Commercial
Eleanor is widely recognised as a leading commercial junior, undertaking a wide spectrum of work which falls within the umbrella of commercial litigation.
She has been consistently ranked for many years in the legal directories for her expertise in litigation involving commercial, company, property and insolvency law. She has been described variously as “a joy to work with”, “a formidable advocate” and “a direct and focused barrister” who is “unflappable”, with her advocacy skills and ability to think quickly being “second-to-none”.
Eleanor is praised by peers and colleagues alike as a robust and persuasive courtroom advocate, who is always thorough, measured and approachable. Eleanor is highly experienced at providing commercial and pragmatic advice and is frequently instructed in respect of commercial litigation cases which have a cross-over with property and insolvency.
She is currently involved in numerous complex high value disputes involving breach of contract and breach of warranty arising from share purchase agreements, agency relationships, misrepresentation and company and partnership matters, including shareholder disputes and unfair prejudice petitions.
Eleanor’s extensive experience in Commercial litigation includes in relation to:
- Contractual disputes, including sale of goods and product liability;
- Company and shareholder disputes, including unfair prejudice petitions, derivative actions and disputes arising from share purchase agreements;
- Breach of directors’ duties and misfeasance;
- Mortgages and Guarantees, including arguments as to undue influence, misrepresentation, regulated/unregulated lending and unfair relationships;
- Secured creditor enforcement (including the application of The Debt Respite Scheme (Breathing Space Moratorium and Mental Health Crisis Moratorium) (England and Wales) Regulations 2020);
- Partnership disputes.
Cases
- Successfully represented the Defendants at a 4 day Trial in the Business and Property Courts in London, where the Claimant’s Claim for damages arising from an alleged breach of a restrictive covenant in a Shareholders’ Agreement (with damages said to be valued in excess of £1 million) was dismissed in its entirety.
- Eleanor represented Court-appointed Receivers in respect of the tracing of company monies (totalling over £1 million) which had been transferred out of a company’s bank account into the names of various third parties. The quantum of the monies transferred totalled over £1 million. The Receivers were appointed by the Court to trace the monies and to recover them pending resolution of a derivative Claim which had been brought against various persons, including the director of the company.
- Eleanor represented the Defendant in the High Court in London concerning alleged breaches of a Post-Judgment Worldwide Freezing Order. The Claimant had issued a contempt Application against the Defendant and was asking the Court to impose a 6 month custodial sentence upon the Defendant. After several months of to-ing and fro-ing with the other side, Eleanor and her instructing solicitor managed to secure the Claimant’s discontinuance of the contempt Application.
- Represented the Claimant in a multi-day Trial in London concerning a personal guarantee, which the Defendant contended was procured by undue influence. All allegations of undue influence were dismissed and the personal guarantee was found to be enforceable.
- Represented the Defendants at a preliminary issue Trial concerning the proper meaning and construction of a disputed Clause in a Shareholders’ Agreement.
- Represented the Defendant at the BPC in Birmingham at the return date of a without notice injunction whereby it was argued that the Claimant had failed to comply with its duty of full and frank disclosure in respect of obtaining a without notice injunction. Following argument, the injunction was varied to a more limited form. Thereafter, the Claimant discontinued its Claim and the injunction was discharged with a costs order in favour of the Defendant.
- Succeeded in having a Claim to set aside a Judgment on grounds of alleged fraud struck-out pursuant to Rule 3.4(2)(a) and (b) of the Civil Procedure Rules.
