I am head of the Real Estate practice at Fieldfisher and was a member of the firm's Executive Committee between 2010 and 2018. I also head the Property Litigation team at Fieldfisher.
I deal exclusively with contentious (and potentially contentious) issues relating to commercial, mixed use and residential property. This includes dilapidations claims, rent reviews and other landlord and tenant disputes, real property disputes (including covenants, easements and ownership issues), development issues (including rights of light, party walls and boundaries), contentious planning disputes, property-related insolvency issues and secured lending disputes.
I have acted in relation to some of the most significant projects in the market, including the Potters Field site (next to Tower Bridge in London) and a number of leading property cases (including Pennyfeathers Limited –v- Pennyfeathers Property Company Limited and others, which related to a large development site on the Isle of Wight).
My particular specialism is helping developers, occupiers and investors unlock value – litigation being a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.
This has led to me being one of only a handful of 'go-to' property litigators in the market, with Legal 500 2019 praising me for possessing ‘leading property litigation capability’ within an 'excellent' property litigation practice.
In keeping with my approach to contentious property matters, the bulk of my work is either dispute avoidance or, if issues do arise, negotiating the best deal for my clients.
As a Solicitor Advocate (with rights of audience in all courts on commercial matters), I am an accomplished litigator and advocate in the courts and arbitral forums. I am also an Associate of the Institute of Arbitrators and a trained CEDR representative in mediations.
I am a past Chairman of the Property Litigation Association and the first Chairman of the Dilapidations Forum of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). I have also sat on the RICS Boundaries and Party Walls Working Group.
I write widely on contentious property issues and have been published in the Estates Gazette, Property Week and The Times (property and legal sections) and I lecture widely, including my now famous yearly property case round-up, which I deliver annually to such organisations as the Chartered Surveyor's Livery, ACES and some of the large surveying practices.
