Julia Norris
Partner, Manchester
Practice areas
Julia is recognised as a Leader in the Field in the Chambers UK Guide and a Leading Lawyer in the Legal 500 UK Guide in Professional Negligence where she is noted as being an ‘excellent litigator’ ‘first class‘ and ‘extremely hard working, very bright and unfazed’. Julia has also been shortlisted for Partner of the Year in the Law Society’s Manchester Legal Awards.
Julia specialises in ‘big ticket’ litigation with a particular expertise in professional negligence claims of all types. Typically instructed on multi million pound matters, Julia’s clients include high profile individuals, sports and media personalities and well known national corporations. She advises on a variety of general litigation matters as well as professional negligence claims and construction litigation. Julia is particularly known for her experience in financial services litigation and was one of the first in her field to be instructed to advise on high profile and controversial film scheme tax partnerships including Eclipse 35. Julia has also been involved in commercial construction contract disputes and is part of the specialist Construction Disputes Team at the firm. Julia has been interviewed and quoted in a number of general and specialist publications including the Telegraph, FT Adviser, Citywire, Money Marketing and IFA Online.
Notable cases
Halsall v Champion Consulting Ltd [2017] EWHC 1079 (QB)
Represented the claimants in a £6M claim arising out of tax avoidance schemes. This widely reported case is believed to be one of the first claims of this type to reach the courts.
Anthony Barness and Otrs v Formation Group Pls & Otrs
Representing one of the 150 defendants in this multi million pound claim brought by over 260 separate claimants. The claims concern tax avoidance schemes, football agent disputes and allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation.
Representing the claimants in a £9M action arising out of EBT and EFURBs tax mitigations schemes in a claim against their tax advisers and accountants.
Represented a high profile claimant in a £22M claim against his former solicitors, a well known national firm, concerning the acquisition of a substantial shareholding of a UK PLC.
Representing the claimants in a £4M+ claim against a firm of solicitors in a loss of opportunity claim.
Represented 300+ claimants in a £3M+ claim against a firm of solicitors arising out of the promotion and sale of a land banking scheme involving four substantial land sites across the UK.
Career history
- FS Legal – Partner, 2014 to date
- Pannone LLP – Senior Associate, 2006 – 2014
- Wacks Caller – Solicitor, 2004 – 2006
What Julia Norris’s clients say:
“We enjoy working with Julia. She has the knack of being proactive and responsive at exactly the right moment according to the needs of the case and of the clients. She is tenacious and very hard-working in her clients’ interests and it is a pleasure to be in the same team as her”.
“Julia Norris and Kit Sorrell have developed a real specialisation and considerable expertise in handling high value and complex claims for damages for professional negligence against tax advisers who have mis-sold tax avoidance products. They are proactive, client focussed and very hard working. They are also easy to work with and great at developing a team involving counsel, solicitors and experts. I would thoroughly recommend them for this type of work.”
“Julia’s kindness, helpfulness and professionalism kept our spirits up, and always seeing light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how petty our queries might have been, by letter, phone or email, we were always dealt with spontaneously, efficiently and never kept waiting.”
