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Brooke North LLP

CROWN HOUSE, GREAT GEORGE STREET, LEEDS, LS1 3BR

What we say about the firm's legal practice in Yorkshire and the Humber

Corporate and commercial

Within Corporate and commercial: Leeds, West Yorkshire:, tier 4

Led by Nigel Hoyle, the ‘flexible and consistently timely’ Brooke North LLP corporate team has seen a rise in the level of restructuring work, particularly within the food and drink industry, and is increasingly working nationally. Highlights included advising Masternaut in the sale of a series of businesses to Homeserve.

Dispute resolution

Within Commercial litigation: Leeds, West Yorkshire:, Brooke North LLP is a third tier firm,

‘Very efficient, commercial, and well organised’, Brooke North LLP’s dispute resolution practice is rated in the market for its broad offering and expertise in construction claims. 2008 highlights included advising on fraud in the insurance industry, and on a family shareholder dispute. Richard Stockdale heads a team that includes recommended lawyers Nigel Middlemass and Robert Norton.

Finance

Within Insolvency and corporate recovery, tier 5

Brooke North LLP’s Steven Frieze is recommended for his personal insolvency experience.

Human resources

Private client

Within Personal tax, trusts and probate, Brooke North LLP is a third tier firm,

Brooke North LLP acts in the administration of substantial estates, and offers tax planning advice to high-net-worth individuals. Gordon Watson is well regarded.

Real estate

Within Commercial property: Leeds and West Yorkshire:, Brooke North LLP is a third tier firm,

Brooke North LLP continues to benefit from its relationship with the Evans Group, and a number of the region’s leading restaurateurs. The team, which is increasingly attracting both local and national clients, was strengthened in 2008 with the arrival of Robert Kelly. Property leading light Rodney Dalton, who heads the practice, is widely respected in the market and earns the respect of his peers and clients alike.

Within Construction

TMT (technology, media and telecoms)

Within Intellectual property and information technology, tier 4

Brooke North LLP is recommended for its non-IT-focused portfolio under Dai Davis, including Allianz SE.

Yorkshire and the Humber Overview

Within Regional review,

Brooke North LLP, Gordons LLP, Lee & Priestley LLP and Lupton Fawcett LLP are all good examples of experienced, longstanding Leeds players benefiting from established client relationships, while regional heavyweight Walker Morris is still admired for its successful single-site model.

What we say worldwide

Please choose another Brooke North LLP office to view full details of what we say in that region, or choose from this list to view a specific editorial reference in context.

Yorkshire and the Humber

Offices in Leeds

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Legal Developments in the UK

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to

  • Student employees – new restrictions on employment

    On 10 February 2010 a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules was laid before Parliament which is due to come into force on 3 March 2010.
    - Penningtons Solicitors LLP

  • Landlord & Tenant Briefing

    Dilapidations in commercial premises – ten points to consider
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP

  • Being a helpful Landlord may be a mistake!

    Most landlords and their solicitors try to resist the impulse to be helpful, however, in these recessionary times when landlords are concerned to avoid empty space, there may be the temptation to take shortcuts to ensure a letting proceeds. In circumstances where it is intended that Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (the 1954 Act) should not apply to the tenancy, i.e. that the tenant should not have the benefit of security of tenure, then occupation before the lease has been finalised (and the appropriate ‘contracting-out’ steps taken) is a potentially dangerous step and needs to be taken only when the landlord has fully comprehended the potential consequences.
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP

  • New regime for approval of major transport projects set to ‘switch on’

    The Planning Act 2008 (the Act) introduces a new regime designed to speed up the planning and, in turn, the delivery of infrastructure projects of national significance. For transport projects, it is one of the most important pieces of legislation in recent years. The new procedure will have to be used for any third runway at Heathrow, amongst other high-profile projects.
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP

  • Divorce and the media: the courts, the pay-outs and the speculation

    The rising divorce rate and some well-publicised settlements running into tens of millions of pounds have focused attention on a growing issue in divorce cases: just how far can spouses go to obtain information about their partner’s financial affairs?
    - Schillings

  • Top ten really useful cases of 2009

    If you want your panel solicitor to‘get off the fence’, need to know when a cause of action accrues or wondered whether the judiciary live in the 21st century, the following cases from 2009 provide some really useful guidance. With professional negligence claims on the increase, whether you are giving or receiving legal advice, the cases discussed below highlight practical points for all legal advisers to be aware of.
    - Bond Pearce LLP

  • The twilight zone: legal issues for directors

    there is no legal definition of the term ‘twilight zone’ (perhaps derived from the cult TV series, the writer would like to think), which is now widely used to describe a period of trading when a company has, or is predicted to have, insufficient cash to pay its debts as they fall due. This might be an immediate cash-flow crisis or the problem might be anticipated many months ahead.
    - Holman Fenwick Willan

  • Cloud computing:key issues for SMEs

    Although many definitions exist, broadly speaking ‘cloud computing’ is the outsourcing of specified IT functions via the internet (the cloud) to provide or receive services that would otherwise only be available if the end user had installed the appropriate hardware and/or software on desktops, or on local networks controlled by that organisation itself. Such services may include the use of software over the internet or remote storage of business data by a third-party provider. One benefit of this is that businesses can structure payment for these services differently (for example pay-as-you-go or on a subscription basis), rather than having to pay large sunk costs for long-term software licences, and the purchase and installation of IT infrastructure necessary to support the services locally.
    - SJ Berwin LLP

  • Commission victorious in ‘regulatory holiday’ action brought against Germany

    On 3 December 2009, following an action brought by the European Commission under article 226 of the EC Treaty (now article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU) the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that Germany had failed to comply with its obligations under the European regulatory framework for telecommunications (the Common Regulatory Framework (CRF)). The ECJ’s judgment in European Commission v Germany [2009] confirms that Germany acted unlawfully by adopting a national law excluding ‘new markets’ from regulation – so called ‘regulatory holidays’.
    - SJ Berwin LLP

  • New Commission

    On Friday 27 November 2009 the new European Commission, which will begin its mandate early in 2010, was announced by Commission President José Barroso. This announcement followed a week after the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton as the President of the European Council and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy respectively, the two new roles created by the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009.
    - Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
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