Colin Hewitt | Partner, Head of Company and Commercial

Colin has advised on company law, company structure and commercial agreements of all types for over 20 years, working with both public and private sector clients. He also advises on competition law, public procurement and state aid issues. 

He is a widely respected lawyer and member of the business community and is a director of Northern Defence Industries Limited, NOF Energy Limited and the Centre of Excellence in Digital Media and Technology Limited. He is also the secretary of Northern Business Forum Limited and Microelectronics Centre Limited.

Colin heads a large multi-disciplinary team of lawyers covering company law, contract law, competition law, intellectual property, IT and public sector issues. The team’s major clients include One NorthEast, North East Finance, Newcastle City Council, Business & Enterprise North East and the North-East's five Centres of Excellence.

Colin has particular expertise in the structuring of large-scale projects and setting up incorporated and unincorporated business structures, particularly joint ventures, outsourcing and public/private partnerships.

A significant number of the organisations he advises are not for profit or charitable bodies.

His experience in establishing appropriate structures and agreements and in respect of corporate governance is complemented by his expertise in dealing with shareholder and partnership disputes and he has acted in resolving a number of high profile multi-million pound disputes.

Colin’s team advises on competition rules relating to trading agreements and behavioural issues and in respect of the merger regime at both the UK and EU level. He advised a FTSE 100 company on its competition compliance programme. 

In the public sector, Colin has advised numerous contracting authorities on the application of public procurement regime and upon the applicability of the state aid rules, including selection of the relevant procedure and challenges to decisions.

He has been involved in a number of large scale projects including waste schemes and NHS LIFT schemes.

Colin is a member of the Charity Law Association.