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Tracey Singlehurst-Ward

Tracey is a partner in the firm and sits within the dispute resolution team. Tracey practises in general commercial and company disputes, and complements her strong core practice with specialist expertise in intellectual property, sports law, information law and privacy and media.

Tracey has extensive experience within the sports sector and is currently a non-executive director of British Gymnastics. Prior to that, she spent 8 years as the legal and policy director for Welsh Gymnastics. Tracey has experience providing advice to a wide range of large sporting bodies ranging from clubs such as Cardiff Blues to governing bodies such as the British Boxing Board of Control, the Welsh Rugby Union and individual high profile athletes. She is regularly retained to advise on matters including disciplinary, doping, membership and governance issues, contractual disputes and insurance disputes.

Tracey also advises on complex intellectual property matters including copyright and trade mark infringement, breach of confidence and passing off. She litigates in the IPEC and Chancery Divisions of the High Court, and provides advisory services on exploitation and protection of intellectual property also. She is often asked to advise on complex IT disputes, and has recently advised both public and private sector clients in relation to £multi-million IT contract claims.

She regularly acts in injunctive proceedings, both on the claimant and defendant side, and has significant experience in dealing with director-shareholder disputes and restrictive covenant cases. Tracey also has extensive experience in representing both claimants and defendants in libel claims and information law claims arising from breaches of data protection legislation.

Tracey’s client base is largely UK based, with elements of international litigation, and clients ranging from individuals to multi-national private and public companies and governmental bodies. Tracey’s experience has established a track record of success at trial, in arbitration and in ADR, and she prides herself on being focused on client objectives, understanding those and the commercial, political and other realities within which clients operate to secure the best outcomes.

Some notable reported cases include:
CRAFT v Pope & Others [2022] – Successfully acting for a company limited by guarantee pursuing its former directors for breach of directors’ duties and breach of fiduciary duties.

Weiss Technik UK Ltd v Davies & Ors [2022] – (not to trial) – Acting for two defendants in defending claims for breach of contract, confidence, copyright infringement and database right infringement.

Double Negative Ltd v Mortelette and Others: QBD 27 Mar 2018 (contempt of court) – Acting for a private individual in defence of alleged copyright infringement claims brought by the makers of the Marvel movies.

Zurich Insurance PLC v Maccaferri Limited [2016] (Ct of A)- Successfully acting for the insured in a dispute against its insurer around a notification clause.

Bruce Baker v British Boxing Board of Control [2014] – Acting for the BBBBoC in successfully defending injunctive proceedings brought by a manager.

Work history

Tracey joined Hugh James upon graduating from Cardiff University in 2007. She completed her training contract working in the commercial dispute resolution and corporate teams, building a wealth of knowledge and experience in these fields. Tracey became a senior associate in 2012 and progressed to become a partner in 2016.