Our solicitors have proven experience in commercial litigation, appearing in the High Court, County Courts and specialist tribunals. We have advised on and appeared in the in the Intellectual Property Office Registries in trade mark and patent disputes. Our litigation group complements our advisory work for our key areas of practice, bringing about a full service commercial and corporate law firm.

Managing Disputes

Our firm and its lawyers have considerable experience in jurisdictions in the UK and have assisted our clients in international and foreign commerical litigation. Experience shows that addressing and managing commercial disputes earlier mitigates escalation of the dispute and is more likely to engender an environment to focus on the difficulties experienced and move towards a satisfactory, early and commercial resolution.

Members of our department have excellent advocacy skills and appear to avoid expense of barristers where appropriate. This means we are able to deliver our services quickly, efficiently and vigorously.

Our Experience

We have approached courts for urgent interlocutory relief on short notice, obtaining orders for urgent relief and pursued damages claims in contractual disputes arising from breaches and repudiation of contracts, directors’ disputes, shareholders disputes and disputes between companies and its shareholders and breaches of fiduciary duties.

We also conduct commercial intellectual property litigation in asserting and defending our clients’ rights in information technology ventures, appearing in the Chancery and Technology and Construction Divisions of the High Court in London, as well as the Court of Appeal.

As an adjunct to our advice in registration of intellectual property rights, we assist our clients in obtaining review of administrative decisions refusing registration of intellectual property rights before The Patent Office and the European Trade Marks office in Alicante, Spain. Our litigation department has been successful in obtaining substantial damages and compensation, injunctions and ancillary relief in large and complex commercial disputes, including cases involving technical factual elements.

High Court and County Court litigation in London

• contractual claims
• recovering unpaid debts
• personal Injury
• negligence claims
• commercial disputes

We think that it is difficult to conduct commercial litigation and argue the merits of a case without a proper understanding of technology involved.

Our Approach

Before suggesting that embarking on litigation is the appropriate course to obtain compensation or injunctive relief we advise our clients as to their options: whether to negotiate, mediate or engage in other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Members of our firm are Accredited Mediators with CEDR, the pre-eminent mediation organisation in the UK. As with all of our legal advice we assist our clients in evaluating the merits of their case, consider the options and clarify the cost benefit analysis in plain English. In any action we take, we focus on realistically obtainable results in the tribunal or court on a commercial basis - we think innovatively. We recognise that litigation must be based soundly on commercial priorities to further safeguard commercial interests.

Our People

Our Commercial Litigation Department is headed by Anthony Krikler. He has been a partner since 1984 and has headed the litigation department since 1996. Anthony acts and advises on corporate and commercial disputes, including framing appropriate dispute resolution processes, be it mediation, expert determination, alternative dispute resolution for contractual claims, professional indemnity and insurance claims.

Leigh Ellis is an experienced litigation solicitor. Leigh has acted and provided forensic legal advice to high technology companies on a range of legal disputes including in intellectual property litigation. He advises companies in commercial matters involving contractual disputes; unlawful disclosures of confidential information and trade secrets, passing off and protection business and trade reputation and patent infringement cases. Leigh has been consulted by Universities on the issues arising from examination papers set by universities, participated in IP training courses for the legal profession, and interviewed by BBC News on technology issues, developments and the impacts felt by industry sectors.