Commercial Litigation & Corporate Advisory

The advice you can act on,
in language you can actually use.

A deliberately small practice. Every matter is run by a partner, every opinion is delivered in writing, and the fee is agreed before the first hour is worked.

Request Counsel Practice Areas
Law office boardroom at dusk overlooking a city skyline
Established 2009Partner-led mattersFixed-fee opinionsLusaka & Ndola
Position

Most clients do not want litigation. They want the problem to end.

A great many disputes are won by the party who prepared earliest and settled soonest. We begin every matter by telling you what the likely outcome is, what it will cost to pursue, and whether pursuing it is worth the management time it will consume.

Sometimes that advice is to fight, and we will fight it properly. Often it is to settle at a number we can defend, or to fix the contract that created the exposure in the first place.

What you will not receive is an open-ended retainer and a monthly invoice with no view of the end.

Practice Areas

Four things, done properly.

Commercial Litigation
Contract disputes, debt recovery, shareholder and partnership conflict, and injunctive relief where speed decides the outcome. We prepare as though every matter will reach trial, which is usually why it does not.
  • Early merits assessment with a costed view of the likely outcome
  • Without-prejudice strategy before proceedings are issued
  • Full conduct of trial where settlement is not in your interest
Corporate & Commercial
Formation, shareholder agreements, acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures, and the commercial contracts a growing business signs before it has anyone reading them properly.
  • Shareholder and joint-venture agreements with real deadlock provisions
  • Share and asset purchases, including due diligence
  • Supply, distribution and services contracts
Employment
Contracts and handbooks that hold, disciplinary and redundancy processes run correctly the first time, and representation where a matter reaches the tribunal.
  • Contracts, policies and restrictive covenants
  • Disciplinary, grievance and redundancy procedure
  • Tribunal representation and settlement agreements
Property & Construction
Commercial leases, development agreements, construction contracts and the disputes that arise from them — usually over variations, delay and retention.
  • Commercial lease drafting and negotiation
  • Building contracts and consultant appointments
  • Delay, variation and final-account disputes
Selected Matters

Outcomes, stated plainly.

Commercial Dispute

Settled in 11 weeks

A supply contract dispute between a distributor and a manufacturer, resolved without proceedings after an early merits opinion changed both parties' expectations.

Illustrative matter. Concept demonstration.
Shareholder Conflict

Deadlock broken

A two-director company unable to pass a resolution for nine months. Restructured shareholding and a new agreement with a workable deadlock mechanism.

Illustrative matter. Concept demonstration.
Construction

Final account agreed

A contested final account on a commercial development. Variations reconstructed from site records, and the position agreed before the matter reached adjudication.

Illustrative matter. Concept demonstration.
People

You will know who is running your matter.

Senior Partner

M. Ashford

Commercial litigation and shareholder disputes. Twenty-two years at the bar and in practice, with a preference for settling early and well.

Partner

T. Vale

Corporate and commercial. Acquisitions, joint ventures and the contracts that decide what happens when a relationship ends.

Associate

K. Mubita

Employment and property. Runs tribunal matters and commercial lease negotiations under partner supervision.

K2,500

Written Opinion

A fixed-fee written opinion on a single question: the position, the risk, and what we would advise you to do. Delivered within five working days.

Fixed

Defined Matters

Contracts, agreements and transactional work quoted as a fixed fee against a written scope before any work begins.

Staged

Litigation

Contested matters are priced in stages, each approved by you before it starts. You will never receive an invoice for a step you did not authorise.

Instruct Us

Tell us the problem. We will tell you if you have one.

The first conversation is thirty minutes and carries no fee. You will leave it knowing the position, the likely range of outcomes, and what it would cost to act.

Submitting this form does not create a solicitor–client relationship. Please do not send confidential information until we have confirmed we are able to act.

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