Manchester, United Kingdom
I am a highly experienced commercial law specialist advising clients on all aspects of commercial law.
Voted by the Commerce and Industry Group as In House Lawyer of the Year in 2014/2015, I am a pragmatic commercial lawyer with over 10 years' experience of private practice and senior in house positions. I have a a strong focus on giving sensible and practical advice which can be easily implemented.
Specialisms include: outsourcing, supply/distribution agreements, agency agreements, terms and conditions and commercial support on corporate transactions. I also have particular experience in setting up effective internal contract policies, together with precedent documents and contract storage/retention policies. I have experience in many sectors including IT, telecoms, energy/oil and retail.
Consultant Working on a 2 day a week secondment to Essar Oil (UK) Limited, responsible for all their commercial contracts in the UK.
Head of Legal Services • Appointed for a new role as Head of Legal Services reporting into Group CFO under the previous private equity ownership. The appointment resulted from my relationship of advising 20:20 as a client. • The original remit was to buil
Trainee solicitor, solicitor and Associate Initially qualified as a corporate lawyer and then moved to the commercial/IP department in January 2006. Secondments included 20:20 and Legal & General Providing a full range of commercial law advice with a par
I am an experienced and pragmatic commercial lawyer advising companies, in house lawyers, senior management and senior executives on a full range of commercial issues. My particular area of specialism is in relation to commercial contracts, particular outsourcing, supply, distribution and agency contracts. I also advise on data protection, corporate governance and intellectual property issues.
I am the rare type of trusted advisor that businesses crave. I combine the rigour and professionalism of private practice with the commerciality and approachability of an in house head of legal. This mix sets clients instantly at ease and I always deliver on time and on budget.
Recent work handled by me includes advising:
I qualified and practised with Halliwells LLP for 8 years before joining 20:20 Mobile Group as Head of Legal ead of Legal Services in 2009. After the successful sale to, and integration with Brightstar, I became an independent commercial lawyer working on a freelance/consultancy basis.
University
1999 - 2001
LPC (Commendation)
CPE (Distinction)
University
1995 - 1998
Bachelor of Science (Psychology and Sports Science) 2:1
Tom worked for me for over two years on a secondment basis. He was experienced, pragmatic and showed an ability to lead complex projects to a successful conclusion. Tom integrated well with sometimes challenging clients and was a good team player. At all times he was able to judge the practical impact of key legal points and deliver solutions
Tom is the rare type of trusted advisor that business's crave for. He combines the rigour and professionalism of private practice with the commerciality and approachability of an in house head of legal. This mix sets clients instantly at ease and Tom always delivers on time and on budget. I commend him to you.
Advised a large outsourcing business on how to organise itself efficiently with regards to its large volume of outsourcing contracts. The business was entering into contracts without negotiation, on customer favoured terms, not storing those contracts nor recording key terms. Tom spent a lot of time interviewing key stakeholders to understand the process and the various issues. He then devised a new contracting policy together with a set of long and short form standard (supplier favoured) precedents. Formal training was rolled out so that the business was confident in using the new process and the new, user-friendly, precedents. All key dates and key terms were recorded in a new contract matrix with hyperlinks to the contracts for ease of access. This resulted in (1) the business entering into more favourable contracts (2) the business being aware of what terms it was signing up to (3) instant access to relevant information and trigger dates such as renewals (4) the ability to forward plan for renewals and exits from contracts (5) a decreased workload in terms of responding to due diligence on further corporate transactions and (6) showing the business in a favourable light to potential new investors.
Advised a company on a 15 year supply agreement for bio-diesel fuel through the construction of a new, state of the art, biodiesel manufacturing complex. The deal also included the granting of a 15 year lease to tie into the supply agreement and the construction agreement. Guided the client through the complex and difficult negotiation process involving the management of other specialist lawyers. The contract negotiation was successfully concluded on time and on budget.
Voted by Commerce and Industry Group (North West)
2014
Professional Body