Adam Morallee, Partner

"The reason why we’re a good choice for corporate work is, especially for businesses with lots of underlying IP assets, is we understand the asset quite well and we're focused on that, and we can therefore do the drafting and do the work knowing the industry very well. So we're certainly not a corporate firm that can act in all different sorts of industries, but we're very focused on certain industries such as sport - we specialise in buying assets for football clubs. We also specialise in the tech sector where we undertake a lot of deals where IP is at the heart of them. Buying and selling companies where there’s a lot of intellectual property in play. Thirdly, advising entrepreneurs themselves on their deals, so not acting for the company, but acting for the entrepreneur themselves in understanding what the deal means for them, how they going to be able to deal with it, are they going to keep their shares if things go south with an investor?

Most entrepreneurs have this issue which is: they started the business themselves, they’ve never had an investor before, the investor comes in and wants lots of rights, and the investor wants to talk about what they have a say over. Most founders don’t really like that. So it’s helping founders get to that level of being comfortable with what’s wanted of them by an investor. You can watch Dragons Den and people talking about 20% of the company for 100k, and after the investment that’s one thing, but the reality is about control. Most corporate deals are about control. You’re losing control of your company because you’re letting an investor in. And what the investor wants is a seat on the board and certain decision-making areas which you won’t have anymore which will be reserved to them. You’re not just taking on money, I think that’s a conventional mistake made by many founders. You’re taking on someone who has the ability to influence your decisions. I think as a firm we’re really well placed, with both myself and the other people in our corporate team, to advise those entrepreneurs on what it actually means and how to negotiate in the people investing into the company."