Lee & Thompson merges with Forbes Anderson Free

Lee & Thompson merges with Forbes Anderson Free

18th November 2015

We are delighted to announce our merger with the specialist media and entertainment litigation firm, Forbes Anderson Free.

The agreement, which will come into effect on 1 January 2016, will see Forbes Anderson Free move into our central London offices, with the combined firm operating under the Lee & Thompson name. The total number of partners will increase from 20 to 24, with the four Forbes Anderson Free partners joining our partnership.

The move will further strengthen Lee & Thompson’s well established media and entertainment litigation group to create one of the largest contentious practices of its kind in the UK, with a total of seven partners and six associates handling contentious matters for the media and creative industries. This serves further to complement the firm’s wider commercial offering, which is recognised as one of the most significant media and entertainment practices in the country.

Lee & Thompson’s current contentious practice has, for many years, been considered to be at the forefront of media and entertainment litigation and is particularly focused on dispute resolution, reputation protection and brand protection for individual ‘talent’ and their related commercial ventures.

Established in 2001, Forbes Anderson Free is a boutique litigation and dispute resolution firm founded and led by renowned media litigator, Andrew Forbes. He and his fellow partners, Dominic Free, Martyn Bailey and Dominic Bray, have driven the firm to become one of the most well recognised and successful practices of its kind. With a client base spanning the creative, media, leisure and technology industries, the Forbes Anderson Free practice perfectly complements that of Lee & Thompson’s litigation offering and places the combined practice at the forefront of the UK’s media litigation scene.

Moving forward, Lee & Thompson’s Dispute Resolution Group will be headed by Andrew Forbes. Gordon Williams will continue to head up the firm’s Brand Protection Group and Mike Brookes will remain as head of the Reputation Management Group.