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Accountancy firm Price Bailey, has partnered with local law firm Ashtons Legal, to deliver a new service which will give Cambridgeshire businesses a cost-effective way of resolving business disputes, through dispute resolution service Escalate.
The resolution service is being rolled out nationwide with the companies covering the Cambridgeshire area in a bid to help SMEs recover up to £50m tied up in legal disputes.
Escalate was created by looking at each of the steps of the traditional dispute resolution process from a client’s perspective and finding ways of improving it.
The service utilises a two-stage process, a period of negotiation with corporate recovery experts targeting a settlement in under three months and, if necessary, litigation using legal teams that are funded all the way to the High Court.
Matt Howard, insolvency and recovery partner, Price Bailey, said: “Resolving a commercial dispute has historically been time consuming, costly and risky for claimants, which is why many of them decide to reluctantly write-off what they’re owed. Escalate has helped to put that right.
“By removing financial risk, providing transparency on process and pricing, and ensuring that the claimant remains the main beneficiary on settlement, Escalate provides an opportunity to resolve disputes in a way that helps rather than hinders businesses cash flow.’’
Tom Bailey, partner at Ashtons Legal, added: “Escalate’s mission is to help the SME business community so that the £40bn that’s written off each year as bad debt is reduced. In our view, a bad debt is just a commercial dispute that didn’t get resolved.
“Escalate is already helping SMEs to recover more than £50m that is currently locked up in commercial disputes. The partnership with Price Bailey is a game changing proposition to help SMEs in Cambridgeshire with their cash flow and avoid some of the inevitable bumps in the road that come with running a business.”
