Billboard names eight Simkins partners in its 2026 Top Music Lawyers List
Read more
Overview
We have unparalleled knowledge and a great depth of experience that we can draw upon in offering strategic and commercial advice on a wide range of activities, from contract drafting and negotiation services to undertaking advisory work and dispute resolution across the whole music industry.
Our client base is wide-ranging. It includes major record companies, international publishers, artists, bands and DJs, writers and composers, managers, producers, mixers, merchandisers, collecting societies, trade associations, digital businesses, agents, promoters and studios. We advise new artists and entrepreneurs as well as playing a part in some of the most sophisticated transactions and complex disputes in the business.
The experience of our music lawyers and the availability of other specialists within the firm gives us the unique ability to assemble at short notice dedicated multidisciplinary teams for each specific job.
Expertise
Our areas of expertise include the following:
- Recorded music
- Publishing
- Management
- Agency
- Touring and live
- Merchandising and licensing
- Sponsorship and endorsement
- Band relations
- Digital licensing
- Neighbouring rights
- Collecting societies
- Acquisitions
- Clearances
- Music for film & TV
- Corporate arrangements
- Disputes / infringements
- Reputation protection
KEY CONTACT
KEY CONTACTS
Our lawyers have in-depth music expertise and deliver high-quality, pragmatic and commercial advice.
Euan Lawson
Partner
Euan Lawson
Partner
The team are first rate, knowledgable, easy to deal with and client-friendly.
They take a sensible pragmatic approach to a contentious situation. Their legal analysis of the issue is good and they provide a number of options to me as the client as to how to move forward.
Simkins get to grips with the nuance of a situation very quickly. They don’t just suggest the same aggressive approach for every situation, they're excellent at thinking about the art of the possible.
The Simkins music team has almost unrivalled sector expertise - there is nothing they don't know about music law! They have a stellar client list, ranging from emerging talent to global icons, and from self-releasing artists and composers to the major record labels and publishers and the UK music collective management organisations. They are able to provide high-quality, pragmatic, commercial advice on the knottiest of issues.
They are very experienced in the unique nature of the music industry as well as being exceptional advisers on underlying law. This meeting of the legal and practical distinguishes them.
The music team at Simkins is extraordinary in providing a holistic understanding of the legal aspects as well as best practices in the music industry.
