. The team also advised Kowa Optimed on restructuring its European business. Theo Savvides advises on IP matters for clients such as OraSure and Biome.

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Within Rail, tier 4

The ‘dedicated, professional team’ at DLA Piper UK LLP has ‘excellent knowledge of the regulatory and contractual framework governing the rail industry’. It advised Agility Trains on a multibillion-pound project to replace the existing fleet of high-speed trains on the East Coast Main Line; and assisted Kenya Railways in the renegotiation of its railway concession for passenger and freight services in Kenya. Paul Hirst heads the rail practice and has ‘excellent industry knowledge’, and Colin Wilson is also recommended. Clive Smith recently joined Osborne Clarke.

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