WFW named ‘Construction and Engineering Litigation Team of the Year’ at Legal Week Awards7 November 2019

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is delighted to announce that a team led by London Dispute Resolution Co-Head Rebecca Williams was named “Construction and Engineering Litigation Team of the Year” at the Legal Week Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Awards 2019 on 5 November 2019.

The Legal Week Commercial Litigation and Arbitration Awards are a showcase for the most innovative and challenging cases being heard in the UK. The winners were chosen by an independent judging panel made up of senior figures within the dispute resolution community.

The team was recognised for obtaining a landmark High Court ruling on the enforcement of adjudication decisions in cases of fraud in construction projects on behalf of Bester Generacion in the case of PBS Energo A.S. v Bester Generacion UK Limited earlier this year.

This was a ground-breaking ruling for the construction industry as it is the first time the English High Court has refused to enforce an adjudication decision on the basis that there was a properly arguable defence that the decision had been procured by fraud. Mr Justice Pepperall went so far as to specifically praise WFW’s diligence in his judgement, noting that: “I am driven to the conclusion that PBS would not now be making such concession but for Ms Williams’ diligent analysis of PBS’s disclosure”.

In addition to Rebecca, the team comprised Senior Associates Mark McAllister-Jones, Andreas Efstathiou and Alexander Creswick, Associates Paul Hogarth, Amarjit Syan and Shraiya Thapa, and Trainees Ryan Bagnall, Theo Cleminson, Nick Cullinan, Lydia Jones and Jacob Southgate.

Rebecca commented: “It is fantastic that the successful result we achieved for Bester has also been recognised by Legal Week at their prestigious awards evening. This was a real team effort and would not have been possible without the tenacity, ingenuity and sheer hard work of everyone involved. I am honoured to work with such an outstanding, talented and committed collection of individuals, who have helped me build-up an award-winning construction disputes practice from scratch in less than five years”.

To read more about the Bester decision, please see here.