Addleshaw Goddard acts for local, national and international clients on the full spectrum of commercial disputes, with particular expertise in tech, business protection, IP, insurance, pensions, and competition disputes. The team is co-headed by Susan Garrett, whose broad practice covers technology, commercial contracts, insurance and shareholder issues; and Nicholas Ashcroft, who has extensive experience in business protection litigation. Samantha Haigh represents clients in a diverse range of commercial disputes, with a particular focus on the energy, retail, and transport sectors. Alongside a strong shareholder and boardroom litigation practice, Victoria Pool also has notable expertise in the insurance sector, where she acts for policyholders. Clare Dwyer handles a broad range of contractual and public law disputes in the public and private sectors. Catherine Radcliffe has considerable experience acting for clients in commercial disputes in the Chancery Division, Business and Property Courts as well as the Court of Appeal, while Paul Rowley is a key contact for public law and procurement litigation.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Superb team. They have considerable strength in depth and are very flexible/easy to work with across the board. No egos. Very innovative in their collaboration and solutions for clients. Technically excellent. In my view they are the strongest litigation team in Manchester by some margin.’

  • 'Samantha Haigh - Superb. Samantha has an incredible legal brain. Recently described to me as a 'genius'. Her ability to cut through extremely complex issues and prepare an easily digestible route map is fantastic.'
  • ‘Practical and pragmatic in their approach; collaboration within the team and across AG more widely to get the best solutions.’

  • ‘The team is highly experienced and attention to detail is immaculate.’

Key clients

  • Soteria Insurance Limited
  • Co-op Group Limited
  • Credico Marketing Limited
  • Diageo plc
  • Road Haulage Association Limited
  • Skanska Construction UK Limited
  • Stroma Building Control Limited
  • Eastern and Southern African Trade & Development Bank (TDB)
  • Tata Chemicals Europe Limited
  • Toyota Material Handling UK Limited
  • Trustees of the BT Rolatruc Limited Staff Life Assurance and Pension Scheme
  • Muller UK & Ireland Group LLP
  • Stella McCartney
  • Currys
  • Anglian Water
  • NKT A/S and NKT Verwaltungs GmbH
  • Tsemex Global Enterprise Plc and Tsemex Hotels and Business Plc
  • Associated British Foods including British Sugar
  • Origin Packaging
  • British International Investment PLC

Work highlights

  • Defending a claim brought by liquidators of a company valued in excess of £450m for alleged antecedent transactions.
  • Acting for the Road Haulage Association in an opt-in class action seeking to represent more than 16,000 class members and £1bn+ in damages. The case has massive implications for the development of collective proceedings in the UK.
  • Acting for Anglian Water Services Limited as one of a number of water companies facing a restitution claim from 95 claimants in the context of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

Lawyers

Hall of Fame
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Leading associates
Leading associates with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Susan Garrett, Nicholas Ashcroft

Other key lawyers

Samantha Haigh, Victoria Pool, Clare Dwyer, Catherine Radcliffe, Paul Rowley