Yorkshire law firm Lee & Priestley LLP has helped an innovative new web business, aimed at students, with an ambitious expansion programme which has seen it more than double the number of universities involved in the project.

www.studentcooking.tv is run by Campuslife, a collaboration between Leeds-based West Park Media and Loughborough University.

The informative website shows students how to cook great tasting, nutritious meals on a budget, while taking into account the limitations of a student kitchen.  Students can search for recipes, see their friends in online videos, upload videos of their own culinary delights (or maybe their friends' disasters!) and talk about the issues regarding food that matter to them.

The team visits the Universities involved – hosting events and filming web videos with a host of student-related ‘foodie’ content.

Lee & Priestley has been instrumental in drawing up the ‘web licences’ for each individual university that is listed on the website. There have been six new Universities join the venture for the new academic year beginning in September, in addition to the six initially involved. It is expected that more Universities will come on board as interest in the website continues to grow.

Ellie Corcoran, solicitor at Lee & Priestley, said:   “This is a great business venture that is offering important nutritional and dietary advice and information to students in an interactive manner in an on-line format they are used to working with.

“I am delighted to be able to assist with the ambitious expansion plans and ensure that the legal agreements between my clients and the Universities are properly drawn up and executed.”

Ellie specialises in Intellectual Property and Commercial Law.  She has experience of licensing and assigning various types of IP, including patents and copyright, as well as registering trademarks and design rights.

Simon Horniblow, managing director of West Park Media, said:   “The Internet is still a relatively new medium to work with and it is vitally important to our business that we have expert legal advice.

“Working with Ellie and the team at Lee & Priestley to create, negotiate and deliver our agreements has allowed us to concentrate on building our presence and expanding the reach of the website.”

University of Leicester student Hannah Cooper carried out research as part of her sociology degree and found out that 29% of students put on weight at university.  She said:  “Students might be tired and not feel like cooking.   Fast-food marketing makes it very accessible, and if several students combine to order fast food together then it becomes an even cheaper option.”

Hannah said the people she spoke to ‘knew that fast food was less healthy than home cooked food’ but that their knowledge ‘wasn’t strong enough to override their lifestyle.’

Lee & Priestley is a Leeds based law firm offering a unique blend of legal, business and entrepreneurial expertise.

Lee & Priestley acts for businesses throughout the UK and abroad and has a particularly high profile in the new media, technology, creative, leisure, entertainment and healthcare sectors.

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