Nick Roberts

Overview

I am a Senior Associate in the Commercial Dispute Resolution team and advise national and international clients on a wide variety of complex and, or, high value commercial and contractual disputes.

Amongst other things my work includes disputes arising from corporate transactions and partnerships; breaches of contract; breaches of director and trustee duties, including fiduciary duties; operational disputes arising from projects, and joint ventures. My practice is varied; my clients include businesses in the energy, waste and utilities, technology, healthcare and education sectors.

During a secondment at a major utility company working as an in-house lawyer, I have advised on a wide variety of disputes and sector specific issues.

I take a pragmatic and commercial approach to dispute resolution and frequently help clients resolve disputes in a cost-effective manner at mediation or in joint settlement meetings. I conduct high court litigation but also use alternative dispute resolution to determine disputes through arbitration or expert determination, where appropriate.

I have excellent commercial awareness and am client focussed, taking the time to fully understand the business needs and priorities at hand, and offering advice accordingly.

Recent experience

Acting for a Multi-Academy Trust on a multi-million-pound claim against numerous former Trustees for breach of their fiduciary and other duties towards it

Acting for both private sector and public sector clients on disputes arising from the operational side of projects such as allegations that KPI targets have not been met and overpayments from one party to another as a result of different interpretations of the contractual obligations

Advising a finance leasing company on a dispute with various parties involved in issuing a £20m bond where investor funds were retained incorrectly by the issuer after the redemption date and were dissipated negligently and / or in breach of trust

Advising commercial clients with significant property portfolios on disputes with energy distributors alleging historic gas or electricity theft where large sites were supplied by unregistered meters with potential liabilities of up to £4,000,000

Advising a university on a multi-million-pound breach of contract and breach of intellectual property rights dispute with a course provider and settling the dispute at mediation