FFW bags Eversheds franchising team; relaunches construction team

Eversheds franchising team; relaunches construction team" />Field Fisher Waterhouse has snared a three-lawyer franchising team from Eversheds in a bid to create Europe's largest dedicated franchising practice and is also relaunching its construction practice.

Eversheds former franchising head Chris Wormald has joined rival FFW as joint head along with FFW partner Mark Abell. He has brought with him senior associate Shelley Nadler and the consultant and previous head of the Eversheds team Martin Mendelsohn, who joins as chair of the team.

Abell was confident that the new 24-lawyer team would have sufficient dealflow: "Its not all hamburgers and pizzas, it's a very sexy business, we're going for world domination," he told The Lawyer.

"Putting together leading Eversheds lawyers with the FFW team will create a massive clear bluewater between us and the so-called competitors, because of our degree of specialisation," added Wormald.

But Eversheds commercial partner Bruce Gripton, who will take over responsbility from Wormald for franchising, said that most clients consider franchising advice as one of a "range of services" including counsel on distribution, licensing and concession agreements. He said that the firm would not be replacing the three lawyers.

FFW has also brought in ex-Pinsent Masons partner and consultant Laurence Fryer, to head its two-lawyer construction team after the exit of a team to Watson Burton two years ago left the firm without a focussed construction capacity.

Since construction lawyers Lawrence Bruce and Olivia Bateman left for Watson Burton at the end of 2006, construction work has been carried out across the wider property and corporate departments. "One of my tasks is to pull these various threads together," Fryer said, telling The Lawyer that he plans to develop the contentious aspect of the practice.