What we do
Harcus Parker is a commercial litigation and dispute resolution firm. We are one of the UK’s leading specialists in group claims and class actions. We act in complex, large-scale commercial cases.
We are prepared to work at our own risk in the right cases and we have unrivalled links with the funding and insurance markets.
Our history
Damon Parker founded Harcus Parker in 2019. Damon and his team built a highly successful Group and Commercial Litigation Practice at Harcus Sinclair LLP, acting in many of the UK’s highest profile group actions on behalf of shareholders, investors and consumers. They obtained the first financial services Group Litigation Order (or ‘GLO’) following the introduction of the GLO regime for managing large groups of claimants in the early 2000s, and helped to establish the use of litigation funding to enable claimants to pursue their claims. They were responsible for bringing the UK’s first and also one of its largest securities group actions, opening up new options for shareholders and paving the way for the numerous similar actions which have been pursued in recent years.
Since 2019, our firm has grown from a team of 12 to more than 50 professionals. At the same time, our practice has developed to encompass a full spectrum of litigation and dispute resolution services. This includes the establishment of practice teams dedicated to handling competition, cyber, data & privacy, and media, information & communications disputes.
We continue to adapt to the changing landscape of litigation and dispute resolution, ensuring that we can continue to deliver the highest quality service to our clients.
Our social impact
As a campaigning law firm, we are committed to bringing about positive social change, raising awareness of legal rights, and promoting access to justice.
Many of our cases highlight critical failings in regulatory oversight and corporate governance, societal issues such as the gender pay gap, and address major financial scandals, instances of hidden conflicts of interest, fraud, and ‘greenwashing’. Our cases often capture the attention of national and international media, with our lawyers invited to share insights.
See our campaigns page to find out about the firm’s current group cases and class actions, and how to become involved. These campaigns include:
Tesco Equal Pay Action
In the Tesco Equal Pay Action, we represent clients who are challenging unequal remuneration practices. The case seeks to rectify wage disparity between predominantly female in store workers and warehouse workers, where the roles tend to be performed by men.
The case against Tesco, as the UK’s largest private-sector employer, offers the chance to drive change in corporate attitudes to gender wage disparities.
The Mortgage Prisoner Litigation
The Mortgage Prisoner Litigation tackles the issue of ‘mortgage prisoners’, who are homeowners trapped in high-interest mortgages. Our clients’ case challenges lenders’ interest rate setting practises, and aims to ensure that borrowers who are unable to switch mortgages are charged a fair rate of interest.
The case also raises the issue of how the UK Government handled the aftermath of the collapse of Northern Rock and the decisions it made when selling portfolios of ex-Northern Rock mortgages to third-party asset managers.
The Energy Litigation
The Energy Litigation is challenging undisclosed commissions paid by energy companies to brokers. These hidden commissions have contributed to inflate the energy bills of small businesses and other community organisations, an issue which has been brought into sharp relief by the ‘cost of living crisis’ over the last few years.
The Home REIT Claim
The Home REIT claim addresses a company’s failure to fulfil its commitment to provide affordable, high-quality homes for the homeless. Levels of homelessness and the provision of accommodation for people who are homeless or at risk of homeless is a major national problem.
Home REIT raised capital on the basis that it would use this money to purchase property and increase the supply of accommodation for vulnerable people. However, evidence has emerged which points to a significant proportion of the company’s property being used for other purposes, or the company depleting it’s funds by significantly overpaying for property.
ENABLING ACCESS TO JUSTICE
Where large numbers of people have been affected by another’s conduct, it is often the case that individual loss is so small that it makes an individual action economically unviable because of the costs involved in litigating against well-resourced opponents. Our approach addresses this by bringing together individuals, institutions and corporates who have similar claims. Through collective action, claimants benefit from cost savings, shared strategies, and access to litigation funding and insurance markets. This allows them to participate in litigation on an equal footing.
Furthermore, a lack of access to legal advice or awareness of the full scope of legal rights can hinder individuals from pursuing good claims. We proactively investigate allegations of misconduct, identifying claims that affect large groups. By doing so, we help to ensure that potential claimants are better informed and can assert their rights.
OUR PARTNERSHIPS
Our work is supported by partnerships and relationships across diverse sectors. These include our partnership with the homeless charity Crisis on the mortgage prisoner matter, our work with grassroots campaign groups such as UK Mortgage Prisoners, and organisations such as the SME Alliance and UK Hospitality support our work on the Business Energy Litigation.
In the Whistletree Mortgage Prisoner case, we have partnered with Support Through Court, a charity whose aim is to provide practical and emotional support to vulnerable individuals who find themselves facing court alone. Harcus Parker will donate 2% of our fee to Support Through Court in the event of a successful outcome.