The firm has been “commended” in the finance category for its work advising the University of Northampton on a £330 million funding package for its relocation to a new purpose built city centre campus. The new model enabled the university to obtain affordable financing for the transformative capital programmes and was the first time a higher education institution had used the UK Guarantee Scheme, which was launched by Chancellor George Osborne in 2013 to support major infrastructure schemes.
Now in its tenth year, the Innovative Lawyers Awards is one of the top legal rankings in Europe. It covers in-depth the work of individual Europe-based law firms and their contribution to the wider economy, highlighting fresh thinking and innovative practice.
Claire Clarke, managing partner, said: “The Innovative Lawyers Awards is a benchmark to test ourselves against the best of Europe and we are delighted to once again feature. Innovation is one of our top priorities and this recognition illustrates that we are continuing to think outside the box for the benefit of our clients.”
Sarah Seed, banking partner who led on the finance work, commented: “This relocation was critical for both the University and the town as a whole as it has completely transformed what was once a dismal brownfield site. Lots of layers of financing came together to make this happen and it was a great example of central and local government working effectively together.”
Law firms, in-house legal teams and other legal service organisations are invited to submit their innovations which are then researched through telephone interviews conducted by the Financial Times and its research partner RSG Consulting Each entry is awarded points for originality, rationale and impact and then benchmarked against each other to arrive at the final rankings and shortlists.
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