Reading: New partner will help drive Shoosmiths team

Shoosmiths is continuing to drive forward development of its national commercial team with the appointment of new partner Simon Edwards who will be based in Reading.

Joining from Wragge & Co, where he was a senior associate, Edwards will bring with him extensive commercial contracts expertise and specific experience in a number of sectors, including automotive, food and drink, and facilities management.

He is praised by clients for his ‘commitment, professionalism and quality of output’, and has been named an ‘associate to watch’ in legal directory Chambers for the past three years, praised particularly for his ‘market awareness’ and ‘commercial advice’.

Edwards specialises in commercial contract work, and has been lead adviser on a number of complex, strategic and business-critical outsourcings, often across multiple jurisdictions.

He also regularly advises on day-to-day commercial contracts, including agreements concerning distribution, agency and franchising, and the sale of goods and services.

Shoosmiths partner and national head of commercial Peter Duff said: “Simon's joining will help facilitate the continued development of our national commercial practice.

“His commercial acumen has been enhanced by spending more than 12 months working in-house, and he has a strong track record for growing relationships with large corporates.”

Shoosmiths’ wider commercial team, ranked top tier by The Legal 500, also advises blue chip and household name clients on IT, intellectual property, financial services agreements, logistics, competition, employment and regulatory matters.