Victoria Russell

LLB, FCIArb, FCIOB, FFB, Solicitor, Arbitrator, Registered Adjudicator, Accredited Mediator

vrussell@fenwickelliott.co.uk

Partner

Contract experience

Victoria is experienced in all principal building and engineering contracts including JCT, ICE, NEC, GC/Works and FIDIC; she also drafts and negotiates professional appointments and bespoke forms of domestic and international construction contract, including facilities management and service agreements, and advises on the disclosure and management of information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

General experience

Victoria's contentious work focuses on litigation, arbitration and adjudication claims for a wide range of clients including developers, universities, schools, main contractors, local authorities and trade associations. She is a Technology and Construction Solicitors Association-registered adjudicator and a member of the adjudicator panels of the Chartered Institute of Building and the Construction Confederation. She is also a Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution accredited mediator with extensive experience in alternative dispute resolution. She has dealt with issues on projects ranging from offices and motorways to hospitals, laboratories, housing developments, airports, factories, waste to energy plants and power stations in the United Kingdom and overseas. A number of her cases in the High Court and in the Court of Appeal have been reported.

Career

Victoria read law at Exeter University. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1981, she joined the specialist construction law practice, Freedmans, becoming a partner in 1985. Victoria joined Fenwick Elliott as a partner in 2000.

Other activities

Victoria has written numerous articles on construction, arbitration, adjudication and alternative dispute resolution. She lectures at conferences in the UK and overseas and has contributed to LNTV and Einstein training videos. She has been identified, for many years, as one of the country's leading construction lawyers by Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession, the Legal 500 and Who's Who in the Law. Quotes from Chambers include:

"Talented ... a figure of note in the construction sector" - "An acknowledged expert" - "Demonstrates great interpersonal and mediative skills, alongside the ability to dissect the finer points of a case without losing sight of the bigger picture" ... "A forceful and effective lawyer for high profile contentious work".

Memberships

Victoria is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, the Chartered Institute of Building and the Forum of the Built Environment. She is a past chairman of the Society of Construction Law and past president of the European Society of Construction Law. She was first female Master of the Worshipful Company of Arbitrators and is on the Court of the Constructors Company. She is a member of the International Bar Association and the London Court of International Arbitration.

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