Market demand fuels IP & Creative Industries team growth at Shoosmiths Manchester

The Intellectual Property & Creative Industries team at Shoosmiths Manchester is on track for a record year, thanks in part to unprecedented demand from the region's thriving creative and digital sector.

Headed by partner, Laura Harper, Shoosmiths' IP & Creative experts are set to have doubled the team's 2016/2017 turnover by the end of this financial year, having advised a broad range of clients including technology companies, games developers, fashion and retail brands, communications and design agencies, arts organisations, television production companies and music businesses. The team also acts for many of the country's leading consumer and retail brands.

The Manchester team acts for high-profile clients including Game - the UK's leading games retailer and world-famous toyshop, Hamleys. Shoosmiths is the appointed IP advisor to Manchester headquartered, Whispering Smith Ltd, the international clothing designer, importer, wholesaler and retailer which supplies some of the UK's leading high street and on-line brands. The team also acts for some of the region's leading interactive entertainment companies and communications agencies.

This year has seen Shoosmiths IP & creative industries legal prowess recognised at a national level too, with the team being shortlisted for the Law Firm of the Year category in the prestigious Music Week Awards 2018. Laura Harper, partner and Carol Isherwood, associate, will be taking clients to the ceremony to be held in London later this month.

To help support the increased volume of work transacted and provide an enhanced offering to clients, Shoosmiths Manchester has strengthened the team with the appointment of specialist trade mark attorney, Sonia Hill who was previously at Marks & Clerk; and associate Jack Beech, who joins the firm from Weightmans.

Commenting on the team's success, Laura Harper, said, "From the outset, we have aligned ourselves with Manchester's vibrant and leading creative industries and digital sector, supporting businesses from start-up to large corporates - that strategy has paid dividends. We've been in an excellent position to grow with the sector both regionally and nationally and support the increasing need for quality accessible legal expertise to businesses which are reliant on the intellectual property (IP) which they produce - since the appointment of my partner, Rachel Nicholls, in 2016, Sonia in 2017 and Jack earlier this year we have been able to develop the Intellectual Property skillset further, in particular by strengthening our brand protection capabilities; and we believe that our client service offer is now unrivalled in this sector.

"With our excellent new team members on board, who join a remarkable existing team of lawyers, we look forward to growing the practice further by offering clients an exceptional service."