4 FUTURENORTH DLA PIPER


26 June 2018 A city with clear potential


DLA Piper is helping Liverpool move beyond traditional industries


When former Liverpool FC youth mid- field player Terry Nelson was robbed of a career in the beautiful game through kidney disease, he turned creator and designer of what Real Madrid was to describe as the club’s secret weapon; a buoyancy suit to help injured players train in water, enabling them to build their fitness when they are unable to exercise normally. Along the way, Terry constantly


defeated the odds by surviving two kidney transplants and a partial leg amputation, all thanks to his determi- nation to make a difference to people like himself; athletes who struggle to achieve fitness in the face of physical injury or wounded military (he trained to be a paratrooper before tests showed that, without a transplant, he would have six months to live). Yet like for so many entrepreneurs


who come up with a breakthrough idea, the corporate world proved to be a minefield and threatened to poten- tially derail the progress he had made. This had seen him travel to both China and the USA searching for funds and even achieving a PR breakthrough as a result of a feature article in the New York Times. Fortunately for Terry Nelson, it just


so happened that around the same time his company began to suffer from growing pains, Gary Davies, Legal Director at the Liverpool office of DLA Piper, was challenged by its then Office Managing Partner, Ben Miller, to explore how DLA Piper could use its international and sector experience to better support the exciting potential within Liverpool’s new Knowledge Quarter, looking at businesses outside the traditional manufacturing and retail sectors. And one of several areas in which


DLA Piper is a world leader is life sciences. Indeed, the firm’s client list includes many of the top 20 global pharma and medical device compa- nies. A particular field of expertise relates to innovation in healthcare, an area in which Terry Nelson’s Aqua Running International company was struggling to achieve its true potential.


IT IS NOT a new concept that Liver- pool is a key contributor to the UK’s life sciences sector. Indeed, Speke is home to the largest cluster of biologic manufacturing companies in Europe, and when it opened in 1898, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine was the first institution in the world dedicated to research and teaching in tropical medicine. “My feeling was that the opportuni-


ties in the sector were already there, but we weren’t doing enough to make companies aware of our international expertise, which could help local businesses grow,” recalls Gary. “The potential within Liverpool is clear - the city’s Knowledge Quarter represents an investment of over £2 billion and


the facilities we have are world class”. The meeting of Terry and Gary


proved to be a moment of pure seren- dipity. For Terry Nelson’s company it presented the real opportunity to talk with investors with the backing of a global heavyweight; for DLA Piper it became a catalyst for increased sup- port to local businesses, which has seen the Liverpool office evolve into a hub in what is increasingly seen as a boom sector in the North West.


THE RELATIONSHIP came about because Gary had taken the initiative and delivered copies of DLA Piper’s


legal start-up pack that the firm has designed for early stage companies to Sensor City, the new £25m facility where Terry is based, near Lime Street station. This prompted Terry to set up an initial meeting with Gary, before instructing DLA Piper within a matter of days. “What we found was a very early


stage company looking for invest- ment,” recalls Gary. “We needed to make sure Terry had protected his intellectual property and had a sound company structure. Having moved into Sensor City to build sensor technol- ogy into the body suit, and with the


Creating a world-leading innovation district


KNOWLEDGE QUARTER MAYORAL DEVELOPMENT ZONE


PADDINGTON VILLAGE


KNOWLEDGE QUARTER GATEWAY


FABRIC DISTRICT


contacts Terry had already made, we could immediately see the potential for an international business. We are in the process of supporting Terry in his discussions with US investors.” Today Gary Davies heads up a team


of 40 local DLA Piper lawyers in the life sciences and technology sectors in the North West, covering both Liverpool and Manchester. And DLA Piper Liverpool is ensuring that the momentum it has achieved to date from this is maintained. “Prior to the last couple of years,


we weren’t visible enough in the Life Sciences sector in Liverpool. So, we


Pragmatic business advice


DLA Piper employs more than 4,200 lawyers in 40 countries with an annual turnover of circa $2.5 billion, yet no matter whether you are in the Liverpool office or Los Angeles, you will still find the Northern-valued traits that set it apart from the competition – straight talking, down to earth, pragmatic business advice remains very much part of the professional ethos. DLA Piper lawyers spend time with


their clients, getting to know both their businesses and products – some- thing that is often sadly lacking in the clock watching, dog eat dog world of the big name legal firms. “What sets us apart from the rest is


KNOWLEDGE QUARTER LIVERPOOL (KQ LIVERPOOL), home to the largest cluster of science, health, education and cultural minds in the region including the University of Liverpool, Liverpool School of Tropi- cal Medicine, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool Science Park, Sensor City, Accelerator, the new £429m Royal Hospital and the £157m Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.


our global reach and sector exper- tise,” says Gary Davies. “Very few businesses have such access to global markets and no other law firm in the North West. “We have connections to take


people to a global market and when it comes to the life sciences sector that is where you have to be.”


have really pushed to achieve what we have,” admits Gary. The firm now has an extensive network of contacts which has not only embraced life sciences companies but also universities, gov- ernment bodies and investments funds across Liverpool, Cheshire and Man- chester, as well as Bionow, the member- ship organisation which has done more than any other body to support the life sciences sector in the North.


CONNECTIONS with Liverpool’s two universities are also seen as particularly important as they tend to be a breeding ground for life science start-ups. DLA Piper Liverpool has gone one step further than most to help nurture and maintain local talent; every member of staff below the level of Legal Director is currently acting as a mentor to a university student. DLA Piper Liverpool has also been


running monthly seminars for Liver- pool’s Knowledge Quarter, with the emphasis on collaboration as tenants from different sites are invited to each venue to share ideas. This collaborative initiative has also been extended to embrace knowledge held outside of the region with investors and DLA Piper experts, including Global Co-Chair for Life Sciences, Bonella Ramsay, coming north to share expertise. “What we are seeing is a genuine


interest from investors and my interna- tional colleagues about what is going on in Liverpool and that is a break- through in itself,” insists Gary Davies. Meanwhile, Terry Nelson is one client


who is more than happy to endorse the benefits of having DLA Piper in his home city. “They have helped us in so many ways and have been very important to us,” he says. “One of my potential inves- tors in the United States knows DLA Piper very well and were impressed that they were our lawyers. The fact that we have an international company based locally but with such a global reach, you can’t do better than that.”


Sensor City, a joint venture between The University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University; one of only four University Enterprise Zones in the country. Located at the gateway to Liverpool’s Knowledge Quarter, the purpose-built innovation hub enables businesses to develop, fund and promote sensor solutions andIoT to a global market.


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