A contract dispute puts money, deadlines and working relationships at risk at the same time. Connaught Law's contractual disputes solicitors act for businesses and individuals across the UK — pursuing and defending claims, resolving disputes by negotiation where that protects your position, and litigating decisively where it doesn't.
· Regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority · Legal 500 · Lexcel
How We Can Help
Breach of Contract Claims
Unpaid invoices, undelivered goods, defective work, missed deadlines — most contract disputes come down to one side saying the bargain wasn't kept. We act for claimants and defendants: assessing what the contract actually requires, what the breach has cost, and the fastest route to recovering it or defeating the claim.
Where the dispute is one strand of a wider business conflict, our commercial litigation service handles the full picture — shareholder, insolvency and banking disputes included.
Contract Termination & Exit
Ending a contract badly can turn a strong position into a liability — terminate without proper grounds or notice and you may commit the very breach you were complaining about. We advise on termination clauses, repudiatory breach, notice requirements and the safest sequence for exit, before you send the letter that can't be unsent.
Supply, Distribution & Agency Disputes
Long-term commercial relationships — supply and distribution agreements, agency arrangements, franchise and outsourcing contracts — fail differently from one-off deals: the money in dispute sits alongside a relationship one or both sides may need to keep. We resolve pricing and performance disputes, exclusivity and territory conflicts, and the termination rights and compensation that arise when these relationships end.
Damages & Other Remedies
Contract damages aim to put you where you would have been had the bargain been kept — but money isn't always the answer. Where the subject matter is unique or a payout won't undo the harm, we pursue specific performance, injunctions and declarations, and we advise honestly on which remedy the court is actually likely to grant on your facts.
Resolving Disputes Without Court
Many contracts prescribe their own dispute route — escalation clauses, mediation, arbitration — and the courts expect them to be followed. We resolve most contract disputes by negotiation or through our alternative dispute resolution service, keeping litigation as leverage rather than the default.
How We Work
Contract disputes are won on the paper trail: the agreement and its variations, the emails around it, the invoices and the performance record. We assess the merits against those documents first, then comply with the courts' pre-action requirements — a precise letter of claim resolves a large share of disputes before proceedings are ever issued.
Claims under a simple contract must generally be brought within six years of the breach — twelve for contracts executed as deeds — under the Limitation Act 1980. In practice the real deadline is commercial: evidence fades and a counterparty's ability to pay can deteriorate long before limitation ever bites. The earlier we see the dispute, the more of your position is still intact.
Why Connaught Law
01Commercial outcome firstBefore anything is issued, we weigh what winning is worth against what it costs — including whether the other side can actually pay.
02Contracts read the way courts read themOur advice is grounded in how judges actually construe terms, implied duties and exclusion clauses — not how the parties hoped they'd work.
03Senior attention throughoutYour dispute is run by our experienced litigation team, not passed down — with direct access to the person handling it.
04Clear costs, reviewed at each stageYou get a costs picture before each phase, with the cost-benefit case reassessed as the dispute develops.
Fee structures and funding options are set out on our fees page — we discuss costs openly before you commit to anything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a verbal agreement legally enforceable?
Usually, yes — most contracts don't need to be in writing to bind the parties. The difficulty is proof, not validity: what was agreed, when, and on what terms. Emails, messages, invoices and conduct often evidence an oral agreement well enough to support a claim, and we assess that evidence before advising you on the merits.
How long do I have to bring a contract claim?
Generally six years from the breach, or twelve where the contract was executed as a deed. But delay costs more than the deadline suggests — witnesses move on, documents disappear, and a counterparty in financial decline may have nothing left to pay by the time you claim. Early advice preserves both evidence and recovery prospects.
Will my dispute end up in court?
Most don't. The majority of contract disputes settle through pre-action correspondence, negotiation or mediation — often because a well-prepared letter of claim makes the outcome at trial predictable. We prepare every case as if it will be heard; that preparation is usually what produces the settlement.
What will it cost?
It depends on the value and complexity of the dispute and how far it runs — many claims resolve at the pre-action stage at a fraction of the cost of trial. Our fees page explains our fee structures, and you'll have a costs estimate before each stage begins.
In a contract dispute?
Tell us what was agreed and what's gone wrong. We'll give you an honest view of your position, the realistic routes to resolution and the costs — before you commit to anything.
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