Simkins

Simkins LLP is a leading media and commercial law firm. Founded in 1962 as one of the pioneering firms for the entertainment and media industry, the firm now works with clients from a broad range of industries, offering a full range of legal services in corporate and commercial law, reputation law and dispute resolution, property law, employment law, family law, and private client. Across the practice, the firm has an outstanding reputation for providing high-quality, responsive advice that is always focussed on its clients' needs.

PRINCIPAL AREAS OF WORK

Reputation: Individuals and businesses sometimes need to take decisive action to protect their reputations. The firm has extensive knowledge and experience in this area and offers its clients tailored legal services to protect their reputations. The team specialises in crisis management and prefers to help clients manage their reputations to avoid the need for litigation. Before publication, they operate quickly and flexibly in light of potential media threats. After publication, they act swiftly to seek remedies. Where litigation is necessary, they have significant expertise in defamation, misuse of private information, breach of confidence, and injunctive relief applications. They do this for both offline and online issues. When the possible threats to any client's reputation are not limited to the UK, they work with an international network of trusted firms, whose local knowledge and expertise supplement their own.

Family: The firm advises on all aspects of family law with particular emphasis on asset protection for wealthy individuals, often with international financial interests. Their work includes preparation of prenuptial and postnuptial agreements and the resolution of complex financial issues within divorce. They also advise on relationship breakdown outside of marriage or civil partnership and have extensive experience of children law matters, including international relocation.

Private Client: The firm provides tailored private client legal services including advice on wills and trusts, estate planning and family governance structures. The firm's client base in this area is wide ranging but, with our expertise in, and understanding of, the entertainment and media business, we are ideally placed to provide private client and trusts advice to entertainers, creatives and others working in those sectors, as well as literary estates and other rights owners.

Property: The firm has extensive experience in all aspects of residential and commercial property work, including high net worth residential acquisitions and sales, real estate investment, and site and building development. Simkins' approach is highly commercial, and the firm prides itself on understanding the needs of every client it works with, whether they are investors, developers, property financiers, high-net-worth individuals or trading companies.

Disputes: The firm has expertise and experience in a wide range of courts and tribunals. It offers advice and representation on general commercial disputes, including breach of contract, partnership and shareholder litigation, and intellectual property. It has specific expertise in media related matters.

Employment: The firm prides itself on delivering concise, timely and practical employment law advice. Simkins has wide expertise in the media and entertainment sector but its lawyers are equally at home with clients from other industries, including retail, charities, finance and professional services.

Commercial: The firm's lawyers have a wide range of experience in all commercial contracts, but have a particular expertise in advising on contracts in all major sectors of the entertainment and media industries, including advertising, digital media, film, television, music, publishing, sport and theatre. The firm advises a wide range of clients from large multi-national corporations to individual entertainers, and owner managed businesses to cultural institutions.

Corporate: Acting for clients across a wide range of industry sectors including the media, entertainment and leisure sectors, the firm can advise at all stages of a company's life cycle — from fledgling start-ups and through every stage of development including equity and debt financings, joint ventures and IPOs.