Bristol-headquartered national law firm Burges Salmon has completed one of its most-complex projects – the year-long task of advising on the transfer of thousands of assets from nine separate UK research organisations to the new single strategic research and innovation body UKRI.
The high-value work for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and which spanned 56 jurisdictions across all seven continents, was led by the firm’s corporate team with input from across the firm, including real estate, commercial and intellectual property. 
UKRI this an initiative driven by the government’s new Industrial Strategy and brings together the seven UK research councils, Innovate UK and the research and knowledge exchange functions of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE).
The restructuring is intended to enhance cross-cutting research, create more effective innovation and research links and enable a strategic focus on impact and knowledge exchange across the research landscape.
The Burges Salmon team advised on the transfer of thousands of assets included four royal research ships operated by the British Antarctic Survey and the National Oceanography Centre, pictured, six research aircraft registered in the UK and the Falkland Islands, 127 registered properties, 1,843 patents, trademarks and designs registered in the UK and across the world and 20 international conventions and treaties, including the Antarctic Treaty.
Corporate partner and lead on the project Nick Graves said: “This year-long project has been a fantastic opportunity for all those involved. It truly showcases our specialist knowledge in advising central government bodies on high-value and strategic projects, cross-departmental working across UK jurisdictions, and the strength of our network of preferred international firms. I would like to thank everyone involved for your time and commitment in seeing this project through to completion.”
The core team included Nick Graves, Gregory Nash, Briony Barber, Tessa Harris and Sakshi Buttoo from corporate, Helen Scott-Lawler, Tim Deacon, Charlie Hopper, Neil McLaren and Alicia Park from commercial and Philip Beer and Catriona Murray from real estate.
