Press Releases

The venture capital (VC) team at law firm, Shoosmiths, has advised a consortium of four major institutional investors on their exit from Vauban – an online platform that helps investors back private companies from end to end.The sustained levels of high value VC work carried out by the Shoosmiths corporate team follows their placement as the most active for venture capital deal volume across the UK and Ireland, according to Pitchbook rankings in 2021 ...

Trainee solicitors from law firm Shoosmiths are offering free legal advice to charities and small business owners as part of an exclusive partnership with The University of Law (ULaw).The future lawyers from the firm’s Birmingham office sought out the opportunity to become one of the first external law firms to partner with ULaw on its Small Business Advice Line (SBAL) ...

Law firm Shoosmiths’ corporate division has announced a successful first half year of 2022, advising on more than £2 billion of transactions. The corporate division’s reputation as dealmakers is highlighted through its increase in high-calibre deal activity, advising on more than150 transactions, despite ongoing global uncertainties ...

The venture capital team at law firm Shoosmiths has advised technology company Speechmatics in raising $62 million in Series B funding.Speechmatics is a technology company based in Cambridge, England, which develops automatic speech recognition software based on recurrent neural networks and statistical language modelling ...

Law firm Shoosmiths came together with representatives of The Gender Index Report to launch key findings from its Birmingham office on Thursday (7 July) on West Midlands Female entrepreneurship to the great and the good of the city.The findings show that from the 363,212 active companies that were identified in the West Midlands,17.1% are female-led. This is the 3rd highest female leadership percentage for a UK region ...

Law firm Shoosmiths has recruited tax partner Dan Sharman to head up the employee incentives practice in the tax team. Dan joins from Osborne Clarke, where he advised a range of UK and international companies on incentives, employee benefits and payroll taxes issues. His work with clients at Shoosmiths will include the design and implementation of all types of incentive arrangements, including tax-advantaged share and option schemes, bespoke awards (including growth shares) ...

Shoosmiths has advised AEW Europe on significant new leasing transactions at Festival Place shopping centre in Basingstoke.The leading law firm supported AEW on transactions with BrewDog for a 15-year lease of a c. 5,000 sq ft new unit, bringing its craft beer and food offering to the centre. Another 15-year lease to Tapas Revolution brings a further food and beverage (F&B) offering to the scheme. Brewdog has now opened its doors, with two guest taps to support Basingstoke breweries ...

Shoosmiths is backing new plans to deliver a high street revival.The law firm is part of a coalition of retailers, local authorities, landlords, investors and community organisations, working together with Radix think tank, to publish a set of proposals seeking to drive positive social change on high streets and in town centres ...

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 ...