Corporate advisory
Our corporate advisory practice advises corporate clients on corporate governance related matters which affect our clients on a day-to-day basis. Our areas of expertise include company law, regulations affecting listed companies and market developments in corporate governance.
Our in-depth understanding of the issues affecting a listed company at the group corporate level, and our experience in advising FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 clients in connection with their ongoing listing and other legal obligations, means that we can share our knowledge and experience to enable our clients to implement appropriate corporate governance arrangements. We were among the first to provide practical support to our clients in the corporate governance arena, building on the findings of the Higgs Report in the UK.
We advise on a variety of issues including:
- Board policies and procedures (including terms of reference for board committees, securities dealing codes and conflict policies)
- Directors’ indemnities
- Annual general meetings
- Annual reports (including the Directors’ Report, Remuneration Report and Corporate Governance Report)
- Difficult company meetings
- Disclosure obligations
- Various corporate actions, including share buybacks and scrip dividend schemes
- Compliance with corporate governance standards
We also advise clients in conjunction with, where relevant, our regulatory experts, on all aspects of financial services regulation with a view to minimising the legal and regulatory risks to our clients.
We offer bespoke products to our clients connected with corporate governance and legal risk management. This includes a Corporate Integrity Review service designed to assist clients to identify and manage areas of risk in their organisation relating to governance and ethics. In addition and in response to the recent developments in approaches to achieving good corporate governance Norton Rose LLP, together with four other partners has set up an independent joint venture Bvalco Ltd which offers a multi-disciplinary board evaluation service combining the skills and experience of senior board directors, and legal, risk and behavioural specialists. Bvalco not only undertakes evaluations but offers advice to corporates on how to run them. These services enable our clients to benefit from our comprehensive knowledge of best practice within the corporate governance arena.