Press Releases

Shoosmiths’ planning practice is one of the highest rated in England.The 2022 Planning Law Survey ranked the firm’s 23-strong planning team in the top four practices in England, highlighting its expertise in ‘emerging areas such as biodiversity’. Joint-heads of the practice, Lisa Tye and Kathryn Jump, were also named as amongst the highest-rated planning solicitors, with Kathryn ranked second and Lisa rising to fifth ...

Leading UK law firm Shoosmiths attended and featured in a host of London Tech week highlights, including its sponsorship of a female founder Tech Nordic Advocates event held at the London Stock Exchange. Shoosmiths’ head of technology sector James Klein and corporate partner Helen Burnell presented at the event which focussed on how to scale diverse technology business internationally ...

Law firm Shoosmiths was recognised for excellence in client service, innovation and technology solutions by winning four awards at the 2022 Managing Partners’ Forum awards on 15 June.The panel of independent judges were impressed by Shoosmiths’ unique and effective approach to delivering excellence in helping clients achieve their non-legal goals, with the firm winning ‘Best Enhanced Solutions for Clients’ in the client theme section ...

Shoosmiths has supported M3 Capital Partners with the real estate aspects of the sale of its portfolio company, Extra MSA Group, to a consortium of institutional investors.The law firm advised on the real estate aspects of the deal for Extra MSA Group – a developer and operator of motorway service area sites in the UK ...

Shoosmiths’ real estate division and planning practice has been recognised for its pre-eminent work supporting clients across the property industry after taking home awards at two national ceremonies.The law firm was named Legal/Professional Team of the Year at the Property Awards 2022, while also being crowned Planning Law Firm of the Year at the Planning Awards 2022 ...

Residential developers can learn how to manage the 'perfect storm' of regulation, rocketing energy prices and decarbonisation targets at a free webinar series, hosted by Shoosmiths and Switch2 Energy.The webinars will help these developers, owners and operators of heat networks prepare for formal regulation of the sector and meet the triple challenge of delivering affordable, resilient, green heat to customers ...

Solent Freeport is a “unique, once in a lifetime chance” for the region, says Shoosmiths’ Paula Swain, as she marked the official launch of the freeport in a “milestone” event.Paula, head of Shoosmiths’ Solent office and Solent Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) representative on the Solent Freeport Consortium Board, was speaking after the Solent Summit which was hosted at Horizon Cruise Terminal in Southampton yesterday ...

Leading UK law firm Shoosmiths has advised N Family Group in its recent expansion, after securing £42.5 million to grow its portfolio to more than 80 sites.The firm advised the nursey group in its latest investment round, with plans to increase its sites from 20 to more than 80 by 2025, adding more than 5,000 childcare places and employing an additional 3,000 staff ...

Shoosmiths’ specialist Digital Infrastructure team has advised Equitix, one of Europe’s leading infrastructure investors, on its £84 million commitment into fibre ‘altnet’ Freedom Fibre.Equitix, a leading global investor, developer, and long-term fund manager of core infrastructure assets, has made an initial £84m funding commitment into Freedom Fibre ...

The success of the levelling up strategy rests on fostering skilled local communities and workforces with high levels of educational attainment and entrepreneurialism. This, in turn, means that policymakers and industry must address the stark regional inequalities that have been brought to the fore during the pandemic ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has boosted its employment team with the appointment of Robert Forsyth as a partner in London.With more than a decade of experience at DLA Piper, Robert (pictured left) advises clients on both the employment and employment tribunal litigation aspects of major national and international deals and projects ...

The State opening of parliament began with the Queen’s Speech and was delivered by Prince of Wales this year. Our experts respond below to the speech at large.Alex Bishop, co-head of the Shoosmiths Birmingham office, said: “We were delighted to see Birmingham and the Commonwealth Games specifically mentioned in the Queen’s Speech, marking this pivotal year for the city ...

Leading UK law firm Shoosmiths has announced the opening of its latest application window for funding grant allocations from the Shoosmiths Foundation.The Shoosmiths Foundation is a grant-making body working to help address societal issues, empower sustainable change and improve the lives of the people and the environment in the UK. Grants are available for UK registered charities undertaking work in the UK ...

Leading UK law firm Shoosmiths has advised national accountancy and business advisory group Azets on its acquisition of Tait Walker, one of the largest independent accountants and business advisors in the North East of England. tants and business advisors in the North East of England ...

Leading UK law firm Shoosmiths has announced seven new partners in its May promotions round.The promotions are across the firm’s corporate, real estate and business advisory divisions ...

Shoosmiths has advised Hallam Land Management on a strategic land deal that will support the creation of up to 2,170 homes.The deal will see the land promotion business – part of Henry Boot PLC – sell its interest in a 440-acre site in Didcot, Oxfordshire, to Taylor Wimpey UK and Persimmon Homes. Hallam initially acquired its interest in the site in 2013. Since then, it has achieved consent for the development in partnership with the two major PLC housebuilders ...

On 1 May, long-standing partner David Jackson became Shoosmiths’ CEO.David takes over from Simon Boss, under whose tenure the firm grew substantially. David, like Simon, is now working closely with Shoosmiths’ chairperson Peter Duff and the rest of the senior leadership team to propel Shoosmiths into the next stage of its growth journey ...

Leading lawyer Paula Swain mentored aspiring law and business students this week, as part of an innovative careers event at Solent University, Southampton.Paula, who is head of Shoosmiths’ Solent office and heads the national law firm’s business to business debt recovery team, joined a panel of business leaders from throughout the region including representatives from Southampton FC, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and NatWest at the ‘Your future at work’ themed event ...

Award-winning broadcaster, writer and adventurer Ben Fogle joined UK law firm Shoosmiths to recount tales of resilience from his illustrious career to a packed audience of the firm’s clients and contacts on Wednesday evening ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has revealed the new head of its Nottingham office.Michael Briggs, a partner and employment law specialist, takes on the role from Deborah Gordon-Brown who has held the post since 2015. Michael, who joined Shoosmiths as an associate in 2013, will lead 77 staff at the firm’s Waterfront House office on Station Street and is set to oversee plans to continue growing its presence in the city and wider region ...

Leading law firm Shoosmiths has boosted its dispute resolution and litigation practice with the appointment of specialist financial services disputes resolution lawyer Andrew Bowden-Brown as a partner in London.Previously head of banking & finance at Francis Wilks & Jones, Andrew has more than 20 years of experience across the asset-based lending, alternative finance and banking and finance industry ...

Leading UK law firm Shoosmiths and tech start-up and scale-up policy group Coadec (The Coalition for a Digital Economy) have partnered to produce Coadec’s latest insight piece - Regional and National Ecosystems: Untapped Potential.The thought leadership collaboration examines the potential for building successful start-up ecosystems across all parts of the UK and concludes there is untapped potential to grow these and other regional tech hubs ...

Leading UK law firm Shoosmiths has sponsored the 2022 Gender Index report, with findings demonstrating that female-founders obtain disproportionately less investment compared to male-owned companies.The Gender Index's (TGI) ambition is to help create a more equal future by providing a clear and accurate picture of the disparity between male and female led businesses, by benchmarking the current level of activity undertaken by companies across the UK which are owned or led by female founders ...

Shoosmiths will partner the over age 35 men’s basketball team for the upcoming European Championships in Malaga.The Federation of Masters Basketball Association (FIMBA) European championships take place in from 24 June to 2 July 2022. FIMBA GB is sending 15 teams. Craig Sharland, regional estates manager at Shoosmiths, is captain of the o35 Men’s team ...

Leading law firm Shoosmiths is continuing its ambitious growth strategy in the North West with the appointment of Elia Montorio as corporate partner in its Manchester office. Described by Legal 500 as ‘brilliant’ and an ‘exceptional deal counsel’, Elia has built a reputation as one of the leading corporate lawyers in Manchester over the last decade, regularly appearing in the Insider North West’s Top 100 Most Influential Businesswomen league table ...