Bond Pearce

Our 14 partner strong commercial dispute resolution team focuses on high value and complex disputes with a national or international aspect and has substantial depth, working across key sectors including Construction, Education, Energy & Natural Resources, Hospitality & Leisure, Insurance, Real Estate, Regulatory, Retail and Technology. Combined with our separate 'on-shoring' unit (based in our Plymouth office) to provide support on substantial matters at highly competitive rates this enables us to offer a genuine full service capacity to our clients.

Our expertise in finding pragmatic and cost effective solutions, providing pro active advice around dispute avoidance and creative fee structures sets us apart from our competitors both nationally and in the City.

The team has extensive experience in dispute avoidance and resolution, domestic and cross-border litigation, international arbitration and mediation.

Our priority is to prevent disputes arising, manage our clients' risks and provide commercial solutions.

We invest in developing close client relationships that enable us to give clear, concise and commercial advice that adds real value to our clients' businesses. We work with our clients to achieve their objectives in an efficient and cost effective manner. We do so by:

identifying potential risks
creating and implementing effective risk management strategies
resolving potential disputes before they arise
pursuing or defending litigation or arbitration when it provides the best option for protecting your interests
providing risk geared financial funding options
driving down cost and risk
delivering commercial, cost-effective solutions

Our Approach

Our ethos is to find quick and cost-effective solutions. If disputes do arise we recognise when cases should be fought and when early resolution is the best solution. All of our dispute resolution lawyers are trained in our approach to case planning where we continually review and reassess positions during a case to ensure we get the right results for our clients at the right time. We have particular expertise in resolving disputes swiftly out of court using alternatives such as mediation.

Our Work

acting for a major Norwegian agriculture co-operative (£500m+ turnover) in a joint venture dispute involving specialist teams in the areas of corporate dispute resolution, employment and insolvency. A unique solution was found by using insolvency procedures and the appointment of an administrator to pressure one of the joint venture partners into agreeing a settlement to the shareholder and director disputes. This resulted in our client gaining a majority and controlling stake in the joint venture at a discounted price
advising the lead defendant in the landmark case of Foster Wheeler v Hanley, described as the most important pensions case of the decade, concerning the equalisation of pension benefits for men and women
acting for a national service provider to government and private entities. This work included securing over forty files of wrongfully removed and highly confidential documentation by a rogue employee. This urgent action prevented highly confidential and potentially damaging information being sent to the national media
advising an international client on a breach of contract claim relating to a gas pipeline agreement. Working closely with our Oil and Gas practice to provide industry specific expertise
advising Hutchison 3G UK on all its defended cases in relation to the supply of mobile phone services, including complex matters involving Data Protection Act and Consumer Credit issues
advising a FTSE 250 company in obtaining release of three of its vessels which had been arrested in various foreign jurisdictions. This entailed dealing with active court proceedings in St. Maarten, Antigua, Luxembourg, England and a London based arbitration. The key to unlocking this dispute was securing all three vessels under our client's control within this jurisdiction. This led to the successful resolution of all formal proceedings in all jurisdictions.

2012 and Beyond: forthcoming commercial litigation developments, legislation and cases.