Press Releases

Earlier this month Pitchbook released their 2023 Sustainable Investment Survey. The survey includes data trends and nuanced industry views on impact investing and ESG frameworks, posing questions about how we can balance investing for profit and investing for purpose.Partners from Shoosmiths’ banking and finance and private equity teams share their views on the survey’s results and provide insight from their respective markets with regards to ESG ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has made strides towards its ambitious environmental goals, with the announcement that the firm’s near and long-term science-based emissions reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).The SBTi is a global body enabling businesses to set ambitious emissions reduction targets in line with the latest climate science ...

Shoosmiths’ real estate team has advised Bruntwood on a major new letting at its West Gate development in Leeds.The office letting - one of the city’s largest in 2023 – sees HM Courts and Tribunal Service (HMCTS) take more than 26,000 sq ft of space at West Gate, located next to Leeds’ civic and financial districts ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has advised the shareholders of Operatix, Ltd. and Operatix, Inc. (together, ‘Operatix’) on their sale of Operatix to US-based memoryBlue, a sales development consulting firm that specialises in helping technology companies accelerate new business growth.The strategic merger unifies two market leaders in the outsourced sales development industry in order to provide a global solution to customers ...

Shoosmiths’ corporate restructuring and advisory (CR&A) team has advised Endless LLP’s Enact Fund III on the acquisition of the business and assets of Accrofab Ltd and the Alcester site of Bromford Industries Ltd.Accrofab and Bromford Industries, which were established nearly 75 years ago and offer precision engineer fabricated components for the aerospace and power generation sector, operate out of sites in Derby and Alcester ...

LAW firm Shoosmiths has announced significant enhancements and updates to its family-friendly policies, strengthening the firm’s overall people proposition.The firm is enhancing its co-parent leave package, where those eligible will be able to take up to 12 weeks of co-parent leave at full pay, a gender-neutral replacement for the firm’s previous paternity leave of two weeks with full pay ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has achieved another record financial year in FY22-23, despite challenging macro-economic conditions, delivering a revenue increase of 7% to £194.1m.Net profit increased by more than 3% year-on-year to £62.7m, and the firm sustained a strong PEP of £676,000 (marginally up on last year’s £675,000) ...

Shoosmiths has been named as Union Investment’s new English asset management advisers.The appointment will see the law firm advise on asset management matters across the investor’s English real estate portfolio – comprising a number of prime office and hotel assets focused within London, Birmingham and Manchester. The Hamburg-headquartered investment manager has a total of €56 ...

Despite further tightening in the lending market and wider economy, Shoosmiths’ real estate investment group concluded c.£200m worth of deals in Q2 2023.The quarter saw the law firm’s investment specialists act on transactions in the office, industrial and logistics sectors, as well as the mixed-use Royal Albert Dock development. Shoosmiths started the quarter by advising Telereal Trillium on its purchase of Wessex Trade Centre ...

Shoosmiths has advised Workspace Group PLC on the latest sale from the portfolio of assets it acquired as part of the purchase of McKay Securities.The law firm’s real estate investment group assisted Workspace on the £82m deal that sees it complete the sale of five non-core properties in the south east of England - comprising light industrial and logistics properties in Bracknell, Crawley, Poyle, Theale and Weybridge ...

Shoosmiths has been appointed to Avant Homes’ Scottish legal panel.The appointment sees the law firm extend its relationship with the UK housebuilder after securing a place on Avant’s England and Wales legal panel in 2021. Avant’s Scottish panel covers a range of real estate matters, with Shoosmiths advising on all aspects of residential development including strategic land acquisition, affordable housing and plot sales ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has worked alongside German-based firm Heuking Kühn Lüer Wojtek to advise client DMB Dr. Dieter Murmann Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH (DMB), Kiel, on an agreement with Raytheon Technologies Corporation, Waltham / Massachusetts (USA) to acquire all shares in Kiel- based Raytheon Anschütz GmbH (in the future: Anschütz GmbH), its foreign subsidiaries and branches in Panama, Brazil, Singapore, and China, as well as Raytheon Deutschland GmbH’s UK business ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has transferred its Wealth Protection team and members of its Disputed Wills & Trusts and Court of Protection teams to Rothley Law following a strategic review.The 41-strong team joining Rothley includes three former Shoosmiths partners Adam Draper, Melissa Maple and Lucy Taylor, and Legal Director Charlotte Dunn ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has super-charged its energy & infrastructure team with the addition of two new London-based partners.Chris Pritchett, who previously led the energy practice at Foot Anstey, and Levent Gurdenli, who was a partner at Weightmans, have joined the multi-disciplinary practice ...

One of the leading residential conveyancing practices in England and Wales has today (Monday 5 June 2023) revealed a new identity and vision for the future.Shoosmiths’ 110-strong national conveyancing team will now operate as Swiitch, in a move which its head partner, Suman Dally, describes as “doubling down on the human, personal aspect of conveyancing, but with the technology and expertise to help home buyers and sellers navigate even the most complex residential transactions ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has unveiled a new branding approach that supports its strategy to deepen client relationships through excellence, consistency and focus.Identifying that it needs different brands to attract and retain the different types of clients it serves, Shoosmiths has introduced a ‘house of brands’ strategy. This involves refreshing the Shoosmiths brand and introducing two new brands ...

Two new partners have joined Shoosmiths’ real estate practice.In Manchester, the law firm has recruited residential development specialist, Peter Marsden.  Marsden joins as real estate partner, bringing extensive experience working as an in-house lawyer at PLC housebuilder, Taylor Wimpey, and Harrow Estates – part of Redrow ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has advised BGF (Business Growth Fund) on its investment into British bike manufacturer Brompton Bicycle. BGF led the £19 million investment, alongside existing shareholders, to supercharge innovation and fire up international growth.Brompton is the largest volume bicycle manufacturer in Britain, producing approximately 100,000 bicycles each year and exporting to 46 countries ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has strengthened its dispute resolution and litigation practice by welcoming new partner Hannah Field. Hannah is a commercial litigator with over 20 years’ experience across a wide range of complex commercial cross-border and domestic disputes. Hannah spent a number of years at US firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges where she became partner and later co-head of the London International Dispute Resolution department ...

Generation Z and millennials are helping to close the gender funding gap while ethnic minority-led companies are seeing higher female representation, according to the findings of The Gender Index (TGI) 2023, which is sponsored by law firm Shoosmiths ...

LAW firm Shoosmiths has advised Five Arrows, the alternative assets arm of Rothschild & Co., on its acquisition of a majority stake in n2y, a provider of technology-powered solutions for students with unique learning challenges.The inaugural deal marks the first investment for the Five Arrows Long Term Fund (FALT), which has invested alongside Five Arrows Principal Investment (FAPI), (together, ‘Five Arrows’) ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has advised Cenkos Securities (Cenkos) and Dowgate Capital on the IPO of Onward Opportunities Limited (OOL), a Guernsey collective investment scheme.OOL is a newly incorporated Guernsey company registered with the Guernsey Financial Services Commission as a closed-ended registered collective investment scheme and has been successfully admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM Market (AIM) ...

New legislation that came into effect on 1 April 2023 could leave £1.4bn worth of annual rent at risk in the commercial property sector in England, according to data from EG.The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) has applied to the granting of new leases and lease renewals since April 2018. From 1 April 2023, landlords will now be in breach of MEES duties if they continue to let a commercial property that has an EPC rating below E ...

Law firms must embrace legal technology and data as well as attract more diverse talentLarge-scale change in the legal profession is happening now. The effects of COVID-19 have accelerated the pace of change and will continue to do so, meaning lawyers must contend with new technologies, new competition and new ways of working. Every lawyer has a vital part to play in a profession where the focus is on people and tech, not people or tech ...

Shoosmiths has been appointed to The Co-operative Bank’s legal panel.The law firm’s appointment is on a full-service basis, spanning areas including real estate, tax, employment, corporate and commercial matters, as well as funding and regulation. The panel covers operations in England and Wales and is due to run until December 2025. The Co-operative Bank provides a range of banking products and services to about 2.7m retail customers and 94,000 small and medium sized businesses ...