evidently bad law firm
alas addleshaw goddard

Addleshaw Goddard LLB  versus  Web4orce Ltd

In the blue corner

49 yr old Andrew Johnston - Relatively young solicitor

Job Title – Managing Partner

Annual Income over £1 mllion

Number of staff – 2,700

In the red corner

86 yr old John Duggan – Relatively old litigant in person

Job Title - Director

Annual Income over £9,000

Number of staff - 1

ADDLESHAW GODDARD LOSERS

Prior to the trial at Leeds county court Addleshaw Goddard LLB (acting for the claimant) was represented by – 1 barrister, 2 partners, 6 solicitors, 3 trainee solicitors and 3 paralegals. It begs the question why did they assign so many lawyers to act for the claimant whilst Web4orce Ltd was defended by an old age pensioner who was 85 years of age at the time of the trial in November 2024? The answer was simply about the fact that the claimant, Daniel Thwaites Plc is a very wealthy company, owning 20 hotels, more than 200 inns / pubs and a brewery that stemmed back to the 1800’s, whilst not forgetting their net profit was approximately £12 million in 2024. So basically it was about the potential legal fees all those lawyers would be paid during the 23 months leading up to the trial. Those fees amounted to more than £80,000 but unfortunately their strategy failed miserably because whilst their claim was dismissed, the defendant's counter claim was also dismissed. However it later transpired that Daniel Thwaites Plc and Richard Bailey its Executive Chairman who was their main witness at the trial and Addleshaw Goddard’s Leeds based legal team lead by Partner, Gareth Jones are now facing multiple criminal charges based on prima facie evidence including conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to defraud and there are a number of additional allegations currently in the pipeline.

WEB4ORCE WINNERS

Web4orce Ltd was defended by John Duggan a cold war veteran who served in the Royal Air Force, Bomber Command in the late 1950's and as often happens quality beats quantity every time.

ADDLESHAW GODDARD RECORD

After the trial it was discovered by the defendant that Addleshaw Goddard’s legal team had incriminated themselves which was a massive shock, not only to the senior partners but also to their staff around the world including 1,000’s of lawyers. The big question is how could their Leeds based legal team resort to such criminal tactics thinking they could get away with it. The answer is that knowing the defendant Web4orce Limited’s turnover in 2023 amounted to £4,415 with a net profit of £823. They knew that even though the company was on such a low income it still did not qualify for any legal aid. With this in mind it was a 1 man outfit and their only employee working part time was an 85 year old pensioner. Consequently by the time of the trial, they were aware he was going to represent the company in court as a litigant in person, and bearing in mind it was his first experience in the county court it was going to be a traumatic experience. On that basis they assumed their sophisticated criminal strategy would not be detected as he had to cross examine all 3 of the claimant’s witnesses and it was just a 1 day trial. However their big miscalculation was they didn’t allow for the judge’s late announcement that he intended to reserve judgement for a further 20 days following the trial. This was a massive shock to Addleshaw Goddard’s legal team because it meant that the defendant had 20 days to wade ftrough the evidence searching for any errors that might influence the judge to find in the defendant’s favour. Fortunately on the 20th day just an hour or so before the deadline John Duggan discovered serious discrepancies with his first statement of truth that had been integrated in the bundles by Addleshaw Goddard just 3 days before the trial.

ADDLESHAW GODDARD SHOCKED

Subsequently, John Duggan wrote to Andrew Johnston offering to settle out of court for £1.6 million but, he failed to respond. Probably because he was still recovering from the shock on discovering that his eminent top 20 law firm had not only been defeated by an 85 year old litigant in person but also had to forfeit £84,000 in legal costs.

ANDREW JOHNSTON IN DENIAL

Some weeks later John Duggan wrote again to Andrew Johnston who on this occasion delegated the task to a lovely female colleague who is Head of Professional Indemnity. This prompted him to question Artificial Intelligence asking why law firms have to purchase professional indemnity and the answer rather surprisingly was as follows.

ADDLESHAW GODDARD ERRORS

Law firms pay for professional indemnity (PI) insurance primarily because it is a mandatory regulatory requirement for them to practice, and it provides crucial protection for both their clients and the firm itself against claims of negligence or other professional mistakes. This I suggest is a clear acknowledgement that Addleshaw Goddard has accepted being both negligent and made extremely serious professional mistakes in relation to Web4orce and is fearful the 85 year old might launch a private prosecution against their law firm which is more than likely.

ANDREW JOHNSTON BUCK STOPS HERE

The American president who popularized the phrase "the buck stops here" was Harry S. Truman. He was the 33rd President of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. Truman famously kept a sign with this inscription on his desk in the Oval Office to emphasize that he accepted the ultimate responsibility for the decisions made during his administration. The phrase means that one is prepared to take responsibility for an issue and will not shift the blame to anyone else. Truman was a great success and went on to serve two successive terms as president.

ANDREW JOHNSTON IN THE DOO-DOO

Bearing in mind he was promoted less than 12 months ago, this clearly is not the auspicious start Andrew Johnston had hoped for. Whoever from the legal team at Leeds are responsible for this catastrophic failure has left him inescapably between a rock and a hard place. The problem is that time is not on his side and grasping the nettle is unavoidable. As the longer he puts off negotiating a compromise the more likely scenario is that members of the public are going to discover Addleshaw Goddard’s most embarrassing failures and that will really end badly.

ADDLESHAW GODDARD LESSON

If they genuinely think they are going to walk away from this unscathed then they are living in cloud cuckoo land. The reality is their once eminent law firm is going to learn a hard lesson and that is, it cannot break the law and get away with it. Their Leeds based team in the final month before the trial desperately tried to buy the defendant off on three separate occasions with an out of court offer amounting to more than £160,000 but they were all rejected. This is why they employed criminal tactics as a last resort and as we all know that also failed miserably.

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