Browne Jacobson’s national commercial practice was named ‘Commercial Team of the Year’ at the Solicitors Journal Awards 2017.
The annual awards, which took place at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London, showcases and celebrates excellence in the legal profession.
Declan Cushley, partner and head of the firm’s commercial and intellectual property team, said:
“We are delighted to have been recognised as Commercial Team of the Year.
“Our commercial practice has had a stellar year and our success is testament to the commitment and drive of all of our people, the relationships we have in place with our clients across a really strong commercial portfolio of sectors and by making the most of the opportunities which arise where those sectors intersect.”
In recent years, the firm’s commercial group has grown from a regional leader in its field to a national player. The practice cuts across various sectors including, intellectual property, technology, brands and advertising & marketing and extends across offices in Birmingham, London, Manchester and Nottingham and has a broad premium client portfolio.
2016 saw them deliver 21% year on year growth, advise on some of the most prolific IP cases and flagship projects of the year, as well as launch some very innovative IP litigation and FinTech related partnerships including:
– advising the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on the break-up of major parts of an existing large scale complex ICT services contract which supports the CPS’s world class Case Management System (CMS) across 50+ sites and around 7,000 staff; and advising CPS on various new procurements for replacement ICT services and related contracts
– being instructed by London Taxi Corporation Limited (‘LTC’) in a major trade mark infringement and passing off action against a key competitor of LTC.The action relates to the enforcement of 3D marks representing the iconic shape of its quintessentially British London taxi
– acting on behalf of Rapiscan Systems Limited, one of the world’s largest suppliers of x-ray detection systems for security purposes, in their defence of a patent infringement claim concerning x-ray backscatter detection systems brought by American Science & Engineering Inc.
More recently the Tech team successfully launched a brand new initiative, ‘GROW with Browne Jacobson’ which supports new start-ups, giving them access to free legal training and a dedicated specialist sector lawyer.
At the beginning of 2017, the IP team was named as one of the world’s leading trade mark experts following publication of the latest World Trademark Review (WTR) 1000 rankings for the second successive year. In addition, they have also been named in the Trade Mark contentious category in IP Stars – a guide to the world’s leading intellectual property (IP) firms and practitioners, specialising in contentious patent and trade mark work.
Over the last 18 months, the practice has significantly added to its credentials with the hire of some key commercial IP practitioners including partners Cerryg Jones from Gowling WLG, Selina Hinchliffe from Eversheds, Mark Gleeson from Squire Patton Boggs and Kathleen Fox-Murphy from Taylor Wessing.