Alex is a Partner at Roythornes and heads up the Commercial Litigation team. He is also joint head of the Construction and Engineering team.
His workload is predominantly contentious construction matters which includes litigating through Adjudication, Arbitration, High Court litigation (in the TCC and other branches of the High Court) and County Court litigation. He deals with disputes relating to all industry-standard forms contracts (such as JCT, NEC, ACE, RIBA, RICS) as well as informal and/or bespoke contracts – his clients are predominantly engineering companies, developers and main/sub-contractors.
Aside from contentious construction matters, Alex also specialises in:
- Professional negligence claims against solicitors, barristers, architects, planning consultants and construction professionals;
- Company and shareholder disputes including derivative claims and unfair prejudice petitions.
- Contract disputes;
- Intellectual property disputes.
Alex's recent work includes:
Construction and Engineering
- Advising a UK-based construction firm in relation to a final account dispute in excess of £400,000. This dispute was the subject of arbitration proceedings in Milan, Italy
- Advising on successful enforcement of an adjudication award in the Technology & Construction Court. This specific case was in relation to whether a second adjudicator’s decision contradicted the first adjudicator’s decision and whether the second adjudicator’s decision was enforceable (Waldeck Associates Ltd V Decomo UK Ltd [2017] EWHC 961)
Professional Negligence
- Advising on a professional negligence claim in excess of £2m against a firm of solicitors. This related to the negligent drafting of a loan agreement and the subsequent failure to register a charge on a property in Knightsbridge, London
- Claim for £2m against a firm of Insurance Brokers relating to a fire at a warehouse in Nottingham and the subsequent revocation of the insurance policy by the Insurer
- Advising on a professional negligence claim against an architect for exceeding the scope of his instructions and the subsequent negligent drawings produced
Company
- Claim in excess of £1m for breach of a Share Purchase Agreement relating to the purchase of a food manufacturing company
- Claims for relief pursuant to s.994 Companies Act 2006 and for damages under an agency agreement which resulted in a seven-figure settlement
- Advising a minority shareholder and former director of a limited company as to whether the limited company was a quasi-partnership and the effect of his removal as a director. Thereafter advising and issuing an Unfair Prejudice Petition under s.994 Companies Act 2006
Insolvency
- Claim for £400,000 against the Liquidator’s of a Company for sums due to a director and shareholder, which included defending an application for breach of duty pursuant to s112 Insolvency Act 1986. This resulted in a six-figure settlement
- Advising a Trustee in Bankruptcy regarding the effect (on the bankrupt individual) of a Restraint Order under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and obtaining discharge of that Order, along with proceeds due to the Trustee
Agency
- Claim for damages exceeding £400,000 resulting from the termination of an agency agreement under The Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993
Partnership
- Claims resulting from the dissolution of a partnership pursuant to Partnership Act 1890
General Commercial Disputes
- Claim for £8m arising from the negligent delivery of pig feed containing meat (which is prohibited). This resulted in a seven-figure settlement
Memberships and Qualifications
- Qualified construction Adjudicator
- Member of the Society Construction Law
- Member of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association
