Oury Clark Solicitors A new approach to professional services - Offering an integrated range of legal services specifically designed to assist companies looking to invest in the UK or those already established.

Business Immigration

In conjunction with our Corporate/Commercial Department and with the help of our strategic alliance with Oury Clark Accountants we offer a one-stop shop for foreign businesses wishing to establish a presence in the UK.

We provide advice and representation for:

• Newly arriving or start-up business in the UK
• Existing businesses with overseas operations wishing to bring overseas nationals into the UK operation to work

We advise both Companies and individual directors and their dependents on:

• The best visas to apply for
• The initial visa application process
• Visa extensions or change of status

The main visas the firm assists with are:

• Sole representative Visas
• Investor Visas, and
• Work Permit applications

Commercial Property

We assist businesses involved in fulfilling their premises’ needs, as well as property investors seeking to enhance their portfolios in the UK property market.

The main areas of our advice extend to:

• Freehold Acquisitions and Disposals
• Commercial Leasehold transactions
• Site Acquisitions and Development
• Planning and Environmental matters
• Property Security Lending including close liaison with financial institutions
• Office, Retail, Industrial, Warehouse and IT sectors
• The legal property requirements of international businesses and investors in the UK.

Company Commercial

Full range of corporate, commercial and finance matters (both domestic and cross-border), including, but not limited to:

• Establishment of businesses (companies, partnerships, limited liability partnerships, etc.)
• Joint Ventures
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Disposals
• Management Buy-outs and Buy-ins
• Reorganisations/Demergers
• Commercial contracts and agreements across all areas
• Terms and Conditions of sale
• Licences and exploitation agreements
• Shareholder Agreements
• E-commerce and IT
• Private equity
• Venture capital
• Inward investment
• Corporate Governance
• Company Secretarial

Our strategic alliance with Oury Clark Chartered Accountants means we can offer a complete service to all our Corporate and Commercial clients.

Corporate Responsibility

Our services include:

• Reviewing and where necessary drafting company procedures and policies
• Conducting an audit of compliance matters to identify areas where there is room for improvement
• Drafting a compliance manual and amendments to various contracts where necessary
• Implementation, monitoring and review of your corporate responsibility policy

The highly qualified team is led by James Oury, a dual qualified solicitor and accountant, recognised by Legal Expert 2002 for his work in this area.

We previously produced an in-house guide to Corporate Social Responsibility which is free to download on the site. Since then the British Standards Institution have commissioned and published a second edition of this guide by James also entitled "A Guide to Corporate Social Responsibility" which offers both conceptual explanations and practical advice to managers of companies of all sixes on the integration of socially responsibility practices into existing management systems.

For more information contact James Oury, or purchase the book.

Employment

We provide specialist advice on all aspects of employment law, and can advise you not only in relation to the legal situation, but also provisions of best practice where applicable.

Owing to our close links with Oury Clark Chartered Accountants and Oury Clark Recruitment we are able to offer an all-encompassing approach to employment services, ranging from comprehensive legal advice and complex tax issues to the “softer” human resource issues, which all businesses face from time to time.

Whilst this is not an exhaustive list, we can advise you in relation to:

• Appointments and severances
• Contracts of employment
• Dismissal procedures
• Employee rights
• Transfer of undertakings repercussions and due diligence
• Executive immigration and international contracts
• Redundancy, manpower planning and change management
• Sex, race and disability discrimination
• Health and safety issues and regulations

We also provide Employment Tribunal advocacy services as well as advising employees as to their rights and remedies in the employment relationship. We work closely with our Business Immigration team to assist foreign Companies wishing to set up in the UK.

Intellectual Property

Whilst certain intellectual property rights arise automatically, many clients wish to protect their products and the goodwill, which is inherent in their name, through the use of registered intellectual property rights such as Patents and Trade Marks.

Our Corporate/Commercial team can advise you on such matters and undertake applications on your behalf where necessary.

International Human Rights

Although just becoming fashionable with the larger city firms Pro bono advice and assistance to the vulnerable and supporting due process has underpinned our philosophy at Oury Clark for years. Ever since the firm was first founded we have consistently committed a significant proportion of our turnover in opportunity cost terms to assist innumerable projects.

We have been nominated on a number of occasions for the Lawyer’s Pro Bono Firm of the Year Award and historically were awarded the Young Solicitors Group Award for the best small firm undertaking pro bono work.

Oury Clark continues to lead the market in pro bono work. We are involved in projects originating in jurisdictions which include the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, the US and the UK. The nature and type of work is forever changing. As a result of an ‘on-site’ approach we have built up extensive practical experience in these overseas arenas.

The firm’s focus is now in assisting and setting up restorative and humanitarian projects from advising governments on implementing Legal Aid systems to acting as a mediator in conflicts between communities and authorities.

Below are examples of the various projects and matters we are involved in:

• As Privy Council agents we represent both non-capital and capital inmates before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council here in London.
• Oury Clark co-ordinates the Jamaican Pro-Bono Panel which is responsible for the representation of the Jamaican capital prisoners wishing to apply for special leave to appeal to the Privy Council.
• Oury Clark regularly adopts a litigation support role on behalf of US trial and appellant counsel teams in the context of the application of international law.
• Oury Clark represents individuals before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights based in Washington DC.
• Oury Clark represent defendants and victims in the context of serious violations of international human rights before the International Criminal Court and International War Crimes Tribunals.
• Oury Clark act as advisors to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Death Penalty Panel.
• Oury Clark are establishing restorative projects in Jamaica.
• Oury Clark are actively involved in developing Legal Aid capital litigation trial and appellate units in Sierra Leone.

As a result of our extensive humanitarian experience we are also focused and committed to assisting companies now with their corporate social responsibilities. Oury Clark have published a Guide to Corporate Social Responsibility.

Private Client

There follows a list of the chief areas of private client work with which we can assist:

• Tax planning
• Trusts
• General and Enduring Powers of Attorney
• Applications to the Court of Protection
• Wills (including living wills)
• Probate and Letters of Administration
• Post death deeds of variation
• Other Private Client Issues

Our strategic alliance with Oury Clark Chartered Accountants means we are ideally placed to provide clients with access to a full range of taxation advice.

Professional Misconduct

Oury Clark Solicitors is on the Panel that offers advice to members of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) in the context of disciplinary proceedings.

As a senior partner of Oury Clark Solicitors and a partner of Oury Clark Chartered Accountants, James Oury is ideally qualified to assist you in any actions brought against you by a professional regulatory body such as the ICAEW or ACCA. James has successfully represented accountants before both the ICAEW and the ACCA.