Shoosmiths LLP

Dispute Resolution and Litigation

Matt is an experienced commercial litigator with a proven track record conducting heavyweight litigation with a particular emphasis in the following core areas:

• insurance litigation and policy disputes;
• product liability and property damage disputes; and
• building disputes and professional negligence claims.

Matt has a particularly strong reputation in the insurance, retail and technology sectors and works with a number of leading white goods manufacturers and insurance companies including Hoover Candy Group and MD Insurance Services.

Matt regularly handles complex and high value technical cases, often involving multiple parties and the need for expert evidence, in the High Court.  He combines an analytical approach with an ability to understand his clients’ key objectives and commercial drivers to develop strategies that achieve the best possible results for his clients.

In some cases this requires recourse to court action including, where relevant, urgent injunctive relief.  In many cases, however, the focus is on facilitating an early commercial resolution, utilising ADR processes such as negotiation and mediation.

Recent work handled by Matt includes:

• successfully extracting a global healthcare company from a multiparty, multi-million pound High Court product liability claim arising out of fire damage;
• securing a significant payout from a supplier for a household name client in respect of a multi-million pound claim in respect of defective toy products;
• successfully defending a multi-million pound High Court professional negligence claim relating to an allegedly defective lift;
• successfully resisting an application to bring an additional claim in a multimillion pound reported Commercial Court case (Gaia River SA v (1) Behike Ltd (2) Alpha Sky Ltd (2020));
• securing a significant payout for a developer in connection with an insurance policy coverage dispute concerning a right to light claim.

Matt has spent three months working on secondment with a leading global leisure travel PLC. Matt is a contributing author to the Insurance and Reinsurance section of LexisNexis' online practical guide for legal practitioners, Lexis PSL.

After studying at Durham University and the University of Law, Matt joined Shoosmiths in September 2012 and qualified as a Solicitor in September 2014.