Nicholas is a highly experienced commercial lawyer with particular expertise in rights acquisition and exploitation, IT agreements and general commercial contracts such as agency, distribution and supply contracts. He regularly advises on gambling law issues.
In addition to his private practice experience, Nicholas spent a number of years in-house at Gullane Entertainment and the publisher De Agostini.
He is a regular contributor to a number of trade journals and frequently speaks at conferences.
Expertise
- Media and Entertainment
- IP (including sponsorship and other forms of exploitation)
- IT/Outsourcing
- General commercial contracts, including agency, distribution, supply and logistics
- E-commerce
- Gambling/prize competitions/free prize draws
- Due diligence
- Consumer law
Experience
Financial Services
- Advising application service provider in respect of agreement with major high street bank.
- Advising top 3 high street bank in respect of data centre agreements and off-site storage capacity agreements.
- Advising FTSE 250 company on complex sale of assets, transitional service arrangements and corporate facilities management arrangements.
Media & Entertainment
- Advising international publishing company on variety of publishing arrangements, together with copyright and licensing advice for covermounts, including liaising with foreign lawyers.
- Advising French costume manufacturer in relation to royalty dispute and licence renewals in respect of Spiderman films.
- Advising Apple application developer in respect of co-development and co-publishing arrangements, including with major publishers and US rights owners.
- Advising theatre company in respect of interpolated rights pertaining to well known songwriter.
- Advising formerly AIM-listed rights owning company on all aspects of various television productions (including rights acquisition, contributors and co-production arrangements), broadcast arrangements, brand management and ancillary rights exploitation programmes, including international licensing and publishing (including e-books) programmes, together with international trade mark filing strategy.
Retail
- Advising luxury brands group in respect of co-marketing agreement with major department store and its sponsorship of major golf tournament.
- Advising sunglasses manufacturer in respect of agency law, including advising on termination issues.
- Advising a UK leading greeting cards company on print on demand and licensing and distribution arrangements in general.
Other
- Advising multi-national Indian company on its sponsorship of Formula 1 team.
- Advising on a number of rights acquisition transactions, including full due diligence on complex underlying rights position and exploitation arrangements.
- Advising data supplier for NHS in respect of participation arrangements for international project and ongoing project advice.
- Advising on launch of several operations as to Gambling Act regulatory requirements, marketing issues and drafting terms and conditions.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised in The Legal 500 for Gaming and Betting (2023-2024)
By Legal 500 (2012) Nicholas “advised Touch Press on collaborative arrangements and iPad apps, notably for The Waste Land. Coolabi is a longstanding client”
Career
Nicholas qualified as a solicitor in 1999. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2013, he worked at the following firms:
- Speechly Bircham
- Penningtons
- De Agostini UK Limited
- Filed Fisher Waterhouse