LAW
Peter Snaith, partner and head of manufacturing at law firm Womble Bond Dickinson,
discusses the importance of Teesside to the North-East economy and how supporting
local businesses to expand on a global stage can help the region to thrive.
A transatlantic law
firm, close to home
Womble Bond Dickinson has opened a
Teesside office at The Wilton Centre.
I
lead Womble Bond Dickinson's
manufacturing sector group from our
North-East base, the largest of our
27 offices across the UK and US. I
previously worked as an in-house lawyer
with ICI and INEOS on Teesside. Since
returning to private practice, I have
enjoyed building the multi-disciplinary
team of lawyers we established to
provide every aspect of legal and
regulatory support businesses in the
manufacturing sector need.
We opened our office in the Wilton
Centre in December. It's over 20 years
since I first had a desk in the building with
ICI's Legal Services team. It is good to be
back! Much has changed but much has
also stayed the same. The new office
enables our specialist teams who support
our clients in Teesside’s chemicals sector
and other industries to be close at hand
and provides access to the meeting
rooms and event spaces in Wilton. Here
we host our Industry Insight seminars
and other workshops and round tables,
to help promote the sharing of best
practice across a range of topics we find
ourselves regularly getting involved with
that affect all businesses on Teesside.
We have been involved with many
significant developments in the area's
infrastructure and economy over the
past three decades. We have witnessed
the fragmentation of industry and the
virtual jigsaw created by the transfer of
ownership of the various parcels of land
– meaning our knowledge of the legal
aspects of the industrial landscape is
second to none.
2020 looks set to mark the beginning
of an exciting time for Teesside – Tees
Valley Combined Authority and the
mayor have been pursuing an ambitious
investment programme, including the
South Tees Development Corporation's
plans to regenerate the steelworks. Our
development and regeneration experts
acted for STDC on the site’s acquisition
and we continue to provide legal support
as plans move ahead at pace. With one
of the UK’s biggest clean energy teams,
combined with our oil and gas expertise,
we are excited by the numerous
investments planned for the site and
across Teesside.
We have a unique offering for the
chemicals and advanced manufacturing
sector. But to assume chemicals and the
former steelworks represent the be-all
and end-all for Teesside would be to
take a narrow view. We support multi-
nationals and SMEs alike across many
sectors with the experience we have in
complementary and often overlapping
sectors in energy and renewables,
technology, life sciences, retail and real
estate.
We've acted for Teesside University
and Middlesbrough College for many
years, seeing both transformed to
become the brilliant institutions they
are today, providing a pool of talented,
skilled labour available for hire on the
doorstep. The region also has exciting
plans for the development of its local
transport infrastructure, which our
specialist transport and logistics team
with expertise in road, rail, port and
airport infrastructure projects are proud
to support.
Teesside is at the forefront of its own
modern-day industrial revolution. We
are extremely proud to have supported
businesses here and from our network
of offices, combined with our new Wilton
Centre base, we are committed to
helping businesses, inward investors and
the region as a whole to achieve their full
potential.
To find out how our legal team can assist and grow with you on Teesside,
please contact Peter on 0345 415 0000 / peter.snaith@wbd-uk.com
Womble Bond Dickinon’s dedicated national manufacturing sector team is one of the largest in the UK, with specialists with
years of experience of supporting clients with regulatory challenges and handling investigations, inquests and prosecutions.
The voice of business in the Tees region | 81