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Tom Bridgford

Partner

Tom Bridgford is Head of the Commercial team in Manchester and has over 25 years of experience in complex international contracts.

His specialty is in high-value commercial contracts, outsourcing, IT procurement, manufacturing, supply chain, distribution and agency agreements, as well as in franchising and IP licensing/exploitation deals. Tom pioneered BPO outsourcing in the 1990s.

He spent time on secondment at Reebok International and PepsiCo International in the 1990s where he worked with the KFC and Pizza Hut businesses. He is Client Partner for the BBC, AstraZeneca and Superdry.

Tom has developed a training program for clients on managing risk/maximizing value in contracts, which is very popular. 

The Legal 500 states that Tom has a "can-do" attitude and an excellent understanding of his clients' businesses.

Tom's experience includes advising:

  • one of the world’s largest IT services companies on an outsourcing deal with the London insurance market customers, facilitated through their associations, the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) and the International Underwriting Association of London (IUA), to accelerate the implementation of a comprehensive turnkey service for back-office processing of insurance premiums and claims and related activities
  • a bank on an outsourcing deal to enable it to participate in the rollout of a new, image-based check-clearing system that will speed up check processing significantly for customers across the UK
  • Flybe on a £200 million outsourcing project for airline services
  • a Bank on several high-value outsourcing projects
  • on a £100 million outsourcing deal with Thames Water
  • one of the world's largest chemicals companies on £1 billion of supply agreements
  • on a £200 million strategic supply deal relating to the supply of products to one of the UK's largest utility companies
  • a global agro-chem business on complex supply arrangements; territories involved included the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Italy, Mexico and Brazil
  • on the first full-scale deployment of smart metering technology in the UK
  • Pizza Hut on a major refranchising project
  • Pret a Manger on a significant franchising project overseas, brand strategy and supply chain issues
  • Pernod Ricard on trademark and supply chain elements of the acquisition of the Seagram's alcoholic beverage business (a joint venture with Diageo), a deal worth $8 billion
  • Firm award: Manchester Law Society Awards Corporate Commercial Team of the Year (5 times in the last 6 years)
  • Ranked in Chambers UK 2018
  • Named Partner of the Year 2017 by Manchester Law Society
  • Firm award: Eversheds Sutherland as Finalist for Outsourcing Law Firm of the Year in the Global Sourcing Association UK Awards 2017
  • Global Sourcing Association (GSA) "A" list for 2016-17, a recognition by “an international list of sourcing thought leaders, influencers and practitioners chosen by those they have inspired from across the industry”
  • Sits on the Council of the Global Sourcing Association
Tom Bridgford

Partner

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