The office, which is based in London, aims to “service innovative companies from the UK, as well as those from further afield with UK and European legal requirements” and comes as the firm looks to “continue to solve the challenge of globally connected clients searching for creative and considered cross-border legal advice”.

Alison Berryman will lead the new office as head of UK following her departure as head of technology law and data protection at Stephenson Law.

Ms Berryman is described as a specialist commercial technology lawyer with significant expertise in tech law, data privacy and commercial contracts. She has nearly two decades of experience working in the sector.

“With the addition of a UK offering, Biztech Lawyers now has native capability to enable clients’ global business plans, around the clock,” Biztech Lawyers co-managing director Anthony Bekker said.

“Unlike the siloed practices of the BigLaw world, where lawyers in different jurisdictions may operate under the same flag but in reality do not collaborate directly, the Biztech team is fully integrated and aligned, with one common goal to empower client success.

“Alison’s extensive experience and unique insights into the UK and global tech markets make her the perfect fit to lead our expansion and help drive our collaborative global approach.”

Chris Spillman, Biztech’s US-based co-managing director, also welcomed Ms Berryman and the opportunity for growth in the UK market.

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“Landing Alison to the team is a vision realised,” Mr Spillman said.

“We have had the UK market on our radar since we merged the Australian and US practices last July, and Alison gives us an early opportunity to reach our fourth continent in less than 18 months. I’m excited to work with her and to grow our UK team even further as well — and Asia is next.”

Ms Berryman said she is excited about her new role at Biztech Lawyers, noting the global offering was a great opportunity for clients as they increasingly look to operate across multiple jurisdictions. 

“I see the move to Biztech Lawyers as an opportunity to be part of something really exciting — a law firm with a start-up’s disruptive mentality, always innovating and refining its practices, but one that already has a presence outside my own jurisdiction of ‘England and Wales’ and is looking to further grow,” she said.

“Finding overseas counsel with the right expertise to assist complex tech sector businesses, and who are responsive and in tune with the needs of SMEs and scale-ups, has been a challenge in the past. Having a great team of collaborative colleagues just a quick Slack message away is a game-changer.”