South: Shoosmiths boosts VC offering with partner appointment

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TBM Team

Law firm Shoosmiths has expanded its Venture Capital (VC) offering with the appointment of corporate partner Steve Barnett, from international legal practice Orrick.

Specialising in VC work, Barnett advises high-tech and fast-growth companies at all stages of their development, from seed, angel and VC financings through to exit. He also regularly acts for investors in these companies.

Barnett’s move will boost Shoosmiths’ burgeoning VC practice, which last year advised on more than 50 VC deals, acting for clients including Octopus Ventures, Downing, MMC Ventures and the Business Growth Fund.

Head of Shoosmiths’ VC practice, corporate partner Alastair Peet, commented: "Steve’s specific experience in advising technology companies and investors, with a strong focus on VC investments and cross-border mergers, makes him a perfect fit for us."

In the past year, Shoosmiths has advised on a number of high profile VC deals, including:

acting for Octopus Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Octopus Group, on the sale of Touchtype to Microsoft
advising Octopus Ventures, on its investment in Dutch healthcare startup myTomorrows
advising Cambridge-based speech technology company, Speechmatics, on investments received from a range of investors to accelerate the commercial roll-out of its speech recognition products

Barnett commented: "Shoosmiths has a heavyweight VC team that is held in very high regard by the market. Becoming a part of that team is attractive - it has high-calibre lawyers, fantastic clients and exceptional knowledge of the investor and investee businesses and how they operate. I very much look forward to becoming a part of a firm with a UK-wide reach that is close to so many markets."

TBM Team