Expertise
Biography
Peter has many years’ experience advising companies and educational institutions on the contracts and legal arrangements they need in place to position them well to carry on with trading and business activity on the best obtainable terms and with their risks appropriately managed.
Prior to joining Aaron & Partners, and having studied and qualified as a solicitor in a large London firm, Peter obtained an MBA from INSEAD in France and then joined Eversheds where he was a partner for many years. Subsequently, he joined his largest client as Commercial Director, giving him the invaluable opportunity to experience matters from the client perspective before returning to private practice some years ago.
As a fluent French and German speaker, comfortable conducting meetings in those languages, Peter has worked with his clients internationally assisting them in numerous jurisdictions including France, Germany, Italy, Spain the US, India, Indonesia and Hong Kong working alongside and managing locally qualified lawyers where appropriate.
Peter believes that commercial drivers and objectives always come first and that, as important as they are, law, contracts and documents are a long way second. He sees his role as helping the client achieve their objectives to the greatest extent possible and do so as rapidly and smoothly as possible.
Peter specialises in information technology and communications contracts. He also has a particular interest and worked for many years for clients in the logistics and supply chain sector.
Peter also works for numerous franchise clients having been the first lawyer in the country to obtain a qualified franchise professional accreditation from the British Franchise Association where he has been an affiliate member for many years.
As current chair of the board of Warwickshire College Group which is one of the larger further education colleges in the UK, Peter also has considerable experience in the education sector having has advised numerous schools, colleges and universities in relation to contractual, spin out and joint venture arrangements over the years.
Examples of cases in which Peter has been involved include:
Case 1
A well-known communications company decided to terminate its contract with Peter’s client even though it had no apparent right whatsoever to do so. The termination made the client’s insolvency rather likely. The matter could have been dealt with through litigation and at one point that seemed a likely direction. However, together Peter and the client came up with an alternative plan involving negotiating a new contract between the client and the communications company. The size of the new contract was much reduced but at least it allowed the client to survive. In addition, that contract contained earn out provisions and the prospect of business growth in the future. This proactive approach restored positive relations between Peter’s client and the communications company and in fact, a year or so later, had not only survived but managed to grow its business significantly beyond any previous activity levels.
Case 2
- Peter worked with a major local manufacturer to help it resolve supply chain problems resulting from performance failures by its transport operator. Peter helped the team prepare tender documentation including a new agreement which better managed his client’s transport and delivery processes and risks, giving the client much more control over its supplier.
Case 3
- A client had won a major contract to supply a government department with a telecoms solution. The client needed a subcontractor to deliver the major part of that solution. The initial contract terms were onerous and required that the client be fully responsible for its subcontractor’s work. However, Peter’s client could not be left with the risk of being liable to government for anything faulty delivered by the subcontractor. Peter worked with the client to contractual arrangements that ensured the subcontractor took full responsibility for its work so that the client was only on risk for the work which it actually carried out.
