Lawyer Robert Fenwick Elliott
This Article is all about the Lawyer Robert Fenwick Elliott. This lawyer is well known in the field of Construction Adjudication. If you want to learn more about Construction Adjudication we have an online course for sale on this website.
Stravelles run a course in Adjudication which aims to allow the student to run their own adjudication as the referring or responding party without paying for legal representation.
We support legal representation in more complex cases but we want to encourage especially smaller companies to feel more confident fighting for their contractual rights.
Introduction
Robert Fenwick Elliott is a construction lawyer who founded Fenwick Elliott LLP in London in 1980 and was senior partner of the same firm for twenty two years.
He now lives in Adelaide in South Australia where he works as a barrister.
Elliott specialises in construction and energy law and disputes.
He has also published several books on topics with construction and energy law and is a regular guest speaker on topics within those fields.
At Stravelles, we are interested in him because he is a well known figure in construction law and adjudication and his name threads through most topics on Adjudication.
Education
His education has been typical of any law student in the UK. This includes:
- Degree (BA Hons) in 1972 from the University of Kent at Canterbury in Natural Sciences and English and American Literature.
- Graduate course in the University of Law in Lancaster Gate, London and Chester
Qualifications
Since graduating from University he qualified as a solicitor in 1977 and then after a very successful career in the UK gently ‘retired’ in Australia becoming a barrister in Adelaide.
Career
Elliot was a founding partner of Fenwick Elliott LLP in London in 1980 and then Fenwick Elliott Grace in Adelaide until 2013.
In 2013 became an independent barrister in South Australia, New South Wales, the Federal Court of Australia.
Since 2014 he is an International Member of Keating Chambers in London.
He has worked on hundreds of cases in the construction, engineering and energy sectors.
Elliot has been a Mediator with the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and an Arbitrator with the Institute of Arbitrators and Mediators Australia in 2006.
He has also been an Adjudicator with The Technology and Construction Solicitors’ Association, the Construction Industry Council, the Institute of Building and more recently the government of the Northern Territory.
Board memberships
Elliot was the former chairman, and president of The Technology and Construction Solicitors’ Association.
He was also a board member of the Society of Construction Law Australia.
Pay Now, Argue Later
Elliott is said to have coined the phrase ‘Pay now, Argue Later’ to describe the process of Adjudication in the UK, Australia and all around the world.
In Elliott’s own account of the phrase he said that he met Lord Howie of Troon in the tea room at the house of Lords in early 1996. Lord Howie had been tasked with introducing an adjudication scheme into the construction industry as recommended in the Latham report. Lord Howie had contacted The Technology and Construction Solicitors’ Association to discuss how best this would be done.
Elliott advised him not to make the Adjudicators decision binding as it would lead to endless challenges in the courts defeating the whole intent of adjudication in construction.
In his opinion by making the adjudicators decision enforceable in the short-term it means that say a cash strapped subcontractor can get paid and fix their cash-flow. But if the losing party was not happy with the decision they could still go to the courts and challenge the decision but in the mean time the subcontractor had still been paid.
Elliot predicted that most losing parties would not take up their right to challenge the Adjudicators decision. And he was right.