Former DLA Piper litigation head launches boutique operation in Liverpool

A team of lawyers with decades of experience at global law firm DLA Piper have launched a new business litigation boutique in Liverpool.

Fortuna Law, based at Walker House, Exchange Flags, has been founded by Mark Goodwin, formerly head of litigation and regulatory at DLA Piper’s office in Liverpool.

The Fortuna Law team – which has a combined 80 years’ litigation experience at DLA Piper – includes Catherine Radcliffe (partner) and Hannah Catterall (legal director).

Fortuna Law has already secured instructions with a combined claim value in excess of £750m with clients including Zeus Capital, Ladbible and a number of high net worth individuals.

“Unlike the traditional full-service model, our new firm is highly specialised on business litigation,” said managing partner, Mark Goodwin, who spent 19 years as a senior litigation partner at DLA Piper before launching Fortuna Law.

“With the disputes market evolving and clients becoming more discerning we are ideally placed to deliver high-quality legal advice and litigation strategy,” he added.

The Fortuna team has a proven track record in complex, high-value disputes both in the UK and internationally.

In keeping with its boutique concept, the firm is already receiving referrals from other high-end litigation teams unable to act for clients due to conflicts of interest.

Mark: said: “With the ever-growing size of the client base and geographical footprint of the larger firms, conflicts of interest in litigation and arbitration matters are becoming more frequent and often it is not possible for firms to find a solution under the applicable conflict rules.

“We provide a safe client referral for such firms given we do not seek to maintain wider client relationships. We do, however, provide the high-quality service of a team used to acting on such complex and high value mandates over many years.”

Richard Hughes, founder of Zeus Capital, said: “We selected the Fortuna team based on their credentials as a stand-out litigation team for 19 years at DLA Piper and now at Fortuna, the leading business litigation team outside London.

“The Fortuna team know what they are doing – working with me and my commercial team at Zeus to develop and execute strategies to deliver successful outcomes on complex high value claims.”

He added: “The management of the legal process and the associated costs are crucial. Mark and his team use the legal process to deliver outstanding results at a proportionate cost and, most importantly, they are commercial.”