Whether an agency is looking for an advertising agency agreement drafted between itself and a client or input vis-à-vis comparative advertising, product placement, sponsorship and merchandising; or a trader seeking guidance on digital and direct marketing, advertising to children or using ‘green claims’ for environmental adverts we work hand in hand with our clients to provide expert advice in relation to the plethora of legal requirements in relation to their work.
With an acute understanding of the differences between the roles of the agent and the distributor, we have vast experience in drafting both agency and distributor agreements. We guide our clients through issues such as ‘sole’, ‘exclusive’ and ‘non-exclusive’ arrangements where necessary; and work closely with them to understand their business needs in order to advise them on associated competition law implications and the relative merits and/ or disadvantages of appointing an agent or distributor to increase sales.
The introduction of the Bribery Act 2010 has seen an increased number of businesses and individuals investigated and sometimes prosecuted in relation to issues of bribery. We work closely with organisations to ensure that they do not fall foul to an investigation by helping to implement adequate procedures in to their businesses. Our team of experts are also highly experienced in successfully advising clients, both businesses and individuals, who have been the subject of such investigations.
We work closely with our clients and ensure to understand their individual business needs. Equipped with this understanding we are placed in a strong position to guide and advise them through the drafting of collaboration agreements when they choose to work with another party on a commercial project.
Our team of diligent experts works closely with clients to fully grasp their business plans. We have significant experience in reviewing and auditing both existing and prospective contracts in order to identify any omissions and areas of legal concerns. We take on projects on a one-off basis where clients require specific agreements or clauses to be looked at, and others where the due diligence may be part of a more comprehensive contractual overhaul prior to the likes of an acquisition or sale.
Certain businesses require third parties or employees for the introduction of new clients and/ or contacts. We work with a number of these types of organisations and work with them to draft and negotiate agreements to ensure that all parties involved understand the terms of returns in relation to any introduction made.
Confidentiality is a key issue for our clients but there are very few relationships that impose automatic duties to respect it. We advise our clients on how best to protect themselves and their businesses, and draft confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements to best safeguard their information.
When a business engages the services of a freelance/ self-employed person to undertake some work it is imperative that the correct contracts are in place. We work with businesses to draft and negotiate contracts that protect our clients’ key assets including their intellectual property. We are also on hand to enforce any terms that may have been breached such as any confidentiality obligations and restrictive covenants.
The introduction of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 overhauled the rights held by consumers over traders. Our team is capable of assisting traders and consumers alike to guide them through the new rights and advise them on potential remedies for defective goods and services. We are also on hand to advise on digital content and contract forms that may be presented as being misleading.
With a deep understanding of the Data Protection Act 1998 which governs the collection and use of personal data in the UK, we regularly guide organisations that hold individuals’ data through their compliance obligations to ensure that they avoid any criminal or civil liability; including privacy and data protection policies and the transfer of personal data overseas.
Our team of experts regularly draft and negotiate agreements for the hire and leasing of all types of equipment. These agreements often feature optional provisions allowing the lessee to have the right to purchase the equipment under a hire purchase arrangement.
We have considerable experience in drafting event management agreements that record and legally bind the project management of large scale events, including festivals, concerts, conventions and sporting events.
We are acutely aware of the importance of intellectual property protection. We work closely with our clients to ensure that their technical know-how is safeguarded when another party is brought in to the mix.
Every industry is different and some clients in certain industries require ongoing services to be provided. We understand these needs and work with these clients to produce comprehensive contracts that agree the general legal framework and key provisions for all future work between parties and individually tailor these so that the exact nature and scope of services provided/ received and pricing structures may differ from project to project.
We understand the complexities of the franchising business. With vast experience advising both franchisors and franchisees, we advise on all aspects of the franchising process from guiding our clients through the key legal and commercial considerations in the process of both setting up and operating a franchise in the UK or overseas; the protection and enforcement of trade secrets, trade marks and other intellectual property rights; the preparation of franchise purchase agreements and standard franchise agreements; the negotiations of changes in ‘side-letters’; the formulation of detailed operating manuals to record business methods and trade secrets; right through to franchise disputes and the sale or transfer of the franchise.
Our commercially savvy lawyers are often called upon to review contracts prepared for a client by a third party in order to identify any areas of concern. With the clients’ best interests in mind they also regularly provide assistance on complex issues such as limitations, exclusions and caps of liability; variation, assignment and novation of contracts; retention of title; and any other matters that may arise.
We understand the importance of legal contracts to our clients and regularly prepare heads of terms/ memoranda of understanding contracts in anticipation of a more comprehensive formal legal document that contains more provisions. These contracts are usually non-binding but set out the general agreement in principal by the parties pending the full negotiation and drafting of the final contract.
Our experienced and commercial lawyers understand that businesses can often achieve more by working together. However, we also understand that these joint enterprises need very careful planning to ensure that both parties are satisfied with the outcome. We have considerable experience in forming numerous types of JVs including new corporate vehicles, partnerships and contract binding ventures. Or expertise range from advising all forms of JVs from setting them up and running them to selling them or winding them down.
We draft and negotiate agreements for the hire, leasing and maintenance of all types of assets from cars to computer equipment. Dependent on the needs of the individual client, we sometimes include optional provisions giving a lessee the right to purchase the equipment under a hire purchase arrangement for example.
The assets of our clients vary widely from data, software to equipment. We work closely with each of them to enable the preparation of licence documents to record the licencing that they individually require alongside expert know-how documents for the licensee.
Our experts understand the importance of insuring that the correct deliverables are in the right place at the right time. To help ensure our clients do not face any logistical problems we ensure that our agreements not only address the planning and implementation of the efficient flow and storage of goods, we also document the transport/ transfer and supply of services or data.
Whether our client is seeking to source or to supply goods in the UK or abroad, we are on hand to offer our services of drafting and negotiating manufacturing agreements, purchasing agreements and long-term supply agreements.
No matter the industry, when buying or selling assets, time is of the essence. We work in tandem with our clients in order to set up contracts such as option agreements to ensure that they have the best timescale to suit their individual needs.
The transfer of operational responsibility for a distinct business function or process to an external provider, though can come with benefits, can prove to be a legal minefield. We guide our clients through the contract process by not only designing contracts that deal with the transfer of assets and employees to the supplier but that also establish the correct service level requirements for the supplier. We are also adept to managing the exit if and when the arrangement comes to an end.
The drafting of a partnership agreement is crucial to the future of a business in order to avoid any disputes further down the line. We work closely with clients in drafting such agreements whether they are looking for a standard partnership agreement under the Partnership Act 1896 or looking to set up a limited liability partnership (LLP).
Whether our client is a company or an individual who is in the business or reselling goods that have been purchased from larger organisations to third parties via the internet or otherwise, we produce clear and bespoke contracts to suit their business needs; these can include contracts on a licensed basis or not, as a value added reseller agreement (VAR).
We tailor contracts for all business types to ensure that our clients’ business needs and property are protected as stringently as possible through their terms of business. We have vast experience in advising businesses operating in traditional or ecommerce settings on the drafting of these terms, whether in the form of standard and non-negotiable terms, or as individually-negotiated documents. All are bespoke and tailored to suit each individual clients’ requirements.
