In this episode...
In this episode of TLD Talks Ed Simpson, CEO of The Legal Director, Alistair Stewart, a commercial litigation specialist from Loney Stewart Holland, and Jason Smalley, TLD Client Legal Director, dive into the world of disputes. When should businesses seek specialist advice and what are the routes to resolution?
Today’s guests:
Alistair Stewart is a solicitor at Loney Stewart Holland with 15+ years’ experience in commercial litigation and insurance disputes. He has handled many complex, high value disputes and has an enviable track record in settling cases.
Jason Smalley is a General Counsel providing expert, strategic legal support and advice to businesses across all sectors. He has vast experience of working on projects from the very large to small-scale within the Energy, Nuclear, Construction, Engineering and Building Materials industries.
His casework includes contract disputes, partnership & shareholder disputes, intellectual property & brand protection and restrictive covenant disputes.
Main topics and questions:
- How does an in-house counsel support a client in the event of a dispute? (2’11)
- If a dispute comes to light, when should you consider getting a specialist like Alistair involved? (2’48)
- As a litigation specialist, what difference do you see when dealing directly with a Finance Director or CEO, versus a General Counsel like Jason? (3’59)
- Why should a client pay for two lawyers? Are they paying twice? (5’26)
- Combining the skills of an in-house counsel with a litigation specialist could save time and money. (7’05)
- Examples of where interactions with in-house counsel have made the litigation process and dispute management more efficient or effective. (7’52)
- A good example of where a general counsel and a litigation specialist can work well together is shareholder disputes. (8’55)
- Scenarios where delay or the wrong decision can seriously prejudice a client’s position – for example, live contract situations. (11’42)
- A second scenario is where there is a threat to the business such as intellectual property, goodwill, or former employees breaching covenants. (12’46)
- What problems are evident in the litigation system at the moment? How are you advising your clients to manage those and mitigate those? (13’34)
- Why is there an increase in Shareholder disputes, particularly in SME businesses, post pandemic? (15’14)
- Virtual mediation. (16’15)
- Successful mediations. (16’50)
- SME businesses are open to finding creative solutions to disputes, rather than litigation. (17’43)
- Downsides of litigation and uncertainty. (18’00)
- Top three tips for a CEO or FD on how to deal with disputes in their business. (20’02)
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