Tim is Head of the Commercial Team at 7 Bedford Row. His practice focuses on the problems faced by small and medium sized enterprises in the commercial and employment fields.
Tim’s commercial experience covers a wide range of cases that typically include contractual disputes, shareholders’ disputes, share sale agreements, civil fraud and partnership. He is experienced in freezing orders and other forms of interim relief. His practice also extends to asset recovery, proprietary estoppel and constructive and resulting trusts, TOLATA, insurance claims, and claimants' professional negligence. As an adjunct to his civil practice, Tim also undertakes costs work.
Examples of recent work include:-
- Solicitor’s right to recover indemnity from an ATE insurer where the solicitor indemnified its lay clients in resepct of adverse costs orders when the ATE insurer failed to do so (Greene Wood & McLean v Templeton Insurance (led by Derek Sweeting QC))
- A dispute over termination of an international franchise for alleged repudiatory breach by the franchisee.
- A dispute arising on the sale of an estate agency business.
- An alleged fraud in the pharmaceuticals grey market.
- A dispute over ownership of a non-league football club and its FA membership.
- A dispute between an ATE insurer and its commercial partners over referral payments in road traffic claims.
- Various section 994 petitions involving e.g. a coach operator, a claims handling company, a caravan park operator, a vehicle repair company (complicated by the existence of a lucrative option to purchase the premises for development purposes), and a lap-dancing business.
- A contractual dispute over an allegedly mishandled nationwide promotional campaign for the launch of a new brand of energy drink.
Tim also has a substantial employment practice. He offers extensive experience in unfair and wrongful dismissal and discrimination claims, acting for both employers and employees in the Employment Tribunal and civil courts, as well as advising clients generally on employment matters: TUPE, redundancies, stress at work and discrimination. Tim also has experience of various regulatory tribunals. The enforcement of post-termination restrictive covenants is an area of particular interest.
Examples of recent work include:-
- Acting for a Trader dismissed for use of inappropriate language and humour on Bloomberg chat.
- Defending a local tennis club against unfair dismissal and discrimination claims arising from its dismissal of its pregnant club coach.
- Defending an employer in a TUPE claim arising from a pre-pack adminstration.
- Representing a Michelin starred chef in relation to post-termination restrictive covenants.
- Discrimination and breach of contract claims by an aspiring junior tennis player against her management company.
- Acting for an advertising creative caught in TUPE crossfire between transferor and transferee on an alleged service provision change.
- Navigating an employer through the complex issues arising in relation to the management and eventual dismissal for gross misconduct of a difficult long-standing employee who was undergoing gender reassignment from a man to a woman.
- Multiple redundancies implemented by a well known jeweller.
- Acting for a dismissed CEO in unfair and wrongful dismissal claims and claims for failure to provide an agreed equity entitlment.
Tim writes and speaks regularly on his areas of legal speciality.
Key cases
- O'Neill v Phillips (1999) 1 WLR 1092 HL: Leading decision on minority shareholder’s unfair prejudice petitions.
- Gill v Sandhu [2005] EWCA Civ 1297; (2006) Ch 456: Distribution of income and capital profits on winding up of partnership.
Contact Timothy Walker
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7242 3555
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7242 2511
Email: clerks@7br.co.uk