Most commercial disputes begin with the performance of a contract: a disputed delivery, a deferred payment, works accepted with reservations. We start by establishing the client’s actual legal position from the existing documents, because that is what determines whether negotiation or court proceedings is the shorter route.
We cover the preliminary stage, with notices and conciliation, the drafting of the claim or the defence, the handling of evidence, representation at every level of jurisdiction and, finally, enforcement. Where there is a risk that the debtor’s assets will be dissipated before the case concludes, we apply for interim measures.
Throughout the dispute we handle the evidence by reference to the concrete objectives of the case: documents, examination of the parties, witnesses, expert reports, site inspection and any other useful means of proof. In technical or accounting cases we pay particular attention to how the terms of reference for the expert report are framed and to checking the experts’ conclusions, so that the relevant technical and economic aspects are correctly reflected in the proceedings.
We represent the client throughout the whole dispute, at every level of jurisdiction, including on appeal, keeping in view at all times the balance between the costs and risks of the proceedings and the economic interest pursued.
Where there is a risk that the debtor’s assets will be dissipated before the case concludes, we consider whether interim measures should be sought. Once judgment is obtained, we assist the client at the enforcement stage, including by identifying effective ways of realising the enforceable title and recovering the debt.
Our objective is not merely to obtain a favourable judgment, but to build a legal strategy that leads, so far as the legal position and the evidence allow, to a result that is effective and useful for the client.