Harriet Atkin

About My Work

Harriet Atkin is a Partner specialising in contentious construction law.

Harriet has a wide range of litigious experience, including handling litigation, adjudications and adjudication enforcement, as well as mediation, expert determination and other forms of dispute resolution procedure. Harriet acts for all types of clients within the construction industry and has experience of representing lenders, developers, social housing providers, architects, main contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, consultants and so on. Harriet also acts for a number of European clients in relation to their UK projects.

Harriet has developed a particular specialism in assisting clients with technical engineering projects and has recently acted for a number of different clients in relation to various automotive, power generation and marine projects and has conducted multi-million pound litigation and adjudications on behalf of those clients.

Harriet also acts for a number of social housing clients and RPs in relation to major defects claims and Building Safety Act 2022 claims

Harriet manages disputes proactively and is tenacious in her advice on strategy, making the process easy for her clients.

Notable Experience

  • Acting for a specialist marine contractor on the development of a flagship harbour expansion project in Scotland in numerous multi-million pound adjudications and associated enforcement proceedings, including successfully securing an adjudicator’s award for a £13.7million ‘notified sum’ claim.
  • Successfully defending a £1million technical knockout / ‘notified sum’ adjudication on behalf of a developer client and handling Part 8 Proceedings arising out of the adjudication – Claremont Group Interiors Ltd v Boultbee Ldn (Marylebone) Ltd [2018] 11 WLUK 380
  • Acting for a social housing client to successfully defend a multi-million pound defects claim on a large development in London, including advising the client on cladding and fire safety aspects and instructing multiple technical experts to guide the client through an expert determination.
  • Acting for a civils contractor on the construction of a major flood protection scheme in Scotland to include winning a notified sum adjudication for £1.3million and defending a cross-valuation dispute issued by the main contractor to ultimately settle the matter.
  • Acting for a solar client (on a BESS scheme) to defend a notified sum claim and to challenge the enforcement of the adjudicator’s decision based on the “power generation” exclusion from the Housing Grants, Regeneration and Construction Act 1996 (as amended).

Education

  • The College of Law Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course
  • The University of Manchester BA Honours, English Literature and Linguistics

Specific Areas of Focus

  • Adjudication Matters
  • Alternative Dispute Resolution
  • Arbitration
  • Automotive Projects
  • Commercial Arbitration
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Sectors

  • Automotive
  • Construction
  • Engineering
  • Housing
  • Housing Associations
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Geographic Focus

  • Cross Border
  • England
  • National
  • Scotland
  • UK

Employment History

  • Freeths LLP