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Nigel Palmer
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Nigel Palmer  Partner
+44 (0)20 7111 2265
nigel.palmer@sjberwin.com


Nigel Palmer is Head of SJ Berwin's Commercial Department and Media & Communications Group. He qualified at Denton Hall, becoming a salaried partner there in 1983 and an equity partner in 1985. He left Denton Hall in 1988 to help found SJ Berwin’s Media Practice, which is recognised in Chambers & Partners’ Directory and "The Legal 500" as one of the UK's top film and television practices.

Since qualification, Nigel's practice has developed around the production and financing of feature films and television films and programmes, acting for both production companies and financiers. The start of his professional career coincided with the launch of Channel 4, and he was therefore fortunate to be exposed, as a production lawyer, to a number of high profile local UK film and television productions, including the ever-green 'The Snowman', and 'Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends' (a particular interest is animation and animated features). He has also acted for a number of foreign based banks for international productions such as 'Tooth', 'Open Range', 'Five Children and It' and 'The Merchant of Venice'.

Since his arrival at SJ Berwin, this side of Nigel's practice has developed considerably. The firm now acts for all of the major film finance houses in London. Contact with these clients has developed, in particular, an expertise in international co-productions, the way they work, and the tax benefits some of them confer. Nigel also acts for production companies and partnerships and has explored with them the financial advantages of UK tax credits under current legislation.

Nigel is also a regular speaker at Hawksmere conferences on film and television matters. He has been chosen as the Expert's Expert in Film Financing "Legal Business", one of the designated experts amongst entertainment lawyers in a previous issues of Update magazine and one of the eight top ten entertainment lawyers in “In Brief”. He is also a Fellow of the European Film Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an accredited mediator of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution.