The Legal 500

London: Corporate and commercial

Commercial contracts

Commercial contracts - ranked: tier 6

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP’s varied commercial workload includes BPO and IT outsourcing, advertising and sponsorship, and licensing agreements. Practice head Matthew Warren is particularly experienced in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. Laura Anderson, Fiona Nicolson and Marek Petecki are other key individuals.

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EU and competition

EU and competition - ranked: tier 5

Bristows LLP

The ‘excellent’ practice at Bristows LLP is praised for its ‘efficiency’ and ‘in-depth knowledge of the TMT sector’. Practice head Pat Treacy, who ‘skilfully translates the complexities of competition law into pragmatic legal advice’, advised Kimberly-Clark during an investigation launched by the Groceries Code Adjudicator. Sophie Lawrance ‘delivers highly bespoke advice in a measured and digestible way’, and has ‘extremely good knowledge’. Stephen Smith joined from RPC.

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M&A: smaller deals, up to £50m

M&A: smaller deals, up to £50m - ranked: tier 1

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP is particularly strong in TMT and life sciences work. Practice head Mark Hawes acted for UCL Business on the £25m spin-off of Freeline Therapeutics. The ‘knowledgeable, calm, pragmatic and extremely responsive’ Marek Petecki advised AstraZeneca UK on the $215m sale of its rights in prescription medicine, Entocort, to Tillots. Laura Anderson is also recommended.

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Partnership

Partnership - ranked: tier 4

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP has ‘an extremely good technical team’ that is ‘a pleasure to work with’. Its main areas of activity include the establishment and structuring on partnership fund vehicles, acting for banks on refinancing and restructuring issues involving partnerships, and assisting with the purchase and sale of interests in partnerships. Marek Petecki and Iain Redford are the key figures in the team, which acts for clients including Blooms Properties and Pearl Diver Capital.

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London: Dispute resolution

Commercial litigation

Commercial litigation - ranked: tier 5

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP’s ‘consistently responsive’ team acted for the Park Trust trustee in a dispute between joint ventures and their principals. Kevin Appleton is ‘a brilliant negotiator’ and Mark Brown is ‘indispensable’. Theo Savvides and Jeremy Blum are also key contacts.

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Competition litigation

Competition litigation - ranked: tier 3

Bristows LLP

Tech and IP specialist firm Bristows LLP successfully defended Google against Streetmap in a High Court claim for abuse of dominant position, and represented Samsung in regards to a major patent dispute with Unwired Planet, which involved the consideration of the competition law issue of patent “privateering”. Practice head Pat Treacy (‘a brilliant litigator who combines technical strength with impeccable tactical nous’) and Myles Jelf led on both matters. Sophie Lawrance was promoted to partner and ‘has the perfect balance of technical competition and litigation skills’. Stephen Smith joined from RPC.

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London: Human resources

Employment: employers and senior executives

Employment: employers - ranked: tier 7

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP ‘has a particular focus on transactions with an outsourcing element’ and often advises on global outsourcing projects; the team is assisting multinational outsourcing company Capgemini on employment and TUPE issues. Linda Farrell leads the department, which includes senior associates Lidia Poczok (who is ‘a delight’) and ‘all-round rock star’ Justin Costley.

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London: Private client

Charities and not-for- profit

Charities and not-for-profit - ranked: tier 4

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP provides ‘an excellent, prompt and knowledgeable service’ to an array of not-for-profit clients, most notably in the arts, science, technology, engineering and medical research sectors. Mark Hawes heads the practice and is ‘exceptionally competent, with a good grasp of both strategy and detail’.

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London: Real estate

Commercial property

Commercial property: general - ranked: tier 5

Bristows LLP

Commercial property: investment - ranked: tier 4

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP’s practice leverages the firm’s strength in TMT and life sciences to represent clients from those sectors, such as Monster and Dolby. One area of specialism is garden centre retail, in which practice head Alexandra Lethbridge advised LaSalle Investment Management on the sale of the assets of its LaSalle Garden Centre Fund.

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London: TMT (technology, media and telecoms)

Brand management

Brand management - ranked: tier 1

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP’s team is noted for its ‘breadth of experience and prompt, relevant advice’. Clients include McDonald’s, which Paul Jordan advises on its advertising campaigns, and the BBC, which Paul Walsh assists with the management of its IP portfolio as well as handling disputes in Turkey relating to the protection of Doctor Who and its characters. Jordan’s other highlights included advising Nicoventures on the branding and marketing of its electronic cigarette products. Theo Savvides continued to represent Marks & Spencer as the claimant in a dispute with Interflora that ultimately settled.

Leading individuals

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Data protection

Data protection - ranked: tier 1

Bristows LLP

In addition to assisting high-profile clients with issues arising from data breaches, Bristows LLP also handles compliance issues relating to new technologies for LG Electronics, and is advising Google on its response to the European Court’s invalidation of the Safe Harbor privacy principles. ‘Superstar’ Mark Watts heads the team, which includes senior counsel Christopher Millard and associate Hannah Crowther.

Leading individuals

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IT and telecoms

IT and telecoms - ranked: tier 1

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP attracts praise for its ‘very strong industry knowledge and commercial acumen’. The practice is headed by ‘effective negotiator’ Mark Watts, who acts for Amazon Web Services and is known for his data protection expertise, and includes Toby Crick, who acts for Ofcom and handles major outsourcing projects; litigation specialist Myles Jelf, who acts for Google and Samsung; and Adrian Sim, who is ‘a pleasure to work with’ and whose clients include Genomics and Capgemini.

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Intellectual property

Intellectual property - ranked: tier 1

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP’s respected team features a number of ‘premier division’ practitioners, including the ‘hugely knowledgeable’ Brian Cordery; James Boon, who has ‘a lot of fighting spirit’ and is defending PGS in a patent infringement claim brought by Electromagnetic Geo Services; Liz Cohen and Dominic Adair, who represented Celltrion Healthcare to revoke three European and UK patents related to the use of a chimeric CD20 antibody; and IP litigation specialist Theo Savvides. Matthew Warren, Andrew Bowler and Myles Jelf are also praised for their ‘commercial awareness and technical ability’.

Leading individuals

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Media and entertainment (including media finance)

Media and entertainment (including media finance) - ranked: tier 2

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP’s media department is led by Myles Jelf, who advised Sony Group on IT security measures, and includes Paul Jordan, who heads the advertising and marketing practice and assisted Paramount Pictures with a multi-jurisdictional competition. Jordan also acted for P&O Cruises on TV sponsorship and product placement deals, and provides advice to Guardian Media Group. Also recommended are Iain Redford, whose clients include WPP, and Theo Savvides, who is active in the social media, interactive media and publishing sectors.

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PATMA: Trade mark attorneys

PATMA: Trade mark attorneys - ranked: tier 2

Bristows LLP (London)

Bristows LLP handles the full spectrum of trade mark work for high-profile clients such as Google, Royal Mail, Mondeléz, Carnival and the Intercontinental Hotels Group. Department head Paul Jordan and partner Paul Walsh often work in conjunction with partners Theo Savvides and Jeremy Blum. The team made two additions in 2015 with the recruitment of associates Saaira Gill and Jade Macintyre from Urquhart-Dykes & Lord LLP and Microsoft’s in-house legal team, respectively.

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Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology

Pharmaceuticals and biotechnology - ranked: tier 1

Bristows LLP

Bristows LLP has ‘quality at all levels, and partners are prepared to roll up their sleeves and get stuck in’. IP lawyer Sally Field heads the team, which includes ‘bright and conscientious’ patent litigators Brian Cordery and Robert Burrows; ‘first-class’ regulatory specialist Marie Manley; transactional lawyer Laura Anderson; and competition expert Pat Treacy. The firm is assisting Novartis with the defence of its patents for cancer drug Glivec, and represented Seattle Genetics in a dispute with the Austrian Patent Office regarding the duration of a supplementary protection certificate. AstraZeneca, Genomics England and Smith & Nephew are clients.

Leading individuals

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