by David Cooper
“Clubbing on a Monday night?” Soraya shot back her response and let it hang. Avery showed no sign of answering, so Soraya ticked another line in her notebook and moved to her next issue.
“Let’s step ahead to the Tuesday, the nineteenth. So on your first full day in your new business, you won your first client, Mr Chris Thompson.”
“Was that when it was?”
Soraya smiled patiently. “Let’s find his email to Miss Rutherford, shall we?” She waited for everyone to catch up. “You’ll see that it was timed in at Ripple at 09.07 on the nineteenth.”
“OK.”
“And this was before you had an office, a website, any kind of shop window? Before you’d launched, before you’d advertised?”
“He was a mate. He’d found out what I was doing.”
Soraya was on the verge of ignoring the answer, but changed her mind at the last moment.
“What kind of mate?”
“Er…just a drinking mate, men’s talk, football, that kind of thing.”
Soraya placed two large red ticks beside one of the notes she had made earlier.
“And on that very same date, you were in so much of a hurry to get your new company ready to match the description on Mr Thompson’s email, that you misspelt its new name on the Companies House form?”
Avery glared back.
“We all make mistakes.”
“Indeed. One last point about Mr Thompson for now. Did you give him a template for his email to Miss Rutherford?”
“Yes I did. He asked me for help. I said so in my statements.”
“Thank you. I’ll come back to him. Let’s move to the second candidate that you won for your new business on the nineteenth, Mark Davenport. Another paralegal, just like Mr Thompson?”
“Yes.”
“Another paralegal, who was coincidentally an existing client of Ripple?”
“He was another mate, same as Chris. He found out what I’d been up to.”
“Let’s compare his email to Ripple with Mr Thompson’s, shall we?”
While everyone else set about the task of turning to the relevant page, Avery protested.
“Look, I told you, I gave Chris a template. He must have shared it with Mark.”
“So you didn’t volunteer it for Mr Davenport too, after making a few changes?”
“I don’t know what you mean. I don’t think so.”
Soraya chose to wait until Judge Banks had read the two pages and replaced them in her binder.
“Then we have Mr Dale Rider on the Wednesday afternoon. I’ll take you to his email to Ripple as well, if you wish. Can you explain how he came to be emailing Miss Rutherford in those terms?”
“He found out too. He was a mate. How much more do I have to spell it out?”
“I don’t think I need you to explain anything more about him.” Soraya noticed the judge looking for the last of the three paralegals’ emails. “Isn’t the only sensible explanation here that you enticed all three of them away from Ripple?”
“I don’t agree.”
“And that you gave them all a standard form of words to use, leaving them to adjust it and to try to give the impression it was all a coincidence?”
“Again, I don’t agree. I think Karen just jumped to conclusions. She was often like that.”
Soraya looked down at her notes and saw that her next section was headed ‘when did Craven come on board’. She drew a large asterisk next to it and added ‘save to end’.
“Now, on the following Monday, did you send out a mailshot to a number of local law firms?”
“That sounds about right.”
“Let’s look at it. The specimen here is the one you sent to Fiona Bingham at Hunter & Co.” Soraya waited for everyone to find the page. “Your logo for Wave Recruitment. Up in the top right, a blue sea image with waves. It’s really not that much different from Ripple’s logo, is it?”
“I wouldn’t say that. It’s just a play on my name. And anyway, I reckon I may have done some work on the Ripple design for Karen long ago.”
“Really.” Soraya was untroubled by the new explanation, never previously aired, and batted it aside with a single word. “And this so-called mission statement too, ‘Ripple’s Out – Ride the Wave’. Deliberately targeting and misleading Ripple’s law firm clients?”
“I don’t agree. I’m entitled to say where I used to work. You couldn’t stop me referring to Ripple on my LinkedIn entry, could you?”
“I ask the questions, Mr Avery, not you. Surely this was a blatant attempt to target and mislead Ripple’s law firm clients?”
“No, I sent it to a lot more firms. I’d been trawling the directories.”
“So you were unaware that Fiona Bingham was a friend of Miss Rutherford, rather than Hunters’ head of recruitment?”
Avery shrugged and did not attempt to answer. Soraya moved to her next issue.
“Did you make an unsolicited cold call just before Easter to one of Ripple’s candidates, by the name of Gemma Gabriel?”
“I’d been given a tip off about her, from a colleague at her firm.”
“It would be very unusual, wouldn’t it, for colleagues in the legal profession to tip off recruitment consultants without permission from the prospective candidate?”
“Not necessarily.” Avery’s response was hesitant and grudging. “Anyway, Karen was always too cautious to follow up leads like that. She might not have been running on the spot for so long if she’d been more enterprising.”
“And you clearly did not know at the time that Miss Gabriel had put her job search on hold, because she had decided to take a career break in Australia?”
“That’s what she’s making out. And she’s not here.”
Judge Banks’ expression darkened, although she did not intervene. Soraya let Avery’s technical evasion sink in, before switching to a new line of attack.
“Now, immediately after Easter, you moved into your new office on Brindleyplace, is that correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And your new website for Wave Recruitment went live on that date too, is that correct?”
“As far as I remember, yes.”
Soraya was on the verge of asking a further question, then paused and made a note. ‘Hold for paralegals – greater impact.’
“Mr Avery, I’d like to ask you about how you prefer to make use of technology. Would it be fair to say that you are very much a man for phone calls and texts, rather than emails?”
“I suppose so. It saves a lot of time.”
“And I’m not for one minute suggesting there’s anything wrong with your practice of tape recording conversations, but that also shows your love of technology, doesn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t disagree with that.” Soraya noticed that the answer had not been lost on Judge Banks.
“But we haven’t seen any tape transcripts in your disclosure material, other than the one from the original meeting with Miss Rutherford after she asked you to put your recorder on the table?”
“I don’t normally do transcripts. I just refresh my memory with what’s on tape. I don’t tend to keep them.”
“And no text transcripts or copies either?”
“I’m on seven day auto-delete. I can’t see the point in keeping clutter for the sake of it.”
“Were you not told very early on in this dispute that you needed to preserve all of your electronic communications until the action was over?”
The question unnerved Avery. He was acutely aware that he needed to protect himself in a manner that did not betray Wagstaff or let slip any of the borderline legal advice that had touched upon the issue.
“Er…it was probably too late by then. As I said, I’m on seven day auto-delete for everything.”
“How unfortunate. But you still kept copies of a text message exchange with Mr Craven, didn’t you?”
“Only for posterity. Come on, that was my first paid introduction. I was going to frame it. You�
��re surely not saying there was anything wrong in that?”
Soraya ignored Avery’s minor outburst.
“You were then asked to obtain and disclose copies of your itemised mobile phone records, weren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“And you fought that tooth and nail, didn’t you?”
Avery shrugged, not answering.
“And once the phone records were analysed, they showed that you had been in fairly extensive communication with Mr Thompson, Mr Davenport and Mr Rider over the four day period before you resigned from Ripple?”
This time Avery’s tone was one of petulance.
“I’ve already told you. They were friends.”
“Four calls with Mr Thompson on the afternoon of Thursday the fourteenth, the day of your first redundancy consultation meeting, and four more before the following Monday evening, as well as a number of texts?”
Avery did not answer. Soraya changed tack.
“Your Honour, the analysis that my instructing solicitors made of the itemised phone records is in the blue binder. I can walk Mr Avery through it if he insists that I do so. For reasons unknown to me, Mr Avery’s solicitors chose not to agree it as an accurate summary ahead of this trial, so it was not included in the main bundle.”
Soraya’s glance in Collins’ direction did not elicit any explanation. Judge Banks nodded, and Soraya continued.
“Seven calls on the Friday to Mr Davenport, and six to Mr Rider, and again a number of texts?”
“If you say so.” Avery replied.
“It’s all consistent with you trying your hardest to entice them away from Ripple at a time before you’d quit, isn’t it?”
“I don’t agree.”
Soraya turned another page.
“It’s not in dispute, is it, that Wave Recruitment introduced all three of the paralegals to new employers before the end of April?”
“Yes, but one of them failed probation, so I had to agree a refund.”
“Then in the course of April, you were engaged by three more Ripple candidates, namely Rod Hillier, Stephanie Russon and Godfrey Nicholas?”
“Yeah.”
“And we’ve seen no disclosure of any letters, emails, transcripts, or file notes that might throw any light on how they came to retain you?”
Avery scowled. “Sometimes candidates don’t want anything to be put in writing. They don’t like paper trails in case it backfires on them.”
“Do you accept Miss Rutherford’s evidence that Miss Russon and Mr Nicholas switched their allegiance on April the eighteenth, and Mr Hillier on the twenty fifth?”
“If you say so.”
“All immediately after the injunction application was refused, and before Miss Rutherford sent out her defensive marketing mailshot?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“And you also managed to introduce both Miss Russon and Mr Hillier to new employers?”
“Yes, I did. Just shows how sensible they both were to get back in touch with me.”
As she thought once more of the commission she could have earned, Karen directed a piercing glare towards Avery. Soraya ignored the comment altogether.
“Have you placed Mr Nicholas?”
“No, he’s a no hoper.”
“That’s not the most precise term I’ve ever heard in this court, Mr Avery.” The intervention came from Judge Banks. “May I ask you to re-express it?”
“Well, he’s in his fifties and he’s done nothing but local government law. He was made redundant in a round of council cuts. No one in private practice would be likely to touch him.”
“But he was still a lost opportunity to Ripple, though?” Soraya asked.
“As far as I’m concerned, he came to me of his own accord, so no.”
“OK, I’m going to take you back to Mr Craven.” Soraya knew that she needed to keep looking for a weakness on that particular head of claim. “Earlier on, you were quite adamant that you did not meet him in Ripple’s office in the week when you were first told you might be redundant.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I said.”
“Or at any other time?”
“Or at any other time.”
“And in Mr Craven’s witness statement, he says he was interviewed at Bastable & Co on Thursday the twenty first.”
“And your point is?”
“Spare me the insolence, Mr Avery. Are you saying he was never a client of Ripple?”
“Yes, I am. Karen and Dawn both agreed that there were no records showing he was.”
“Not quite the same point, Mr Avery, but I’ll let that rest. Are you saying that he was a friend of yours, like Mr Thompson and the others?”
“No.”
Soraya weighed up her next question. She knew the risk she would be taking if Avery covered his tracks further in explaining how he claimed to have introduced Craven to Bastable & Co. A new document produced or mentioned, in rabbit from the hat fashion, would be a real blow…
“So are you saying that he was just a lucky break?”
“I suppose so.” Avery hesitated, and Soraya willed him to continue. “I’d spoken to him a long time ago, and nothing ever came of it. He might have changed his mind. He obviously had my contact details, and it was lucky for him that he got back in touch when I’d got the referral from Bastables. Especially as Karen would never have got it.”
Soraya knew her gamble had paid off. In his evident desire to seize any possible chance to denigrate Karen, Avery had answered the question in a very imprecise manner.
“Let’s just look back at that diary entry once more, Mr Avery. It’s just possible, isn’t it, that everyone’s made a mistake over Mr Craven’s interview date, and he was actually interviewed a week earlier?”
“I don’t think so.”
“In which case, you’d have diverted a business opportunity from Ripple in the process, while you were still a Ripple employee and director?”
As Avery shook his head dismissively, Collins stood up. “Your Honour, this idle speculation serves no useful purpose.”
“You may be right, Mr Collins, but it’s a fair point to put to this witness so that it’s denied on the record. I shall infer from his gesture that he has done exactly that. No doubt Mr Squire and Mr Craven will be asked to address the point as well. It need not be laboured now, Miss Modaresi. Is there anything else?”
“Just one point, Your Honour. Please look at the diary entry for Thursday the fourteenth again, Mr Avery. In the course of your work as a local recruitment consultant here in Birmingham, have you ever heard Bastable & Co described as ‘Bastards’?”
“No, never.” Avery’s answer was immediate, and accompanied with an indignant shake of the head.
“One moment.” Soraya turned to Lennie and Karen on the bench behind her, and conferred with them before facing the judge once more. “I’ve no further questions.”
“I don’t have anything either.” Judge Banks replied. “Any re-examination, Mr Collins?”
As Collins ran through a number of running repairs with Avery, Soraya looked at the clock and gathered her thoughts for what she knew was likely to be a controversial submission. Collins was soon finished with Avery, and the judge allowed him to return to the benches.
“That’s a convenient point to adjourn for today, I think. Is there anything else to raise ahead of tomorrow?”
“Your Honour, one matter, if I may.” Soraya stood up once more. “You may already have inferred from the statements of the three witnesses due to be called tomorrow morning, Mr Thompson, Mr Davenport and Mr Rider, that there are serious issues of credibility hanging upon how they came to switch allegiance from Ripple to Wave. One of those issues is the email template that they all used in the process of doing so. Mr Avery’s evidence this afternoon, if anything, has increased the need for the court to be vigilant against any risk of collusion. With this in mind, I would request that you order that those witnesses are called into court individually when their evidence is
to be heard, and are not present in court to hear each other providing answers to cross-examination before they have given their own evidence.”
“That seems a fair point to me, Miss Modaresi. Mr Collins?”
Collins rose to his feet again, his annoyance plain to see. In civil law disputes, it was unusual for witnesses to be excluded from court in the manner that Soraya had proposed. To his mind, the judge’s willingness to concur was an implicit slight on Avery’s side of the story.
“Your Honour, I think that my learned friend is taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut. We are, after all, speaking of witnesses who knew each other…”
“Sorry, Mr Collins, we only have their word for that. I shall so order. Does that conclude matters for today?”
Judge Banks was quickly on her way. Avery’s entourage wasted little time in packing up and leaving, and Collins restricted himself to one final comment.
“Bit below the belt, that?”
Before Soraya could respond, Collins turned his back and went off in search of his clients. Lennie was soon at her side.
“Nice one. That’ll really put the cat among the pigeons.”
Karen’s reaction to what she had been watching over the previous two hours was considerably more tactile, as she all but swept Soraya off her feet with a heartfelt embrace.
“I’ve been waiting for someone to give Wayne a good kicking for ages. You were bloody brilliant!”
Soraya carefully disentangled herself.
“Thanks. I’d have to admit I really enjoyed that too. But I can’t promise you the same tomorrow. Squire’s going to be a real challenge. And Craven’s going to be an unknown quantity.”
* * * * *
“That’s a pain. I’d have hoped Wayne would have given a better account of himself.”
“Me too, Rufus. It pains me to say it, but their Counsel was really at the top of her game today. Pity they didn’t stick to that senile old fool they used first time.”
Wagstaff had headed straight for Squire’s office in the city centre for a debrief after the hearing had finished, once Collins had confirmed there was no need for any follow up conference and headed off to catch a train back to London. Hutchings had made to accompany Wagstaff into Squire’s office, but found himself brusquely dismissed.
