N17 Creative Callings: Legal Eagle with Nick Gould and Co – Partners

On Thursday 4th June 11:00 – 13:00 the N17 Creative Callings seminar programme presented an insightful Legal Eagle masterclass with Nick Gould and co-partners at Aria Grace, a genuinely ethical law firm.

The N17 Creative Callings programme targets creatives working and living within the London postcode area of N17, the two-year programme is supported by the Mayor of London and the European Social Fund. To find out more click here.

Nick is a highly experienced lawyer with a very strong ethical approach: he was a Partner at several City firms, most recently at Gunnercooke; he also spent a considerable amount of his time providing pro bono services to British business owners as chair of the SME Alliance. He has provided practical seminars and advice for start-ups and small businesses in the fashion sector for the last eight years and that includes clients at Fashion-Enter Ltd. Nick was joined by co-partners; Karin, Gemma and Lindsay.

Key topics included: law of contract – how to stop disputes occurring, understanding IP infringement – what to do if someone “copies” your work, the difference between trade marks, copyright and passing off as well as employment contracts – responsibilities of ownership.

The full agenda covered:

• Introduction and Welcome to Aria-Grace Law #ethical world
• The N17 Creative Callings programme
• Meet and greet Nick Gould & Senior Partner at Aria-Grace
• Company formations for a UK Business
• Contract Law and Paper trails
• What is IP and IP Protection
• Illustration of Employment Issues
• Digital age – websites, terms and conditions
• Business in the age of COVID-19
• Q & A – Time is limited so please send in your questions before the Zoom
• Summary and close

CEO of Fashion-Enter Jenny Holloway said: “It was with absolute delight that we had a four man team of legal eagles on our N17 Creative Callings programme today answering diverse questions from IP, copyright and trade marks to employment law and Covid-19 implications plus the basic laws of contract. Notes were provided from each partner too as there was so much quality information to absorb in just two hours. The feedback has been amazing.”

The N17 Creative Callings programme has been phenomenally successful during this lockdown period helping many creative businesses to prepare themselves for a challenging business environment ahead.

Micro businesses account for about 99% of all SMEs. The good news is that if you set up a micro-business, you won’t be alone, millions of people have gone down this path before. Here are some statistics from 2019:

 • There were more than 5.9 million private sector SME businesses in the UK.

• A subset of small businesses is called “micro-businesses – a business with very few employees (between two and nine)

• SMEs (so those up to 250 employees) accounted for 99 per cent of all enterprise in the UK, 60 per cent plus of private sector employment and 48 per cent plus of private sector turnover.

• SMEs employed more than 12 million people.

• SMEs generated £1.8 trillion in turnover.

• To put it in context there are about 8,000 large businesses with more than 250 employees and they are responsible for about 40per cent of employment and 48 percent of turnover.

Nick commented: “The four of us greatly enjoyed our chat to (and with) so may people with their own business and discussing some of the key legal issues to think about. There are still good reasons to run your own business – even in these very tough times. As ever the Q and A session threw out some useful and practical points. We are already looking forward to the next time.”

Feedback included:

“I have learnt about copyright law, employment law and how to setup a business.”

“The seminar gave in-depth details about the subject matter.”

“I gained advice on how to set-up a company and more details about copyright law.”

“I found all of it useful, especially the law part of a company as this information isn’t too available and the question and answers session.”

“I’ve learnt so much about starting a company – amazing thank-you.”

Join us for our next N17 Creative Callings employer engagement seminar ‘Start Your Fashion Brand Today! Taking place on Thursday the 11th of June 9-11am via Zoom.

We have received a lot of requests to undertake a deep dive into the paperwork that is required when sampling and for short run production. This seminar that will allow you to download for free paperwork that will help you become organised and track your orders to try to achieve right ‘first time’ methodology.  The documents include a legally binding Confidentiality Agreement; Fit log, Tech pack front cover. Each document will be in Word to allow you to amend logos to insert your company information. One-to-one sessions will also be available.