Paul Haggett  Partner Commercial Disputes, Corporate Turnaround & Insolvency, E-Commerce, Mediation and ADR, Professional Negligence Qualifications: BA (Hons) (Cantab) Admitted a solicitor 1985 Partner from 1992 Contact:  +44 (0) 117 939 2262 paul.haggett@burges-salmon.com Head of Commercial Disputes from 2000 Solicitor-Advocate (Civil) Paul is the Head of our Commercial Disputes & Construction Department. He joined the firm in 1989, becoming a partner in 1992. His practice is focussed on acting for large corporates and financial institutions. In recent years, Paul has worked closely with the in-house teams at Nationwide Building Society and Paragon Finance plc. In particular, Paul was the lead partner for the Nationwide Managed Litigation project (responsible for a team of over 70 lawyers (both solicitors and counsel) split over 6 law firms and 3 chambers which culminated in trials lasting over 4 months in total) and team leader for Burges Salmon's involvement in the Paragon Managed Litigation Project. Paul heads up the Department's insolvency litigation practice, acting principally for banks and insolvency practitioners. Paul also has considerable experience of "white collar" criminal work including prosecutions involving local government officers, professionals and company directors. Other matters which Paul has acted on include: In 2003 for the Racecourse Association, successfully defending a £350m claim alleging breach of a media rights agreement brought by George Walker's latest corporate vehicle, Premier Telesports The defence of a former executive and non-executive director of Equitable Life Paul was the lead partner responsible for the litigation arising out of the winding up of the Conder Pension Scheme which resulted in the reported decision of Harwood-Smart & Others v Caws & Others [2000] OPLR 227 More recently Paul has been involved in: Leading a team on behalf of a large financial services client pursuing professionals involved in a multi-million pound commercial lending fraud Acting for a major legal expense insurer in a test case against Royal & Sun Alliance now going to the Court of Appeal Acting for a credit hire company in a test case against the MIB seeking a reference to the European Court of Justice Defending a major springboard injunction case involving search orders and applications for other injunctive relief Defending a warranty claim against the vendor of a Formula 1 racing team Before joining Burges Salmon, Paul trained and practiced as a solicitor at Freshfields. Paul is a Solicitor Advocate. Paul has consistently been in the top rank of litigators in the West of England. The Chambers directory (2005) describes Paul as "a very intelligent, commercial lawyer who gets to the nub of disputes" and the latest (2007) edition states that he is "no doubt one of the leading individuals in the legal community" and "takes a helpfully pragmatic view of dispute resolution". The Chambers directory also write that the team "leads the way in terms of the scale of its operation and share of work".