LAW firm Ward Hadaway has further strengthened its commercial litigation team with the recruitment of a senior in-house lawyer with extensive experience at Northern Rock.
Julie Huntingdon spent six years working at Northern Rock and latterly Northern Rock (Asset Management) plc, including three years as the head of a 10-strong litigation team.
Huntingdon, who joins Newcastle- based Ward Hadaway as a partner, has a wide range of experience in commercial disputes, particularly in claims involving lenders.
She has dealt with matters including professional negligence claims, warranty claims, consumer finance claims and fraud. And she has experience in assessing, managing and reporting legal risk.
She said: I am delighted to be joining such a strong team at Ward Hadaway. The firm has an excellent reputation for the high quality of its commercial litigation work and the experience and ability of the team; this was a major factor in my deciding to join.
Working in-house at Northern Rock, I was able to see at first hand the quality and expertise Ward Hadaway offered, as well as the commitment to its clients.
I hope to be able to use the skills, knowledge and experience I have gained as an in-house litigator to help Ward Hadaways clients achieve their goals.
Ian Collinson, partner and head of commercial litigation at Ward Hadaway, said: It is great to be able to welcome someone of Julies experience and know-how to the team.
She brings a unique understanding of the demands and pressures on commercial organisations and of their need to resolve disputes quickly and cost-effectively.
Ward Hadaways commercial litigation team has achieved a number of successes over the past year.
The most high profile of these came in February when the team led a successful High Court challenge to the Governments cuts to its school building programme.
Commercial litigation partner Robert Glassford and Karen Andrews, partner in the public-sector team at Ward Hadaway, led the firms team which successfully advised Nottingham City Council on its application for a judicial review of the Education Secretarys decision to scrap the Building Schools for the Future programme.
The Education Secretary was ordered to reconsider his decision after consulting with Nottingham City Council and five other local authorities which took the Government to court.
Independent legal guide Legal 500 called Ward Hadaways commercial litigation team first rate in its recently published 2011 edition, while Chambers & Partners describe the team in its 2011 edition as a go-to team for clients with big commercial claims with lawyers who combine legal aptitude with common sense.
