Dispute Resolution overview

No matter what your dispute, we have a specialist who can help you resolve it

We handle increasingly complex, valuable and sizeable disputes for our clients. To this end, our Dispute Resolution group of 24 partners and 80 solicitors is designed to be able to provide a sector-based specialist for every dispute.

We have a track record of delivering solutions through proactive risk management/claims avoidance, litigation and alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Increasingly, litigation is no longer seen as the only route to protecting or defending a commercial position and our group includes experts in both mediation and international arbitration.

We are also market leaders in defending multi-party litigation and are recognised as one of the leading defendant law firms in group litigation.

A complex domestic claim, multi-jurisdictional litigation, a regulatory investigation - whatever the nature of your dispute, we have the strength in depth, covering a broad range of industry sectors, to get the job done - see Related Links in the right hand column.

Our latest briefings & reports
Employee disciplinary hearings and whistleblowing - recent developments   In future employers will need to be careful when deciding whether or not to allow an employee to be legally represented at an internal disciplinary hearing. Two recent Court of Appeal decisions have affirmed the principle that, in some circumstances, employees will have a right to legal representation if they so request. The basic test that employers should apply in future is “what will be the likely impact on the employee’s right to practise his profession if the allegations against the employee are upheld?”  View full briefing
Enforcement of Adjudicators' Decisions   Statutory adjudication of disputes over construction contracts was introduced to counter unacceptable delays and expense in traditional dispute resolution processes. The courts have in the last few days re-affirmed their determination to make sure that losing parties in these interim decisions cannot avoid paying up simply by complaining that an error in the decision amounts to a 'breach of natural justice'. View full briefing
Administrators who use premises must pay the rent as an expense   The court has clarified that administrators must pay rent as an expense of the administration when they use property. View full briefing
Civil Litigation Costs Reform   Widespread reforms to the ways in which civil litigation is paid for were recommended by Lord Justice Jackson in his 557 page report published last week with the aim of reducing the sometimes disproportionate cost of going to court.  View full briefing
CPA Model Conditions fail to protect owner of construction plant    The Construction Plant Hire Association's Models Conditions for Plant Hire 2001 (CPA Model Conditions) are widely used throughout the construction industry. The CPA Model Conditions are rarely varied by parties. Often they are simply relied upon as being capable of covering all eventualities. Regularly, owners of plant hire out their plant, together with one of their employees to operate it. They often work under the illusion that if anything goes wrong (that results in a legal claim for damages), the CPA Model Conditions will successfully protect them from liability. This is simply not always the case, as the recent case of Jose -v- MacSalvors Plant Hire Ltd [2009] vividly illustrates.  View full briefing
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