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WBD is supporting Yorkshire's largest digital sector event, Leeds Digital Festival which will take place between 23 April – 3 May.
The event is a multi-venue, city-wide festival celebrating digital culture in all its forms and is the biggest UK tech event of its kind, after London Tech Week. The festival will host over 60 events and expects to welcome more than 20,000 attendees, including tech industry specialists from Europe, the US and south east Asia.
Keynote events include Women in Leeds Digital, Super Connect Venture Lab for start-ups and the return of Code. Tech giants Amazon and Google are set to attend, collaborating with local firms to present the latest tech news and innovations.
Sam Dixon, Managing Associate at WBD, commented:
"We're a forward-thinking practice with the energy, drive and determination to keep pace with the ever-changing needs of our clients – challenging current models and delivering solutions in an innovative way. We recognise the continuing rapid growth in the technology sector, and as an invested member of the Yorkshire business community, we are proud to be supporting the regional technology economy through initiatives such as the Leeds Digital Festival. As a law firm with a core strength in technology, we see great potential in the region and continue to strive to support the region's tech businesses in their quest to find new solutions to the world's problems; from improving healthcare to managing ever increasing regulation of digital content.
"Using our experience of advising clients in the sector, running our own proofs of concept and managing technology roll outs within our own business, we understand both the legal and practical issues faced by businesses in the technology sector. Innovation and change are constants for the sector and the same is true of the legal challenges that it faces."
WBD recently announced a new service for fast growing scale-up and start-up businesses, WBD Accelerate, designed to help growing start-ups and scale-ups navigate the common issues facing fast growing companies. This is in addition to the firm's formal partnership with Yena, a virtual acceleration community that supports entrepreneurs and the growth of start-ups across the UK.
WBD Accelerate is a package of streamlined services which includes access to a range of legal experts experienced in advising businesses at a similar stage with a nominated legal 'mentor' as a first point of contact. There is also access to a growing number of commonly needed and focussed legal documents that can be produced on a self-service basis through the firm's platforms.
As part of the service, the firm can provide guidance on common themes such as the different investment options available; pitfalls around the ownership and protection of key IP rights; arrangements between shareholders; the terms on which the company does business; questions around the collection of data and how to manage employment considerations.
WBD's technology team advises businesses that lead the way in innovation including some of the world's largest privately held software companies as well as challenger brands and regional start-ups.
