Andrea Ward

Andrea joined Crutes as a consultant in April 2009. She previously worked at Crutes for 13 years and was a Partner for six of them before leaving the firm in 2006. Andrea joined St Cuthberts Care as Head of Legal Services dealing with legal issues affecting them from Data Protection, employment and regulatory issues to governance matters.

Andrea returns to Crutes to assist in the development of the firm’s care team adding strength to the existing team of lawyers acting for the care sector who specialise in regulatory matters such as health and safety prosecutions, commercial property, corporate and employment. Andrea’s in-depth knowledge of the care sector working in-house will be of significant assistance to the team.

Andrea specialises in defending claims of abuse, failure to educate and bullying; all highly sensitive areas requiring skilled handling and often involving volume documentation. Often the nature of these claims means they attract media and public attention. Andrea also deals with professional indemnity claims representing solicitors, accountants and other professionals accused of negligence.

Email: andrea.ward@crutes.co.uk | DDI: 0191 233 9761

Susan Howe

Susan joined Crutes as a consultant in July 2009. She was previously head of Litigation at Eversheds LLP in Newcastle having previously practiced at Slaughter and May in London. Susan specialises in complex commercial claims and cross jurisdictional litigation, particularly relating to banking, financial services, documentary credits and international trade law.     

Susan has extensive experience in Inquiries and Investigations work having worked on the Bloody Sunday Inquiry, the Harold Shipman Inquiry and the Rosemary Nelson Inquiry.  Susan also led the team which recovered $42 million for the Argo Fund in the recent land mark case which clarified the term “bank or financial institution”. 

Her recent work includes obtaining injunctive relief simultaneously in several jurisdictions for breach of confidence, conspiracy to procure breach of contract and trademark infringement; defending a £20 million infrastructure project agreement claim; advising on the defence to a product recall of paper products sold to major retailers and allegedly GM contaminated food stuffs; successfully defending a complex pension scheme claim on behalf of a specialist actuarial and employee benefits company and acting for an appointed representative in a multi-million pound dispute with its principal for payment of a guarantee resulting in successful arbitration proceedings.

Susan is named in Legal 500 “popular with clients.  One describes her as ‘patient and clear, and she’s got the ability to explain things really well in Laymen’s terms’”.  In the 2006 edition of Chambers one client noted “It is scary to watch her in negotiations because you sit there thinking that you wouldn’t want to be on the other side”.

Email: susanj.howe@crutes.co.uk | DDI: 0191 233 9757