Your business, is our business
Our corporate legal team can deliver commercially focused advice in a timescale and at a cost that works for your business. We are one of the largest and longest established
corporate law teams in Northern Ireland. Our team offers a full range of corporate services and has experience acting on some of the highest profile deals in this jurisdiction. We conduct business across a wide range of sectors including technology, agri-business, energy, construction, manufacturing and business to business services. We are widely acknowledged as having sophisticated cross-border capabilities, regularly acting on international deals with a Northern Irish aspect.
In addition to their legal expertise, our seasoned and skilful
commercial solicitors consider market awareness and networking as crucial to understanding the sectors in which our clients operate and their associated pressures. This commercial dexterity ensures that we will provide tailored practical advice at every stage of a transaction and secure our clients’ business objectives both judiciously and economically.
What we do
- Mergers & Acquisitions, Disposals and Management Buy-outs/Buy-ins
Mergers and acquisitions are at the core of our practice. Our team advises buyers and sellers on all aspects of mergers, acquisitions, disposals and management buy-outs/buy-ins. Our clients benefit from our commercially focused approach to due diligence and contract negotiation, where the emphasis is on identifying risks and issues in a timely manner and suggesting commercially viable solutions. Our lawyers are experts in complex drafting and can deliver innovative contractual provisions to even the tightest of deadlines. On each deal, we dedicate an experienced multi-disciplinary team to work with you and your other professional advisors. Additional expertise available within the firm on matters relating to employment, IT/IP, property, environmental and litigation issues ensures a seamless service is provided.
- Private Equity and Venture Capital Funding & Investment
Brokering the legal marriage between an investee company and its shareholders, and the investor, can be a delicate business. As investments vary significantly in structure and value, it is vitally important to have accomplished advisors. Our team is familiar with market terms and can focus on issues of commercial consequence during due diligence and contract negotiations. We have a wealth of experience advising at all stages of private equity and venture capital funding cycles, and while we act for many venture capital funds throughout the UK and Ireland, we also regularly negotiate for investee companies and angel investors. Our exemplary work in this area has resulted in well-established relationships with Invest NI and bodies such as NISP Connect at the Northern Ireland Science Park and Halo the Northern Ireland Business Angel Network.
- Corporate Restructuring Legal Services
As our clients become more sophisticated in their tax planning and group structuring, our team works closely with tax advisors throughout the UK on increasingly complex restructuring and demergers. In conjunction with our
banking,
property and
employment departments we are able to offer our clients a comprehensive range of legal services to implement their restructuring proposals.
Confronting risks and finding creative and practical legal solutions at the outset of a joint venture can greatly ensure its success not only in the start-up phase, but for many years to come. We pride ourselves on consistently high quality drafting, with a strong emphasis on the commercial aspects. Our team is also adept at teasing out potentially difficult issues with joint venture partners and resolving them. With a wealth of experience of Northern Ireland and cross-border joint ventures, we are confident that our team can add value to your project.
- Shareholder Issues and Corporate Governance Advisors
We recognise that our clients need clear and concise advice that can indisputably be put into practice when issues arise in respect of corporate governance or shareholder relations. Accordingly, we are persistent in our efforts to distil technical legal positions into user friendly solutions, and are always happy to answer a quick query by phone or email. On a daily basis, we advise directors and shareholders on all aspects of company law and procedure, and between us can offer a wealth of knowledge in drafting shareholders’ agreements (particularly for family businesses) and advising on shareholder rights. We also provide a full range of company secretarial services.
As no two partnerships are constituted in the same way, the quality of the drafting in a partnership agreement can make the difference between a dispute and an easily resolved issue. Our team has considerable experience in advising on the formation of partnerships, limited partnerships and limited liability partnerships in a variety of commercial contexts. We often act for GPs, accountants and other professionals to prepare bespoke partnership agreements and advise on conversion to LLP status. We also have significant expertise in the use of limited partnership structures in property and investment transactions.
Service
Our lawyers appreciate that being experts in
corporate law is not sufficient to impress clients. Our fundamental aim is to garner an appreciation of each client’s business and their commercial goals in order to deliver effective corporate legal solutions from an individual commercial perspective. Our partner-led approach ensures that clients always receive technically sound, auspicious and commercially astute advice.
Our team includes lawyers who are qualified to act not only in Northern Ireland but also in transactions where English law applies. Furthermore, as we regularly work closely with
major law firms in the UK, Europe, Asia and the USA, we are well placed to negotiate in transactions with a multi-jurisdictional element. The team leader is John-George Willis and includes Managing Partner, Ian Coulter.
Summary
Our team has extensive experience advising on all kinds of corporate and commercial transactions. Our clients tell us that we enhance and augment their transactions, whether by pre-empting legal issues during due diligence or working assiduously to protect their commercial interests during negotiations. This reflects our aim of being proactive and solution-focused and is borne out by our consistent high rankings in independent legal directories.
“A quality legal practice with some very knowledgeable and commercially savvy lawyers who provide sterling support to the company." (Chambers 2013)