Pictured above: (l-r): Simon Jenner (Business Manager -
Entrepreneurs for the Future, BSPA), Dr David Hardman (managing
director, BSPA), Phil Bloxham (Challinors' Development Director),
Simon Bond (Challinors head of employment)
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.