London

In London, Squire Sanders provides a full range of services to both local and international clients, offering focused and commercial legal advice. Our London office is ideally situated to assist both local and international clients with all of their legal requirements. The London office works seamlessly with our global integrated network of offices.

Clients increasingly transcend national boundaries, and London is an established hub for international business. Our London office is international in nature, comprising a combination of both UK- and US-qualified lawyers who between them speak numerous languages. Our practice has grown rapidly to offer full service to UK and international clients investing, litigating or doing business in the UK, in continental Europe or beyond, as well as UK-based clients looking to do business around the world.

Lawyers in our London office take advantage of their position in Europe’s largest financial and business market to advise clients from a wide spectrum of industries on complex UK and international issues.

Examples of our expertise include:

Asset-Based Lending – We advise on all non-contentious aspects of asset-based lending (ABL) including the development of core products, deal take-on and negotiation, syndications, cross-border financing, acquisitions and drafting of all ABL-related security documentation. 

We also advise on all aspects of contentious ABL including fraud litigation (often involving freezing injunctions, search and seizure orders, and Bankers Trust orders), enforcement of guarantees, warranties and indemnities, defending claims against asset-based lenders, and debt litigation. Our lawyers also have expertise on other aspects of finance litigation and employee fraud.

Bankruptcy and Restructuring – Our business recovery and insolvency practice works closely with lawyers from our employment, corporate finance, pensions, tax and real estate groups. We have a broad practice, providing advice to banks, asset-based lenders, other lenders and trustees of pension funds on formal and informal recovery situations. Clients note our strong connections throughout Europe as a reason for using our services. 

We also have worked on some of the largest cross-border restructurings in Europe, as well as some of the largest in US history including Enron and WorldCom.

Commercial and Technology – Our commercial and technology group advises UK and international businesses in a diverse range of industries in relation to commercial transactions including procurement, agency and distribution agreements, franchising arrangements, joint ventures and many other day-to-day commercial matters.

Communications – Our communications group provides advice on transactional and regulatory matters to cable broadband, incumbent telephone companies, satellite service providers, GSM and other wireless operators, data service and network companies, and Internet service providers, as well as private equity investors, investment banks, government agencies and multinational development organizations.

Corporate – Our corporate practice focuses on three key areas: (i) mergers and acquisitions, in which we act for corporations, management teams, institutions and individuals on mergers, acquisitions, disposals and other corporate transactions; (ii) private equity, in which we act for private equity houses, management teams, private equity-backed companies and debt providers on private equity transactions; and (iii) capital markets, in which we advise on flotations of companies on the London securities markets, secondary equity fundraisings, public limited company (PLC) takeovers and PLC regulated transactions. Our clients include investment banks, financial advisers, PLCs and acquirers of PLCs.

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. We have particular strength in cross-border M&A throughout Western Europe, CEE and the CIS. 

Dispute Resolution, International Arbitrations and Cross-Border Litigation – We have a substantial practice of experienced dispute resolution and arbitration lawyers. We act for clients within a range of industry sectors and advise on a variety of issues, from disputes concerning contractual interpretation to joint venture, partnership and shareholder disputes, recovery litigation and professional negligence. Advice ranges from full-scale litigation and arbitration – including applying for and defending injunctions – to mediation, expert determination and dispute prevention. We have a number of focused groups including, for example, lawyers dedicated to real estate litigation.

Our dispute resolution group conducts litigation before all English courts and international arbitration institutions including the International Chamber of Commerce; London Court of International Arbitration; Stockholm Chamber of Commerce; Vienna Chamber of Commerce; Singapore Institute of Arbitrators; International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes; AIDA Reinsurance and Insurance Arbitration Society; Grain and Feed Trade Association; Federation of Oils, Seeds and Fats Associations; London Metal Exchange; and Institution of Civil Engineers.

Our practice also conducts arbitrations on an ad hoc basis and under other formal rules including UNCITRAL. We have assisted clients in enforcing arbitration awards around the world and, where appropriate, act in conjunction with our international offices in cross-border cases.

Employment – Our labor and employment lawyers deal with human resource issues for international businesses, advising clients on all aspects of UK and European employment laws. Areas of particular focus include domestic and international employment contracts, mobile employees, immigration, Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations (TUPE) issues, secondment arrangements, large-scale redundancy programs, stock options, pensions, employee benefits and other incentives. 

Our London employment group also includes a business immigration group, which advises clients on the full range of immigration-related matters, both contentious and non-contentious (excluding asylum).

Energy and Utilities – We serve clients in the electricity and gas sectors, and have expertise with respect to renewables and nuclear energy. Our practice advises multinational integrated utilities, merchant power generators, transmission and distribution businesses, independent supply companies, intensive energy users, wholesale energy trading businesses, plant operators, contractors and investors, banks and other financial institutions.

We also provide a range of services related to project development and financing of renewable energy projects including solar, wind and waste-to-energy. These projects extend over a number of countries and, for Europe-based clients, are coordinated in our London office.

Financial Services – Our financial services group provides advice to financial market participants including asset-based lenders, banks, building societies, corporate finance advisers, brokerage houses and asset management companies. We also advise mainstream corporations in relation to their dealings in the financial markets.

Intellectual Property – We advise on patent, trademark, copyright and design disputes and contractual disputes relating to intellectual property. We also advise on the commercial exploitation of intellectual property and provide corporate due diligence support.

International Projects Infrastructure and Finance – Our clients include developers, contractors, major utilities, commercial lenders and financing institutions, governments and governmental agencies. Our lawyers have extensive relevant expertise, and many joined our practice after working in industry. We coordinate and manage complex projects from conception and strategic planning to all aspects of financing, construction and operation.

Media, Advertising and Marketing Services – We advise on global and domestic advertising and marketing services contracts, copy clearance, sales promotions and competitions, film finance and production, events, new media and general commercial arrangements.

Pensions – We act for the trustees of final salary and money purchase schemes including the full range of advisory work such as drafting documentation, legislative compliance, advising on corporate transactions, scheme funding and negotiation of benefit changes. We also advise on pensions regulatory matters including obtaining clearance from The Pensions Regulator. We are one of only a few law practices to have a dedicated team focused on pensions investment.  

Real Estate – Our long-established real estate group 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. 

We have substantial experience on a national, pan-European and global scale, directly representing global and Europe-based corporations and financial groups. We frequently assist our offices in Europe and the United States in multijurisdictional transactions.

At a national level, we also work with many National Health Service (NHS) trusts and local authorities regarding Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnership (PPP) programs.

Sports – We advise on all commercial sports arrangements from both rights holder and brand owner perspectives including sponsorship, licensing, new media and endorsement relationships. We also advise on the commercial exploitation of rights in this area and provide corporate due diligence support. 

Tax – Our tax group focuses on corporate tax planning, property tax planning, share incentive and remuneration planning, and value-added tax (VAT)/duty and indirect tax advice and litigation. We have deep expertise in the representation of high-net-worth individuals. Our clients include privately owned companies, management teams and funders in relation to tax structures for corporate transactions, property developers and investors, and pension funds and public-sector bodies on VAT mitigation structures.