City trained, Meriel is a highly experienced commercial lawyer with over 20 years’ experience advising clients from the retail, media, fashion and sport sectors, representing both high-profile designer and household brand names.
Meriel brings strategic and commercial IP and IT advice to corporate transactions and to joint ventures, long-term collaboration agreements and licensing agreements. She has particular expertise in negotiating commercial contracts to ensure that IP rights are fully protected and exploited.
Meriel also has worked in-house at Disney, where she headed up Business and Legal Affairs for TV distribution worldwide.
Expertise
- International licensing, manufacture and distribution agreements, including agency and outsourcing arrangements
- All aspects of e-commerce including data protection and distance selling regulations
- Advice on tenders for, and negotiations of contracts with, public services and governments
- Sponsorship and event agreements, including broadcasting, channel and satellite contracts
- Advertising and marketing agreements
- Due diligence on the commercial and IP sides of corporate transactions
- Contracts work in the gambling sector (online and betting shops) and racecourse contracts (catering and ticketing)
- Museum work (catering, ticketing and rights acquisition contracts)
- Software licensing, development and maintenance agreements
- International non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements
- Consultancy agreements
- Research & development agreements
Experience
- Advised award-winning digital publishers on licensing rights, protecting IP and data protection in their educational films which are licensed worldwide, through government entities and private companies.
- Advised varied leading fashion designers (in the Gucci group and others) on licensing, manufacturing and distribution agreements for, inter alia, a men’s underwear range, a children’s clothing range, a leather goods range and a designer branded range for a high-street chain, ensuring that the brand identities were protected at every step of the process and that certain ethical manufacturing undertakings were met.
- Advised a supermodel on contracts relating to the potential sale of her trademark including a collaboration agreement for sharing the trade mark, goodwill and image on an ongoing basis.
- Advised Disney on its IP and branding across its TV business (channel agreements, licensing and distribution agreements).
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Recognition
Recognised in Legal 500 2018 for Commercial Contracts
Career
Meriel qualified as a solicitor in 1994. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2005, she worked at the following firms:
- Farrer & Co
- Disney
- Linklaters