Commercial Disputes
Let's be frank - calling your lawyers to settle a business dispute is a distress purchase that you would rather not make. However, when that business critical problem hits your desk - whether it's resolving a major contractual dispute with a key supplier, protecting vital brand sensitive rights or diffusing an unpleasant shareholder dispute - you need to be confident that you have access to a team that will give you the legal support and advice that you require, quickly, competently and at a fair and transparent price.
City team - regional access
Our Commercial Disputes Resolution Team, based across our main offices in Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Southampton is one of the largest Corporate Dispute Resolution Teams of any regional practice with 8 Commercial Litigation partners and 68 supporting commercial litigation lawyers and Paralegals. But it is not just the number of lawyers in the team that matter - you need to be confident in the skills of the leading Partners. Rest assured. Our Partners are not parochial regional players who have opted for the easy rural life- they are all ex City trained with top pedigrees from Travers Smith, Nabarro's, Olswang and Denton Hall to name a few. They have the specialist skills and experience to deal effectively and quickly with your problem, whether a shareholder or partnership issue, a competition issue, media or intellectual property. For a complete list of our specialist skills and resident experts, see below.
Fees... we've nothing to hide!
And here's the clincher - you get City expertise and pedigree at regional fee rates - as well as getting Partner attention for your case, rather than the newly qualified that you would be getting from your City firm for the same hourly rate.
We are modern and flexible in our approach to fees. We fully accept that clients now expect innovative solutions to fee proposals, rather than just agreeing to the usual hourly "taxi" meter rate - we offer a whole basket of possible alternative fee approaches to cases such as fixed fees, capped fees, conditional fee arrangements, reduced rate conditional fee arrangements and discounted hourly rates. We can design and agree with you a fee proposal that suits your particular case, and our assessment of it. We believe in the concept of "sharing risk" as a case goes forward - if we say we have confidence in your case, then we are prepared to put our money where our mouth is and share the risk. So talk to us about fee alternatives. It really doesn't have to be the case of agreeing to the running taxi meter over which you have no control.
Litigation avoidance products
We are extremely aware that commercial disputes are, first, best avoided and, secondly, settled on the best available commercial terms as soon as possible. Commercial disputes ruin business relationships and soak up valuable senior management time and attention - let alone bottom line costs. We have therefore developed risk assessment products to help you avoid the risk of running into these disputes.
Mediation
A really effective alternative solution to the Courts. All of our Dispute Resolution Lawyers are very familiar with mediation as a way of settling commercial disputes early and cost effectively. All of our Lawyers regularly advise clients on the suitability of mediation to their client's cases at every stage of the dispute. Three of our Dispute Resolution Partners are fully trained mediators who themselves mediate disputes regularly. This gives us an in depth understanding of how the process works, and the dynamics that are most likely to result in a successful and early settlement. With the Courts increasingly requiring mediation of cases at an early stage, you need to be sure that your legal team is equipped to advise you as to the process from the outset, and whether it is indeed best for your particular case.
Our experience
