About Us

---

Clause One Consulting Ltd is a privately owned Ltd company founded by John Austin, a former practicing barrister who has over 30 years’ experience in commercial contracts, claims and dispute resolution. 

John has worked in the construction, rail and energy sectors, including for two well-known QS and contract management consultancies, Systech International and the George Corderoy Group of Companies, during which time he worked as a consultant for some of the UK’s leading industries, including Carillion, Amey, Network Rail, Interserve and BAE Systems in a variety of high profile commercial, contract management and dispute resolution roles.

 John has worked as an employee in the rail industry for Alstom UK in which he managed contractual and commercial issues for the London Underground’s Northern and Jubilee Line fleets of trains. John has also spent 6 years worked as General Counsel to Genesis and IO Consulting, two major international energy engineering practices. 

He is highly experienced in all aspects of contract and claims in the construction, rail, facilities management, international engineering and energy sectors. 

How We Work

The consultancy uses a network of the most experienced and trusted experts within the construction and oil and gas industries.

Construction is often an adversarial business and is not for the faint-hearted. The complexity of modern projects, the tendencies to select the lowest bidder and towards subbie-bashing in terms of risk allocation, programming and payment practices makes for a dog-eat-dog environment. 

This is only partly offset by modern attempts to change the industry culture, through partnering, collaborative teams and the introduction of modern working practices such as BIM.  Consequently, money claims that cannot be resolved end up in dispute.

Experience tells us that the earlier you take action to protect your interests, the better the outcomes tend to be. Save time and money by getting the right advice early, to give you better odds of success.