Mike joined Bermans in 2025 as a Partner in our Litigation team based in Manchester, with over 15 years litigation and dispute resolution experience.
Prior to starting his career in law in 2007, Mike spent 20 years in the shipping and logistics industry – in commercial and operational management roles – experience that has helped form his business orientated approach.
Mike advises owner-managed businesses, small and medium-sized business enterprises, property developers, secured lenders, professional practices and individuals.
His specialist practice areas are contract disputes, professional negligence, acting on behalf of secured lenders, shareholder and partnership disputes, construction disputes, various intellectual property related matters and contested probate.
Outside of work, Mike enjoys exploring the outdoors be it running, hiking or cycling and gardening.
Mike is a recommended lawyer in The Legal 500 directory 2024 and a member of the Professional Negligence Lawyers Association.
Jonathan Berkson, (pictured) joined Bermans in June 2013 and is a Senior Partner in our Asset Based Lending and Litigation teams. We spoke to him to learn more about him and his work.
This is our latest update as the introduction of a “fixed costs” regime for most civil court disputes, where the disputed amount is over £10,000 up to £100,000, draws ever nearer.
Jenny joined Bermans in April 2023 as a paralegal in our asset based lending team and is currently a Trainee Solicitor in our Litigation and Corporate teams based in Manchester.
She graduated with a Law Degree in 2021 and the LPC with Business and Management MSc in 2022 at Liverpool University.
Jenny assists the Litigation team in forfeiture cases, commercial litigation matters and contract disputes. She also works with the Corporate team advising SMEs and owner managed businesses in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and general corporate matters.
Outside of work, Jenny likes to stay active being a keen runner, skier and gym go-er.
When businesses enter into contracts with one another, it is common for them to want their own terms and conditions (Ts&Cs) to apply to the contract. However, whether these have been successfully implemented into the contract often does not seem to be of concern to the parties until a dispute presents itself. Having the Ts&Cs adequately incorporated is especially important since it is common practice for businesses to conduct their dealings through contractual documents such as purchase orders and invoices rather than having an actual written contract in place. By not having a signed contract in place, the parties open up themselves to scrutiny over which party’s Ts&Cs are to prevail in case of a dispute.
You have – all things considered – enjoyed a fruitful trading relationship with a supplier or customer over many years, or at least you have assumed that to be the case.
Then things go sour. You locate your copy of the contract, only to find that it was made by your predecessor company, or the other party’s predecessor, or even both. The change(s) may have been due to a corporate reorganisation. In any case there is no evidence in writing of consent to the change, as required under the contract.
Intellectual property rights are valuable assets of your business and it is important that you take steps to protect them. You can do this by registering your rights and ensuring that anyone infringing those rights is stopped as soon as possible.
Recent independent studies undertaken by the Legal Services Board and Xero convey a worrying and consistent theme that SME debt is a ticking time bomb.
UK SMEs are losing more than £40 Billion per year through disputes and have £131 Billion tied up in late payments. YouGov has reported that 82% of SMEs currently have outstanding balances with each firm owed an average £62,957.00.
| 
Jonathan Berkson,
