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Contract disputes can involve substantial financial exposure, important commercial relationships and difficult decisions about what to do next.
Taylor Rose's experienced commercial litigation solicitors act for both claimants and defendants in significant contractual disputes. We advise from the earliest stages of a disagreement through negotiation and mediation to court proceedings, trial and enforcement where necessary.
Our approach is practical and commercial. The right strategy is rarely simply to threaten or immediately start court proceedings. We assess the legal position, evidence, money realistically at stake, likely costs and commercial objectives before advising on the best way forward.
Contact our contract dispute solicitors to discuss your position and options.
A contract dispute often starts with a straightforward commercial problem – someone has not paid, performed what was agreed, delivered what was expected or wants to end an agreement.
We can help you decide what to do about it.
This can include:
Assessing your legal position – reviewing the contract, relevant communications and what has actually happened to establish whether there has been a breach and the strengths and weaknesses of your position. Our guide to dealing with a breach of contract explains some of the important initial considerations.
Advising before you take action – particularly where you are considering ending an agreement. Termination can itself create significant legal risk if the right to terminate is unclear. Our guide to repudiatory breach of contract explains this in more detail.
Assessing claims and financial exposure – including the realistic value of a potential claim or the amount you may be exposed to if defending one. See our guide to damages for breach of contract and our separate guide to loss of profit claims.
Developing the strategy – considering the legal merits alongside costs, evidence, commercial leverage, the opponent's position and prospects of actually recovering money if you win.
Sending or responding to a Letter Before Claim – setting out your position clearly and creating the strongest possible platform for negotiation or proceedings.
Defending claims and bringing counterclaims – assessing not just whether the claim can be defeated or reduced, but whether set-off, a counterclaim, settlement offer or other tactical step could improve your position. Our guide to defences, counterclaims and litigation tactics explains these options in more detail.
Negotiating a resolution – through direct discussions, without prejudice offers, mediation and other forms of dispute resolution.
Bringing or defending court proceedings – managing the case from issue and defence through disclosure, evidence, applications and trial.
Making tactical applications and offers – where these can strengthen your position, protect your costs position or put appropriate pressure on the other party.
Enforcing the outcome – where judgment is obtained but payment is not made.
Our lawyers act for both claimants and defendants, which is valuable when assessing how the other side is likely to approach a dispute and where opportunities for resolution may lie.
We advise on disputes arising from a wide range of commercial relationships and agreements, including:
supplier and customer disputes;
unpaid contractual sums and fees;
service agreements;
failed commercial arrangements and transactions;
termination and notice disputes;
defective or inadequate performance;
IT, technology and software agreements;
agency and distribution agreements;
warranties, indemnities and guarantees;
business and asset sale agreements, including breach of warranty claims;
oral and inadequately documented agreements; and
significant building and property-related contractual disputes.
We also deal with disputes where breach of contract allegations overlap with misrepresentation, shareholder issues, insolvency, fraud, professional negligence or other commercial claims.
Taylor Rose has specialists across these areas who can work together where a dispute extends beyond contract law.
Being legally right does not automatically mean that issuing proceedings is the best commercial decision.
Litigation carries cost and uncertainty. A successful claimant also needs to consider whether the opponent will ultimately be able to pay, while a defendant needs to weigh the cost and disruption of defending proceedings against the possibility of an acceptable settlement.
We therefore look at the dispute in the round:
How strong is your position?
What is realistically at stake?
What evidence supports each side?
What does the opponent want?
Is there useful commercial or legal leverage?
What is the likely cost of taking the case further?
Can a judgment actually be enforced?
Is there a settlement which would make better commercial sense?
Sometimes the right approach is a robust Letter Before Claim or immediate court action. Sometimes it is careful negotiation, a tactical offer or mediation.
Experienced legal advice is often most valuable in deciding which course to take and when.
Taylor Rose's commercial litigation solicitors have experience of substantial and complex contractual disputes, including cases proceeding through trial.
Recent work includes:
successfully defending a £92,000 recruitment fee claim at trial, with the claim dismissed and an enhanced costs award obtained for our client;
defending contractual claims against a cryptocurrency business and pursuing a counterclaim, resulting in an indemnity costs award;
acting in a multi-million-pound breach of mandate claim against a major UK bank;
using a strategically drafted Letter Before Action in a complex commercial dispute involving unpaid invoices, company ownership and an absence of formal contractual documentation – read the commercial dispute case study; and
substantial commercial claims involving cross-border recovery and enforcement.
These examples demonstrate the range of our experience, from resolving disputes strategically at an early stage to conducting contested litigation.
We offer competitive and flexible fee arrangements.
Depending on the case, these can include conventional hourly rates, fixed costs for particular stages and, for appropriate substantial claims, Conditional Fee Agreements and third-party litigation funding.
We also have close relationships with litigation funders, funding brokers and After the Event insurers.
Alternative funding is generally most relevant to higher-value claims and needs to make commercial sense when the potential recovery, likely legal costs and funding charges are considered together.
Our litigation funding page explains the different options, the types of claims we will consider and the advantages and disadvantages of transferring some of the financial risk of litigation.
Telephone -
9am to 5pm
Partner, Head of Group Litigation & Interim Head of Commercial Litigation
Emily leads a team of experienced and contract dispute resolution lawyers. Experience matters in getting the best available result in a contractual dispute.
We have a mix of employed lawyers and highly experienced Consultants. The lawyers below may not be all lawyers offering this service. You can find Consultants who specialise in this area of law by using the search function below.
Ideally before taking an irreversible step such as terminating an agreement or starting proceedings. Advice can also be valuable as soon as substantial money is withheld, performance is disputed or it becomes apparent that an important commercial relationship is breaking down.
No. Many are resolved through correspondence, negotiation, settlement offers or mediation. Court proceedings may be necessary where agreement cannot be reached or urgent action is required.
Potentially, but costs recovery is not automatic and you should not assume that every pound spent will be recovered. Costs risk is one of the factors we consider when advising on litigation strategy.
It depends on the complexity and how far the dispute progresses. A matter resolved through correspondence or negotiation will generally cost significantly less than contested court proceedings. We can discuss likely costs and proportionality once we understand the dispute.
Telephone opening hours -
9am to 5pm
