Matthew Atkins > Birketts LLP > Ipswich, England > Lawyer Profile

Birketts LLP
Providence House
141-145 Princes Street
IPSWICH
IP1 1QJ
England

Work Department

Debt Recovery, Intellectual Property, Professional Negligence, Commercial Litigation

Position

Partner

Career

Matthew is a Partner in our Corporate Team and leads the Commercial Litigation Team in Ipswich. He is a commercial litigator with a special interest in intellectual property law.

Commercial Litigation
Matthew’s recent work includes advising in connection with, and claims arising from, the sale/purchase of companies/shares; other advisory work and claims in relation to contracts (principally in the manufacturing and agricultural industries); shareholder disputes; claims arising from professional negligence (involving solicitors, accountants and surveyors); claims in connection with individual and corporate insolvency, including the enforcement of guarantees.

Intellectual Property
Recent work includes advising in relation to claims in the fields of copyright, design right, trade mark infringement and passing off.

Education

Matthew has formerly been a part-time academic at the University of Essex, and has taught the copyright and trade mark seminars on the LLM in Information Technology, Media and E-Commerce. He has delivered seminars at UCL’s former Adastral Park Postgraduate Campus on the protection of ideas in the electronic environment by knowledge based industries, and on general intellectual property law.

Lawyer Rankings

East Anglia > Dispute resolution > Commercial litigation: elsewhere in East Anglia

(Hall of Fame)

Matthew AtkinsBirketts LLP

The cross-office litigation practice at Birketts LLP has a key hub in Ipswich, where the vastly experienced Matthew Atkins and up-and-coming partner Josh Ripman are the standout practitioners. They have ‘both commercial acumen and pragmatism, and deal with matters with great efficiency and drive‘. The firm handles the full range of  tortious and contractual claims, commercial fraud, shareholder’s disputes, breach of restrictive covenant agreements, product liability matters, partnership disputes, and matters arising from corporate transactions. Legal director Ceri Rogers, who is ‘a very assured litigator, with a steely determination‘, formerly at Fieldfisher, and senior associate Hayley Songhurst, previously of Ellisons Solicitors, joined the Ipswich litigation group in 2023.

East Anglia > Insurance > Professional negligence

The litigation group at Birketts LLP has broad focus that includes professional negligence disputes, which are handled by general commercial litigators, or specialists in areas such as private client. Led by Laurence Weeks in Cambridge, Andrew Kinnison in Norwich and Daden Hunt in Chelmsford, the practice includes Norwich-based Bernadette Baker, who handles claims arising from the wills and the administration of estates and trusts. Senior associate Adam Blenkinsop frequently acts for claimants, and Matthew Atkins is a key adviser on claims involving solicitors, accountants and surveyors.