Retail Services A different kind of legal

Transcription

1 Retail Services A different kind of legal

2 01 Retail Specialists The shape of the retail sector is changing - we have the expertise to help you navigate through it. To keep up with the rapid changes that they face, retailers need to be able to respond and adapt whilst still keeping an eye on future opportunities. We use our in-depth knowledge and multi-disciplinary teams to advise our clients at every step and provide a complete solution to their requirements - from acquisitions, brand protection, employment law, e-commerce, managing property portfolios and product safety issues. Our team understands the complexities of end-to-end retailing, supply chains, product sourcing and customer satisfaction. Our clients are at the heart of our business - that s why we invest the time to understand their objectives and recognise how technical advances and globalisation are changing their commercial needs so that we can advise on the simplest, most cost-effective and timely way to maximise opportunities whilst minimising risks. Many of the team s lawyers have provided legal support in-house or on secondment, or have previous industry experience, enabling them to apply their specific sector knowledge to help reduce risks, nurture growth or develop strategies for success. Our commitment to the sector led us to commission an independent study of over 250 retailers and technology suppliers to retail that provided insight into the shopping landscape of the future, the issues that they face, and the solutions that will enable retailers to unlock success. Our Retail Re-imagined report can be downloaded at Our Primary Authority Coordinator Scheme takes the burden out of compliance by working with Local Authorities to offer an extensive single point service for retailers looking for a co-ordinated, expert led regulatory service. We have also entered into a first of its kind strategic partnership with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) to deliver regulatory consultancy services to businesses, enabling them to access expert advice on trading standards and other regulatory matters through the joint capability of the CTSI and Ashfords. Our impressive list of retail clients represents over 2,000 outlets and 300m+ turnover and ranges from high street clothes stores to major national brands including Fortnum & Mason, Majestic Wine, Ginsters, Subway and McDonald s franchisees.

3 02 03 Our Work wide-ranging undertaken experience Our wide-ranging experience FAT FACE Advising the founders of Fat Face on their sale of Fat Face to private equity investors. GROGROUP Advising GroGroup on the exit of its founders to an MBO team backed by Mobeus. ASPINAL OF LONDON Acting for Aspinal of London, luxury leather goods, on their IP protection. FORTNUM & MASON Advising Fortnum & Mason on their in-store licensing requirements. CHARLOTTE TILBURY BEAUTY Acting for Charlotte Tilbury in the acquisition of its first retail standalone store in Covent Garden and the relocation of its Head Office to Hammersmith. STOVAX LIMITED AND GAZCO LIMITED Advising Gazco and Stovax on general commercial and IP matters. GINSTERS Acting for Ginsters on their goals-related promotion in The Sun newspaper. HOTEL CHOCOLAT License acquisition for the sale and distribution of products from Hotel Chocolat. ROALD DAHL Protection and commercial exploitation of Roald Dahl IP rights. MAJESTIC WINE POST OFFICE LIMITED LK BENNETT Acting for Majestic Wine in their store expansion programme. Majestic Wine currently operates from 200 stores. Panel appointment with the Post Office Limited to advise in a range of practice areas including a significant technology focus. Acting for Linda Bennett on her sale of clothing chain LK Bennett to private equity investors. PRO-DIRECT TIMOTHY EVEREST FRUGI Acting for Pro-Direct on its retail distribution and outsourcing agreements in UK and Germany. Advising Timothy Everest Group on establishing a joint venture to expand the Timothy Everest brand into ready to wear collections. Advising Frugi on corporate, employment and real estate matters. SUBWAY MCDONALD S PENHALIGONS THE RANGE Acting in relation to a multimillion pound property litigation dispute. ZANZAN Advised independent eyewear brand Zanzan Ltd on equity fundraising. MOLE VALLEY Advising Mole Valley on its customer terms and conditions. Panel Solicitor for Subway, responsible for new and existing commercial lease transactions and the sale and purchase of existing Subway stores. Over the last 10 years the firm has dealt with leases for over 400 Subway locations and over 500 Subway store transfers. Acting for the franchisees of McDonald s restaurants in the defence of Employment Tribunal claims ranging from preproceeding settlement of claims to representation in the Tribunal. Advising luxury perfume house Penhaligons on various commercial contracts and managing their worldwide trade mark and design portfolio.

4 04 04 Regulatory We know the retail sector and we know our clients needs - that s why at Ashfords we provide more than just expert legal advice. Ashfords HSE takes the burden out of compliance by offering the first commercial Primary Authority Coordinator scheme - a government scheme to improve regulation by local councils. Primary Authority ensures consistency and fairness in the way that local regulators enforce regulations in areas such as food hygiene, food standards, fair trading, fire safety and health and safety. We have established a Primary Authority relationship with a number of leading providers who are experts in delivering assured advice to businesses across a range of regulatory scopes. The scheme allows a business to form a partnership (in this case via Ashfords) with a single local authority that is then known as its Primary Authority. The Primary Authority, coordinated by Ashfords, provides bespoke and robust regulatory advice on your legal responsibilities and how you can meet them, and as this assured advice is endorsed by the Primary Authority other local authorities cannot ask you to do something different. We have also formed a strategic partnership with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) to deliver Regulatory Consultancy services to businesses, giving access to expert advice on trading standards and other regulatory matters through our joint capability. Our wide ranging experience Health and Safety Environmental health Licensing and permits Distance selling Fire safety Complaints and returns procedures Competition law Food safety Defamation Product recall Packaging regulation Product safety and labelling requirements Marketing and advertising Consumer protection Occupational health Business security services

5 07 Commercial Contracts We provide comprehensive business-centred advice and support so that you can make the most of your commercial opportunities both within the UK and abroad. Retail contracts can be fraught with complexities, and getting them right is the key to the smooth running of any company. From research and development to getting a product to market, robust agreements are critical to protecting your assets, reputation and bottom line. Our clients are at the heart of our business - that s why we invest the time to understand their objectives and recognise how technical advances and globalisation are changing their commercial needs so we can create solutions that will achieve the best outcome. Commercial contracts and agreements Licensing and assignment of rights Product design and liability Partnership and shareholders agreements Software deployment Contract management Outsourcing Cloud computing arrangements Exploitation and protection of emerging technologies Management of data and information rights Internet and social media

6 08 Corporate We understand transactions from every angle and will get to know your business so that we can help you achieve your retail strategies. Corporate transactions in the retail sector are often complex in nature and require fast, expert advice. We provide a first class team with extensive experience in every aspect of buying, selling or investing in a business. Our Corporate Team is consistently ranked at the top of their sector and is well equipped to handle cross-border transactions through our ADVOC network of independent law firms, which covers over 100 jurisdictions worldwide. With high standards of service, strong legal knowledge and a wealth of experience, the team is solutions-orientated, with expertise that covers a full range of issues that can arise on a corporate transaction. Banking and finance Venture capital Corporate governance Joint ventures Corporate tax Restructurings and refinancings Selling and buying business assets Acquisition finance M&A Secured lending Equity capital markets and private equity Exit strategies and succession planning 04

7 11 Employment and HR Working in retail means working with people - and not just your customers. A retailer s biggest asset can be the people they employ, but employment law can also cause the biggest concerns. As an employer, you will want to look after your employees as valued ambassadors of your brand - but you will also need to protect yourselves from negative performance, disputes and reputation damage in cases where employee relationships turn sour. Our Employment and Human Resources Team can guide you through the obstacles you might face when managing your workforce. Employment disputes and tribunals Employment contracts Service agreements and staff handbooks TUPE implications Restructures and redundancy Part-time workers and flexible working Contractual issues relating to pension obligations, retirement age and national minimum wage Recruiting in accordance with the Equality Act and protected characteristics Eligibility to work in the UK Agency workers

8 12 Brand Protection Your brand is as valuable as any of your other assets - and when it comes to protecting your assets you need top experts on your side. The importance of your intellectual property should not be underestimated. We manage the intellectual property rights of numerous blue-chip and high street retailers, having responsibility for the management of thousands of trade marks both in the UK and overseas. Our leading Intellectual Property Team provide a full end-to-end commercial brand protection service to our clients. We are well known for our cross-border IP work and regularly act on multi-jurisdictional transactions. Brand creation and protection Trade mark portfolio management Brand registration Copyright Trade mark and design disputes Co-existence arrangements IP licensing and advertising regulation IP audits and strategy IP exploitation arrangements Infringement strategies IP dispute resolution 04

9 15 Retail Technology We understand the increasing importance of staying up-to-date with advances in retail technology and in keeping personal and commercially sensitive information secure. Technological advances are taking off with such speed that it s difficult to keep track of every new development. With each innovation bringing further legal challenges, from utilising new technology to its fullest, to managing and protecting personal data, we will work closely with you to ensure that you maximise opportunities whilst balancing compliance obligations. Our Technology Team is nationally recognised for the quality of its advice, its industry understanding and its expertise when assisting businesses with their IT requirements. A number of our lawyers have spent part of their careers in the IT sector and so are able to offer pragmatic, cost-effective solutions for any project. Pre-payment, smart meter and online payment and processing systems Business-critical software and solutions IT procurement Outsourcing E-commerce Data protection Cross-border data transfers Data security Data protection compliance and security breaches Fraud prevention Systems integration IT licensing arrangements

10 16 Commercial Disputes We know that disputes can be costly and disruptive and have the potential to severely impact on your business. Commercial disputes in the retail sector often cause disruption to the business, diverting management time and resources from key activities. They can be expensive too, not just financially but in terms of damage caused to commercial relationships and reputation. Our Dispute Resolution Team has the experience and expertise to help you manage your disputes. We look at each individual circumstance as well as the culture of your business to work out the most effective method of dispute resolution for you, whether through the courts, through a trade body or arbitration process, or by utilising varying forms of alternative dispute resolution. Consumer rights Partnership disputes Consumer credit claims Alternative dispute resolution Breaches of contract Defamation Supply and distribution issues Freezing orders Franchise issues Injunctions Property disputes Mediation Shareholder disputes 04

11 19 Real Estate We help retailers negotiate through the often complex and uncertain areas of real estate law, from leasing through to acquisition and disposal. Our highly experienced Real Estate Team has the strength and depth to meet the retail sector s demands in the modern real estate world. From feasibility to final fit out, we are able to provide a single source multidisciplinary team for even the most complicated project or venture, with lawyers from projects, commercial property, planning law, corporate and banking teams working together to realise retailers objectives as assiduously and cost effectively as possible. Development Store roll outs Portfolio management Leases Construction Property investment Planning Real estate finance Property disputes

12 20 Franchise and Concessions The franchise business model can be extremely beneficial to businesses wishing to expand and individuals wishing to establish themselves within the retail sector. Such arrangements, however, require careful consideration and expert advice. Our dynamic and knowledgeable team has worked with some of the biggest names in the food and retail sector. Our breadth of knowledge and deep understanding of the challenges that franchising presents led to our appointment onto Subway s recommended panel of franchise lawyers, and we have acted on over 800 franchises nationwide in the taking of franchisor leases and the re-grant of sub-leases to franchisees. Commercial arrangements IP protection Financing HR matters Property portfolio Disputes Branding Sales and acquisitions Product liability and brand International expansion 04

13 23 Why Ashfords Ashfords is nationally recognised as a leading provider of legal and professional services to companies and individuals throughout the UK and abroad. Our aim is straightforward to help our clients get what they want. Our clients tell us that we genuinely understand their challenges and their sectors and that we focus on trying to find solutions, rather than problems. We do this by providing high-quality, plain-speaking legal advice. We deal with the legal complexities so you don t have to. We don t give you both sides of a story and then sit firmly on the fence while you make the big decisions that affect your future. We help you decide. We pride ourselves on being down-to-earth and accessible. There s no point in employing expert lawyers if you can never get hold of them, so you can ask us anything, anytime. Ashfords has built a reputation for excellence and we work hard to form strong, long-term relationships with our clients, based on outstanding service and real value for money. We have strong international coverage - we work regularly on complex, crossborder projects and offer legal expertise in more than 100 jurisdictions through our membership of ADVOC, International Referral and a range of other networks.

14 Key contact Louise Workman Head of Retail +44 (0) Ashfords offices London 1 New Fetter Lane London EC4A 1AN Bristol Tower Wharf, Cheese Lane Bristol BS2 0JJ Exeter Ashford House, Grenadier Road Exeter EX1 3LH Taunton Ashford Court, Blackbrook Park Avenue Taunton TA1 2PX Plymouth Princess Court, 23 Princess Street Plymouth PL1 2EX ashfords.co.uk

15 LONDON BRISTOL EXETER TAUNTON PLYMOUTH TIVERTON Ashfords LLP