Work covers negotiating, drafting and enforcing commercial agreements for businesses — supply and distribution contracts, services and outsourcing deals, technology licences, loan and security documents, guarantees, warranties and construction contracts — and resolving disputes over formation, misrepresentation, breach, frustration and contractual remedies. Solicitors draft heads of terms and bespoke clauses, negotiate indemnities, limitation of liability and termination provisions, prepare guarantees and security, advise on assignment and novation, serve contractual notices and issue or defend claims in the county court or the High Court, or pursue arbitration and adjudication. They also apply for interim relief such as injunctions or freezing orders and record settlements and variations.
What a solicitor handles in these matters
In practice solicitors manage governing-law and jurisdiction clauses, limitation and liquidated-damages provisions, performance bonds and security, intercreditor and waterfall arrangements, and the interface between litigation, arbitration and adjudication. They prepare the documents and procedural steps required by the Civil Procedure Rules, the Arbitration Act 1996 and the Construction Act 1996, and handle enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards.