M&S wins injunction against Philip Green’s lawyers
Law firm Freshfields blocked from advising bidder
Marks & Spencer has won a temporary High Court injunction stopping law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer from acting for Philip Green.
Solicitors Slaughter and May, acting for M&S, argued that there was a conflict of interest in Freshfields advising Revival Acquisitions, the company set up by the Green family.
Freshfields has previously worked for M&S, and was involved in drawing up the retailer’s contract with designer George Davies, who develops the Per Una range for M&S.
Slaughter and May argued that this previous relationship gave Freshfield access to confidential information about M&S’s operations. The nature of the deal with Davis is understood to be one of the key questions Green has for M&S.
The judge, Justice Lawrence Collins said: “I find it hard to accept that there would be no reasonable conflict. I cannot see, even with a firm the size of Freshfields, any effective barriers put in place given the very large number of people involved. I do not see a Chinese wall as sufficient.”
Green’s lawyers have until 10.30am on Thursday to challenge the injunction.
