Herbert Smith has a market leading practice advising clients who operate and invest in the consumer goods sector covering food, beverage, tobacco and household goods.
Our consumer sector group brings together teams of dedicated lawyers from across the globe, spanning corporate, finance, dispute resolution, intellectual property and other specialist areas (including anti-trust, health and safety, TMT, employment and tax) enabling us to deliver a full range of first class services to our consumer sector clients. In Europe, our services are strengthened by our formal Alliance with Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe.
M&A, Corporate finance
Our corporate practice has considerable experience of advising on the most high profile and innovative transactions in the sector. With the support of our specialist teams, we are proud of our ability to advise on all manner of transactions which sector participants may be involved in, including cross border M&A, takeovers, joint ventures, break-ups, restructurings, equity investments, brand sales, outsourcing and technology contracts.
Our transactional and advisory expertise is enhanced by the experience of our premier international dispute resolution practice in representing consumer sector clients on a wide range of contentious matters from intellectual property infringement to judicial reviews and complex contractual disputes.
On the advisory side, we understand the dynamic nature of the issues affecting the sector: our knowledge of these and cutting-edge experience makes us ideally placed to advise clients with speed and commercial sensitivity when these issues impact their business. Our specialist expertise covers:
Anti-trust and regulatory
We have played a leading role in the in-depth reviews and investigations of a number of consumer sub-sectors, including soft drinks, wines, spirits, beer, sugar and tobacco.
“...these lawyers command high respect because they are superb in presenting cases to regulators”
Chambers Global 2008
Intellectual property
We regularly advise on brand licensing and management, brand protection issues, patents, trademarks, copyright and advertising matters in the sector.
“...these guys are special: intelligent and personable, with a no-nonsense manner”
Chambers UK 2009
Health and safety, product liability and product recall
We regularly advise on health and safety and product liability issues. We also advise on insurance matters, food and beverage labelling and we provide tailored advice on product safety, product recall, crisis management and enforcement actions.
“The firm’s brilliant reputation in the litigation field provides a strong foundation for its health and safety practice, which offers assistance to numerous high-profile clients”
Chambers UK 2009
Leading industry names such as Associated British Food, British American Tobacco, Diageo, Coca-Cola, Fosters, Molson Coors and Tata Tea have chosen Herbert Smith for the breadth and depth of our expertise in the sector.
Recent publication:
Vodkat fails the vodka challenge – “Extended” passing-off used to stop “me-too” products