Lauren Adams

• Junior counsel on a dispute relating to land slippage resulting in a considerable claim for damages.
• Sole Counsel on an on-going dispute relating to alleged breaches of contract for design, provision and hosting of a website.
• Advising on the standard of care required from IT professionals on an on-going dispute.
• Junior counsel on an on-going international dispute relating to a claim under an insurance policy relating to a mega-yacht, involving conflict of laws issues.
• Advising on service of proceedings, enforceability of judgments between English, Singaporean and Qatari jurisdictions.
• Advising sub-contractors on potential exposure around cladding in the wake of Grenfell.
• Advising on insolvency issues around the collapse of Carillion.
• Junior counsel on AMEY LG Limited v Cumbria County Council [2016] EWHC 2856 (TCC), a multi-million-pound final account dispute relating to a contract for highways maintenance.
• Junior counsel on a dispute relating to construction of the Rolls Building.
• Drafting a request for information and defence for a claim arising out of the design and manufacture of a propane condenser.
• Drafting a pre-action letter and particulars of claim for damages arising out of defective installation of roof waterproofing system.
• Drafting a particulars of claim for a claim arising out of the defective design, construction and installation of a steel frame.
• Drafting a defence for a claim arising out of traffic model designed to test various congestion reducing options on a UK motorway.
• Advising on the effect of an entire agreement clause on terms implied by the Sale of Goods Act and by fact/party intention in the context of ticket-reading machines.
• Advising on the proper interpretation of an exclusion clause in the context of the LOGIC CRINE standard terms for an offshore drilling rig project.
• Advising on the proper construction of supply contract for turbines governed by English law in the context of Italian and Korean signatories.
• Advising parties on the proper construction of security instruments.
• Appearing on behalf of a successful party in a summary judgment application relating to a loan agreement.
• Appearing on behalf of an architect at creditors’ meeting and successfully challenging the special purpose vehicle structure used by the company declaring voluntary insolvency to secure payment of his outstanding fees.
• Advising on non-contentious construction matters for Soho House.
• Appearing on behalf of a high net worth individual in a mediation relating to a dispute over the project manager’s invoices for renovation of his London property.

• Junior counsel in arbitration proceedings relating to a FPSO and delayed provision of isometric drawings.
• Junior counsel in arbitration proceedings relating to a joint venture tram project, involving issues of delay.
• Junior counsel in arbitration proceedings relating to a PET plant and the delayed provision of interconnecting piping.
• Junior counsel in arbitration proceedings relating to a major infrastructure project in Qatar.
• Drafting the skeleton argument for security for costs under the ICE rules in the context of a claim arising out of an engineering contract for the construction of a marina.
• Advising on whether the courts had concurrent jurisdiction to order security for costs, where the arbitral rules also provided for this power and the suitability of after the event insurance as security in arbitral proceedings.
• Advising on the applicable law for “piercing the corporate veil” under the ICC rules arising out of a potential claim for a defective plant.
• Advising on the availability of New York Convention Defences to enforcement of a New York Convention Award.
• Drafting defence and counterclaim arising out of a claim for damages following the refurbishment of a boarding school.
• Advising on the scope of the parties’ confidentiality obligations in an arbitration under the DIAC rules.
• Drafting a defence to a claim for loss and expense, and extensions of time arising out of changes to the works due to the contractor encountering unforeseen ground conditions during the construction of a marina.

• Acting for successful parties challenging demands made against various performance bonds, seeking return of the bond sums.
• Acting for successful and unsuccessful parties at the enforcement stage.
• Acting for parties in no “pay less” notice disputes and “true value” adjudications.
• Acting for parties who have chosen to use the Scheme for Adjudication in the context of non-construction operations occurring outside the jurisdiction.
• Advising as to the relative merits of challenging an adjudicator’s invoice.
• Advising on the based on the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract (June 2005 Edition with later amendments) scope of dispute referred and the effect of a decision made “outwith jurisdiction” in a 1st adjudication on a 2nd adjudication in the context of defective pipework.
• Advising on the relative merits of resisting enforcement or proceeding straight to arbitration to challenge an unfavourable adjudication award concerning the locus of design liability under a JCT standard form contract with a contractor designed portion.
• Drafting a defence and counterclaim arising out of a claim for damages following the installation of tiles in a hotel.
• Drafting particulars of claim for a claim arising out of the adjudication of a Target Cost Contract.
• Advising on the existence of natural justice/jurisdictional objections to an adjudication award and the appropriateness of bringing a part 8 claim for declaration on the substantive matters.

Hudson’s Building and Engineering Contracts (14th ed., 2020).

“The possible impact of Brexit on the UK’s oil and gas industry” – as at 13 December 2018, published in Atkin Chambers’ Brexit Bulletin

“On-demand bonds – a comparative study of English and Italian law on Fraudulent or Abusive Calling” – co-written with Giuseppe Broccoli, BDA Studio Legale – International Construction Law Review 2014

“New Clots in the Lifeblood of International Construction Projects: Enjoining employers’ calls on performance bonds”. Const. L.J. 2014, 30(7), 325-336 Sweet and Maxwell.

AMEY LG Limited v Cumbria County Council [2016] EWHC 2856 (TCC)

2014: SCL Hudson 1st Prize for “New Clots in the Lifeblood of International Construction Projects: Enjoining Employers’ calls on performance bonds”

2013: Called to the Bar of England and Wales (Lincoln’s Inn)

2012 – 2013: Non-stipendiary law tutor at Oriel College and Regent’s Park College, Oxford University

City Law School: Bar Vocational Course (Very Competent)

2011 – 2012: BCL (Master’s in Law), St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford, Distinction (Conflict of Laws; Restitution of Unjust Enrichment; European Business Regulation; Constitutional Principles of the European Union); Law Faculty prize for achieving the highest mark in Constitutional Principles of the EU on the BCL (2012)

2011: Lord Denning and Hardwicke Scholarships, Lincoln’s Inn

2008 – 2011: BA (Jurisprudence), Regent’s Park College, Oxford

2010: Member of the 2010 Oxford Jessup International Law Moot Team, ranked 6th in the world during the international rounds in Washington DC.

Lauren is a member of the SCL Council and participates in the following Sub-Committees: Advocacy Training Course, Court Advocacy Training Course, Astra SCL, Regions, SCL Hudson Prize Judges, University Liaison and Grants/Academic Conference.

“Lauren is the best junior I have ever worked with. She combines the insight of a wise head on young shoulders with incredible productivity.”

Construction, The Legal 500 2021