The Legal 500

The Bond Pearce Intellectual Property team have had a distinctly Potter-flavoured few months in the run-up to the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Having worked on the audio book production/licensing agreements for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince a couple of years ago, the team was drafted in again to advise on the new audio-books, read of course by Stephen Fry. There was an added complication this time around with the co-publication date for both the book and the CDs.

  Seven senior members of McGrigors’ Oil and Gas team are moving to join the energy experts at Bond Pearce, creating one of the largest Oil and Gas teams in UK private practice. The team will add impressive strength and range, extended international reach and will swell the high profile energy team at Bond Pearce to more than forty lawyers.

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has taken on a record number of trainees this year as the firm continues to invest in the development of talented young lawyers.

Twenty-one trainees have started with Bond Pearce having been selected from hundreds of potential applicants.

Bond Pearce trainees follow a structured two-year programme moving to a different practice area every six months to offer them as varied an experience as possible. And with 27 commercial practice areas available, the firm offers a wide range of choice.

Bond Pearce, which employs more than 700 staff and has main offices in Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Southampton and London, usually takes on around 15 new trainees a year, the vast majority of whom choose to pursue their careers with the firm once qualified.

Bond Pearce partner David Turner, who has been the firm's training principal for the last four years, said: 'Our record intake this year reflects the quality of our training programme and our continued investment in our people. Some 75% of our trainees go on to qualify with us which is a high retention rate and ahead of the industry average.

The corporate finance team at commercial law firm Bond Pearce has advised on one of its largest deals so far this year having acted for management on the disposal of online rail ticket retailer Trainline for £163 million.

The deal is the most significant corporate instruction from Virgin Group since Bond Pearce was appointed to its eight-strong legal panel in January. Richard Cobb, corporate finance partner and head of Bond Pearce?s media and technology sector, led on the deal.

Trainline was launched in 1999 and is being sold to Exponent Private Equity for £163 million. In the year to March 2006, the company sold some ?400 million worth of tickets and in addition to its own website, thetrainline.com operates retail websites for 16 of the UK's 21 train operating companies. The company employs over 91 people at its Edinburgh and London offices and a further 600 staff through outsourced deals with IT and call centre operators.

Richard Cobb said: "We enjoyed working with Neil Murrin, Head of Legal Services at Trainline and the management team on such a significant transaction in terms of value and complexity, which came hot on the heels of the £165m deal we completed for RWE NPower earlier this year. Our ability to regularly handle mid-market deals outside London is the result of having built a cohesive firm-wide corporate finance capability of the highest quality."

Alan Tomlin, CEO of Trainline who founded the company in 1999, said: "It was a pleasure to work with the commercially minded and committed team at Bond Pearce and to have confidence in their ability to handle a fast-paced and complex transaction such as this."

Travers Smith acted for Exponent and Herbert Smith acted for Virgin and National Express Group.

The transaction is the second major private equity deal handled by Bond Pearce in two months, following the sale of Orthogon Systems by Atlas Venture and Carlyle Group to Motorola Inc on which the firm acted in May. Earlier in the year Bond Pearce advised Allen and Heath, the world's leading manufacture of mixing desks, on a secondary management buyout and in April the technology team handled the £15m acquisition of Stratford-based Precision Antennas Limited on behalf of US-based global telecoms company Andrew Corporation.

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has announced a further addition to its rapidly growing energy team with the appointment of Chris Towner from the Projects and Energy group at City firm Herbert Smith.

Chris, who has worked for the UK electricity and downstream gas markets for a wide range of clients for the last eight years, including secondments to two energy companies, is based in Bond Pearce

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has appointed six of its solicitors to Associates, reflecting the firm

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has strengthened its growing corporate finance team in Southampton with the appointment of two new lawyers.

Ian Holden has joined as an associate from Lamport Bassitt having also worked for Ashurst and Herbert Smith, while Jonathan Lamb has joined as a solicitor from Beachcroft where he has worked since qualifying in 2002.

Stephen Pierce, head of Bond Pearce

The corporate finance team at commercial law firm Bond Pearce LLP has completed a

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has completed the relocation of its 250 Bristol staff to brand new landmark offices at 3 Temple Quay in the heart of the city.

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has been praised by the Law Society for providing a “first class” training programme for its trainee solicitors.

The firm, which employs more than 700 staff and has main offices in Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter, Southampton and London, takes on around 15 new trainees a year, the vast majority of whom choose to pursue their careers with Bond Pearce once qualified.

The Law Society recently visited Bond Pearce as part of its role in monitoring the quality of training provided and said the firm “had much to offer the profession at large.”

Following the visit, which included interviews with current trainees, the Law Society said: “It is clear that the firm has developed a first class training programme covering a wide range of work. The trainees indicated that they had specifically chosen to apply to the firm owing to its reputation both for quality work and quality training.

“The trainees are fortunate, as they themselves indicated, to be in a firm that values its staff and ensures a quality legal service to its clients.”

Bond Pearce partner David Turner, who has been the firm’s training principal for the last four years, said: “We’re delighted to have the quality of our training programme independently recognised in this way. We go to great lengths to ensure that our trainees qualify with the best possible legal, business and personal skills, and our high retention rate is testimony to that.”

Bond Pearce trainees follow a structured two-year programme moving to a different practice area every six months to offer them as varied an experience as possible. And with 31 commercial practice areas, the firm offers a wide range of choice.

The Law Society said of the programme: “It is clear that the firm provides high quality training and is committed to ensuring that trainees have a sound launch pad into the qualified world.

Each training centre in Bristol, Plymouth, Exeter and Southampton has a Trainee Partner and Associate who take responsibility for trainees, backed up by Bond Pearce’s in-house training team.

Bond Pearce currently has 15 first year and 14 second year trainees and welcomes applications from a diverse range of backgrounds.

Last year Bond Pearce became the first law firm outside London to sponsor the Global Graduates Diversity in Law Programme, which helps talented undergraduates from non-traditional backgrounds pursue a career in law.

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has been chosen as one of just three firms nationally to provide legal services to English Heritage for the next three years following a major panel review.

The appointment follows an excellent start to the year for Bond Pearce with the announcement in January that the firm had been appointed to the Virgin panel, and last month

The BBC has appointed Bond Pearce to deal with the bulk of its legal property work throughout England and Wales in what is a major new client win for the firm.

Bond Pearce was one of seven shortlisted firms

Victor Tettmar takes over as managing partner of commercial law firm Bond Pearce LLP on 1 February, following the decision by Simon Richardson to step down after seven years in the post.

Mr Tettmar joined Bond Pearce as a trainee in 1983 and has spent his professional career with the firm. A widely respected banking and restructuring lawyer, he was made Partner in 1991 and has been a Bond Pearce board member since 2000.

He is a past regional chairman of R3 (the Association of Business Recovery Professionals), Vice President of the Insolvency Lawyers Association and a member of its technical committee and is a licensed insolvency practitioner.

Mr Richardson, who has overseen substantial expansion and change at Bond Pearce over the last seven years, will head up Bond Pearce

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has strengthened its oil and gas team with the appointment of Vivien Gregory, a former senior legal adviser for the Petrofina Group for over 12 years, as a consultant.

Vivien, who is based in Bond Pearce

Bond Pearce is expanding its respected banking and restructuring team by recruiting as a partner, Adrian Owen, the head of the Companies and Regulation Team at the Treasury Solicitor.

Owen, who has been leading a large team dealing with public interest insolvency, judicial review, competition and regulatory issues, will be based in Bond Pearce

The corporate finance team at commercial law firm Bond Pearce has advised on an acquisition on behalf of Southampton-based Asfare Group, the specialist supplier of products and services to the emergency services market.

AIM-listed Asfare has acquired Todd Research Limited, based in Chelmsford in Essex, which specialises in the design, manufacture and supply of x-ray apparatus mainly for the interception of suspect mail.

Sebastian Briggs, corporate finance partner at Bond Pearce, who led on the Asfare deal with support from banking partner Graham Jeffries, said:

Law firm Bond Pearce has strengthened its commercial property department with the appointment of a new partner.

Nick Huddert has joined Bond Pearce from law firm McGrigors where he was a director for two years.

One of Nick's responsibilities will be to manage Bond Pearce's Exeter property team supported by partners Neil Stuart and Luke Gabb, and he will also work out of the London office.

Speaking about the appointment, Bond Pearce senior partner Richard Challands said: 'Nick is a very experienced commercial property lawyer with a specialism in landlord and tenant work and will be a great asset to the team.

'His connection with Bond Pearce property litigation consultant Vivien King, with whom Nick worked previously, also provides scope to extend the commercial property services we offer our clients.'

Nick said: 'Bond Pearce has a great reputation for its commercial property work locally, regionally and nationally and I'm particularly looking forward to developing our presence in the market as well as looking after existing clients.'

The employment law team at commercial law firm Bond Pearce has been appointed to provide a range of legal and consultancy services to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

The prestigious appointment followed a competitive tender where Bond Pearce was up against five other firms.

From this week Bond Pearce will act as the RNLI

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has completed a seven-figure investment deal for Plymouth-based Twofour Group, one of the largest broadcast television and corporate communications producers in the UK.

The investment from existing shareholders will allow Twofour to continue its impressive growth following its move to state-of-the-art new studios in Estover in May this year.

Bond Pearce advised the company on the corporate structure, contractual and property issues and employment aspects of the investment. Frank Gartland of PricewaterhouseCoopers advised on the tax structure. Richard Cobb, media and technology partner at Bond Pearce who worked on the deal with partner Tim Jackman said:

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has appointed Bristol-based banking and restructuring partner Victor Tettmar as managing partner following the decision by Simon Richardson to step down after seven years in the post.

Mr Tettmar, who has spent his professional career with the firm, is currently a Board member at Bond Pearce and is a widely respected restructuring lawyer.

He is a past regional chairman of R3 (the Association of Business Recovery Professionals), Vice President of the Insolvency Lawyers Association and a member of its technical committee and is a licensed insolvency practitioner.

The change will take effect from 1 February 2006 and will bring to an end a seven year stint for Mr Richardson as managing partner.

During this time he has presided over a period of impressive growth at Bond Pearce. Profitability has doubled and turnover has almost increased by the same amount. The firm has opened new offices in London and Edinburgh, relocated its entire Southampton operation to new purpose-built premises, and is planning to move its largest office, Bristol, to new flagship offices in the city centre in May 2006.

Senior partner Richard Challands said of Mr Richardson

Law firm Bond Pearce has launched a new helpline for members of the National Association of Disability Officers (NADO) to help them meet the very latest requirements of new and existing disability legislation in the further and higher education sector.

NADO is the professional organisation for disability and support staff in post-16 education involved in the management or delivery of services for students with disabilities.

The helpline offers NADO members direct access to Bond Pearce

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce LLP advised Chemring Group Plc on its recent acquisition of Troon Investments Limited. Troon, which trades as Nobel Energetics, is based in Ayrshire in Scotland and manufactures and supplies a range of pyrotechnic and propellant devices, mainly for the UK defence market.

Bond Pearce

The pressure is building to meet government targets of providing 10% of all electricity from renewable energy sources by 2010, with the UK

The Government is being warned that its regeneration agenda risks being seriously hampered unless there is urgent reform of compulsory purchase law.

The Compulsory Purchase Association (CPA), at its annual conference last week (June 23), unanimously agreed to campaign to ensure that the findings of two key Law Commission reports into CPO reform are adopted by Government.

CPA chairman Emrys Parry, who heads the planning and regeneration team at law firm Bond Pearce, is now setting up an industry working party to lobby Ministers for further change.

He said:

The specialist planning team at commercial law firm Bond Pearce has secured a

The specialist planning team at commercial law firm Bond Pearce continues to expand with the appointment of Richard Guyatt to Partner and the addition of Vicki Redman and Sara Wex.

There is now a team of 11 based at Bond Pearce

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has strengthened its real estate sector expertise by appointing three new partners in its property, construction and planning teams respectively.

Tim Burbidge, David Skelton and Richard Guyatt have all been associates with Bond Pearce and their promotion brings the firm

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has completed a $20 million deal on behalf of Gaming Corporation plc, owner and operator of the UK's number one online gaming website.

Gaming Corporation, which is listed on the Alternative Investment Market, has bought Jersey-based Newbold Enterprises Limited, owner of Gambling.com, the world's biggest casino, poker, and sports betting portal.

Bond Pearce's media and technology partner Richard Cobb led on the deal for Gaming Corporation, the consideration for which was satisfied through a combination of cash and shares.

Richard said: 'This is the third deal we have completed for Gaming Corporation in the last 12 months and comes on the back of a

Commercial law firm Bond Pearce has strengthened its commercial litigation, property, planning, insurance and construction teams with the appointment of five new partners.

The internal appointments coincide with Bond Pearce's move to a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).

The five new partners are all associates with Bond Pearce and their promotion brings the firm's total number of partners to 69.

Bond Pearce senior partner Richard Challands said: 'These promotions recognise the significant contribution each has made to Bond Pearce and demonstrate our desire to strengthen our teams in key businesses areas and offer an even better service to our clients.

The new appointments also underline our commitment to developing talented individuals and investing in the firm's future, and I'm delighted to welcome them to the Partnership.'

In the last year Bond Pearce has invested significantly in new staff with the recruitment of 73 specialist lawyers and fee-earners and 85 support staff. The firm also employs 31 trainees.

The new partners are based in Bond Pearce's Southampton, Bristol, Plymouth and London offices. They are:

Tom Beezer: Tom joined Bond Pearce's commercial litigation practice in Southampton from Olswang in 2003. He has a great deal of experience in dealing with complex high value matters in the media and IT/IP technology fields, acting for newspapers, national broadcasters and many household names. He has considerable anti piracy/rights infringement experience on behalf of television, film and music industry clients to protect their rights in relation to infringements such as fake records, tapes and CDs, and has taken many actions to protect clients' rights online. Tom also specialises in corporate litigation work such as shareholder disputes and breach of warranty claims, and has wide experience in multi-jurisdictional disputes.

Tim Burbidge: Tim joined Bond Pearce on the merger with Hepherd Winstanley & Pugh in Southampton in 1998 and has worked in the property department ever since, majoring in development work. A graduate of Southampton University, he regularly undertakes a broad spectrum of transactions for owners and occupiers of business space. Tim has worked on behalf of some of Bond Pearce's largest property clients, including the 550,000 sq ft Drake Circus shopping centre development in Plymouth and the disposal of 200 hectares of surplus land for a government department.

Richard Guyatt: Richard joined Bond Pearce's fast-growing planning team in 2003 from CMS Cameron McKenna and his expertise includes town and country planning, compulsory purchase orders (CPOs), highways, major infrastructure projects and judicial reviews. He has advised the London Borough of Brent on CPOs for new highways to serve the National Stadium at Wembley. Richard has also advised other local authorities on major redevelopment schemes, including Reading, Dartford, Gravesham, and Enfield. He is also an expert in s106 agreements and other planning and highways issues.

Karen Morrish: Karen joined Bond Pearce's professional indemnity team from Blake Lapthorn in 2000. Initially based in Southampton, Karen was seconded for 18 months to insurance client Hiscox, and has played a key role in establishing and developing Bond Pearce's London office which opened 18 months ago. Karen has substantial expertise and experience and continues to specialise in solicitors' negligence claims, in particular in relation to loss of opportunity and contentious probate.

David Skelton: David joined Bond Pearce from the Bristol office of City firm Masons in 1999. He advises on all aspects of construction and engineering projects and his experience covers both non-contentious and contentious work. He is currently working on Phase III of the National Marine Aquarium in Plymouth and a number of local and national projects involving a mix of private and public sector funding. In 2003 David qualified as the youngest adjudicator on the Chartered Institute of Building's national panel of adjudicators.

With just weeks to go before the introduction of legislation that may compel employers to consult staff on key decisions that affect their employment, Bond Pearce has published in indispensable guide to complying with the new regulations.

The Information & Consultation Compliance Guide is aimed at HR managers and has been written by Bond Pearce and produced jointly with IDS, a major employment law publisher.

In anticipation of the new regulations, Bond Pearce's specialist team of lawyers and consultants has already set up various types of works councils for a whole range of different clients, with an emphasis on establishing effective consultation arrangements that are 'right first time'.

These range from major multi-nationals employing more that 30,000 people, to local medium sized companies across sectors including IT, engineering, retail, food processing and financial services.

From April 6 this year, employees will have the right to request to be informed about a raft of issues relating to their employer, including the financial health of the business.

They will have to be informed and consulted about employment prospects, and they will have to be kept abreast of any decisions that are likely to have a substantial impact on them, including redundancies, business transfers and contractual relations.

The regulations are expected to come as something of a culture shock to businesses that and are more used to telling staff at the time of change, rather than involving them in planning for that change. And they risk fines up to

The corporate finance and banking team at commercial law firm Bond Pearce has turned in a record performance for the last calendar year, having completed 100 deals valued at

Personal injury lawyers Bond Pearce have today welcomed a decision by the High Court that thousands of people with pleural plaques - a scarring of the lungs caused by exposure to asbestos - are still entitled to claim full compensation.

But the court's decision to reduce the amount of compensation payable in such cases has been described as 'disappointing', and could actually lead to a spate of much higher value claims in the future.

A move by insurers to block full and final compensation payments to people with pleural plaques was thrown out today (Feb 15) by Mr Justice Holland's ruling at the High Court in Newcastle, but he has lowered the amount of compensation payable.

Although pleural plaques rarely impact on daily life, they can lead to much more serious asbestos-related diseases including malignant mesothelioma, which is fatal.

The insurance industry was attempting to block full and final settlements for pleural plaques on the grounds that the condition did not constitute an injury or disability, and that any anxiety about future disease was minimal.

This would have left claimants with no option but to accept a provisional settlement on the understanding that they could return to court for more compensation at a later date if their condition worsened.

The test case, involving 10 men with pleural plaques, came amid increasing numbers of such claims and rising levels of awards.

Cliff Poole, a personal injury lawyer at Bond Pearce, which specialises in handling industrial diseases compensation claims, said: 'It's good that the judge has upheld the right for people to be able to claim on a full and final basis, but disappointing that the level of damages has been reduced.

'Because the gap between provisional and full and final settlements has narrowed, we would expect to see many more claimants settling on a provisional basis and keeping their options open for future claims, which can of course result in very high payouts.

'Although the judgement reduces the insurance industry's financial exposure to full and final settlements in the short term, it could be storing up trouble in the future if, as expected, we see an explosion in high value claims in the coming decades.'

Full and final settlements are traditionally valued at between