Key Personnel
Andrew Thomas F.A.L.C.D. (Costs Lawyer) ACI Arb
Managing Director
Andrew has overall responsibility for the management of the teams in London, and Manchester. He has over 20-years experience in dealing with contentious costs,
is instructed in all areas of commercial litigation, and in particular intellectual
property related issues. He specialises in advocacy on applications for assessment
under the Solicitors Act and those with complex legal argument and appeals as well
as detailed assessment hearings in all Courts.
He has been involved in many substantial commercial cases, the largest being the
claim for costs of an International Arbitration regarding intellectual property
rights (costs claimed c £15 million), a claim for costs on behalf of a successful
Defendant to a multi million pound action for fraud by an international bank (costs
claimed c £5 million) and a further international fraud claim which was described
by the Judge on a costs appeal as one of the most substantial pieces of litigation
of our time (costs claimed c £4 million). He has been involved also in a number
of significantly high value Conditional Fee claims, the most notable being a claim
for personal injury by a premier league footballer against an opposing player and
club in which the Claimant alleged that the Defendant had tackled him with malicious
intent and that the injury sustained had ended his career and an employer’s liability
claim brought by the families of a group of engineers who were kidnapped and executed
in Chechnya. The costs in both cases were in the region of £1 million.
He has appeared at all levels from County Courts across the Country to the House
of Lords and has rights of audience as a Costs Lawyer. Andrew has also advised in
many reported cases including those defining the powers of the Costs Officer, the
ambit of disclosure of documents in assessment proceedings and the timing of appeals
from costs judges.
As a practicing associate member of the Academy of Experts, Andrew also has considerable
experience in the provision of expert evidence on costs related issues. He is Accredited
by the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen as an Accredited Trainer and an Associate
member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Contact Andrew
Reported Cases include:
- Kuwait Airways Company v Iraqi Airways Corporation [1995] 1 All ER 790
- Re Macro (Ipswich) Ltd [1996] 1 All ER 814 Ch D
- Bourns Inc. v Raychem Corporation [1999] 3 All ER 154 CA
- Stubblefield & Others v Kemp & Others [2001] 2 Costs LR 30
- Abedi v Penningtons [2000] 2 Costs LR 205
- Kasir v Darlington and Simpsons Rolling Mills Ltd [2001] 2 Costs LR 228
- Arab Monetary Fund v Hashim & Others (LTL 17/7/2000)