Weightmans LLP

Sarah is a Partner in the Commercial Litigation team at Weightmans. Sarah trained and qualified at Eversheds Sutherland in its Manchester office and has over 19 years' experience of dealing with a variety of commercial disputes. Sarah currently manages the sizeable Commercial Dispute Resolution team in Liverpool and other national offices with the team recognised in the Legal 500 2023 rankings as a "Top litigation team. Able to handle the most complex and challenging litigation." As well as her team, Sarah is also recognised in the latest Legal 500 as a Leading Individual. Sarah has experience of a broad range of disputes, particularly of high profile and complex company/director/shareholder claims, supporting on corporate governance and constitutional matters alongside this work. Sarah’s expertise also includes judicial review claims, defamation, and reputation management, advising on restrictive covenants, restraint of trade and confidentiality issues arising from employee moves acting for both employer and employee and dealing with complex contractual issues. Sarah deals with litigation in all branches of the civil courts. Sarah has extensive experience of the range of alternative dispute resolution options and has successfully assisted many clients to settle disputes both prior to and during litigation. Sarah can assist clients with consideration of funding options which includes third party funding, conditional fee agreements and after the event insurance. Sarah acts for a range of clients including private individuals, large international corporations, SMEs, registered charities, local authorities, schools, colleges and universities. Sarah has been listed as a stand out lawyer in Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyers database

Andrew is a Partner in the Litigation team at Weightmans and has well over 30 years' experience of handling and resolving commercial disputes and litigation, all of which has been gained at leading national and global law firms in the UK. In recent years, Andrew has led work on a number of significant and complex cases proceeding in the Commercial Court, Mercantile Court and Court of Appeal. Andrew's specialist areas of practice within commercial litigation include: advising in relation to contract disputes (including contract interpretation, enforcement and termination) warranty claims arising from the sale and purchase of companies shareholder disputes (including claims of unfair prejudice) intellectual property matters (including breach of copyright, trademark infringement and passing off) defamation IT disputes including contracts for the supply of software franchising disputes (including those involving international franchisors) joint venture disputes the enforcement of restrictive covenants and the protection of confidential information advising on claims for compensation by commercial agents procurement disputes He is experienced in managing electronic disclosure in litigation proceedings and in advising clients on appropriate and cost-effective strategies for dealing with electronic disclosure. Andrew has helped numerous clients to settle their disputes either before or during litigation by way of Alternative Dispute Resolution and in particular by way of mediation. He is also National Sector Lead for Manufacturing at Weightmans and a member of the firm's Education Sector group acting as lead Partner for Further Education. Andrew acts for a broad range of clients ranging from large corporates, owner-managed businesses and private individuals as well as universities, further education colleges, local authorities and charities. Prior to joining Weightmans in December 2013, Andrew spent over 20 years at DLA Piper in Liverpool where he had been a Partner since 2007. He is a member of the Society for Computers and Law.