Steve is a Partner and leads the Firm’s Creative, Digital & Marketing Team, working in close collaboration with Daniel Varney and Julian Bond. He also leads the ETL Group’s Innovation & Creativity Working Group
Steve specialises in Intellectual Property, Media, Social Media, Marketing, Data Protection and Privacy Law with a nationally-recognised niche specialism in social media matters and decades of experience in supporting the creative, digital and marketing community in both the UK and internationally, being regularly listed as a “Recommended Lawyer” in the North West and London editions of the Legal 500.
As a former General Counsel at one of the UK’s leading online fast fashion retailers and working across the public and private sectors, Steve brings passion, commitment, creativity and commercial expertise to bear for his clients to manage and reduce legal, commercial, regulatory, and reputational risk. Steve deals with both contentious and non-contentious matters, ranging from advising on commercial contracts, policies and procedures to litigation before the County and High Court, cross-jurisdictional agreements, transactions and disputes and complex advisory and regulatory work involving the Information Commissioners’ Office, OFCOM and Advertising Standards Authority.
Steve is also a co-founder of the Bulletproof Agency Network, a Board Member of and Honorary Solicitor to the Manchester Publicity Association, a member of Pro-Manchester’s Creative, Digital & Media Steering Group, and a Board Member of Rochdale Development Agency. In his (limited) spare time, Steve is a mediocre guitarist, 1st Dan Black Belt in Shukokai Karate, Husband to Claire, Dad to James and Charlotte and a pop culture. comics, movie and music geek.