Frankie Tierney

Dispute Resolution

Managing partner and head of dispute resolution department. Commercial litigation to include contract disputes, shareholder disputes, eg unfair prejudice and minority shareholder claims, intellectual property disputes, partnership disputes. Property litigation to include dilapidations disputes for commercial premises, commercial L&T disputes, residential land development disputes, Lands Tribunal restrictive covenant disputes, TOLATA disputes. Probate litigation to include capacity disputes, inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act claims, Court of Protection litigation. Strong believer in mediation. Examples of commercial cases: acted for an international haulage and freight forwarding company in a dispute regarding a share sale agreement concerning a subsidiary whereby the buying party then traded in breach of the agreement, with particular reference to breaches of licences of intellectual property rights. Successfully forcing the defaulting party to cease the breaches and revoking the licences to protect the client s position in the industry. Acted for a corporate client in a claim by commercial agents for commission following its purchase of commercial premises for a sum in excess of £2m. Successfully resisting the claim and securing an order removing the client from the court proceedings at an early stage. Acted for a manufacturing company in respect of an application to the Lands Tribunal for adverse possession of unregistered land crucial to its long-term plans to re-develop its commercial premises to residential. Despite the application being actively opposed by Network Rail, a settlement was achieved shortly before the full hearing with ownership of the land conceded to the client. Advised the sellers of the share capital in a company registered abroad (but where the specified jurisdiction of the Share Purchase Agreement was England and Wales) following a failure by the buyers to carry out obligations under the Agreement. Liaising with lawyers also instructed in the country the company was registered in to coordinate steps to protect the sellers from possible liabilities in either jurisdiction. The dispute eventually being resolved to the client s satisfaction without the need to issue proceedings in the English Courts. Acted for a commercial land agent in opposing a dispute over £1.5m in overage sums relating to a longstanding and complicated land development project. Extricating the client from the dispute and his contractual obligations without having to make any payments to the other parties in the dispute.

Leicester Polytechnic (now De Montfort University) (1982 BA Hons Law); Guildford College of Law.