- A message
- from
- Garfield Smith
I hope that you had a great summer and managed to take a break from work to spend time with your family and friends.
In this Autumn Update, I am pleased to announce some exciting news about our law firm as we continue to widen and strengthen our offering to our clients. We are very pleased that Caroline Hughes has accepted a new role at the firm as head of our commercial technology, data and media team. Caroline has been a practising solicitor for nearly 20 years having trained and qualified in the information technology and intellectual property team in a large international law firm. Caroline will focus on developing our commercial technology, data and media practices with a special focus on our early stage technology businesses and our more established advertising and media clients. If you would like to arrange a meeting with Caroline she can be contacted here. You can read more about Caroline’s experience here.
Our corporate and investment practice, headed up by Amanda Sermon, continues to go from strength to strength and is bucking the recent downturn in the UK VC and private equity markets. Over the summer, Amanda advised one of our advertising and marketing clients on an investment in a holographic technology business and also an early stage client in the construction technology sector on its seed round. For this update, Amanda has put together an extremely useful summary of her insights on preparing term sheets for both business sales and investment deals. You can read the summary below and a full version is available here. If you have any questions, Amanda can be contacted here.
On the commercial side of our practice, we are delighted to have worked on a number of international projects with Bryden Wood. Bryden Wood is a global company of creative technologists, designers, architects, engineers and analysts. Bryden Wood are our featured client in this Autumn Update newsletter and you can read more about them later. Alternatively, click here to visit Bryden Wood’s website.
Our commitment to charitable initiatives continues and we recently encouraged our lawyers, clients, friends and family to clear out their wardrobes and donate clothes to support Suited & Booted. You can read more about what Suited & Booted do below or on their website here. If you have formal menswear that you no longer require, please consider donating it to Suited & Booted.
Finally, we’ve all made good on our new year’s resolution to get out and about more. Members of the our team attended the inaugural Cambridge Tech Week and Digital Construction Week in May, London Tech Week and the AI Summit in June and CogX, the London Data Show and the Climate Technology Show in September. It was superb to bump into some old friends and to make some new contacts at these events too. Despite a slow UK economy I cannot recall a more vibrant UK tech scene. We’re looking forward to attending the Hospitality Tech Expo, the Going Global Exhibition and the London EV Show in the next few weeks. If you plan to be at any of these events drop me a note here and I’ll pass it onto the team.
Warmest wishes,
Garfield Smith
Insights
Term Sheets
Term sheets can also be called memoranda of understanding (MOU), heads of terms, or letters of intent (LOI). Each of these terms can be used interchangeably. Put simply, a term sheet is a document that sets out in writing, in summary form, the future commercial and legal relationship of the parties.
We have put together an insight article that explains the important role that term sheets can play in facilitating a meeting of minds on the key commercial terms. They also help parties arrive at a fully termed legal agreement as efficiently as possible saving time and cost. Our insight also highlights the key elements you should ensure that you cover when negotiating your deal as well as the importance of involving your legal team at an early stage in the contracting process.
Client Focus
Bryden Wood
Bryden Wood is a global company of creative technologists, designers, architects, engineers and analysts. Bryden Wood’s objective is to shape the future of construction by bringing integrated expertise and innovation to create exceptional sustainable design solutions for a better built environment. We are pleased to support the team at Bryden Wood in respect of their commercial legal needs and to bring our team’s extensive construction technology experience to new Bryden Wood projects.
Bryden Wood are leaders in the theory and practice of Modern Methods of Construction (‘MMC’), the platform approach to Design for Manufacture and Assembly (‘P-DfMA’), generative design, creative technologies, integrated design and automation in construction. Bryden Wood’s approach is called ‘Design to Value’. This means understanding that the most efficient route to the most efficient solution is first to analyse and understand the commercial opportunity or requirement from every angle. Metrics such as capital cost and return on investment, for example, don’t define how well a built asset will function in the world. Design that is fully rooted in a Design to Value methodology also considers criteria such as the expected lifetime of components and materials, as well as aspects such as location, climate change, or the wellbeing of the workforce.
Bryden Wood implements its Design to Value methodology by using advanced construction technology to create a digital model of every component, containing as much value data as is available, ranging from energy consumption to physical space requirements to expected lifespan to cost. In the digital design environment, Bryden Wood are then able to experiment with a huge number of permutations of components, introducing variables, then measuring, iterating and refining.
Recent projects that Bryden Wood have been involved in include designing the Forge, a large commercial building at 105 Sumner Street in London, Igus Phase 8 an extensive production facility in Cologne, Germany and the award winning cladding for the Elizabeth Line in central London.
Other News
SUITED & BOOTED
Suited & Booted is a charity based not far from our offices in the City of London. Public agencies such as job centres, the NHS, the probation service and Crisis, refer vulnerable, unemployed and low-income men to Suited & Booted who help them gain employment by providing suitable interview clothing. All of this clothing is donated by law firms like us and by other professional firms and companies and individuals. Suited & Booted also offers interview advice and mentoring.
Suited & Booted helps about 1000 men every year by providing them with a suit, shirt and tie, and accessories. We all recognise that wearing a great suit or smart clothing can be an empowering, transformative experience, giving the wearer the self-esteem and confidence necessary to succeed at job interview and into employment. Stepping into a new suit or outfit not only changes the way others see you, but also changes the way you see yourself. When you feel and look your best, you exude confidence and ability. Suited & Booted often quote psychologist Dr Mair, who says: ’Being well dressed can improve our self-confidence and what we wear affects how we are perceived by others. Therefore, wearing appropriate clothes, for example, a formal suit for an interview, builds our confidence and can make us appear more serious, conscientious and respectful.’
Further details of the great work that Suited & Booted do can be found on their website here. If you would like to support Suited & Booted, perhaps by donating a little-worn suit that looked good on you ten years ago but sadly now no longer fits, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Maria or Enid at Suited & Booted.
What we do
EARLY-STAGE INVESTMENT
We have an enviable record of advising on investment in early-stage technology and data-driven companies, having advised several international investment funds on their investments in early-stage companies. We also advise early-stage technology and data companies on angel, A, B, C, D and E rounds of investment, restructurings, refinancing and acquisitions.