gunnercooke LLP

gunnercooke is a Top 70 UK law firm and one of the fastest-growing global legal practices, pioneering the future of professional services since 2010. With 16 offices across the UK, US, Germany, and Austria, gunnercooke operates as a collective of more than 600 entrepreneurial lawyers and advisors who serve businesses ranging from multinational enterprises to not-for-profit organizations.

Revolutionary Business Model

Founded on a distinctive fee-share model, gunnercooke reimagines traditional legal practice by empowering each partner to run their own independent practice while benefiting from the infrastructure and expertise of a top-tier firm. This entrepreneurial approach eliminates internal politics, overhead-driven billing, and ineffective delegation, ensuring clients receive direct senior-level support from commercially-minded practitioners at the top of their game.

Core Practice Areas

gunnercooke provides comprehensive legal, commercial, and strategic advice across virtually every corporate discipline, with particular strength in emerging areas including:

• Blockchain & Cryptoassets: Market-leading team advising DeFi networks, token designers, blockchain platforms, crypto-exchanges, crypto-custodians, crypto-brokers, and crypto-funds. Team members have provided evidence to the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group on Blockchain and contributed to the UKJT statement on cryptoasset legal status.

• Financial Services & FinTech: Expert guidance across payment services, MiFID compliance, regulatory frameworks, and innovative financial technology solutions.

• Corporate & M&A: Cross-border and domestic transactions, private equity, corporate restructuring, and company law.

• Banking & Finance: Capital markets, structured finance, commodities, trade finance, receivables, supply chain finance, and treasury.

• Intellectual Property: Commercial IP, IP disputes, and technology transactions.

• Employment & Immigration: Employment law, tribunal representation, pensions, and immigration services.

• Dispute Resolution: Litigation, arbitration, mediation, civil fraud, asset tracing, and business crime investigations.

• Real Estate & Property: Commercial and residential property, real estate finance, property development, and minerals rights.

• Tax: Corporate tax, tax planning, VAT, tax investigations, and real estate tax.

• Restructuring & Insolvency: Financial restructuring, operational restructuring, insolvency disputes, and real estate recovery.

• Construction & Infrastructure: Engineering, construction law, and infrastructure projects.

• Competition & Antitrust: Regulatory compliance and antitrust matters.

• Commercial Law: IT, data protection and security, commercial contracts, aviation, and transport.

Web3 & Blockchain Excellence

gunnercooke's crypto team is recognized as market-leading in the blockchain ecosystem, with award-winning FinTech work and deep regulatory expertise. The team has been involved from the early days of UK crypto regulation, including:

• Publishing the first functional cryptoasset classification framework in Ledger (peer-reviewed academic journal)
• Advising on the first successful Initial Coin Offering (ICO) in the UK
• Advising on the first equity issuance settled on blockchain
• Supporting multiple firms through FCA regulatory sandbox authorization
• Providing legal opinions to banks on crypto business model acceptability
• Advising the Mauritius FSC on national crypto regulatory frameworks

The team serves crypto-exchanges, DeFi protocols, tokenization platforms, NFT projects, staking platforms, crypto funds, metaverse providers, and blockchain infrastructure companies. They provide pragmatic, focused advice on AML/CTF compliance, regulatory frameworks (including MiFID, FCA guidance, and MiCA), smart contract legal status, token classification, and DeFi structuring.

Notable Clients & Achievements

gunnercooke's client roster of over 45,000 includes Google, Jet2, Santander, DHL, Lidl, Johnson Matthey, and numerous blockchain pioneers including Ziglu (the only UK firm with both EMI licence and MLD5 registration), Trustology, Attestant, Mattereum, Ozone, and Neor Technologies.

International Presence & Industry Recognition

Operating across multiple jurisdictions with international desks for Asia, France, India, Israel, Italy, and Spain, gunnercooke delivers seamless cross-border advice. The firm has won multiple awards including recognition from LexisNexis Legal Awards as "a pioneer in innovation with brave & audacious leadership" and from Chambers & Partners for being "as adept at speaking the language of business as they are the language of law."

Why Choose gunnercooke

Clients benefit from gunnercooke's unique advantages:

• Direct Senior Access: No delegation to junior associates; every engagement is led by experienced partners
• Commercial Acumen: Partners are business owners themselves, bringing entrepreneurial insight
• Fixed Fees: Transparent pricing with no billing surprises
• Deep Tech Understanding: Genuine technical expertise in blockchain, cryptoassets, and emerging technologies
• Regulatory Leadership: Active participation in shaping legal frameworks, not just following them
• Speed & Agility: Entrepreneurial structure enables rapid response without bureaucratic delays
• Global Reach, Local Expertise: 16 offices with partners who understand regional nuances

With a purpose-driven culture focused on delivering positive impact for clients, better life for people, and a better world for communities, gunnercooke represents the future of professional services—commercially astute, technologically sophisticated, and uncompromisingly client-focused.