THERESA IS A PARTNER IN THE DISPUTE RESOLUTION GROUP.

Theresa specialises in contentious construction and has significant experience of acting for Developers, Employers and Main Contractors, making High Court applications and the Enforcement of Adjudicators’ decisions in the Technology and Construction Court. She is familiar with both standard and bespoke forms of construction contracts.

Theresa has been the lead lawyer on major infrastructure disputes concerning a bascule lifting bridge, viaducts, examining defects in transport infrastructure, airports and providing risk management advice on high value social infrastructure matters.

Theresa also has experience of running High Court trials, instructing experts on technical engineering matters, resolving construction disputes through mediation and drafting settlement agreements, claims, defences and adjudication submissions. She has been advising clients on a variety of high value and complex matters concerning fire safety and the implications of the new legislation.

Theresa has also acted for clients in domestic and international arbitrations and frequently works with international clients in contentious proceedings. Theresa has worked on international oil and gas disputes, renewable energy disputes and large domestic infrastructure matters. She has recently acted in Court of Appeal proceedings for an international client and has made applications to the Supreme Court.

Theresa is a regular speaker at London Build and for the RICS CPD training programme and is a frequent contributor to Building Magazine, Construction Law and Construction Manager.

She is the Chair of the RICS Dispute Resolution Appointments Board, the former Chair of the National Association of Women in Construction, is a member of the Adjudication Society London Committee and was awarded Best Woman in Construction Law at the European Women in Construction & Engineering Awards 2017. Theresa was a finalist for the Litigator of the Year and Woman of the Year in the Women in Law Awards 2020 and is a finalist for DE&I Champion of the Year at the Women & Diversity in Law Awards 2024.

Theresa is ranked in Chambers UK 2024 Construction: Contentious and was recognised in Thomson Reuters’ list of Stand-out Lawyers 2024 in which a client praised “her technical knowledge in general, but particularly in the field of construction law, and her ability to find or formulate strategic ways forward in litigation”.

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  • Grove Developments Limited and S&T(UK) Limited – a ground breaking case in construction that changed the law on the payment regime. Theresa and her team acting for the contractor who had won £14m in an adjudication where it was chasing payment for the design and construction of a hotel at Heathrow airport. The case settled following an application to the Supreme Court.
  • Acting for an international contractor in a high-profile London airport dispute concerning the defective cladding to a hotel and as part of this represented the contractor in multi-party litigation.
  • Acting for clients in respect of serious delays and costs overruns at an international airport.
  • Acting on landmark heritage and museum projects addressing project delays, defects and payment disputes and working with clients to resolve these disputes without court proceedings.
  • Acting on cases concerning defective bridges. This has required the detailed instruction of technical experts and consultants to ascertain the causes of the defects and legal liability.

Education

  1. 2004 – 2005 · Bar Vocational Course
  2. 1999 – 2004 · King’s College, London, LLB LAW (Hons), MA Contemporary British Politics

memberships and associations

  1. Adjudication Society
  2. Society of Construction Law
  3. National Association of Women in Construction
  4. Women in Social Housing