Who We Work With
We work across a wide range of industries. Here are a few examples of the sectors we work in.
Our Services
We recognise that there are many options out there for high-growth start-ups, including legal tech platforms. And we recognise that putting your trust in a firm of lawyers is often daunting, but we don’t see it that way.
Our role is to work in tandem with you to help you navigate the legal complexities of the commercial world. This means that we won’t just sell you a document, but our specialists will provide strategic and drafting advice and legal services. We’ll respond to questions quickly and clearly, take a real interest in you and your business, finish the job, and importantly, anticipate challenges, thereby future proofing your business.
Our specialists have decades of experience between them, offering honest insight that will be tailor made for you and your business. And at all stages we will be transparent with you on timescale and fees.
Our Collective supports the following legal services:
Corporate law can be complicated. That is why our experts provide reliable strategic advice to help guide you through every element of a business’ corporate journey, from seed to Series A and beyond, including assisting with Board decision-making on a day to day basis, drafting and interpretating articles and shareholder agreements, share capital reorganisations and group structuring, M&A (buy and sell side) and exit matters.
Our recent work includes:
• The sale of the share capital of a global media production company to an international brand conglomerate. The transaction was a mix of cash and equity consideration supported by debt finance, and also involved structuring an earn out and incentivisation scheme for the Seller’s employees across several jurisdictions.
• The sale of the share capital of a cosmetics and skincare company to a globally recognised brand. The all-cash transaction involved the usage of warranty and indemnity insurance by the Seller, a detailed layered waterfall of returns to the investor sellers and the creation of various escrow accounts in favour of the sellers, paying out dependent on subsequent events.
• The sale of the entire share capital of a purpose driven change consultancy to a publicly listed US company. A cash transaction, with a significant earn out scheme for some of the firm’s employees.
• The sale of the share capital of a raw data to analytics platform to an environmental consultant, including provision of warranty and indemnity insurance by purchaser and earn-out provisions.
• Supporting a pioneering US women’s healthcare company with the acquisition of the share capital of a UK healthcare platform.
• A complex restructuring of a pan-African fintech business to consolidate its group structure for operations going forwards. This was predominantly a share for share exchange transaction but also involved substantial ancillary structuring and advisory support.
Our team:
David Farquharson
Tim Herbert
Lizzie Frost
Mike Hornsey
Fundraising is a vital part of our clients’ growth ambitions and we provide support from term sheet stage to completion (from pre Seed to Series B and beyond). We advise on both debt and equity raises, and can assist with the various matters (including SEIS and EIS) that affect our clients throughout the process, whether it represents the first external funds into the company to support initial development, or the later investment that allows start-ups to power towards the next growth phase.
Our recent work includes:
• Advising on a fundraising for an innovative high growth technology business with multiple investors including a direct secondaries fund and an international private equity house.
• Advising on a fundraising for an ecommerce business from a venture capital firm, including SEIS and EIS components.
• Advising on various fundraising activities for an internationally recognised ethical footwear brand.
• Advising on numerous fundraisings by means of advanced subscription agreements and convertible loan notes.
Our team:
David Farquharson
Lizzie Frost
Mike Hornsey
Tim Herbert
Retaining staff is vital for any business to thrive. Our specialist team of lawyers will support you on all aspects of employee incentive schemes and non-cash share incentives (e.g. EMI options and Growth Shares) to help retain staff.
Our recent work includes:
• EMI; (growth shares and unapproved schemes on a national and international basis).
• Implementing a complex growth share scheme within an EMI wrapper for further tax insulation to incentivise a client’s senior employees.
• In the context of a sale of our client’s international media and production business, to a major global brand, advising on and implementing upon a blended growth share; phantom share; EMI and other unapproved scheme to incentivise our client’s employees and contractors based across several continents.
We will help protect your business by ensuring that you have all the commercial agreements you need in place quickly, from supply contracts and IP licences, to JV agreements and NDAs, creating accessible and effective solutions, leaving you to focus on your day to day business.
Our recent work includes:
• Advising a major international music star with a number of global brand and influencer deals with some of the world’s leading fashion houses.
• Advising leading global production company on a number of commercial deals to curate and produce marketing and advertisements for the seasonal collections of a number of major fashion brands.
• Advising market leading digital fashion entity on a number of metaverse based deals.
• Advising a number of multinational ethical skincare businesses on a range of commercial distribution agreements.
• General advisory work for fast growing community restaurant recommendation app.
• Negotiating SaaS agreements for a VC-backed cyber security company and advising on legal strategy for customer acquisition.
• Advising on collaboration agreement for carbon credit startup operating in the housing sector.
Our team:
David Farquharson
Sinead Haysom
Our team includes experts who cover all aspects of data protection legal advice, from data audits, to drafting policies and assisting with data management breach procedures, empowering your business to grow.
Our recent work includes:
• Assisting several clients with a range of data protection policies, including privacy policy, cookie policy, staff privacy notice and procedures regarding data breach management.
• Advising a client on international data transfer, including implementation of safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses for transfers outside the UK/ EU. This included advice and assistance on special category data considerations on the transfer of personnel dietary and allergy information.
• Overseeing international data protection compliance project commencing with a data audit and then with implementation of internationally compliant policies including under the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Intellectual property recognises the power of ideas. Correctly managed IP helps you innovate and grow with confidence that the value in your business will be recognised and protected. Across the full spectrum of IP legal support, from the protection of the ideas themselves through to the expression of your business’ brand, our lawyers will help you integrate your IP into your commercial strategy to maximise your competitive edge.
Our recent work includes:
• Advising various high profile entertainment and sporting industry clients with intellectual property protection strategies within the context of commercial deals with worldwide brands.
• Advising a number of fast growing technology businesses on technology and intellectual property license arrangements.
• Advice and assistance for numerous clients on protection of trademarks; design rights; and domain names.
Our team:
David Farquharson
Oliver Downie
Our highly-skilled experts will advise you on every aspect of employment law, from supporting you with new hires, drafting contractual terms and covenants, to disputes, departures and dismissals, supporting your business throughout the employment lifecycle.
Our recent work includes:
• Helping a client investigate and act upon a complex employee whistleblowing disclosure.
• Assisting a client with enforcing confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations against a former employee.
• Advising a client on how to deal with a disciplinary process whilst the employee is on sick leave with a possible disability.
• Helping a client to change their employment terms (importantly by changing terms relating to pay), which affected a large proportion of the client’s workforce.
• Assisting clients with the difficult decision to make redundancies, helping with that process, and providing advice on employee queries that arise during the process.
• Assisting clients with updates to employment contracts, handbooks, and consultancy agreements.
• Advice on employment status and “IR35” risk in respect of consultants.
• Providing employment support to clients undergoing investment rounds or selling or buying a business. For example, carrying out employment due diligence and dealing with employment documentation for outgoing/incoming directors.
• Assisting a client with an employment claim alleging discrimination and other unfair prejudice.
Our team:
David Farquharson
Sinead Haysom
It’s a fact of life that disagreements happen. Whilst our transactional teams work hard to prepare agreements to future proof your business, if a dispute does happen, it is important that the solution is carefully balanced to ensure maximum positive outcome with minimum pain. Our highly experienced dispute lawyers are on hand to help you achieve just that.
Our recent work includes:
• Advising a global media artist as to the termination of their long term management agreement.
• Advising on a dispute between a mental health not for profit and its former consultant on the consultant’s exit on pragmatic commercial terms.
• Advising on a dispute between our client and a major music company (as joint venturers) as to the running and subsequent sale of a music business.
• Providing clients with legal opinions concerning the enforceability of automatic renewal clauses in contracts.
• Advising as to defences against various claims for unpaid debts and as to the collection of unpaid debts and negotiating settlements of the same.
• Assisting a client as to the acceleration of a mortgage repayment clause on the basis of purported dishonesty.
• Providing support as to potential claims following failure of investment in a retirement home.
• Negotiating the setting aside of default judgements and stays on proceedings.
• Advising as to a dispute between directors of a fundraising platform, including the forced removal of a director by shareholders.
Our team:
Tim Herbert
Nicholas Lewis
Do you have a strategy to avoid formal or informal insolvency, restructuring or administration processes? Take it from us – it’s better to plan. Our international team of lawyers can give you expert advice on dealing with liquidator and regulatory claims, negotiate on your behalf with creditors and give you confidence in dealing with statutory demands, winding up petitions and more.
Our recent work includes:
• Advising as to debt collection, including the issue of statutory demands (with various international jurisdictional considerations).
• Advising directors of various entities regarding solvency matters and strategies regarding avoidance of wrongful trading.
Our team:
Tim Herbert
Nicholas Lewis
Our tech clients break the mould; bringing to market processes and applications that are rapidly transforming sectors. We understand the challenges, trends and market drivers facing our clients in edtech, mediatech, fintech, healthtech, gaming tech and sustainable tech. Our advice supports start-ups all the way through to becoming thriving businesses, ensuring that they can continue to provide cutting edge solutions in their innovation space.
Our recent work includes:
• Advising on a fundraising for an innovative high growth technology business with multiple investors including a direct secondaries fund and an international private equity house.
• General advisory work for fast growing community restaurant recommendation app.
• Commercial advice for innovative medical platform for training and assessing individuals and healthcare providers across a range of imaging modalities and disease areas.
• Commercial and fundraising advice to a tech platform allowing companies to collect and analyse, report and improve their ESG performance.
Our luxury fashion clients are global leaders in sustainable design, lifestyle and influence. We support many brands that are now leading their fashion lines, providing fundraising as well as corporate and commercial legal advice. As corporate members of Positive Luxury, a collaborative network of fashion brands, retailers and suppliers that helps companies reach their ESG commitments, we also help our luxury clients legally adapt to the new climate economy.
Our recent work includes:
• The sale of the share capital of a cosmetics and skincare company to a globally recognised brand. The all-cash transaction involved the usage of warranty and indemnity insurance by the Seller, a detailed layered waterfall of returns to the investor sellers and the creation of various escrow accounts in favour of the sellers, paying out dependent on subsequent events.
• Advising on various fundraising activity for an internationally recognised ethical footwear brand.
• Advising on production, commercial and employment agreements for a global celebrity owned style arts and society concierge platform.
• Advising market leading digital fashion entity on a number of metaverse based deals.
Many of our clients are impact focused, from social enterprises to B Corps. As a certified B Corp firm that takes its purpose seriously, we understand the importance of protecting and enhancing an organisation’s social mission. Our team of experts can help purpose driven organisations choose the right legal structure, embed ESG reporting into your organisation, navigate funding rounds and grants and give quality advice on all issues of charity law.
Our recent work includes:
• Advising a number of purpose driven companies on their structure and mission in respect of successful applications for B Corp.
• General commercial support to an international purpose driven consultancy supporting leaders in delivering systemic change.
We work with diverse health and wellness brands that consumers trust, because of the quality of their products and their innovative approach to product design. From ethically sourced products to lifestyle brands that take their responsibilities seriously, our clients are those that are at the cutting edge of health and wellness market trends. And because many of these brands are startups and led by innovators, our legal experts guide these companies in all aspects of their legal needs, whether they are social media influencers, minority owned businesses or larger brands.
Our recent work includes:
• Negotiating distributor contracts, including ecommerce distributors.
• Supporting a pioneering US women’s healthcare company with the acquisition of the share capital of a UK healthcare platform.
• Advising a number of multinational ethical skincare businesses on a range of commercial distribution agreements.
We provide expertise in all aspects of media and entertainment law, providing commercial advice to a wide-range of clients, from leading television producers and film production companies to major international musical and sports talent, DJs, producers and bands, as well as digital businesses and studios.
Drawing on our specialist knowledge of our multidisciplinary team, we offer a broad range of services from developing commercial brand deals for musical and sporting talent, and corporate deals for their investments and partnerships to contract drafting and dispute resolution.
Our recent work includes:
• The sale of the share capital of a global media production company to an international brand conglomerate. The transaction was a mix of cash and equity consideration supported by debt finance and also involved structuring an earn out and incentivisation scheme for the Seller’s employees across several jurisdictions.
• Advising leading international fashion production company on a number of commercial deals to curate and produce marketing and advertisements for the seasonal collections of a number of major fashion brands.
• Advising a premier global media artist on a number of significant brand, influencer and other commercial deals.
• Instituting appropriate corporate and share structure for a significant commissioning producer.
• Advising as to dispute between film’s director, funder and purchaser as to ownership, funding, distribution and release.
• Advising on publishing, management and neighbouring rights contracts.
• Advising on partnership disputes.
• Advising on NDAs.
We work alongside international consultancy firms that help businesses accelerate, deliver and have impact in a global context while working to tight deadlines. See us as an extension of your consultancy business. We offer strategic legal advice where needed, from life sciences to fintech, pharma to change management. We are there to help consultants ensure that global business leaders act decisively and confidently.
Our recent work includes:
• The sale of the entire share capital of a purpose driven change consultancy to a publicly listed US company. A cash transaction, with a significant earn out scheme for some of the firm’s employees.
• Assistance with customer contracts and structures to allow fundraising.
When it comes to fees, we believe that a relationship with no surprises is best. Our fee arrangements are based on our many years of experience and knowledge of similar matters.
For most transactions, we’re happy to work to a capped fee arrangement or a flexible monthly retainer to help you with cash flow management. Either way you can be sure that what we agree will be the maximum fee you will be charged on any of your workstreams without further discussion, leaving you to concentrate on running your business knowing that we have your back.
Who We Work With
Our experience covers clients and partners across a wide range of sectors, many who are tech enabled, including media, fashion/beauty/wellness, education, fintech, finance, professional services, food and drink, healthcare and not for profit to name a few. Here are some of our clients and partners:
