Hewitsons LLPOur Firm

Absolute Client Focus

www.hewitsons.com

contactus@hewitsons.com

Contents

Introduction Our Firm Overview & Background Our Offices Our International Reach Our Range of Services Agriculture and Rural Property Commercial Construction and Engineering Corporate Dispute Resolution and Litigation Employment Insolvency and Corporate RecoveryIntellectual Property and Information Technology PensionsPlanning and Environmental

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Private Wealth Real Estate Residential Property

The Sectors we Serve Agriculture, Food and Rural Business Banking and Finance Charities Education Owner-Managed Businesses Public Sector Sport Technology Transport

About usOur quality assuranceOur commitment to the community

Our Firm

We offer specialist legal services to local, national and international clients ranging from blue-chip companies and public bodies to institutions and individuals. Our services are tailored to your individual needs, providing expert and cost-effective advice when you need it.

Best advice, we believe, must always be clear, constructive and practical. Our style is to be focussed and professional, but always approachable.

Knowing our clients and developing well-established relationships with them is of the utmost importance to us and underpins our approach: Absolute Client Focus.

“Excellent service that was well tailored to our needs”

“A pleasure to deal with you, we look forward to next time”

Introduction

Absolute Client Focus is the guiding principle that underpins all of our legal services at Hewitsons.

It is the ethos that informs our approach to our work for businesses, individuals and institutions. It unites all of our exceptional lawyers, our specialist legal teams and our client sector groups.

For us, the client is, and will always be, at the centre of everything we do.

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Overview & Background

Our Offices With offices in Cambridge, London, Milton Keynes and Northampton, we deliver services to clients throughout the UK, as well as internationally.

Hewitsons is long established in the East Anglia and East Midlands regions, with a history spanning more than 150 years. The present firm was created from a merger in 2015 with Moorhead James LLP, a commercial law firm based near Blackfriars in the City of London.

The merger has built on Hewitsons’ existing presence in the capital and reinforces the firm’s services in the regions by providing our clients who have interests in London with legal services wherever they and their advisers are based.

Our International Reach Our international services are enhanced by LawExchange International, the association of leading legal practices founded by Hewitsons in 1994.

The association has member firms across Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Rim. It provides clients with informed legal knowledge within each respective national jurisdiction.

We also have access to the Africa Legal Network, an alliance of excellent quality firms focusing on the African continent.

www.lawexchange.org

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Our Range of ServicesWe have developed a range of specialist services to match our expertise with the precise needs of our clients. These services include:

Agriculture and Rural Property

While for the modern rural property owner, property remains at the core of the business, diversification is now the norm - both to generate alternative income streams and to make the most of the property’s assets. Our substantial rural property practice provides the full range of business services, adapted to meet our clients’ needs.

Commercial

Our business law experts advise on company formation, funding, acquisitions, disposals and reorganisations. We have specialists in complex issues surrounding areas such as employment, contracts, pensions, civil disputes and the ever-changing nature of law surrounding business technology.

Construction and Engineering

We advise the construction industry, employers and related businesses and organisations in matters such as the procurement of consultant services and works. We provide advice relating to commercial, residential and infrastructure projects, renewable energy installations and representation in dispute resolution. Our team has won plaudits for its effective and pragmatic approach.

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Corporate

Our corporate services team advises on acquisitions, disposals, reorganisations, business formation and funding, whether you are an owner managed business, a charity with business activities, or a large company regularly involved in transactions. Our partner-led approach and commercial know-how ensures you will always get the best advice.

Dispute Resolution and Litigation

Our disputes and litigation lawyers include specialists in many fields, including property, commercial, inheritance and trusts, intellectual property, professional negligence, defamation and financial services. Our team is able to provide legal advice and guidance taking into account your industry or sector, whether you are an individual, business or institution.

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Our Firm

We offer specialist legal services to local, national and international clients ranging from blue-chip companies and public bodies to institutions and individuals. Our services are tailored to your individual needs, providing expert and cost-effective advice when you need it.

Best advice, we believe, must always be clear, constructive and practical. Our style is to be focussed and professional, but always approachable.

Knowing our clients and developing well-established relationships with them is of the utmost importance to us and underpins our approach: Absolute Client Focus.

Employment

We advise on all aspects of employment law and practice, from recruitment to termination, from disciplinary and grievance procedures to enforcing restrictive covenants. Our expertise in providing advice - both legal and practical - is recognised nationally.

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Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Those affected by insolvency need help to understand the implications and guidance through this complex area of law. With our knowledge and experience, we can help in all areas of corporate recovery including advice on the full range of insolvency law procedures.

Intellectual Property and Information Technology We advise on technology matters for clients across a wide spectrum from developers of highly sophisticated applications to providers of IT services and from customers procuring IT systems to businesses commissioning new websites. Our technology team combines significant experience of IT projects, both large and small, with a keen commercial understanding and awareness of the relevant issues.

Pensions Our dedicated pensions law team provides a specialist, comprehensive service. We handle the full range of pension issues for clients that include employers, trustees, pension consultants, actuaries and administrators throughout the country and across a wide range of business sectors.

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Planning and Environmental We deal with all aspects of planning law, providing advice to developers, local planning authorities, contractors, investors and landowners on the application of current planning legislation and policy. Our planning and environmental specialists work closely together and our combined expertise enables us to deal effectively with projects where the disciplines overlap.

Private Wealth Whatever your circumstances, as an individual or family trust, farmer, landowner, or business owner we will have the answers to safeguard your interests. We have an established reputation for providing specialist tax and trust advice, as well as extensive experience in estate planning. We will draw on this when advising you on your Wills and succession planning so that you can best protect your assets. Where contentious issues arise, we can call upon the expertise of our highly regarded team of contentious trust and probate specialists who focus on resolving disputes quickly and cost-effectively.

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“Extremely efficient, as always”

Real Estate Supported by specialist planning, environmental, construction and real estate dispute resolution colleagues, our skilled real estate team advise on a full range of property matters. These include strategic land, development and promotion agreements, options, planning, environmental, investment, funding arrangements, purchases of existing businesses, such as hotels and pubs, and all commercial lease matters. We deliver a high quality and efficient tailor-made service for every client including investors, corporate occupiers, developers, retail and leisure operators, social housing bodies, funders and public sector bodies.

Residential Property Dedicated to quality and service, our residential property legal team is focused on the needs of our clients. Our aim is to provide practical and pragmatic advice in a timely and cost-effective way to ensure you reach the goal you wish to achieve.

Among the sectors we serve are:

Agriculture, Food and Rural Business Our agricultural law clients include private individuals, farm partnerships and companies, landed estates, charities and local authorities.

We provide advice through our team of experienced lawyers with a wide range of legal specialisms and all with a genuine interest in the issues which affect rural and food businesses and landowners.

Banking and Finance The expertise we offer in banking and finance is central to our commercial work. It covers everything from commercial property transactions requiring bank funding to large scale corporate refinancing. Our multi-disciplined banking group draws on the considerable breadth of experience of lawyers from a wide range of practice areas. Acting for both lenders and borrowers, our clients include major banks, building societies, private equity houses and private funders, as well as a range of corporate, institutional and individual borrowers.

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The Sectors we Serve

Intellectual Property and Information Technology We advise on technology matters for clients across a wide spectrum from developers of highly sophisticated applications to providers of IT services and from customers procuring IT systems to businesses commissioning new websites. Our technology team combines significant experience of IT projects, both large and small, with a keen commercial understanding and awareness of the relevant issues.

Charities We are privileged to act for over 400 charities and similar institutions in a great variety of contexts. Our charity lawyers understand the varied needs of every kind of charity and institution, whatever their structure, way of working and operational needs. We can help with all legal, regulatory and governance issues.

Education We have an excellent understanding of this specialist sector and our team of education lawyers has a detailed knowledge of the complexities involved in the day to day challenges it faces. We advise schools, colleges, academies, universities, educational charities and academic institutions.

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Owner Managed Businesses Our dedicated team of owner managed business lawyers understands that every business is different. By getting to know you well, we deliver expert advice on all aspects of your business in a clear, practical and cost-effective manner and offer access to a wide range of specialist legal advice and expertise.

Public sector Our public sector lawyers have extensive experience working with a wide spectrum of organisations including local authorities, research councils, development agencies, government departments and other public sector bodies.

Some of our public sector clients have a national remit with budgets in excess of a billion pounds a year. However, our lawyers are equally at home advising smaller authorities, such as parish councils, on matters important to their communities.

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Sport Our sports group has a long-established record of advising sports administrators, national governing bodies, sports clubs, charities and trusts on all aspects of their organisation, including governance, regulation, employment and commercial and property matters. We are one of ten firms appointed to the Legal Panel Framework, an initiative established by Sport England, UK Sport and others to help national governing bodies and wider sport and recreation organisations identify and gain access to high quality legal advice. We work with numerous disciplines including tennis, shooting, ice skating, taekwondo, fencing, golf and ice hockey and represent a number of disability and Paralympic organisations.

Technology Many laws applicable to new technologies have changed significantly over the past 20 years - such as those relating to e-commerce, cloud computing, open source software and privacy/data protection. Our team of experienced lawyers specialising in technology matters talk to our clients about new technology and take time to understand what is involved. Above all, they know how the law develops and is to be applied to clients’ business’.

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“Top Notch”

“All round, just excellent”

For more details of the services provided by our legal teams, please visit www.hewitsons.com

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Transport

We have extensive experience in the transport sector, working closely with small and large operators of passenger vehicles. We understand the nature of your business and recognise the challenges of operating public and private sector contracts in a highly competitive and cost-sensitive marketplace.

About Us

Our quality assurance The firm has clear objectives in building for the future through the substance and quality of our service delivery and by being an exemplary employer providing excellent career models and flexible working conditions. We put great value in being a firm that our clients and our staff can be proud of.

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“Absolutely fantastic in their legal strategy, planning and response times”

Our commitment to the community We take pride in the role our firm plays within the communities in which we all live and work.

Our staff are encouraged to raise funds for good causes through the Hewitsons Charitable Trust and other charities. We support the work of the community foundations local to our offices and help them to link generosity and need within their communities.

We also take our environmental responsibility seriously and operate our business in a way which has as little detrimental impact on the environment as possible.

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Trustees of Hewitsons Charitable Trust and representatives of the Cambridge Community celebrating £1million being

raised through Chariots of Fire since 1992.

Cambridge | London | Milton Keynes | NorthamptonHewitsons LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority

Hewitsonswww.hewitsons.com