Cathy Harris

Cathy helps businesses and individuals resolve complex commercial disputes through clear strategy, robust execution and commercially focused advice. 

Cathy is a Partner and co-leads the Commercial and Private Client Litigation team in Southampton. Recognised as a “Next Generation Partner” in The Legal 500, she is known for her confident, pragmatic approach and her ability to navigate complex factual and legal issues with clarity and focus.

Cathy specialises in complex commercial disputes and high value debt recovery actions, with particular expertise in contract disputes, professional negligence claims and insurance coverage disputes. She regularly advises businesses and individuals on technically challenging matters.

With over 14 years’ post-qualification experience in addition to several years of pre-qualification legal experience, she brings a well-rounded and adaptable approach to litigation, whether acting in High Court proceedings or resolving disputes through ADR. Clients value her ability to quickly grasp the key issues, develop tailored strategies and maintain momentum in even the most contested matters.

Cathy works across a broad client base, including SMEs, larger corporates and private individuals, with particular experience in sectors such as retail and leisure, healthcare, manufacturing, technology and education. She is also known for building strong client relationships and delivering commercially grounded advice that aligns with clients’ wider objectives.

Cathy is a member of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association 

How Cathy can help you

Cathy advises on a wide range of commercial disputes and is particularly known for combining technical legal expertise with practical, outcome-driven solutions. She can support clients with:

1. Contract disputes  – including breach of contract, warranty claims and disputes involving bespoke commercial arrangements
2. High-value and contested debt recovery – developing tailored strategies to maximise recovery, including cross-border enforcement and insolvency-related action
3. Professional Negligence claims – acting in claims against solicitors, surveyors and accountants
4. Franchise disputes – including acting for both franchisor and franchisees, advising on grounds for termination, rights to exit, misrepresentation and enforcement of restrictive covenants
5. Insurance coverage disputes – particularly business interruption and coverage disputes, including those arising from COVID19 and from other disruptive events
6. Corporate disputes – including breach of warranty claims

Cathy is particularly effective in challenging claims, breaking through entrenched disputes and maintaining pressure on opponents to achieve early and commercially sensible outcomes. She does this utilising litigation and ADR.

Experience

• Assisting in the resolution of a business interruption insurance claim for a chain of restaurants forced to close during the COVID19 pandemic
• Acting for Hampshire Sport and Leisure Holdings Limited in a substantial COVID-19 business interruption claim valued at c.£1.2m involving challenges over policy interpretation and causation.
• Advising a hospitality business on a c£550,000 insurance dispute arising from COVID-19 closures, combining detailed policy analysis with strategic factual investigations to challenge evolving insurer positions and drive the claim forward
• Settling a contract dispute between a Christmas tree supplier and its IT supplier who failed to deliver on time, and to the agreed specification, a bespoke software platform critical to the entire sales function of the client business
• Leading negotiations in a commercial debt dispute in the energy sector regarding price of fuel, successfully dismantling unmeritorious counterclaims and securing a strong settlement that eliminated ongoing exposure and future risk
• Acting for a group of private investors in a c.£4m debt recovery action, deploying creative strategies including securing guarantees and navigating insolvency processes, to recover significant sums despite complex challenges and evasive conduct by the debtor.
• Acting for a healthcare provider in a series of debt recovery actions, implementing tailored, commercially sensitive recovery strategies and building an ongoing multi-instruction relationship covering disputes and wider advisory support
• Acting for a global technology company in recovering a c.£200,000 debt, including successfully obtaining default judgment and progressing cross-border enforcement in Northern Ireland
• Acting for a not-for-profit organisation in the recovery of a c.£1m debt, moving the matter towards resolution and settlement discussions by cutting through long-standing disputes and challenging unparticularised allegations in a way which aligns with the client’s commercial needs.
• Acting for a commercial lender in 10 separate claims of professional negligence against solicitors and surveyors arising out of residential property transactions and successfully leading the litigation in each case.
• Successfully advising on a professional negligence claim against solicitors who under-settled a medical negligence claim, identifying wider breaches of duty and in turn securing a substantial uplift in compensation beyond the initial offer
• Providing strategic advice to a franchisee on restrictive covenants and exit planning, delivering clear, commercially focused guidance to support future business plans while managing legal risk
• Advising and pursuing a judicial review action against a decision not to collect residential waste from a private property

Across these matters, Cathy is recognised for her ability to cut through complexity, maintain strategic pressure and achieve commercially effective outcomes, even in highly contested or technically challenging disputes.