William is a partner in the litigation & dispute resolution team and is based in our London office.
Expertise
William has specialised in commercial litigation since he qualified in October 1997. He has extensive and wide ranging litigation experience, having acted in cases involving contractual disputes, fraudulent misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of trust, professional negligence, property disputes, including those between landlord and tenant, and insolvency related litigation. His main areas of expertise are general commercial litigation, civil fraud, property litigation, and insolvency. He is a regular contributor to the New Law Journal and other publications, and speaks at conferences, such as the Globalisation of Fraud promoted by the Fraud Advisory Panel.
Recent Successes:
- instructed by a Defendant to discharge a without notice freezing injunction obtained against him. Whilst it was a small value case the issues were fascinating, and he obtained a discharge of the injunction and indemnity costs Kennedy v Parsons [2006] All ER (D) 361 (Jul)
- instructed by 4Eng Ltd, a company which had been the victim of fraud by misrepresentation. William obtained summary judgment and very recently had a very successful assessment of damages hearing where the client was awarded in excess of £8million and an interim costs order of £750,000. Both the summary judgment and assessment of damages judgments were reported. 4Eng Ltd v Harper and another [2007] EWHC 1568 (Ch), (2008) Times, 23 June. He has recently obtained a favourable judgment in proceedings under s423 Insolvency Act 1986, to enforce the judgment obtained, by unwinding transactions pursuant to which the Defendants had sought to make themselves judgment proof by transferring their assets to their wives and children. This case was also reported, 4Eng Ltd v Harper and another [2009] EWHC 2633 (Ch)
- in one of William's property cases he was involved in obtaining the first specific performance order of a tenant’s repairing covenants for 188 years. This case really began after judgment and is now used by UK law schools as a case study on injunctive relief and the enforcement of judgments
- he has also recently acted for a Texan client against whom a freezing order had been obtained in this jurisdiction. He took over the case from Baker & Mackenzie having been recommended as a specialist. The case involved proceedings in Texas and in the Chancery Division and issues of jurisdiction were paramount in the case. The case settled after an anti-suit injunction was obtained in Texas
- he recently concluded proceedings acting for Chris Evans, the Radio 2 DJ, obtaining a judgment in his favour
- William's current cases include an action for breach of fiduciary duty, knowing receipt and dishonest assistance involving a former employee of the corporate client and a case involving allegations of breach of trust by a trustee
Pragmatism
We don't blind our clients with science. Instead we give concise advice in plain English to help them make informed decisions.