Hawkins Hatton Corporate Lawyers Limited > Dudley, England > Firm Profile

Hawkins Hatton Corporate Lawyers Limited
CASTLE COURT
2 CASTLEGATE WAY
DUDLEY
DY1 4RH
England

Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: elsewhere in the West Midlands Tier 2

Hawkins Hatton Corporate Lawyers Limited boasts a strong expertise in contractual disputes, including NDA breaches. The team frequently collaborates with specialists in tax, employment and trust law to provide clients a well-rounded service. In Dudley, Harminder Sandhu steers the practice, offering clients experience in a wide range of practice areas, including fraud, shareholder disputes and contractual claims.

Practice head(s):

Harminder Sandhu

Other key lawyers:

Colin Rodrigues

Testimonials

‘Their approach and advice is always client focused and well considered.’

‘The team is approachable at all levels and quick to respond.’

‘Harminder Sandhu combines insightful legal advice with an empathetic attitude.’

‘Operating from the heart of the industrial Midlands, the team have an excellent network and understanding of clients needs.’

‘Harminder Sandhu has always been my go to when dealing with any form of legal dispute within our sector.’

‘The main difference is the level of experience and the knowledge of business situations which enables the advice to be delivered quickly. The firm has the ability to review a problem and then deal with the main issues and provide a commercial solution.’

‘Colin Rodrigues and Harminder Sandhu are a step above the competition. From initial meeting to completion they have insight and enthusiasm and the best understanding of law.’

‘The practice is unique in the commercial support offered to clients. This is then back up with a large amount of experience and understanding of the law and the procedures required to move a potential litigation case forward.’

Key clients

Finish Facades Ltd

nGeneration Limited

Foundation Fostering Limited

Numarine Denizcilik San. ve Tic A.S.

Lloyd Ansermoz

Powerflex Batteries Limited

J Kays Partnership

Amouage Limited

P.A.B Coventry Ltd

New Century Global Limited

Work highlights

  • Instructed on a partnership dispute which spans 20 years during which the partnership assets have grown to in excess of £10 million.
  • Acted on behalf of a bespoke yacht manufacturer based in Turkey in connection with its dispute with a customer based in Dubai in respect of a multi-million pound luxury yacht.
  • Acted on behalf of specialist software solutions IT client in its longstanding intellectual property rights dispute with a developer of specialist software for the hospitality industry.

Corporate and commercial > Corporate and commercial: elsewhere in the West Midlands Tier 3

Based out of Dudley and headed by the ‘courteous and supportive’ Colin Rodrigues, the Hawkins Hatton Corporate Lawyers Limited practice has extensive expertise across the manufacturing, healthcare and engineering sectors, demonstrating a specific focus on management buyouts and corporate reorganisations. Rodrigues is the firm’s founding partner, boasting a substantial national SME client base undertaking high value corporate transactions, ranging from M&A to share sales.

Practice head(s):

Colin Rodrigues

Testimonials

‘This firm is a breath of fresh air, when you have yourself no legal training you just need things explained in and simple terms, and that’s exactly what these guys do.’

‘Colin Rodrigues leads his team, and supports the transaction from start to finish, helping you navigate through the details.’

‘Hawkins Hatton is a boutique corporate law firm. Their fees are transparent, fixed and extremely good value. Their service is first class and matters get addressed speedily with their principals involved in all stages of service.’

‘I have worked on several matters with Colin Rodrigues. Colin is an excellent corporate lawyer, well knowledgeable in his field and he deals with matters diligently and with speed. I cannot recommend Colin enough.’

‘The firm are experts in the sale and purchase of companies and the acquisition of commercial properties.’

‘They are a very knowledgeable and experienced team in the corporate environment. We have dealt with them in many buy /sells and other corporate matters and they are our first choice as regards recommendations to our clients.’

‘With regards to corporate matters, Colin Rodrigues stands out as the main person that we deal with. He is very knowledgeable, courteous and supportive as are his team.’

‘Colin Rodrigues and his team are accessible, always readily available to provide advice and solutions.’

Key clients

Midland Oil Group Ltd

Batt Cables Limited

Boningale Limited

Abbey Wood Park Property Limited

Fox Whittle Management Limited

Commercial Motor Spares Limited

C & S Steel Limited

Conway Packing Services Limited

GB Tyres UK Limited

Monaco Insurance Services Limited

Work highlights

  • Acted on behalf of the shareholders of a private limited company specialising in electrical cabling in the sale of shares for £105m.
  • Acted in behalf of the shareholders of a private limited company specialising in electrical cabling in the sale of their shares for £30m where the transaction was complicated by the fact the shareholders were reinvesting funds in the business post completion.
  • Instructed to on behalf of the shareholders of a 70-year-old steel stockholding business in respect of the sale of shares for £17m.

Finance > Banking and finance Tier 4

Hawkins Hatton Corporate Lawyers Limited supports clients with transactions in a wide range of sectors, including agricultural, health care, leisure and commercial real estate. The firm handles acquisitions, refinances and restructures. Colin Rodrigues, in Dudley, leads the firm’s practice, advising large, national commercial banks on their transactions.

Practice head(s):

Colin Rodrigues

Other key lawyers:

Harminder Sandhu

Testimonials

‘Their ability to pursue problem-solving innovation and presenting resolutions for the funder to consider the wider risk, to allow the funder to consider the commercial risk.’

‘Colin Rodrigues and Harminder Sandhu are the two key principles in the business and collectively, take an active role in every aspect of the deal and seeing it through to completion.’

‘The firm have an outstanding reputation for partner-led case ownership, with superb communication and collaboration across all of the professionals involved with the client.’

‘Harminder Sandhu and Colin Rodrigues set the standards for the firm with their outstanding focus on culture, environment and leadership. This translates through to the client experience which is why we recommend them.’

‘Great team approach and really approachable and knowledgeable with a can do attitude ’

‘Experts in the field.’

‘Hawkins Hatton as a firm are very flexible in their approach, they have the expertise to complete with the big firms but make time to be a local friendly firm. The firm offers great value to our clients and they always keep to their promise.’

‘Colin Rodrigues gets involved in discussions with the customer and he shows great enthusiasm and empathy towards clients.’

Key clients

HSBC (UK) Bank Plc

NatWest Bank PLC

Royal Bank of Scotland PLC

Lloyds Bank

Invest & Fund

Frontier Development Capital

Finance Birmingham

Metro Bank

Barclays Bank PLC

CAPC UK Limited

Work highlights

  • Acted for a mainstream lender’s corporate team in the refinance of a pharmaceutical customer for a facility in excess of £17 million.
  • Acted for a mainstream lender in connection with its customer’s acquisition of a large complex agricultural site valued in excess of £4 million.
  • Acted on behalf of a specialist development lender in connection with the refinance of its customer’s development site in south London for £5 million.

Real estate > Commercial property: elsewhere in the West Midlands Tier 4

Hawkins Hatton Corporate Lawyers Limited maintains a dedicated real estate team that continues to grow its clientele, with companies approaching it from across the West Midlands. The firm advises on acquisitions, lease management and adverse possession. Colin Rodrigues, a Dudley-based lawyer, is the practice head and advises clients in the care, manufacturing, automotive, waste and education sectors.

Practice head(s):

Colin Rodrigues

Other key lawyers:

Alexander Boyle; Harminder Sandhu

Testimonials

‘Colin Rodrigues is refreshingly proactive and capable of thinking outside the box.’

‘Very efficient team – see problems on horizon and seek to head them off so that completion dates can be met.’

‘Colin Rodrigues is approachable, likeable with a wealth of knowledge, very commercially astute.’

‘The team are great communicators and are able to proposed solutions to any matter.’

‘Hardworking and diligent and able to cope with completing matters in a timely manner.’

‘Colin Rodrigues and Harminder Sandhu is extremely helpful in steering clients through the process and negotiating with banks and solicitors.’

‘All the team are approachable and have a detailed knowledge of all aspects of commercial property law. They show high ethical standards and are very commercially aware.’

‘Colin Rodriques approaches all problems with a solutions based approach.’

Key clients

SL Care Properties Ltd

The Harrington Factory Limited

Bespin Property Limited

Midlands Properties Limited

Axon Enterprises Limited

Vita Properties Ltd

Weldall (Cannock) Limited,

Safe Fence Holdings Limited

GB Tyres UK Limited

Go Waste (UK) Limited

Work highlights

  • Acted on behalf of a care sector client in over 50 acquisitions whilst it seeks to extinguish its £22 million banking facility.
  • Acted on behalf of a rapidly expanding client in the acquisition of three separate industrial sites with an aggregate value in excess of £5 million.
  • Acted on behalf of a client in connection with a complex restructure which included the refinance of 8 properties valued at £6 million.

This is a niche corporate law firm based in Dudley, primarily dealing with corporate and commercial work, together with commercial property and litigation. Its client base includes European and Anglo-US companies, as well as regional and national clients, and individuals.

The firm: Hawkins Hatton was formed in December 2005 with the single ambition of creating a different type of practice; one that not only delivers the desired results for clients, but puts the smooth running of their business at the forefront of everything the practice does. The firm sets out to provide a true legal partnership based on a refreshingly different and commercial approach. Its client base includes a number of banks, notably RBS, Lloyds, HSBC and Santander, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Now with three directors and 20 staff, the firm is continually expanding and operates out of purpose-built premises at Castlegate Business Park in Dudley, which enables it to facilitate corporate transactions. Hawkins Hatton is a forward-thinking practice focused on providing excellent services for clients.

Types of work undertaken: Hawkins Hatton provides a full range of company and commercial services. It is known particularly for private equity work for management teams, management buyouts, sales, mergers, acquisitions and disposals for shareholders of small and medium-sized enterprises, and a broad range of day-to-day corporate work, including restructuring of companies (eg section 110, statutory demerger and capital reduction) and related tax issues. Services include drafting of sale and purchase agreements, disclosure letters, tax deeds, loan notes and ancillary matters. Commercial contract expertise includes agency and distribution, consultants, franchises, guarantees, intellectual property, joint ventures, partnerships, shareholder agreements, terms of business, technology/IT and mortgage securitisation for banks and other financial bodies.

Commercial property expertise includes large-scale site acquisitions and disposals, property development, property finance and investment, corporate support for major transactions and commercial leases. Hawkins Hatton can offer clients advice on a broader range of specialist areas, including property investment and finance, development schemes, compulsory purchase issues, construction, and commercial leases for clients including landlords and tenants, public companies, banks, private companies, developers and investors.

A wide range of complex and high-value litigation is expertly handled by the expanding commercial litigation department, which routinely deals with injunctive proceedings, breaches of directors’ duties, derivative claims, shareholder and partnership disputes, and serious white-collar fraud claims on behalf of both claimants and defendants. In the last 12 months the commercial litigation department has enjoyed noteworthy successes. Insurance litigation (including professional negligence) continues to be a key feature of the department. The firm is a keen advocate of alternative dispute resolution, including mediation and arbitration, in appropriate cases.

Hawkins Hatton will continue to expand, broadening the range and depth of experience that it provides to clients.

Department Name Email Telephone
Finance director Colin Rodrigues
Managing director Harminder Sandhu
Photo Name Position Profile
Colin Rodrigues photo Colin Rodrigues Corporate partner with Hawkins Hatton, heading up the firm’s corporate team. Involved…
Harminder Sandhu photo Harminder Sandhu Managing partner with Hawkins Hatton advising and conducting complex professional negligence claims…
Number of UK directors : 3
Number of other UK fee-earners : 12