David Judah
Partner and Head of Corporate
Expertise:
David specialises in domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, joint ventures and MBOs. He has gained extensive experience over the years in advising clients operating in a variety of diverse industries and areas of activity including the internet and technology, logistics, fashion, marketing and media, mining and exploration, to name a few.
David takes a holistic approach to his clients' affairs and involves himself in all aspects of their business and legal requirements - whether non-contentious or otherwise. David has successfully guided many clients through boardroom and partnership issues and disputes and he advises a number of high net worth individuals having assets and business interests across the world.
Some of the major deals David has worked on include:
• acting for the shareholders in the sale of Models 1, Europe's leading model agency, to Open Gate Capital
• acting for longstanding client ID Business Solutions (leading provider of data management solutions to the pharmaceutical industry) in the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of Inforsense Limited
• advising W T SeaAir in the formation of a joint venture company with Unique Logistics Holdings to form a new global logistics group
• acting for the shareholders in the sale of Passion Sports, the UK distributor for Rocket Dog shoes to Rocket Dog
• advising First Luggage, the world's number one international door-to-door luggage collection and delivery service, on its merger with US rival, Sports Express
• acting for fashion and design duo Wayne and Geraldine Hemingway in relation to Red or Dead, including the sale of Red or Dead to Pentland Group
• acting for internet guru Cliff Stanford and for Demon Internet on numerous corporate and ecommerce deals and issues. Acting for Demon on its sponsorship deal with Fulham FC
• acting for the shareholders of Demon on the sale to Scottish Telecom for £66m
• acting for the Spears family and trusts in the hotly contested takeover battle (between Barbie and Sindy rivals Mattel and Hasbro) of Scrabble company JW Spear and Sons
• acting on the incorporation and subsequent European roll out of Redbus Interhouse and acting for the majority shareholder on flotation of Redbus on the London Stock Exchange
• acting for Redbus Group on its sponsorship deal with Charlton Athletic FC
Career:
Qualified in 1981, David joined Wallace in 2003. He was previously head of the Business Solutions Department in the London office of 400 lawyer US firm Steptoe & Johnson. Before that David was a senior partner at Jeffrey Green Russell which he joined in 1986 and for 10 years was secretary of ACL International, an international network of law firms.
What's he like to do business with?
David is always two steps ahead; when you get a call from him, it’s probably about something that’s not on your radar yet, but it will be. Whether negotiating a commercial deal or handling a dispute for a client, David's philosophy is: "it's winning that counts - there are no prizes for coming second".
Recommended in Legal Experts (published by Legal Business) as an ‘expert in Corporate / M&A work’.