Start-ups and high growth businesses

Specialist legal advice for entrepreneurs and business owners

Starting a business can be a thrilling adventure – but it can also create a to-do list that leaves you with no time to think about anything else. And if this is your first start-up, it can be a struggle to work out what kind of legal advice and support will help you achieve your ambitions.

Our lawyers work with start-ups (including tech ventures) and high-growth businesses to identify their legal priorities. This enables our clients to manage their cash flow efficiently and focus their efforts on what’s most important.

We can also advise you on international matters, including investing in UK or overseas business ventures and how English law applies to cross-border and multi-jurisdiction transactions.

As always, our own priority is on building a long-term relationship, so once the business is up and running, we will support it through every stage of its growth and future expansion.

Our start-up and high-growth business legal expertise

We give our clients specialist advice on:

• Corporate law, including advice on funding options, company or partnership formation, structuring the business, negotiating and signing shareholder agreements, disposals, mergers, and acquisitions.
• Commercial contracts and agreements, including terms & conditions, distribution agreements, outsourcing agreements and a wider range of supplier contracts.
• Intellectual property, including trade marks, industrial design, patents, copyright and brand protection programmes.
• Technology, including drafting and negotiating large scale ICT agreements, Cloud service agreements, Software as a Service, data protection and social media issues.
• Commercial property, including securing premises, scaling and property expansion.
• Employment and HR, including hiring and employment contracts and expanding HR policy and practice and dealing with employee disputes.
• Private wealth, including succession planning and asset protection.
• International business services, including investing overseas or into the UK and overseas transactions, with access to preferred lawyers in other jurisdictions.

Get a free consultation with our start-up specialists today

To help you decide whether we’re the right lawyers for you, we’d like to invite you for a free, no-obligation chat. You’ll tell us about your business and plans for the future, and we’ll give you a red/amber/green overview of the legal advice we believe you need.

You can meet us face to face (in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton or Taunton), talk on the phone or Skype us. To arrange this, call us on 0800 652 8025 or email spark@clarkewillmott.com to make an appointment.

For more information, please download our ‘With you from the spark’ brochure.

Your free business healthcheck

Our legal healthcheck tool is designed to help SME businesses put in place the best possible building blocks for future success. We can guide you in addressing areas that will support the growth and sustainability of your businesses and help you assess areas of potential risk as a result of your legal and regulatory duties.

This self-assessment takes a couple of minutes to complete and, upon completion, you will receive a free healthcheck report.

Begin your self-assessment