Fox Williams LLP

foxwilliams.com

PartnerEmma has extensive experience advising on a broad range of direct and indirect tax matters, including in the context of public and private UK and cross border M&A, private equity transactions, corporate re-organisations and restructurings, and venture capital investment. Emma regularly advises on tax issues affecting entrepreneurs, investors and business owners (including in connection with venture capital tax schemes). She has a specialism in employee share schemes and management incentive arrangements for private companies and works closely with Fox Williams’ employment and professional practices groups in relation to the tax issues arising in the context of the remuneration of employees, directors and partners. Emma advises UK and overseas clients including listed companies, mid-tier corporates, owner-managed businesses, partnerships and LLPs and individuals in a wide range of business sectors including travel and leisure, real estate, banking, financial services, technology and digital and fashion. Emma has contributed to a number of tax publications, including PLC Tax, Tolleys Tax Planning, and Xpert HR and is a regular speaker at seminars and conferences.

Simon advises clients in a variety of intellectual property matters ranging from patents, trade marks and passing off to copyright and designs and breach of confidence in sectors including fashion, new media, financial services and IT. He is experienced in many types of dispute resolution including arbitration, mediation, High Court, Court of Appeal, Copyright Tribunal, Trade Marks Registry and European Patent Office. In addition he has extensive experience advising clients in relation to their IP rights, including the drafting of commercial agreements relating to these rights. He has also advised clients on their IP portfolios and strategies to further enhance and protect existing rights. Simon has particular expertise in advising clients in the fashion industry on infringements of their designs. Simon co-authored ‘The User’s Guide to Design Law’, published by Bloomsbury Publishing. He recently won a design right dispute in the UK High Court for client Superdry against Animal and his approach has been described as ‘ferocious’ (‘The Evening Standard’ 15 February 2011) and a ‘consummate professional who is also pragmatic and wise’ by WTR 2015. Simon has never lost a domain name dispute.

Partner David is a fraud and corporate disputes lawyer and head of the civil fraud group at Fox Williams. He has extensive experience in litigating fraud claims for claimants and defendants and has represented clients in fraud claims touching all parts of the world, including the offshore jurisdictions where he practised for six years. His experience of litigating fraud claims extends to all manner of businesses and industries, from automotive parts manufacture to zinc mining, and includes obtaining and discharging court orders freezing assets and orders to obtain information from banks and other relevant third parties. David’s corporate disputes practices takes in LLP and partnership claims, shareholder and joint venture disputes and claims for breach of confidence and misuse of private information. David has acted on unfair prejudice petitions and derivative actions, and frequently advises corporates on issues arising under the Companies and Insolvency Acts. Together with members of Fox Williams’s employment team, David also represents clients in High Court claims to enforce post-termination restrictive covenants.

Partner James is a partner in Fox Williams' white-collar and contentious financial services regulatory team. He has in excess of 30 years experience of practice and has advised upon and had conduct of a large number of complex and long running investigations and prosecutions. James specialises in all areas of white-collar crime, fraud, competition and regulatory and criminal investigations and prosecutions, both UK and internationally. He advises corporates and individuals in internal investigations and advises those facing complex investigations and enforcement actions by regulators and prosecutors, both UK and cross-border. James is well known for his enormous experience and expertise in this area, working on the most complex and high-profile matters of the day.

Joanna Chatterton

PartnerJoanna is head of Fox Williams' employment team and advises both employers and senior executives, mainly in the financial and professional services sectors. Described as “an excellent lawyer who is very responsive, practical and helpful” Joanna is an experienced employment partner whose clients value her expertise in dealing with tricky employment issues. Her work for employers generally involves matters with strategic implications and sensitive reputational and regulatory concerns. She has extensive experience successfully supporting clients through complex and high value discrimination and whistleblowing claims and is an expert in the interaction between employment law and regulatory law, frequently working closely with our specialist regulatory lawyers. Joanna’s experience in management at Fox Williams gives her an in-depth understanding of the strategic and business context in the management of employee and partner relations. She has strong connections with a large number of senior executives and partners whom she has advised on job moves, handling grievances and contentious exits, bringing tribunal claims, managing the regulatory implications of accusations of misconduct and the potential constraints imposed by restrictive covenants. Joanna is frequently quoted in the press and provides training on employment and regulatory matters for industry bodies.

PartnerRichie is head of Fox Williams' corporate team and specialise in M&A, venture capital and capital markets transactions across a number of industry sectors. As head of corporate, Richie advises UK and international companies and financial institutions on a broad range of corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions, venture capital, AIM listings, public takeovers and corporate governance, shareholder engagement and activist investor situations. He advises clients in a variety of industry sectors with a focus on technology, financial services, FinTech and natural resources and has particular expertise in understanding the issues facing international companies entering the UK market to seek funding or make investments and acquisitions. He is a long-time director of the Canada-UK Chamber of Commerce, and co-chair of its SME Forum. Richie is also a member of the Quoted Companies Alliance Corporate Governance Expert Committee and recently served on the judging panel of the UK Private Business Awards on two occasions.

Partner specialising in a range of commercial disputes including insurance/reinsurance claims, banking/finance disputes, employment and partnership law, and professional negligence, product liability and public liability claims.

Pollyanna Deane

Hannah is a partner in Fox Williams’ corporate team and has experience advising on a range of transactional matters including UK and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, venture capital investments and fundraisings. Hannah also regularly handles matters such as corporate restructurings, joint ventures and AIM IPOs, as well as general corporate advisory work for private and AIM-listed companies. Hannah has a particular interest in the technology sector and advises a variety of clients from entrepreneurs to multinational listed companies.

Partner and head of commercial dispute resolution department specialising in: UK and international litigation and arbitration, civil fraud, financial services and banking disputes, transactional breaches of contract and shareholder disputes, directors’ duties, corporate governance and partnership disputes.

Partner Sona is a partner in Fox Williams' financial services team, specialising in FCA and SFO investigations and corporate internal investigations.”Sona has extensive experience in advising corporates and senior executives on a broad range of financial services regulatory issues, particularly on matters involving money laundering; fraud; bribery and corruption; financial misstatements; market misconduct; systems and controls failures; and the change in control regime. She regularly represents clients involved in FCA, SFO, FRC investigations and has experience of cross border investigations involving regulatory bodies and prosecuting authorities based in the US. Sona is recognised for leading internal corporate investigations both in the UK and across a number of jurisdictions. She specialises in internal investigations concerning allegations of bribery and corruption; fraud; and market misconduct. Sona has been instructed in relation to a number of high profile corporate investigations by large multinational organisations across the financial services sector. Her instructions regularly require liaising with a number of stakeholders including regulators, law enforcement authorities and Government bodies and committees.

Partner Ben is co-head Fox Williams' international arbitration team and represent clients in commercial disputes across a wide range of sectors, including energy, natural resources, construction, infrastructure, commodities and technology. Ben is a commercial disputes lawyer with a broad range of experience in litigation, mediation and expert determination, and he has particular expertise in international commercial arbitration. He has advised clients on issues arising from contracts in many different industries, including oil & gas, LNG, renewables, construction, mining, technology, M&A, shipping and commodities. He has worked on disputes all over the world, including in Africa, Europe and the Gulf region. For seven years he was based in Singapore as the Head of Arbitration in Asia for an international law firm, and he worked on disputes across the Asia-Pacific, especially relating to India, South Korea, Japan, China and Australia. He is a Chartered Arbitrator and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and is the current Chair of the London Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has been appointed as arbitrator on many occasions and he is on the panels of arbitrators of several arbitration institutions throughout the world.

Phillip heads the real estate department. He specialises in advising individual and corporate clients on the investment, acquisition and development of real estate, with a particular focus on advising overseas clients investing in the London market. In addition, he has considerable experience in regeneration schemes for which he advises a number of government agencies and local authorities. Phillip also acts for hotel, hospitality and leisure clients in relation to acquisitions, disposals and ongoing management arrangements.

Partner Nish is a partner in Fox Williams' real estate team, advising on all commercial real estate matters primarily for investor landlords and corporate occupiers across all sectors. Nish is experienced in a wide variety of commercial property matters across all asset classes, particularly leasing, investment sales and acquisitions (with and without finance), development and all aspects of strategic asset management. He specialises in advising investment funds, family offices and UHNWs on their real estate portfolios within the City and beyond, as well as acting for a variety of corporate occupiers, particularly those operating in the tech and fintech sector as their real estate requirements evolve from Series A and beyond. Nish also advises a number of venture capital and private equity companies on their own occupier requirements.

Mardi MacGregor

Jane is a partner in the employment department, specialising in all aspects of employment law for employers, senior executives and partners with a particular focus on the financial, insurance and professional services sectors. Handles complex and difficult matters which require experience, judgement and a deep knowledge of the many different aspects of law relating to human resources. Expert in dealing with complex employment litigation for both employers and individuals.

Lucy specialises in intellectual property law and advises on all areas of IP including patents, trade marks, designs and copyright. Whilst Lucy specialises in IP disputes she also advises on general intellectual property issues, such as the securing and exploitation of rights. Lucy acts for a range of clients across a broad range of industry sectors, from IT/electronics to retail. Lucy has experience in relation to many means of settling disputes, such as mediation, the High Court and the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court.

Nigel is a founding partner of Fox Williams LLP and leads the firm’s technology and digital group. Nigel specialises in business contracts (contracts for supply of services or goods); technology contracts (software development, licensing, cloud, SaaS); data protection (privacy policies, international transfers, data security); intellectual property (protection of brands and licensing, acquisition or disposal of IPR); and online matters (contracts for provision of on-line services, compliance with online regulations).

Kofi Mills-Bampoe

Senior partner Paul is a corporate partner with a deep understanding of domestic and cross border M&A, restructurings, venture capital and joint ventures. He has a wealth of experience acting on the buy and sell side for clients ranging from international and quoted companies to SMEs and individual vendors. As a leader in his field and trusted business advisor, Paul will identify at an early stage the issues that really matter for his client and how best to ensure the clients objectives are met. He is excellent at devising negotiating strategies and tactically very smart. Feedback from clients state “Paul Osborne is well trusted and likeable. People get along with him. He is well respected and has a lot of clout” and “He has proved himself to be an outstanding negotiator. He is quick to appreciate the subtleties of a contractual discussion. He’s good at steering towards the outcome we wish to have”.

Partner specialising in advice to employers and employees on all aspects of employment law, primarily in the financial and professional services sectors. Particular expertise in supporting City employers in dealing with complex HR law matters with regulatory issues. Experienced in managing high-value employment and partnership disputes involving whistle-blowing, discrimination, bonuses, restrictive covenants and team moves.

Partner in the corporate department specialising in mergers and acquisitions, with a particular emphasis on technology and related industries, and fashion industry; advises on all aspects of partnership law, with particular experience in mergers and demergers.

Partner specialising in all aspects of commercial property work. Liz has many years of experience acting for investors in the acquisition and disposal of both commercial and residential property and in portfolio asset management. She also acts for both landlord and tenant clients in the retail sector and for both commercial and residential tenants in the restaurant sector. Clients include Partner Securities Plc, Urban Space Holdings Ltd, LivingSocial Limited and Midasplayer.com, trading as 'King'. Liz is a member of the firm’s fashion law group.

Sebastian Sayer

Sacha Schoenfeld

Sacha joined Fox Williams in April 2016 as Head of the Immigration Practice. Having worked in the field since the early 1990s, Sacha has expertise in all aspects of UK business and employment-related immigration, and advises both corporations and individuals at all levels of management, including potential liability for illegal employment, sponsor licensing, the transfer and recruitment of individuals and related matters, and applications and appeals under UK and European Law. She handles complex and difficult matters for both companies and individuals which require experience, judgment, and an understanding of the multifaceted workings of immigration law and practice. She is currently advising clients following the EU referendum vote, ensuring they are ready to take advantage of the opportunities, mitigate risks, and have the processes and people in place to manage a period of uncertainty.

Jonathan is a partner in Fox Williams’ corporate and technology teams, who specialises in fintech and alternative finance, dedicating 100% of his time to helping clients in London’s burgeoning fintech and alternative finance scene. Jonathan advises clients across the fintech spectrum, from start-ups disrupting existing markets with innovative technology to financial institutions looking to invest in new technology. He has particular expertise in peer-to-peer and crowd-funding platforms, drawing on his extensive experience in the banking and finance sector gained both in-house at major financial institutions and in private practice. His experience spans a variety of financial products, including loans (both corporate and consumer), real estate and development finance, asset-based lending, receivables financing, asset finance, trade finance, capital markets, derivatives and repos. He also has extensive experience in the debt financing of technology companies. A regular speaker at industry events both at home and abroad, Jonathan is also heavily involved in next generation disruptive financial products such as virtual currencies (including Bitcoin), blockchain technology and the use of big data in financial predictive analytics and disruptive insurance models.

Head of commerce and technology department specialising in agency and distributorship agreements, commercial agreements, licensing, retail and education franchising, intellectual property and competition law. Chair of the Fashion Law Group.

Partner Kolvin leads Fox Williams’ technology group, and has advised some of the world’s leading technology driven businesses. He has been ranked by Legal 500 for data and technology and is known for being “excellent” and “extremely responsive and client focused, succeeding at meeting the needs of both in-house counsel and tech-savvy business clients.” He earned particular praise in Legal 500 for “providing sensible, balanced advice” and combining “strategic thinking with a proactive approach”. Kolvin has significant experience advising on the legal issues related to the internalisation of technology and internet enabled services including e-commerce, social media, big data, digital marketing and advertising. He works extensively with clients that are both providers and users of cloud software, data analytics platforms, IT infrastructure services, and mobile applications, on transactional and regulatory matters in Europe, Asia and North America. His work regularly involves complex, cross-border matters that raise multi-faceted intellectual property, data privacy, consumer protection, and internet regulatory issues. Kolvin represents multinational clients on the design, development and implementation of enterprise wide global privacy and cyber programs and the use or deployment of privacy impacting technology. He has extensive expertise in all areas relevant to global privacy laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Daniel Sutherland

Partner specialising in advising professional services firms, the law relating to limited liability partnerships and the regulation of law firms. Advises in connection with the formation, constitution and management of partnerships and limited liability partnerships, as well as advising firms and individuals on the issues arising on partner recruitment and departures, including partner duties and restrictive covenants. Also advises on the formation of alternative business structures (ABSs) for the practice of law and mergers and acquisitions of professional practices.

Partner specialising in corporate, banking and insolvency. Paul also heads up FW’s start-up practice group.

Partner in corporate. Andrew advises clients on public and private mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, flotations and off market fundraisings (private equity, venture capital and high-net-worth investment). With previous experience as an in-house lawyer and as a corporate financier, Andrew has a commercial approach to advising clients and looks to provide added value to clients by leveraging his and the firm’s extensive network of relationships. Andrew advises a broad spectrum of clients in a number of sectors but has a particular interest in the financial services and technology sectors and with businesses investing in Africa.