Beale & Co

Antony Smith

Antony is well known and widely recognised in the construction and insurance scene. His clients include professionals, contractors and insurers. He specialises in disputes arising out of construction contracts and leads large-scale and large-value disputes, and also has a practice in health and safety, having defended clients in health and safety prosecutions and advised them on site health and safety responsibilities. Antony’s practice covers all forms of dispute resolution, including litigation, arbitrations, adjudications and mediations in the UK and abroad. His overseas experience includes advising on claims in Austria, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, Thailand, the Republic of Guinea, Middle East regions and, in the successful defence of a US $80m claim for delay and disruption arising out of the construction of a power station in the Philippines. His notable UK engagements include high-profile litigation arising out of the Cambridge Guided Busway, Clissold Leisure Centre, the Millenium Bridge and the train tunnel collapse at Gerrards Cross. Antony is a regular speaker on dispute resolution and contributes regularly to journals on construction and professional negligence issues as well as health and safety law

Damian Mcphun

Damian specialises in professional liability claims. He has considerable experience of acting in claims against Independent Financial Advisers, investment managers, accountants, actuaries and other professionals associated with the financial services sector, as well as solicitors and insurance brokers. Damian also regularly advises insurers on all aspects of professional liability policy coverage. Recent and notable cases include: a claim against an IFA in relation to allegations of negligent advice in respect of investments in Arch Cru products (value: approx. £1.5m). Damian also negotiated with the FCA in respect of the proposed Arch Cru redress scheme; a claim made against an IFA in relation to allegations of negligent advice on the investment of the proceeds of a company sale (value: approx. £6m); a claim by corporate pension fund trustees alleging negligent advice by the fund’s former actuarial and investment advisers (value: approx. £10m); a claim against a global accountancy firm in connection with alleged negligent conduct as investment managers (value: approx. £4.5m); recovery claims against around 50 IFAs by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme in respect of Keydata (Damian acted for 13 of the 14 lead case defendants in this major piece of litigation) (value: approx. £30 million). Damian also undertakes other liability work for major insurers, under public liability policies, including product liability cases and claims arising out of property damage.Damian’s experience includes cases dealt with by way of litigation, arbitration or through regulatory regimes, including referrals to the Financial Ombudsman Service. He is regularly involved in mediations and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Damian regularly gives talks on various issues of interest to the insurance and financial services industries, in-house counsel. He also contributes to various industry publications, including Insurance Day and Post magazine and is regularly quoted in the trade press.

David McArdle

David is a partner in the Bristol Office, specialising in defending claims against professionals, with a particular emphasis on legal and construction professionals and providing policy coverage advice to insurer clients. Before joining Beale & Company, David had accumulated a wide body of experience in advising professionals - firstly as a claims handler on behalf of several Professional Indemnity Insurers and secondly providing in-house legal and commercial advice to a large international firm of Consulting Engineers. Since joining Beale & Company, David has built a wide ranging practice by regularly advising a wide variety of Insurers and their professional clients. These matters range from the provision of claims handling advice under a delegated authority to large and complex, multi-party disputes with numerous issues for each class of professional involved. This allows David to have a detailed working knowledge of the common issues affecting professionals and their insurers. In recent years, David has developed a particular expertise in advising solicitors, and their professional indemnity insurers, in the defence of detailed and high value claims. These include claims arising from complex commercial or conveyancing transactions, probate matters, failed or under settled litigation and claims where there has been first party or third party fraud. Alongside this, David has continued to provide expert advice to construction professionals and their insurers in claims before the TCC and other courts. He regularly advises Architects, Engineers, Building Surveyors and Project Managers in respect of claims ranging in value from several hundred pounds to several million pounds. David also has substantial experience of arbitration, adjudication and mediation as alternative means of resolving disputes. In addition to the above, David regularly provides seminars and presentations on legal and regulatory issues relevant to Insurers and their professional clients.

Ian Masser

Ian is a partner in the Construction, Engineering and Infrastructure group.Ian specialises in disputes arising out of construction projects. His clients include construction professionals, contractors, employers and insurers. His notable instructions include high profile litigation arising out of the Wembley Stadium project and claims arising out of the construction of the Walkie Talkie building in London.Ian's practice covers all forms of dispute resolution including litigation, arbitration, adjudication, mediation and all other methods of alternative dispute resolution. Ian's practice also includes advising clients on insurance coverage issues.

James Hutchinson

James is a Partner in the Corporate team at Beale & Company. He specialises in advising clients in the construction and IT sectors on a range of work, including acquisitions and sales of businesses, joint ventures, management buyouts/buyins, shareholders’ agreements, restructuring, public procurement, IT/IP agreements and cyber liability.James has extensive experience of acting for insurers and defending professional negligence claims against solicitors, accountants and IT professionals arising out of complex corporate and commercial transactions. He recently successfully defended a top 15 firm of solicitors involving a multimillion pound private finance initiative. James’s experience also includes advising on cyber liability issues, such as the hack of a company’s social media accounts by a former employee, the loss of an unencrypted drive containing personal data and potential liabilities arising from the use of unmanned drones.

James Vernon

James joined Beale and Company in 2003, qualifying in 2005, and is a Partner in the Construction and Engineering group and the Insurance/Professional Negligence group. James is admitted to practice in England and Wales and in Ireland.During his time at Beale and Company, James has acted for engineers, architects, contractors in relation to a wide range of contentious matters arising during and after projects have been completed. These have ranged from small fee claims to high value, multiparty construction and engineering actions in the UK, Ireland and overseas. James has also acted for clients in respect of subrogated recovery actions and health and safety investigations.James’ practice covers all forms of dispute resolution, including litigation, arbitrations, adjudications and mediations.James gives seminars and workshops on a number of topics of interest to professional bodies in the construction and engineering industry, including health and safety.

Joanna Lewis

Jo is a partner in the construction and engineering and professional indemnity departments. Jo has extensive experience in advising professionals in the construction industry having represented engineers, architects, quantity surveyors and project managers and their professional indemnity insurers. She has advised in both small and high value complex litigation in the TCC as well as mediations and other forms of alternative dispute resolution. Jo specialises in adjudication both in bringing high value fee claim adjudications and defending professional negligence adjudications including a multi million pound double adjudication arising out of a high profile PFI project. Jo also advises clients in relation to health and safety and regulatory law. She advises on all aspects of an investigation and/or prosecution including what to do after an accident, coroners’ inquests, regulatory offences, sentencing and insurance cover. Jo successfully advised on the acquittal of a corporate manslaughter prosecution in the crown court against an engineer. In recent years Jo has been involved in a number of claims against surveyors, both residential valuation claims and missed defect claims. Jo is currently involved in an initiative to stream line the method of dealing with and resolving claims against surveyors and working in conjunction with surveyors, RICS, brokers, insurers and lenders to achieve this.Jo has also advised solicitors, insurance brokers, IFAs and their professional indemnity insurers in defendant actions. She has advised in particular in large high profile multi party claims from the Financial Compensation Scheme defending independent financial advisors and in bringing a claim by multiple claimants in regard to complicated financial pension advice against various financial institutions and IFAs. Jo also regularly advised insurers on all aspects of professional liability policy coverage.

Joe Eizenberg

After graduating from the University of Sydney, Joe practised at a specialist insurance firm in Sydney before moving to the UK in 2003 working in the professional indemnity department of a national firm. He joined Beale & Company’s Bristol office shortly after it opened in 2006. Joe has developed a strong reputation with clients for his clear and concise advice and commercial approach to defending professional indemnity claims on behalf of both insurers and insureds. He specialises in defending both large and small claims against accountants, solicitors, barristers, surveyors and IFAs. He also assists accountants and solicitors in defending disciplinary proceedings instigated against them by their professional bodies. Joe regularly advises insurers and brokers on policy interpretation and coverage issues, and has assisted insurers with the drafting of policy wordings. Joe also manages Delegated Authority and Claims Handling Schemes for a range of national and multinational insurers.

John Henderson

Dispute resolution is John’s main expertise. Most of his cases are settled by negotiation, but he has taken appropriate cases to trial and, on occasion, to the Court of Appeal. John is experienced in a range of commercial dispute resolution procedures including litigation, arbitration, ADR and statutory adjudication. His particular interest is in technical, project-based matters which arise in engineering and IT. He often represents the professional parties and their insurers in such disputes. More recently, he has been involved in litigation arising out of Wembley stadium for a sub-contractor. Deconstructing transactions as required by dispute resolution has given John a deep understanding of the structure and content of many types of agreement. He advises upon and drafts such agreements.

Michael Archer

Michael trained as a solicitor with the firm and over a career as partner in the firm spanning over 30 years has advised on most company/commercial matters concerning both SME’s, start-ups, family-owned and owner-managed businesses and UK and Nasdaq-listed companies in their business affairs, corporate transactions and employment relations. A significant part of Michael’s work has involved the structuring of professional services businesses, covering incorporations of partnerships, conversions to LLP, joint venture structures, M&A transactions and the structuring of bid vehicles for tendering for framework agreements and projects. Michael’s employment practice covers work for both employers and also high-net-worth employees. For the former, an ongoing advisory service covers most employment issues encountered by employers, such as handling disciplinaries, dismissals, redundancies and business transfers. Contentious work includes claims for unfair/wrongful dismissal, non-compete covenant enforcement, harassment and discrimination. For employees, the focus is on their contracts and remuneration packages on commencement and termination of employment. Michael is head of the firm’s corporate services team and his professional affiliations include the Association of Partnership Practitioners (APP) and the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA).

Nathan Modell

Nathan specialises in contentious construction matters and has advised a range of clients including architects, engineers, contractors, solicitors, professional indemnity insurers as well as other commercial organisations. Nathan has experience of all types of construction claims, ranging from small fee claims to high profile construction and engineering disputes both in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and South East Asia.Nathan has advised in respect of proceedings in the Technology and Construction Court, the High Court and County Courts as well as mediations, arbitrations (both domestic and international) and adjudications.Before joining Beale and Company, Nathan spent six years in the insurance team of an international ratings agency where he provided bespoke credit and financial analysis of Lloyd's Syndicates, non-life, life and composite insurers to a variety of financial institutions.

Sheena Sood

Sheena qualified in 1992 having trained with Beale & Company. She has over 20 years’ experience advising clients within the construction and related industries on a wide range of disputes and on investigations and prosecutions under health and safety law. Sheena has advised and represented numerous clients and their insurers in relation to civil claims both advancing claims for construction industry clients through the most effective means and defending negligence claims brought against them; conducting early risk assessments for clients to understand the merits of their position and achieve results which takes into account those risks and the need for a proportionate approach to costs. Her work is across all sectors of the construction industry and she has a thorough understanding of the issues of importance. She undertakes an increasing amount of work with an international focus, providing legal support for high-profile projects across the world. Sheena’s work in the health and safety field includes numerous fatal site accidents and personal injury claims that can follow construction site and workplace accidents. She represents clients throughout HSE and Police investigations and in criminal prosecutions brought by the HSE and CPS. She has many years experience in representing clients in meetings and interviews with the Police and the HSE during the course of an investigation including interviews under caution. Sheena advises on CDM and other health and safety legislation and assists clients in the implementation of good practice. Sheena works with her clients to set and keep under review the overall strategy to resolution and manages delivery to achieve the client’s aims in the most efficient and cost-effective way.

Stephen Reilly

With a strong focus and expertise in Professional Indemnity, D&O, FI, Crime and Warranty & Indemnity risks, Stephen has joined the insurance team at Beale & Company as Partner. He was previously an equity Partner at RPC dealing with coverage disputes and varied Professional Indemnity matters (Solicitors, Accountants, Surveyors, Insurance Brokers etc) before spending 8 years in house at Company and Lloyd's markets. Stephen brings an additional client perspective having spent significant time in house at a senior level where he has worked on high value complex claims, managed claims teams and worked across teams on wider management issues including claims process, IT implementation, lawyer panel procurement/oversight, reserving, pricing and policy wordings. Most recently at CNA Hardy, Stephen was the Financial Lines Claims Manager overseeing a team dealing with a portfolio of D&O, FI, Crime, Professional Indemnity, Technology, Cyber and Construction claims. Prior to that, Stephen was a Claims Manager at Beazley Lloyd’s Syndicates for 6 years, where he was responsible for the UK and USA Insurance Brokers claims book dealing with primary accounts for large global brokers working closely with their risk managers. He also worked on high value/complex USA lawyer E&O, Construction, Technology and Miscellaneous matters. Stephen has extensive experience of working on coverage disputes throughout his career and of working on claims in numerous jurisdictions, most notably, the USA. Stephen has wide and varied contacts in the market and is very aware of the potential political issues/positioning within the market and in working closely with insureds/their brokers and insurers for better claims outcomes.

Will Buckby

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