PRACTICES:
Dispute Resolution
Costs Specialist
Michael is a leading commercial costs specialist. He has particular experience of high end intellectual property costs matters, having dealt with more than 50 claims. He has a degree in Law and has specialised in commercial costs for twenty years. He has prepared and advanced several of the largest and most complex commercial costs claims ever seen in the UK.
Michael has represented clients in costs disputes in a variety of fields, including technology patent disputes, liquidator’s claims, recovery of proceeds of crime and as well as general commercial litigation. He also specialises in security for costs applications, costs budgets, estimates and breakdowns.
Michael was instructed to act on behalf of KAC in what was the longest running commercial case in the history of the English courts, mainly due to a series of findings of perjury against IAC which led to an over-throwing of 12 years of previous decisions. After twenty years of litigation, KAC held judgments against IAC for in excess of US$1.2BN, including in excess of US$80M in costs. The 20-year litigation occupied about 200 days of court time and involved six major trials including two perjury trials, and two of the longest ever appeal hearings before Supreme Court (then House of Lords).
Michael has also advised on costs on behalf of receiving parties following what was one of the largest patent cases of the past decade or so. It involved a pharmaceutical product with an annual worldwide market of £5BN. The case occupied six weeks in the High Court and then a further ten days on amendment proceedings, twelve days in the Court of Appeal and eight days in the Supreme Court (House of Lords). On opposite sides were some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.