Karen Levesley

Expertise

Karen specialises in litigating complex and high value disputes, including contract disputes, post-acquisition warranty and indemnity claims, shareholder disputes/ unfair prejudice petitions and claims to enforce employee restrictive covenants. On the professional negligence side, Karen acts for our housebuilder clients pursuing cladding claims against architects and contractors following the Grenfell disaster in June 2017.

Karen’s focus is on achieving efficient and cost-effective resolutions with as little impact as possible on her clients’ businesses. Karen has a teamwork-based approach to litigation and a successful track record in obtaining search orders, freezing injunction orders and other injunctions for her clients on an urgent basis.

Since joining Gateley in 2002 Karen has gained an excellent reputation for fighting her clients’ corners hard and well and for obtaining good results, including on difficult cases. Karen is known for her can-do attitude, her straight and open approach and is recognised for providing an exceptionally high level of service to clients.

Experience

1. Obtained a search order against client company’s former MD, who stole confidential information and set up a competing company. Protected jobs and preserved shareholder value in client company.
2. Obtained a freezing injunction order to prevent dissipation of assets in a large-scale fraud, judgment and recovered money for client company.
3. Obtained an interim injunction to prevent the unlawful transfer of shares and a share transfer order, putting ownership of the company back into client’s hands.
4. Obtained summary judgment for £2.7m deferred consideration payable under an SPA plus legal costs, securing for the sellers what was rightfully theirs and depriving the buyer of its fighting fund in associated warranty proceedings. Payment in full recovered. Successfully defended the associated warranty proceedings for £9m and recovered the clients’ legal costs.
5. Involved in several successful reported cases, including Beckett Investment Management Group Limited & ors v Hall & ors [2007] EWCA Civ 613 – leading authority on the enforcement of employee restrictive covenants.