Commercial litigation: Leeds and West Yorkshire; North Yorkshire

Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Mo Bhaskaran
Hall of fameStewarts Law LLP
Partner and Co-Head of Commercial Litigation Mo co-heads the commercial litigation department. Mo specialises in large scale fraud and corruption investigations and recovery action (including working with enforcement authorities in the UK and overseas), as well as high-value commercial disputes relating to a range of commercial matters including fraud, IT and PFI projects, product recall and corporate claims arising from acquisitions. He acts on emergency injunctions (search and freezing injunctions). His clients span sectors as diverse as government, manufacturing, financial services, technology, energy and health. Cases in which Mo has advised include defending a major public sector body from claims exceeding £100m in relation to the cancellation of a large PFI project. He also acted on a number of internal investigations into fraud and corruption including historic corruption/fraud by a senior director within a FTSE 250 listed group, defending an HMRC investigation arising as a result and pursuing claims against the director responsible, as well as a significant $1bn multi-jurisdictional investigation into systemic corruption by a foreign public official.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Bill Gilliam
Addleshaw Goddard
Bill is a partner in the commercial dispute resolution/litigation team. He specialises in heavyweight disputes. He has particular expertise in the management and resolution of procurement challenges, major IT project disputes, claims arising from the sale and purchase of businesses, contract terminations and the resolution of large scale business-critical supply/JV disputes. Bill has over 20 years’ experience in litigation and arbitration, together with all forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including expert determination, negotiation and mediation. He acts for national and international clients and has considerable experience of advising both private and public bodies in a range of sectors, including health, transport, utilities, retail and technology. Examples of Bill’s recent experience include: acting for a wide variety of contracting authorities and utilities, as well as bidder clients on procurement challenges and achieving successful outcomes, by way of negotiation, strike out/summary judgment and swift partial re-run; advising ‘behind the scenes’ on highly sensitive procurement issues; assisting IT suppliers and customer organisations on resolving large scale disputes with IT outsourcing, changes in specification/scope, project delivery delays and performance failures, using escalated dispute resolution processes, negotiation, mediation, expert determination, arbitration and court proceedings; advising private and public sector organisations on complex and/or critical issues, including the management, renegotiation, default and termination of major contractual relationships; resolving high value completion account and warranty claims; dealing with several high profile judicial reviews in a number of sectors.
James Hartley
Freeths LLP
Litigation and arbitration partner, with a focus on high-value and ‘high stakes’ matters. Currently handling a number of significant cases, including a major Group Action, several high value finance/banking litigation cases, competition litigation and professional negligence cases. He regularly advises commercial clients on complex litigation risk management solutions, including funding and risk transfer/insurance. He is well respected in the London litigation funding market.
Alistair Kennedy
Tyr
Alistair is a Partner who specialises in complex commercial litigation. His clients range from major corporates to high net worth individuals. He has dealt with many high value claims in the High Court and Appeal Courts, including several cases that have been reported and attracted press attention. Alistair has particular experience of claims related to financial services and disputes involving allegations of fraud. He has also dealt with many complex professional negligence claims, especially in relation to unsatisfactory investment, tax or legal advice. Alistair has specialist experience of Public Law and has dealt with Judicial Review proceedings against government and other public bodies. Alistair's cases often involve an international element. He is experienced in arbitration.
Simon Young
Clarion
Partner and head of commercial dispute resolution. Simon is a highly rated litigator having advised on many high-value commercial disputes, including those involving commercial contracts, shareholders, partnerships, professional negligence, landlord and tenant, development disputes, civil fraud and compulsory purchase order claims. Acted for The FA Premier League and 14 Premier League clubs in the case of FAPL and Others v Panini (UK) Ltd, which became the precedent for incidental inclusion of an artwork in a picture.
Kate Pollock
Stewarts Law LLP
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Nick Haworth
Stewarts Law LLP
Partner Nick is a partner in the Commercial Litigation team with extensive experience of high-value and complex commercial disputes and investigations for large public and private sector organisations. Nick’s expertise includes advising on corporate and shareholder disputes, actions against directors, mainstream contractual and supply chain disputes, commercial fraud actions, restrictive covenant claims, pursuing and defending applications for injunctive relief, trade mark actions and media disputes. He also has experience of advising on live procurement projects that have run into difficulty, and managing and advising on associated risks. Cases in which Nick has advised include: Acting on ultra high value complex commercial (£1bn plus) cases including acting for a global IT systems supplier in arbitration proceedings against the UK government, which progressed to an 80-day hearing involving evidence from over 100 witnesses Pursuing a damages claim arising out of an alleged cartel arrangement, a case that was in court for over 30 days.
Leo Jones-Rowe
Schofield Sweeney
Leo is a partner in the Dispute Resolution team. He advises on a range of contentious matters, with particular expertise in tax disputes, trading relationships, boardroom/shareholder disputes, professional negligence, pensions and commercial fraud. He has extensively litigated cases before the High Court, Court of Appeal, County Courts and Tax Tribunal.
Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.

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