Patrick Tedstone

Patrick has developed a profound understanding of national and international commercial law and associated topics, gained over a career approaching 25 years.

He has acted in major litigation for clients from four continents. He has lead teams negotiating commercial contracts in Europe, Africa, Russia, Central Asia, North and South America and Japan.

Patrick believes litigation is predictable. His team takes entire responsibility for the process that is dispute resolution; quickly turning disputes (no matter how complex) into a series of informed choices for his clients to consider. He believes the secret of good litigation is to read everything as soon as it becomes available, preferably before any opponent knows of his involvement. That way he can often protect clients from misplaced recollections and subsequent flawed instructions.

Patrick comments, “If someone isn’t a master of all the known facts then the outcome cannot be predicted and a strategy devised. The very opposite is true if all the facts are known.

“It’s no good warning clients that litigation is uncertain simply because you have not made a real effort to find the evidence and consider it.”

Patrick treats negotiating commercial agreements with similar logic. “It’s about defining the parties’ obligations and clearly allocating risk. If the clients can’t understand a commercial agreement without taking further advice then the lawyers have failed.”

Patrick is passionate about limiting and mitigating risk for his clients, not in a pedantic way but by pragmatic discussion. He believes his experience in litigating commercial agreements gives his commercial clients a real advantage. “In the end when you negotiate a contract you need to know what a judge would make of it, should ever the need arise.”

At the most crucial times a detailed knowledge of litigation and commercial law combine, such as when a client is thinking of terminating a contract. “These are the most dangerous times for lawyers and clients alike. Get it right and your client may be discharged from all obligation and left with a valuable action in damages; get it wrong and the opposite is likely to be true.”

Patrick believes in all litigation it’s important to have discipline and avoid mistakes.

“We once sued a top city law firm for professional negligence. For some reason they disclosed their time records. When we read:

‘1 hour meeting senior partner’ followed by ‘9 hours- filleting file,’

we had an idea that the case would not get to trial; and so it proved.”

Having guided clients through a wide array of commercial challenges, Patrick has built up a huge bank of experience that allow his clients to see key points that can be used to bring about a successful outcome.

The largest commercial agreement he negotiated was worth £100m in Kazakhstan. His largest commercial dispute was worth £130m in the UK