UK Business Club

UK Legal Know How

National legal systems in Europe share many common principles - especially in areas related to consumer protection, product liability, and employees rights, but they also come from varied traditions, and so have significant differences in their character.

The Nordic legal systems are statute law based, and codified. In these countries commercial agreements tend to be short, and embody only the essential terms, on the basis that the general terms do not need to be incorporated as they can be found in the code.

In the UK although there are statutes of course, the law is not codified. Much of it is created by decisions of judges in important cases - these decisions establish legal principles when are then applied in other cases.

As there is no legal code as such in the UK ( and this means all of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland - although there are differences between the laws of these countries ) it is traditional for commercial agreement to set out in full general legal terms as well as those specific to the agreement. As part of this tradition, lawyers tend to be involved with the writing of important agreements, the objective being to resolve potential difficulties before they arise.

You should not be surprised or offended if your UK colleagues or business contacts refer draft agreements to their lawyers at an early stage, as this is part of the way we do business in the UK.

Equally, it is important for you to have access to help from the right legal partners - partners who not only understand the law but also the dynamics and business needs of Nordic companies operating in the UK.

We at Martineau Johnson are pleased to have had a special connection with Nordic business over many years. The firm was founded in Birmingham in 1828 but it was in the early 1980's through a connection with a Swedish client company - then called Uddeholm Limited - that we became the home of the Swedish Consulate in the Midlands, which has continued since then. David Gwyther, one of the firms 45 partners, is Swedish Consul presently, as well as being an Honorary Member of the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in the UK.

Down the years we have acted for many Nordic companies across various sectors and at different stages of development - from the multinational engineering or banking organisation to the new business based on a very few people and a clever IT solution.

We have been involved in an inwards investment project led by the Development Agency Advantage West Midlands since the project began in 2006 and have helped a number of companies from the Nordics become established in the UK. We have found that companies interested in setting up here are primarily interested in:

Employment contracts - from the basic terms of employment for a call centre operative to a contract for a country manager, hired to build the UK business;
Shareholders agreements - to put the relationship between the parent company and the UK management on a clear and agreed basis;
Sale of goods terms - to ensure that goods get to market in the UK on an acceptable basis, including in relation to product liability ( in relation to which insurance cover may also be useful );
Distribution ( " re-sale ") and agency agreements - to ensure that the middle man does not acquire an unexpected status, or share in the market;
Trade names and trade marks, and company and domain name protection - to ensure that the brand and associated goodwill is protected;
IT agreements including software licencing and hardware maintenance;
Leases and purchases of business property.

Martineau Johnson have specialist lawyers who deal with agreements in these areas amongst the 150 or so lawyers in the firm. They also deal with corporate , and corporate finance work, and specialist areas such as competition and procurement law, so as to be able to help businesses at each stage of their development.

Although the firm is headquartered in Birmingham, there is also an office in the City of London where meetings with those clients who are in or passing through the capital can be held.

Further details about the firm and its people, and current publications, can be found at www.martineau-johnson.co.uk

Please contact David Gwyther or Peter Manford on 0870 763 2000 if you would like more information, or have a particular issue to discuss.

David Gwyther

Peter Manford