MCIOB (Member – Chartered Institute of Building) 

MRICS (Member – Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors)

MCIArb (Member – Chartered Institute of Arbitrators)

Solicitor (admitted 15 September 1999)

Member of Mensa (IQ 164)

Janine Stone & Co (Aug’11-May'19)

Group Company Solicitor (G & J Stone Group Limited).

In-house solicitor undertaking a mixture of contentious and non-contentious work. 

The contentious work included substantial multi-party litigation in the TCC for sums in excess of £2m, in which I acted directly for the company. In addition, I regularly acted for the company in other litigation, mediations and adjudications.  Non-contentious work has  included, amongst other things, general commercial work, contract drafting and negotiation, producing a suite of precedent main contract, subcontract, professional appointments and security documents; plus reviewing and amending the company’s other standard documentation and management practices, etc. I also delivered in-house training to managerial and technical staff on a range of topics relating to construction, project management and contract matters, etc.

The group is an international organisation, trading under the brand name of ‘Janine Stone & Co’ and undertakes high value interior design, architecture and construction management works; predominately in relation to substantial bespoke residential properties for individuals of ultra-high net worth.

Hill Dickinson LLP (’07-Aug’11)

Partner (FSE) in the Construction & Engineering practice group.

Undertaking a mixture of contentious and non-contentious work on the behalf of developers, employers, contractors, sub-contractors, consultants, government bodies and funders.

Industry sectors include commercial, retail, leisure (hotels), residential, petrochemical, power generation and professional negligence (claimant).

Contentious work includes litigation, arbitration and adjudication.

Of the former, I have had conduct of numerous multi-million pound claims in the High Court and through appeal to both the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords. Reported cases have included Reinwood Ltd v L Brown & Sons Ltd (Court of Appeal and House of Lords) and Geldof Metaalconstuctie NV v Simon Carves Ltd (Court of Appeal), both of which were decided in favour of my client and are the now the leading authorities in respect of notices served under HGCRA’96 and the common law doctrine of equitable set-off respectively.

I also had conduct of numerous adjudications on the behalf of employers, main contractors, subcontractors and construction professionals, as both the Referring Party and the Respondent, in respect of claims ranging in value up to £4m. In addition, I represented clients in various mediations.

Non-contentious work has included:

· Updating and re-writing the firm’s precedent bank of construction documents; including schedules of amendments to the JCT suite of contracts (both main and sub-contract), professional appointments, warranties, bonds, guarantees, maximum price agreements, option agreements, letters of intent, novation and oversailing agreements, etc. In respect of many of these, it necessitated starting from a clean sheet of paper as HD had no defined precedent bank documents prior to my arrival and certainly nothing current.

· Advising funders in respect of the construction aspects of proposals for the future development of sites and in situations where the original borrower has become, or is likely to become, insolvent.

· Preparing bespoke amendments on behalf of employers for the NEC, ICE and IChemE suites of construction and engineering documents.

· Preparing and negotiating building contracts, subcontracts, professional appointments, bonds, guarantees, warranties and sundry ancillary construction documentation.

· Due diligence work on construction documentation on the behalf of purchasers and funders.

· PFI experience on behalf of contractors.

Dandara Group (’03-‘07) 

Group Legal Director.

I established the Group Legal Department, which by 2005 comprised 4 solicitors (including myself), 4 residential conveyancing assistants and 3 secretaries, split over two locations (i.e. Manchester and the Isle of Man).

The department’s work covered all aspects of the group’s legal affairs in England, Scotland, Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey.

The department managed the outsourcing of its employment, personal injury, certain property acquisitions and some corporate work, with all other legal matters being dealt with in-house. The department’s main workload was therefore focused upon construction. The construction work was split between contentious and non-contentious.

Non contentious work included, drafting and negotiating: 

· Amendments to standard form construction and engineering contracts

· Professional appointments

· Collateral warranties

· Development agreements

· Settlement agreements

· Option agreements

· PCG’s

· Bonds and other assorted security documents

· Licence agreements

In addition, department members attended all monthly project and commercial meetings, with a view to identifying potential problems and risks and resolving such matters, where possible, before they became issues.

Contentious work included:

· Litigation (some in excess of £5m)

· Adjudications

· Mediation

In addition, the department undertook other assorted property and general litigation.

Hill Dickinson (’01-’03)

Joined as a Snr Solicitor (i.e. now known as Snr Associate), initially with the object of establishing the basis of a Construction and Engineering department within the Manchester Office.

Non contentious work included, drafting and negotiating: 

· Amendments to standard form construction and engineering contracts

· Professional appointments

· Collateral warranties

· Settlement agreements

· PCGs

· Bonds and other assorted security documents

Contentious work included:

· Litigation on behalf of employers, contractors and sub-contractors

· Adjudications

· Mediation

DLA Piper (’97-'01)

Commenced my training contract and joined the firm’s Construction & Engineering Department upon qualification in September 1999.

Contentious work included:

· 3 days per week for 20 months spent on secondment as the lawyer attached to Marconi’s commercial team, advising on a £50+m dispute with London Underground in respect of the Jubilee Line Extension Project.

· Litigation and references to arbitration conducted on behalf of employers, main contractors and sub-contractors.

· Adjudications, on behalf of employers, main contractors and sub-contractors

· Some party wall work.

Non-contentious work included drafting and advising upon:

· Amendments to standard form construction and engineering contracts

· Professional appointments

· Collateral warranties

· Development agreements

· Construction element of PFI projects

· Due diligence work for other departments on construction related documentation

Unicorn Consultancy Services Ltd (’95-’96)

North West Regional Surveyor.

Unicorn was a joint venture company formed out of the old PSA, providing construction consultancy, property and facilities management services to commercial organisations and government departments.

As a Regional Surveyor I managed a team of six other surveyors and clerks of works, in respect of the capital works and planned maintenance programmes relating, essentially, to 672 branches of the TSB and a number of MOD bases, in an area stretching from Nottingham to Cleveland. My responsibilities extended to the supervision of the:

· Undertaking of building surveys

· Preparation of designs and specifications

· Preparation of contract documents

· Contract management

· Negotiating and settling contractors' final accounts and claims

Various Positions as a Chartered Building Surveyor (’73-’95)