James Perkins

Currently undertaking a secondment within the Dispute Resolution team, gaining private practice experience across insolvency, B2B, consumer and debt recovery disputes.

• Support fee earners on a range of contentious matters through legal research, drafting and case preparation activities.
• Assist with debt recovery and insolvency-related matters, supporting litigation processes and dispute resolution strategy.
• Prepare correspondence and supporting documentation across a variety of disputed matters.
• Develop broader experience of dispute management, litigation processes and legal risk mitigation.

Progressed within KONE from Contracts Specialist to Assistant Legal Counsel before being awarded a Training Contract in November 2024.

• Review, draft and negotiate a broad range of construction and commercial agreements, including JCT, NEC, MF1 and bespoke contract forms.
• Advise commercial, operational and sales stakeholders on contractual risk, liability allocation, project obligations and commercial strategy.
• Negotiate framework agreements and project-specific contractual arrangements with national customers and key commercial stakeholders.
• Support commercial teams throughout the contract lifecycle on high-value construction and engineering projects.
• Lead contract negotiations on matters valued up to £1m, driving agreements through to execution whilst balancing legal and commercial objectives.
• Deliver legal training to commercial and operational teams on contract risk, governance and key contractual obligations.
• Provide legal support on dispute avoidance, debt recovery and pre-contentious matters, working closely with business stakeholders to mitigate legal and commercial risk.
• Advise on wider commercial legal matters including confidentiality arrangements, data protection obligations and employment-related issues.
• Utilise contract management technologies, AI-assisted review tools and electronic execution platforms to streamline contract processes and improve efficiency.