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Tom leads the Emerging Companies team, which specialises in taking technology companies from start-up to trade sale or IPO, particularly concentrating on protecting and exploiting intellectual property to create value. Tom and the team nurture over 100 emerging companies at any one time, helping them with a broad range of corporate, investment, commercial and IP advice.
His industry background gives his advice a strong commercial slant and he is considered by many clients as their “in house lawyer”.
Tom has a degree in Cybernetics and Control Engineering from Reading University. He worked as a robotics engineer for a multinational for 4 years before retraining in law. He qualified in 1994 and has been a partner since 1998.
Encompassing a broad based background, Tom helps technology companies and universities with a wide range of technology related matters. Examples include:
- Close involvement with a number of clients by acting effectively as their in-house lawyer and Company Secretary.
- Acting on 25-30 investments in emerging companies each year
- Extensive experience of licensing out technology in both IT and life science fields to companies including Google, Abbott, Microsoft and other multinationals
- Nurturing around 40 emerging companies with a broad range of corporate, commercial, IP and IT advice
- Extensive experience of exploiting and spinning off research from both universities and research laboratories
- Training technology transfer staff and establishing IP policies at various UK universities
- Teaching the IP module on the IOD directors course
Our Emerging Companies team is the “go to” team for helping early stage companies to become established and develop. We have helped over 200 early stage businesses to date through multiple rounds of investment and for many, through to an exit. Because we have helped so many companies, we know where the trap doors are, what market practice is, what documents and advice early stage businesses need and know the networks of other advisers and investors, and can use that experience to help new companies.
In my free time, I am into wine tasting and practice regularly.