Clients first.
Clients first. It’s easy to say, isn’t it? There probably isn’t a law firm out there that doesn’t say it in some way or other, so how do we persuade you that clients really are everything to us?
3volution is a boutique commercial law practice, based in Leeds but providing advice to clients nationally and internationally. Our clients come back to us. When we ask them what we're doing right, we hear three things time and again.
We get the job done
Clients don’t care about whether someone’s in the Litigation Department, a Corporate lawyer or a ranked lawyer in the Chambers & Partners Guide (though many of our lawyers are). They want their business to be sold, their intellectual property to be protected or their supplier to provide the service it promised. So the first thing we do is to find out what you want and then find you the best person (or people) to get it (and if we don’t think it can be done, we tell you).
We tell you what it’ll cost
Where we can, we’ll offer you a fixed price for the work. And, unlike many others, we’ll be realistic about what work will be involved. We know that the last thing you want is a bill that’s double the quote you were originally given. The unexpected happens, but a lot less often than many lawyers would have you believe…
Where we can’t offer you a fixed price, we’ll talk to you about our costs, regularly and openly. No nasty surprises.
We are experts
What we do, we do well. What we don’t do well, we don’t do.
We work with other experts we trust where we need to in order to get the job done. If we can’t help you, we’ll tell you and, where we can, we’ll point you in the direction of someone we trust and rate.
We work with businesses of all sizes across many different industries. Our clients tell us that we’re different, they like what we do, they keep coming back to us and they send us their colleagues, customers, suppliers, family and friends. We believe that working in the way that we do enables us to build long-standing relationships with our clients, which is good for them and us.
A Personal Approach
We know that the best advice comes from lawyers who take the time to listen to their clients in order to understand the issues and their clients' objectives.
Straightforward Advice
We give helpful, commercial advice in language you will understand.
Trusted Advisers
We want to build long-term relationships with our clients and to be the advisers they turn to for support, whether they are expanding, protecting their business or facing difficult times.
The work we do doesn’t lend itself to comprehensive lists. The section below will give you an idea of what we do, but if you’re in business and have a legal issue, we are sure we can help you (or will know someone who can).
We know that litigation is generally a last resort. It can be expensive, time-consuming and the outcome is rarely, if ever, certain. We don’t promise to resolve disputes, but we do promise to look at matters objectively and to give you an honest view of your options. If there’s a quick fix (sadly they’re rarely is), we’ll tell you, but, if there isn’t, we’ll work with you to minimise costs and to achieve an early resolution wherever possible.
We deal with all forms of dispute resolution including court proceedings, arbitration, expert determination and mediation. Our areas of expertise include:
We also advise in other specialist contentious areas including Financial Services Disputes, Reputation Management and Defamation and Pensions Litigation.
In appropriate cases we may agree to act on a contingent "no win, no fee" basis, such as a conditional fee agreement.
We have a lot of experience supporting SME’s and helping them deal with the issues that are particular to this group of businesses. We have a well-established reputation for providing the right level of support – whether you are a new start-up, growing and expanding, raising new funding, restructuring, exiting or are in need of on-going advice.
Our corporate team can provide the following services:
We provide a wide range of advice for businesses that are investing in IT and need to ensure that they have the right contracts, service level agreements and terms and conditions in place.
We deal with the following areas:
Even the most ideal business relationship can go wrong. We utilise our extensive expertise in IT contracts and work with our clients to resolve disputes as early, quickly and as cost effectively as possible, often succeeding in salvaging a key relationship. Where this is not possible, we effectively guide our clients through any necessary litigation in order to minimise the disruption to the business which inevitably occurs where the breakdown of such a key relationship arises.
Successful companies realise the importance of protecting their commercial assets. For innovative companies, these commercial assets can often reside in the form of registered and unregistered intellectual property such as trade marks, copyright, design rights, patents and confidential information. We understand the importance of these assets to our clients' businesses and can provide the necessary support and advice to ensure they are protected and exploited so as to maximise their value to you. We do this by advising in relation to:
Contracts form a vital part of a commercial relationship and should never be entered into without expert advice. We provide a wide range of services, and can give you as much or little help as you need, whether that involves drafting, reviewing or negotiating terms on your behalf.
Areas of specialism include:
We provide our clients with the full range of employment law services to ensure best practice, reducing the risk of claims. Our employment law services include advising on:
• recruitment practices, drafting employment contracts and offers,
• support with day-today employment issues such as disciplinary action against employees, grievances and performance issues,
• training your managers about how to handle most employment issues that they are likely to have to deal with,
• reviewing and drafting policies and procedures,
• TUPE processes and the drafting and negotiation of the employment provisions of commercial contracts,
• contractual change programmes,
• restructuring and redundancy,
• project management support with large-scale projects including co-ordinating overseas advice where required,
• compromise agreements and other termination advice,
• advice about employee confidentiality and post-termination covenants,
• support with Employment Tribunal claims, including representation at hearings.
We act for lenders and borrowers on many types of commercial finance transactions including acquisition finance, property finance and other asset finance.
The recent scrutiny of the world's banking practices has resulted in a rising demand for advice in relation to the inadequate provision of financial services. Our litigation team has a wide range of experience in advising clients on:
We deliberately don’t act for banks, insurers or other financial institutions, so we're conflict free.
We can help with advice on how to negotiate and draft your contracts, including development, publishing, and Sales and Distribution agreements.
Tim Stone, the Head of our Commercial Litigation team, is a CEDR accredited mediator with over 25 years' experience of helping clients bring disputes to an agreed solution.
Tim's mediation experience includes:
• A multi-million pound claim for negligent investment advice
• Acting for a local authority in relation to a SWAPs transaction
• A quasi partnership claim relating to a business idea
• Acting for a financial adviser in relation to a film scheme dispute
• Acting for a team exiting a substantial insolvency practice
• Acting for a property developer against a bank
• Acting in a multi party dispute relating to various guarantees
He has acted in many mediations relating to claims against professional advisers and in particular pensions specialists and solicitors as well as claims against insurance companies in connection with disputed insurance cover.
Tim accepts appointments as a mediator through 3volution.
Our specialist team has the requisite experience to deal with all issues arising from pension schemes and has acted in a number of landmark cases including the Supreme Court decision in the Imperial Home Decor case (Bridge Trustees -v- Yates).
We act for trustees, employers and members and have extensive experience of dealing with the following:.
We understand that reputation means everything to our clients. We have a wide expertise in assisting our clients to maintain the integrity of their names and brands by providing reputation management advice including:
We have considerable experience of advising clients on contentious probate and trust issues. This includes:
Advising on and conducting claims relating to trust property, including disputes between trustees and beneficiaries, and/or between trustees or between beneficiaries, including applications to court for directions or removal/substitution of trustees ;
Providing advice in relation to trustees’ duties, interpretation of trusts, and advising on recovery of trust assets whether arising by way of claims by or against trustees;
Advising on contentious issues arising in the administration of estates including: claims by beneficiaries, or disappointed potential beneficiaries pursuant to the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, or by way of equitable claims; assisting executors or beneficiaries in contested probate matters relating to the conduct of the administration; and/or seeking directions of the Court; and
Advising on the validity and interpretation of wills
3volution Ltd
10 South Parade
LEEDS
LS1 5QS
