Phillip Barnett

Phillip is a very experienced corporate and commercial solicitor with over 30 years of experience in  both the legal profession and in business. He has held a number of senior partnership positions at law firms, including being appointed the head of commercial services at one firm and founding his own boutique corporate and commercial firm where he was Head of Corporate and Managing Partner.

Phillip established a legal consultancy to provide support to a number of SME’s as consultant in house legal counsel, operating in various industries including financial services, property, defence and logistics. More recently he has been In House Counsel and working as part of the senior management team at a fintech/SaaS company in the equity management, share scheme and early round funding sectors.

He is predominantly a transactional lawyer, acting for SME’s and investors. His various roles with companies advising in house and running his own businesses have given him a unique perspective on the requirements and objectives of his clients. Combining this with his technical ability, he is a highly practical, solutions based lawyer, who instinctively finds the path of least resistance to getting the deal done.

Typical Transactions

Company mergers, sales and acquisitions

Advice on taxation aspects of sales, acquisitions and investments including tax clearances Investors’ Relief, Substantial Shareholding Exemption (SSE) and Business Asset Disposal Relief (BADR)

Share schemes and incentives including EMI, CSOP and Growth Shares

Seed and early round funding for start-ups and SME’s including SEIS/EIS investments

Acquisition and investment finance, including all forms of private equity fundraising

Reorganisations and de-mergers

Share issues, conversions and share buy-backs