Lewis is the Division Head for Commercial, Technology, Data and Sport within the Innovation Department and also co-head of our Retail and Hotel Sector groups.
Lewis is an experienced commercial contracts lawyer with a particular focus on the retail, hospitality and sports sectors. Whilst he has broad commercial contracts experience, a large part of his work is focused on helping businesses to grow domestically and internationally, including through franchising, manufacturing, distribution, licensing, agency and services agreements. He also assists businesses to engage with existing and new customers often in new and exciting ways, such as through brand collaborations, sponsorship, endorsement, ambassador, influencer, websites, apps, metaverses and NFT arrangements.
Lewis and his team also provide specialist contract support on corporate transactions; particularly investments into tech, hotels and retail businesses. Lewis has particular experience of working on investments into eponymous retail brands and can cut through the particularly challenging IP arrangements.
He regularly works in the hotel and hospitality sector, advising on hotel, restaurant and nightclub franchise and management agreements.
Lewis has advised extensively in the sports sector throughout his career. For over 15 years, he advised a leading Premier League football club on all aspects of its commercial and operational arrangements and the protection and commercialisation of its brands.
He has advised on significant sponsorship deals for over twenty years, starting with the Millennium Dome (aka The O2) and including football World Cups, European Championships, Confederations Cups, kit manufacturing and shirt sponsorship deals and many other sporting and event sponsorships. He also drafted the agreements that all professional players sign to participate in two major international sports.
With over 20 years of experience, Lewis's expertise is recognised widely by the legal directories. The Legal 500 has identified him as a Leading Individual in Retail & Consumer and also recommends him for Franchising, Sport, Media & Entertainment and TMT. He is regarded as "a very good negotiator" with a "pragmatic and practical approach" and as "an incisive, commercial advisor" who is "creative with solutions".
Chambers & Partners and Who's Who Franchising also recommend Lewis as a leading franchise lawyer. Chambers & Partners commented that Lewis “impresses clients, who consider him to be highly knowledgeable, efficient, thorough and also extremely personable." Lewis has also been named as one of the Hot 100 Lawyers by The Lawyer magazine. Lewis is on the Steering Committee of the American Bar Association's International Franchise and Distribution Division. He is "recommended" by the World Trademark Review, which describes him as a "transactional maven" and "IP commercialisation wizard".
Lewis is a non-executive Director of Walpole, the official sector body for UK luxury.