Clark Sargent

I'm a partner in the firm's Dispute Resolution group. I focus on general commercial litigation for corporates, although I also have prior experience in finance-related disputes for banks and other financial institutions.

Tel: +44 (0)121 685 2840

Email: clark_sargent@wragge.com

Best brains in ...

Using IT in the litigation arena to change processes, improve efficiency and save time and costs.

Highlight of your career so far?

Two things I have consistently enjoyed: it may not be so sexy, but helping clients to win, win fast and win first time is good. I prefer to avoid having to go to the Court of Appeal or the House of Lords, and not having to do so is a success. I've also done some good things introducing leading edge IT into our Recoveries and Finance team which enables the team to achieve maximum efficiencies. For instance, we are now using the court's PCOL system to issue claims in bulk using electronic data exchange, and are one of the first solicitors to be doing so.

Most challenging job you've ever done?

Drafting the liability provisions in a contract for the build and supply of goods valued at some £4 billion, and which will run for some 8 or 9 years. The purpose of the clause is to create as close to a no-claims environment as we can manage - no easy feat! It has been described to me by a person who in her own right is very bright, as one of the most difficult bits of drafting she has ever had to do. But we have done it - all we now have to do is see if the drafting will stand the test of time

What about outside the UK?

I most enjoyed a claim I did for a Channel Islands-based trust recovering the trust's assets from the beneficiaries - who, notwithstanding that they were the beneficiaries, had still tried to pinch all the assets out of the trust! After some injunctions, and a disclosure process that was always only ever going to go one way (our client's way), the trust assets did all come back.

What's your definition of good client service?

Good client service is, I think, no more than being on time, being useful, and being right - sounds easy enough... Without doing a list, the best examples of that in a litigation context frequently revolve around advice not to fight cases that look bound to lose, or are bad to fight, but instead finding a commercial settlement. A good example of that was a client, an individual, sued by an estate, on a claim that would have bankrupted her had she lost. On the law, she may well have won - but she was not well, and would have suffered terribly in the witness box. So we found her a deal that kept her both solvent, financially secure, and sane!

Best example of a creative legal solution?

Provoking and driving the mediation of a messy claim in which our client was not a party, but in which it would have had to become involved at some point. We were pivotal to the mediation happening at all, and that when it did, it saw a settlement to all claims - including that our client got paid out in full!

When have you ever given a client a real competitive edge?

Last summer I settled a claim for a bank (one of its then longest-running pieces of litigation) where it believed it had security over a property to cover a loan, but the borrower had sold the property to another person. The litigation was effectively against the insurers of the buyer's conveyancing solicitors. At the settlement meeting we were able to explain to them that however they argued the case, they had to lose. The pay-out followed in short order after that, and a nasty piece of litigation on which the client expected a loss turned out not to be so.

What's your single greatest contribution to Wragge & Co's corporate responsibility?

I participate in our College of Law pro bono advice scheme - helping the college's students advise local people on any kind of legal problem they might have. It is a rewarding thing to do: the enthusiasm of the students and thinking about areas of law I might never otherwise encounter in my day job (supervising cases about enduring and lasting powers of attorney; and about tenants in flats with leaking roofs) and it's nice to remember that we were all generalists years ago, and so able to do this kind of thing.

I've also been a school governor. It is great to see the care that schools have for their children, but it is also a commitment that could easily be a full time role.

What's been written or said about you that you're most proud of?

Not about me, but by me. For a long while I used to write the firm's banking bulletin - regular updates on legal developments - and I love it that clients still talk to me about cases that we profile in it. It means that it's useful and readable, and that's good to know!