Andrew is a commercial litigator who over the past two decades has carved out a reputation for his work within the construction industry. His practice consists largely of legal work for major plant hire, scaffolding and crane companies.
Andrew also has particular knowledge in winding up and bankruptcy petitions and has extensive experience in assisting with mediation, both in the build-up and on the day.
Expertise
- Construction disputes including groundworks building regulations and Housing Grants Act issues, pay less notices, demolition issues, adjudications and arbitrations
- Scaffolding plant and crane hire disputes
- Personal guarantee bank securities and trading guarantee disputes (particularly duress and undue influence)
- Commercial contracts and torts (particularly conversion and negligence) and post-judgment debts
- Partnership disputes and shareholder disputes
- Disputed winding up and bankruptcy petitions, and statutory demands at short notice
- All forms of insolvency disputes, including preference claims, pension claims, Sec 127 claims, director disqualification, and office holder CFA cases considered on merits
- Corporate and personal defamation
- Boundary disputes
- Insurance-related cases
- Farming disputes
- Alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
Experience
- Successfully advising Panther Platform Rentals Ltd in issuing a winding up petition against Access Rentals, without a statutory demand
- Advising Ainscough Crane Hire Ltd and other leading plant suppliers on the mediation of the Vauxhall helicopter disaster
- Successfully setting aside, on appeal, a bankruptcy statutory demand in respect of a £10m+ personal guarantee where the creditor failed to use correct names on the demand
- Successfully acting for Trad Hire & Sales Ltd to establish that damages are not an adequate remedy in scaffolding conversion claims in a dispute with Holbrook regarding the recovery of scaffolding and other hired equipment
- Acting for Generation (UK) Limited on recovery of debt owed and damages in conversion in relation to the failure to return hired equipment following the burning down of a premises
- Successfully securing an award of costs in Henry Construction Projects Ltd v Linton Fuel Oils Ltd as a direct result of Linton Fuel Oil’s failure to accept an offer to mediate in insolvency proceedings
- Acting in Party A v Party B, High Court in camera injunction and damages for defamation caused by the wrong registration of an irregular judgment
- Representing UPR Services Ltd in insolvency proceedings against Lakehouse Contracts Limited, establishing the relevance of mediation in winding up proceedings
- Represented Baldwins Industrial Services Limited in the aftermath of crane provision to the Paddington rail disaster, including the successful mediation of the dispute with Railtrack Plc
- Acting in and settling one of London’s largest and most complex mediations as mediator on an international share and exit dispute involving a multimillion figure in a range of international currencies and securities
REPORTED CASES
Deborah Building Equipment Ltd v Scaffco Ltd and another (1986)
Panther Platform Rentals Ltd v Access Rentals Ltd [2004] All ER (D) 35
Ainscough Crane Hire Ltd v Atwood
Henry v Aglio Ltd [2010] EWHC 2045
Trad Hire & Sales Ltd v Holbrook Investments Ltd [2010] EWHC 90 (Ch)
Aglio Ltd v William Henry and another [2012] EWHC 2717 (Ch) [2011] BP IR 297
Generation (UK) Ltd v SL Dower [2011] EWHC 3547 (Ch)
Generation (UK) Ltd v Gaynord [2012] EWHC 2344 (QB)
Generation UK Ltd v Advance Scaffolding Services [2013] All ER (d) 259 (Jan)
Henry Construction Projects Ltd v Linton Fuel Oils Ltd [2012] EWHC 4158 (Ch)
Lakehouse Contracts Ltd v UPR Scaffolding Ltd [2014] EWHC 1223 (Ch)
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Career
Andrew qualified as a solicitor in 2006. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2015, he worked at Jeffrey Green Russell.