Leeds

In Leeds, Squire Sanders attracts high-level work not only from the local market, where we retain a strong reputation, but also from corporations throughout the UK and overseas. The office serves approximately one quarter of the public companies headquartered in Yorkshire and the North East and has a full service commercial offering, giving it a leading presence in the regional business market.

As well as work generated by its own clients, the office is increasingly drawing additional work from throughout the UK and overseas reflecting the growing international nature of the firm’s practice.

The office’s reputation for exemplary service continues to be recognised with the office again winning several regional awards in 2010, such as ‘Corporate Law Firm of the Year’, ‘Corporate & Commercial Team of the Year’ and ‘Lawyer of the Year’.

Areas of expertise include:

Banking & Finance – Our banking practice works closely with financial institutions and corporate clients across a range UK and cross border transactions, with a particular emphasis on mainstream corporate banking, acquisition/leveraged finance, real estate finance and asset-based lending, acting for both borrowers and lenders.

Business Recovery & Insolvency – Advising on all forms of corporate insolvency regimes including administration, corporate voluntary arrangements, administrative receiverships, Law of Property Act (LPA) and restructuring and liquidations.

Dispute Resolution - Leeds disputes team has increasingly attracted some of the biggest international cases being handled in the Yorkshire market place. This service, across a number of practice areas including Commercial Disputes, Property Litigation, IP Litigation, Banking Litigation, Health and Safety and Environment is unrivalled in the region and competes with the very best practices in the City

Corporate – Our corporate practice focuses on three areas; mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and private equity, acting for corporations, management teams and private equity houses and individuals. The team has also seen particular growth in the financial services sector.

We are regularly ranked by Thomson Reuters, mergermarket and Experian Corpfin as one of the top 10 law practices in the UK for volume of UK M&A deals.

Employment - advising in all areas of employment law including boardroom disputes and executive terminations, union recognition, TUPE and redundancy, equal pay claims and collective consultation.

Pensions – The team has a unique pensions offering in Yorkshire and Humberside as part of one of the largest teams of specialist pension lawyers in the UK, advising clients in the UK.

Real Estate - The office’s Real Estate practice has a strong public sector practice from which the Real Estate team continues to benefit and has long established relationships. The team advises a range of clients on matters concerning property and land acquisition, planning, construction and project funding. We have considerable experience in working with all the various stakeholders in a real estate transaction, be it a tenant, purchaser, developer, finance provider, government or council.

Tax – Our tax group advises on UK and international businesses on corporate tax planning and has extensive experience of tax planning in relation to property transactions including direct tax issues, stamp duty land tax planning opportunities and VAT. He acts for a wide range of clients, including developers, investors, public sector bodies and funders.