Richard
Cook

Richard spent 18 years working in London for City firms before joining Shoosmiths in Southampton 1998 as head of its Commercial Litigation team. Richard then joined Trethowans in 2009 to head up its Commercial Litigation team. Richard has been ranked in Chambers Guide for 18 years as a leading individual in the region.

He handles a wide variety of Commercial Litigation disputes from breach of contract cases, claims arising out of Share Purchase or Asset Sale Agreements including Warranty claims and Completion Account Disputes, Partnership and Shareholder disputes, Professional Negligence, Intellectual Property, in particular Copyright Trademark and Passing off disputes as well as Defamation and Construction Adjudication Claims.

Notable work highlights

• Richard’s most high-profile case was the House of Lords (as it then was) decision in Johnson v Gore Wood, still a leading authority on abuse of process concerning claims bought by related parties and also the circumstances in which a shareholder can sue in respect of reflective loss suffered by their company.
• Youlton v Charles Russell was a £4 million-pound professional negligence claim involving issues over actual and ostensible authority when entering into settlement agreements.
• Kingsway Hall Hotel Ltd v Red Sky IT (HOUNSLOW) Ltd is a reported case regarding defective software, misrepresentation and breach of contract, and the effectiveness of limitation of liability/ exclusion clauses.
• Weatherford Global Products Ltd v Hydropath Holdings Ltd and MSL Oilfield Services Ltd, a case involving the supply of defective and potentially hazardous equipment in the oilfield industry, in the Technology and Construction Court.
• More recently acting for an expert in the asset finance industry over the misuse by certain banks in the asset lending/hire purchase field over the misuse of confidential information.
• Acting for directors of insolvent companies in claims bought by liquidators over alleged misfeasance, wrongful trading and preferential payments.

1. 1