Elizabeth Scandrett

Elizabeth is a member of the litigation department at Russells, where she assists clients in navigating their way through a broad range of disputes in the music, art and entertainment industries.

Elizabeth trained at a well-known international law firm specialising in litigation and has particular expertise in commercial and corporate disputes. Since qualifying as a solicitor in 2015, Elizabeth has advised clients on a wide variety of legal matters, including those involving breaches of contractual obligations, termination of contracts, shareholder disputes, breaches of directors’ duties, management and publishing disputes, copyright and trademark infringement, and contentious probate. She has litigated in the High Court, the County Court and the Court of Appeal and is experienced in handling complex, high-value cases involving significant volumes of documentary disclosure, whilst being equally dedicated to the more discrete but no less important smaller matters which she manages.

Elizabeth combines creativity with pragmatism to identify the right course of action in each case, keeping in mind what is realistic, achievable and in the best interests of her client. She is experienced in Alternative Dispute Resolution, including mediation, and is an advocate of its use in appropriate cases but she does not shy away from adopting a robust approach where needed.

Work highlights:

• Acting as a trusted advisor to the Estate of George Michael on an ongoing basis from 2017 to present.
• Successfully defending the owners of Bob Marley’s musical composition copyrights against an ownership claim brought in the Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court by a third party music publisher.  See: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/IPEC/2022/1469.html
• Obtaining a High Court Judgment and an indemnity costs order in favour of Diana Langer, a minority shareholder in the SophistiCats Gentlemen’s Clubs, in respect of an unfair prejudice petition brought under section 994 of the Companies Act and acting for Mrs Langer in her successful, precedent-setting response to an important appeal on costs dealt with by the Court of Appeal.  See: https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2020/3485.html and https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2021/1792.html
• Achieving an out-of-court settlement for minority shareholders in a global music publishing business after bringing an unfair prejudice petition in the High Court against the majority shareholder and director of the relevant companies.

“Life is so uncertain: you never know what could happen. One way to deal with that is to keep your pajamas washed.”

– Haruki Murakami