Mark Goodwin
David vs. Goliath
Posted by Mark Goodwin on February 17, 2008 11:28 AM
A local businessman was vindicated of misconduct following one of the largest claims made against a company director that I have seen in recent years.
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Embracing Globalisation
Posted by Mark Goodwin on January 16, 2008 1:00 PM
The government is urging local businesses to embrace the challenges of globalisation in order to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace. These are sentiments that I would champion.
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e-disclosure presents a big challenge for litigation lawyers
Posted by Mark Goodwin on November 9, 2007 5:20 PM
The proliferation of email presents litigation lawyers with an arduous task in terms of gathering evidence relevant to court proceedings.
For one of our cases this meant travelling to West Africa to uncover the plethora of electronically stored information held by our client locally. This exercise uncovered in excess of 60,000 documents, which is not unusual in terms of the amount of information organisations store electronically.
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Prevention is better than cure
Posted by Mark Goodwin on October 25, 2007 8:44 AM
We are often appointed to handle disputes which hinge on the same fundamental question: did a contract exist?
In a typical scenario, a contract is under discussion between two companies who want to do business – but commercial imperatives mean they actually start trading before the draft is finalised and signed.
Later on, when there’s a bust up, the parties involved are forced to scramble around, looking at the legal basis of their relationship. That’s when it gets messy.
Clearly, you are much better having the protection of a contract, but it’s amazing how often people proceed without a proper legal agreement that sets out their business relationship.
I don’t expect this situation to change any time soon. The tension between commercial demands and legal security is as old as the hills. When it goes wrong, we are here to pick up the pieces.
Annual Judges' Forum
Posted by Mark Goodwin on October 21, 2007 7:45 PM
The Liverpool Law Society held its annual Judges’ Forum this week to coincide with the opening of the new legal year. The popular event was a huge success with over 100 people in attendance and all major law firms represented.
Several members from DLA Piper went along to the event to meet the local judiciary. This provided an important opportunity to get their feedback on a range of issues from the introduction of a mediator for small claims in Liverpool to proposals for an administrative High Court Judge in the city.
It was really pleasing to see the commitment from local judges to continue to improve the delivery of legal services locally. The Liverpool Law Society is working hard to meet the needs of its members and as a former committee member it was great to see the event was so well received.
Legal 500 commends city firms
Posted by Mark Goodwin on September 27, 2007 4:25 PM
The eagerly awaited Legal 500 review for 2007 arrived last week.
As the city’s only firm to receive top tier status in three practice areas (one being my commercial litigation team) we had ample reason to celebrate and celebrate we did.
This recognition was particularly important in commercial litigation as confidentiality surrounding our cases means that we’re not always able to shout about our achievements. Only through confidential submissions to Legal 500 are we able to highlight some of our biggest success stories.
By pitting us against our counterparts in the city and across the rest of country, Legal 500 enables us to benchmark ourselves against our competitors. Of course we weren’t the only law firm in Liverpool to be commended in the recent report. The results revealed a strengthening of firms in the city, which are improving year on year. That’s something that can only be good for business with competition driving up the quality of legal services across the board.
Get yourself an exit strategy
Posted by Mark Goodwin on September 5, 2007 12:20 PM
Summer is the obvious time for business partners to fall out. People sit on the beach and finally have the time to ponder the issues, personality clashes and contractual arrangements they have grown tired of. From all this festering comes a new resolve to sort things out. It means that one of the first calls they make when they get home is to their lawyer.
Can you get me out of this deal?
In a perfect world company directors would have air-tight shareholder agreements – the business equivalent of a Hollywood pre nup – and be spared a messy exit. In practice, if such agreements exist at all, they lack the necessary scope or detail to cover all the eventualities.
In my experience, the disenchantment at the heart of disputes between company shareholders is a people thing - a basic loss of trust and confidence. And once that’s gone, there’s no way back.
Aside from acting to protect the interests of individuals, these disputes can also see us appointed directly by the court who can see the warring shareholders and feel it necessary to have legal advisors appointed to the company to protect its interests. For example, we’ve seen cases of shareholders involved in a dispute attempting to walk off with company property and cash.
It’s a fact of life that business relationships can fail – and when that happens, you need a good lawyer….
BLOG: Come on ref!
Posted by Mark Goodwin on August 22, 2007 4:13 PM
It was never a penalty at Anfield at the weekend. Andy Gray got it right when he called the decision "farcical". Video replays clearly show there was no foul so if ever there was a good argument for the use of technology in football then this was it.
Although the red half of Merseyside wasn't complaining when Steven Gerrard picked himself up from an equally dubious foul the week before to stroke home a match winning free kick.
These things tend to even themselves out over the season and they are part and parcel of football so relying on technology for every decision would no doubt kill the beautiful game.
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The Curse of The Raspberry
Posted by Mark Goodwin on August 15, 2007 1:52 PM
August is supposed to be the quietest month…when the business community takes a collective pause for breath and big decisions are put off until everyone has returned from holidays.
I was starting to believe it myself this year. I noticed fewer phone calls and, arriving at work, was greeted by a handful of emails instead of the usual stacked inbox.
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BLOG: The Power of the Comma: And other useful, important punctuation!
Posted by Mark Goodwin on July 5, 2007 5:06 PM
It is a sobering thought that often the decision as to whether a party can extricate themselves from an undesirable agreement may rest on thoughtless punctuation. A liberal smattering of commas, as we lawyers are aware, can cause all sorts of problems and can go a long way to clouding the parties intentions as to when an agreement was to be terminated. Of course it depends which side you are representing - sometimes a peppering of bad punctuation can be the saving grace!
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Blog: Football in the dock
Posted by Mark Goodwin on June 25, 2007 4:40 PM
Why is it that football appears so often in the Courts?
Maybe because there is intense rivalry between clubs or because there is so much money at stake?
The recent High Court case of Crystal Palace v Iain Dowie gave a fascinating insight to the world of football management.
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BLOG: The secret world of litigation
Posted by Mark Goodwin on June 12, 2007 5:14 PM
I do grow weary of the bad press about fat cat lawyers, ambulance chasing solicitors and outrageous fees (all of which, for the avoidance of doubt, are denied). Me, I'm a commercial litigation lawyer and proud of it. I make a valuable contribution to the local economy.
Let me explain how. My team and I protect companies and public sector organisations across Merseyside and further afield. We rarely get to talk to the press about our cases because of client confidentiality issues. We are supporting clients in high value, high risk disputes. The outcomes often affect the profitability and sometimes the survival of businesses.
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