Chris Nott

Senior Partner
Overview Recent work Speaking engagements Credentials

Chris Nott is a founder of Capital Law and a director of the firm’s integrated HR management consultancy, Capital People.

Since founding Capital Law in 2006, Chris has seen it grow to over 150 employees, with a turnover of over £10million.

He’s been a commercial lawyer for over 30 years, working mainly on business disputes, such as a £100m claim by employees against their former CEO who had misappropriated their shares, and Cardiff City’s dispute with Sam Hammam.

In 2016, he developed Capital Dispute Finance, a £50m fund to enable Capitals clients to finance litigation. For this, Capital was highly commended by The Financial Times Innovation Awards, The Lawyer, and The Legal Week, and won the Cardiff Business Award.

Former Prince of Wales’ Business Ambassador for Wales and Chair of the Welsh Government’s Financial and Professional Services sector panel, Chris is now Vice Chair of the Ministerial Advisory Board. In 2016, he received an OBE for services to Business and Economic Development in Wales.

He’s also a director of the Cardiff Blues, and a founder of Knife and Fork food.

I have worked with Chris for almost 15 years in one way or another. In that period, he has never let me down, a pretty rare quality in business. Chris listens very carefully and responds with pragmatic, understandable advice. He is very lateral thinking and provides solutions that make commercial sense. He’s also a great guy to chew the fat with a very good shoulder to lean on.

Christopher Winston-Smith, CWS Partners

 

So much has happened in the nearly twenty year I’ve known Chris and I’ve learned such a lot. I always regarded him as my secret weapon if I got myself into deep water. Thanks again for all your help.

Alan Padbury, Westdale Press

  • Blocking the Government’s attempt to force a University to merge.
  • Acting for a football club in a £multi-million dispute with a former shareholder
  • A football transfer fraud case.
  • A £100m claim by employees against their former CEO who had stolen their share ownership scheme.
  • Advising the liquidators of a defrauded private company about a substantial claim against the former Managing Director.
  • Acting for the beneficiaries of a substantial estate against Trustees who had misappropriated companies owned by it, and recovering very substantial damages.
  • Advising a company about defending a claim by a secretive Panamanian lender to collect a loan allegedly made a decade before its current owners bought it. Our team worked with 1 Essex Court to develop the unusual circumstances into sustainable defences and, ultimately, achieved settlement the day before trial.

Chris often gives speeches and talks, participates in panel discussions, and gives private talks to teams within organisations. He covers topics such as legaltech, innovation, working responsibly, employee wellbeing, as well as business strategy and government policy.

Here are some of the talks that he’s done recently:

Legal Futures Innovation Conference 11/2018 “The current state of innovation”
Hays South Wales salary survey launch event 11/2018 “Working responsibly”
Gender Bridge 10/2018 “How do employers tackle pay inequality and what are the real issues at play”
Metro and Me 10/2018 “Opening speech and chair of panel discussion on “what does the Metro mean for the Valleys?”
Cardiff Book Festival 09/2018 “Economy debate: what does the future hold? sponsored by Quantum Advisory
British Airways IAG Legal Away Day 06 /2018 “The impact and opportunities of Legaltech for lawyers and in-house legal teams”
SRA Innovate: Making Business Ideas a Reality 06/2018 “Practical innovation – making business ideas a reality”
FairPlay Leadership Development Day 06/2018 “Talent driven organisation and high-performance teams”
FairPlay Employer Leaders’ Forum 06/2018 “Women represented”
Welsh Contact Centre Forum Business Seminar 06/ 2018 “Skills development in Wales for the F&PS sector under the Economic Action Plan”
TheCityUK National Conference 11/ 2017 “Skills and talent across the UK”
Trustee Week Launch 11/2017 “Supporting employees to become trustees”
Hays Salary Guide Launch 11/2017 “The importance of working responsibly for employee recruitment and retention”
Living Wage Week Launch event 11/ 2017 “Living wage for Wales”
Pobl Senior Leadership Team event 09/ 2017 “Working responsibly is good for business”
IWA Conference: Building the Future 09/ 2017 “Sharing and developing infrastructure solutions for Wales”
A Conversation on Homelessness 09/ 2017 “What can the business community do to help alleviate homelessness in South Wales?”
Wrexham Business Professionals 09/ 2017 “Powering regional prosperity – ethical entrepreneurship and responsible business”
Digital Tuesday at Tramshed 09/ 2017 “Risktech”
Responsible People – Pobl Group 09/ 2017 “What does it mean to work responsibly, and how can companies do so?”
Retail Week General Counsel 06/ 2017 “How to make legal dynamic in today’s tech-driven retails world”

 

Upcoming speaking engagements:

Chris will be speaking about entrepreneurship and how to be your own boss at the Big Ideas Wales event on March 27th at Liberty Stadium.

If you have any questions about the above events, or if you’d like Chris to speak at one of your events, please contact his Assistant, Ffion, here.

Career

  • Founder and Senior Partner of Capital (2006 – present)
  • Founder & Partner of Palser Grossman (1992 – 2006)
  • Part time Judge in Birmingham for eight years. Chris sat in employment tribunals. His main (very modest) claim to judicial fame is that he was never appealed. 
  • Partner Edward Lewis & Co (1988 – 1992)
  • Solicitor, Simmons & Simmons (1984 – 1988)
  • Loosemoores (1981 – 1984)

Education

  • University of West of England: Law Society Finals
  • University of Wales Aberystwyth: Evan Davies Scholarship LLB Law 2:1 (1977 – 1980)

Memberships

  • Vice-Chair of the Welsh Government’s Ministerial Advisory Board
  • Chair of the Welsh Government’s Financial & Professional Services sector panel
  • Initial Chair and then member of the Central Cardiff Enterprise Zone
  • Member of the Task & Finish Group for Development Bank for Wales
  • Director of University of South Wales
  • Chairman of The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, (2007-2011)
  • Non-Executive Director of Cardiff Blues
  • Founder and Chairman of Knife and Fork Limited (pub and restaurant group)
  • Trustee of Monmouth Haberdashers Schools Trust
  • Member of BBC Audience Council for Wales

Languages

  • French
Practice Areas
Contact

Capital Law Limited is a company (number 05841213) registered in England and Wales, whose registered office is at Registered Office: Capital Building, Tyndall Street, Cardiff CF10 4AZ T: 0333 2400 489 | E: info@capitallaw.co.uk ¦ VAT no. 287 1463 77. Capital Law Limited is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority SRA ID: 644688.