Release Ref: C0116/12/09Release Date: 14/01/10
One of the UK’s premiere science parks, Birmingham Science Park Aston (BSPA), has appointed Midlands law firm Challinors as a member of its key Service Partners to its Entrepreneurs for the Future Centre.The new agreement will involve Challinors providing legal advice and support to BSPAs Clients and the new start-up businesses locating to the Entrepreneurs for the Future (e4f) dedicated facility.
Under the legal partnership Challinors will deliver a range of key services for BSPA to e4f companies and other clients on the park across the core specialist areas of corporate, employment and dispute resolution legal advice. Challinors’ BSPA-assigned team is led by Phil Bloxham, Development Director, Simon Bond, partner and head of employment, and corporate partner, Michael Knibbs, supported by the firm’s 230-strong team based throughout its Midlands regional network.
A vital element of the partnership agreement between BSPA and Challinors will be the provision of legal advice and support to BSPA clients at regular monthly legal ‘drop-in’ sessions, held at BSPA, at which the firm’s legal specialists will provide free legal consultation to tenants and assist in creating and enhancing the building blocks for their enterprise.
Challinors’ Phil Bloxham comments: “The firm’s legal expertise, comprehensive range of legal disciplines and indeed its location are particularly appropriate to the requirements of BSPA and its clients. Challinors is well placed to support business through all stages of growth, and the firm’s approach is one of understanding our clients’ needs and aspirations and then proactively identifying risks and providing solutions. Alongside our legal excellence, is a tangible commitment to excellent client service, founded on interaction with clients to develop a true understanding of their business, and this is one of the key contributing factors behind the firm’s appeal to BSPA, which identified real parallels with their own culture and Challinors’ style of operation.
“BSPA, led by managing director Dr David Hardman, has its own flexible, highly connected and collaborative culture to provide a class-leading support structure for emerging innovative businesses and we believe that Challinors delivers real synergy with its own operating philosophy, making it ideally matched for a productive and harmonious business partnership with BSPA.”
Dr Hardman adds: “BSPA provides a complete infrastructure to support innovators and entrepreneurs helping them deliver their aspirations and drive their high-tech services and products towards the market place. As part of this set of principles and activities, BSPA needs partners that strive to provide and deliver the very best services, but with a high degree of personal interaction. Challinors very much fits with this ethos, and was able to demonstrate its extensive areas of legal advice, expertise and great depth of experience, which it has gained from working with a varied range of clients, from one-man operations to major PLCs. Importantly they gave us confidence that the firm could deliver the support to BSPAs clients, as it continues to grow.”
He adds: “We are developing a flexible, highly connected and collaborative culture at BSPA; an environment where people with ideas meet people with experience and people with investment funds. Connectivity is driven by face-to-face meetings within our facilities, at our events and increasingly, as we develop our activities to drive the low carbon agenda through smart work environments, in virtual space. The virtual offering will create a central hub, linking to regional nodes and other national and international hubs, to generate virtual clustering of expertise to aid and promote high-tech, high growth businesses; wealth creation leading to new high value jobs. Our re-brand in 2009 has provided a clear statement of our intent to drive this new strategy.”
Challinors has offices in Birmingham, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton, Halesowen and Nottingham. The firm has 24 partners and over 100 fee earners, and is ranked as one of the top legal firms in the West Midlands, being Number 1 in the Chambers UK Directory in a number of categories, including Clinical Negligence.
Notes to editors:
Challinors has offices in Birmingham, West Bromwich, Halesowen and Wolverhampton in the West Midlands and opened its East Midlands operation in Nottingham in 2008. The firm has 24 partners and over 100 fee earners, and is ranked as one of the top legal firms in the West Midlands, being Number 1 in the Chambers UK Directory in a number of categories, including clinical negligence.
The firm is a founder member of The Legal Alliance (TLA). It prides itself on providing a personalised and complete legal service for both individuals and businesses.
The firm comprises specialist teams in all areas of the law: Wills, Trusts and Probate, Corporate & Commercial, Construction, Dispute Resolution, Professional Negligence, Child Care, Clinical Negligence, Cohabitation Disputes, Conveyancing, Crime, Employment, Family, Licensing, Litigation, Matrimonial including Collaborative Family Law, Mediation, Fraud & Asset Recovery, Medical Accident Claims, Personal Injury Claims, Property. Challinors has a team dedicated to Legal Aid work.
Challinors has one of the West Midlands’ largest Personal Damages teams, with three of the specialists in this team appointed to specialist clinical negligence panels. The firm is also appointed to the Treasury Solicitor’s Department Panel based on its Dispute Resolution Team’s ability to deliver litigation services to the Treasury Solicitor’s Department and other central government bodies. The Treasury Solicitor’s Department provides legal services to more than 180 government departments and other publicly funded bodies throughout England and Wales.
Andy Hodges was appointed Challinors Chief Executive in 2007 and Paul Griffiths is the firm’s Senior Partner.
For more information about Challinors, contact:
Diane Wood/Nicki Gibberson
Element Marketing Services Limited
T: 0121 353 3359
E: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
M: Diane Wood – 07887 794507
Nicki Gibberson – 07776 297456
