David Wood

Practice Areas

David is a Partner and Head of our Corporate and Commercial group. He specialises in corporate sales, mergers and acquisitions, MBO’s, joint ventures, investments, fund raisings and all types of general commercial and contractual arrangements. He regularly gets involved in establishing corporate joint ventures, as well as significant collaborative partnerships, strategic commercial projects and documenting and negotiating shareholder agreements.

David also advises in relation to non-contentious IP and IT matters with an emphasis on IT focused contracts such as software and hardware procurement, software licensing, e-commerce terms and conditions and policies. He also has considerable expertise in matters such as IP licensing, research and development agreements, data protection and freedom of information.

David Wood is recommended in the Legal 500 2013 for intellectual property, education and corporate and commercial.

Work Highlights

• Advising on the sale of a UK/French software company to a US purchaser in a multi million dollar transaction.

• Advising and assisting the University of Edinburgh in connection with the creation of a £100 million research centre that brings together the Roslin Institute, the neuropathogenesis unit of the Institute of Animal Health and the University's School of Veterinary Studies.

• Advising in relation to the sub-contracting arrangements between the University of Edinburgh, HPCX Limited and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in respect of services relating to a new super computer (>£50m).

• Advising a major Scottish University on its European collaborative and strategic IP projects.

• Advising on the establishment of a number of property and other joint venture vehicles.

• Advising the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow in connection with their shareholding arrangements in a new JV company with Scottish Enterprise regarding the IP collaboration with Wyeth, a significant US pharmaceutical company.

• Advising various Universities on their technology spin outs and IP matters, including in respect of IPR commercialisation and exploitation.