Nikki is a commercial and intellectual property lawyer with over 20 years’ experience.

Nikki spent much of her early career as an IP and IT lawyer at Eversheds, advising across all aspects of IP licensing and protection, R&D, Joint Development agreements, University Spin outs, Media, Advertising and marketing, Sport sponsorship and contracts and IT. She then moved on to be a Commercial, IP and IT partner at Halliwells. During her time in private practice she advised various clients across supermarket retail, Premiership football and rugby clubs, FMCG manufacturers, Universities, technology companies, media personalities and production companies and drafted precedents for both Eversheds and Halliwells, as well as advising on the commercial, IP and IT aspects of a large number of corporate deals.

Nikki then moved in-house and for the last 10 years has worked as a senior lawyer and Head of Legal in FMCG and retail businesses. As part of her roles, Nikki has run both legal and non-legal projects and has been company secretary for a number of companies and a Defined Benefit Pension Scheme, also being on the investment committee. Nikki was also head of insurance in her last role. Nikki managed the trade mark portfolio for both Molson Coors in the UK and Ireland and Halewood internationally.

Working in house, in both FMCG and retail, means Nikki has advised across all aspects of legal issues that arise in a business, from setting up companies, IP protection and licensing, procurement, contract manufacturing agreements, distribution agreements, marketing and advertising agency agreements, sports sponsorship, including sponsorship of the Premiership and other sports club agreements, to employee issues, corporate, banking and property and managing and negotiating settlements in IP or commercial litigation.

Nikki is also experienced in advising on advertising and food labelling laws and regulations and dealing with disputes with the ASA and Portman Group. She is highly experienced in drafting and negotiating marketing and PR agency agreements, including having worked with colleagues globally to draft and negotiate the Global Media Buying agreement for Molson Coors.

Nikki has worked extensively internationally, negotiating contracts throughout the world, including, UAE, Australia, South Africa, Europe and USA. These include the franchise and licence for the first Waitrose in the UAE, various licensing, distribution, marketing and manufacturing agreements. Nikki has also negotiated sports sponsorship agreements with USA and Canada rugby.

She has also managed and negotiated the sale and purchase of businesses in the UK, Ireland, USA, South Africa and Australia, as well as the auction and potential sale of the Halewood Group. Nikki has managed and negotiated a number of shareholder agreements and the setting up of Joint Ventures and related contracts.

Both in private practice and in-house, Nikki has designed and delivered training programmes across businesses in areas such as competition law, GSCOP, Category Management, Bribery and Data Protection.

Nikki is pragmatic and creative in providing straightforward advice and solutions to legal issues. Nikki is always keen to understand what is important to a business and its objectives and values, as this assists in tailoring advise. Having worked in-house and run non-legal projects, she fully understands the financial and supply chain issues that affect a company. Nikki is also a co-owner of a small retail and deli business, so has an insider understanding of the issues facing small businesses.

What others have said about Nikki’s work;

"Nikki Ferguson was a pleasure to deal with from start to finish. Friendly, approachable, and very experienced. Nikki went above and beyond what we expected which led to a swift transaction."