Paul Lunt

In the corporate field, Paul handles a variety of contentious commercial matters with a focus on company and shareholder disputes, as well as contractual and tortious disputes, professional negligence claims and insolvency-related matters. His clients include private companies — such as Nichols Plc (Vimto), TJ Morris (Home Bargains) and Arnold Clark — as well as public sector organisations, partnerships and individuals.

Paul is also a leading sport lawyer and acts for clients in sporting arbitrations, regulatory disciplinary proceedings and High Court civil claims. He represents a wide range of sport clients, including national governing bodies, prominent sports clubs, Premier League footballers, The Rugby Football League, Ryder Cup golfers, Chester Racecourse, England international cricketers, professional boxers, international judges and umpires, Olympic medallists and sports agencies such as Phoenix Sports Management.

Paul also advises on media-related issues (including defamation and privacy), reputation management and intellectual property.

As the ‘go to’ lawyer for many high-profile clients in difficult times, Paul has successfully represented:

• Coleen Rooney when she was sued by Rebekah Vardy in the ‘Wagatha Christie’ case.
• England Cricket Captain, Ben Stokes, when he was suspended following a fight outside a Bristol nightclub in 2017, as well as later suing The Sun for Ben and his mother in a high-profile breach of privacy case.
• Former England cricket captain, Michael Vaughan, in the dismissal of all allegations against him surrounding the Azeem Rafiq issues on alleged racism in cricket.
• The Commonwealth Games Federation in its successful nine-figure claim against the Australian Government following the State of Victoria’s withdrawal from hosting the 2026 Games.

Away from sport and media, Paul recently acted on challenges to the award of government PPE contracts during the pandemic.

Paul regularly features in the top tier of The Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners rankings. He is one of only two lawyers in The Legal 500 ‘Hall of Fame’ in Liverpool. Over the past two decades, he has often been recognised as a ‘leading individual’, ‘leading practitioner’ and ‘recommended lawyer’ across many different areas of law. The Legal 500 notes that Paul is “extremely astute and knowledgeable with a very proactive commercial approach to resolving disputes” and that “his judgement and expertise are highly valued”. Similarly, Chambers and Partners notes that Paul is “a very good professional, handling a lot of high-profile disputes, and is a good choice if a matter requires sensitive handling" and “always available, consistently direct and to the point”, with a “great ability to sense what is required in practical terms for the best interests of our business”.

Paul is also a qualified mediator. He joined us in 1994 as a trainee solicitor before becoming a Partner in 1999. He has been our Head of Litigation since 2010.