Christopher is a Chancery Barrister specialising in the law of real property, landlord and tenant disputes (commercial and residential), contentious probate and trust disputes, property related insolvency and company law matters.
Christopher’s recent property practice has included cases involving adverse possession, boundary disputes, charges and mortgages, the construction and enforcement of covenants, commercial property (consents, dilapidations, forfeiture, 1954 Act, lease renewals, surrender) and residential landlord and tenant (disrepair, possession, rent repayment orders, quiet enjoyment, sham leases, succession, tenancy by estoppel), easements (rights of way, rights of light, rights of drainage, rights of support), escheat, land registration and rectification of the register, ownership of airspace and subsoil, the Party Wall Act, part performance, proprietary estoppel, property related insolvency, restrictive covenants, service charge disputes, shared ownership, strict settlements, trusts for sale and Trusts of land.
Examples of his recent work include:
Advising as to the ownership of airspace above a leasehold property.
Christopher is regularly instructed in contentious probate matters and his recent practice has included cases involving questions about: testamentary capacity, want of knowledge and approval, undue influence, fraudulent calumny, the execution of wills, the removal executors, executor’s duties, devastavit, Beddoe orders, the interpretation of wills, gifts, the Inheritance Act and the intestacy rules.
Christopher is also regularly instructed in trust disputes and has been involved in cases relating to constructive and resulting trusts, the severance of beneficial joint tenancies, strict settlements, trusts for sale, the partition of co-owned land, breaches of fiduciary duty, proprietary estoppel, Pallant v Morgan constructive trusts, protective trusts, replacing trustees and challenges to declarations of trust.
Christopher is regularly instructed in commercial, company and partnership matters and he has particular interest in fiduciary relationships. Christopher’s clients range from large international corporations to small businesses and individuals and he has been instructed in matters relating to acquiescence, agency, assignment, breach of confidence, breach of fiduciary duty, collateral contracts, construction of contractual terms, conversion, consumer protection, copyright, debentures, defamation, derivative actions, directors’ duties, estoppel, equitable remedies, factoring agreements, gains based damages, guarantees, implied terms, indemnities, laches, misrepresentation, partnership disputes, piercing the corporate veil, penalty clauses, rectification of the share register, rescission, repudiation, sale of goods, sham contracts, supply of services, specific performance, unjust enrichment, unfair prejudice and waiver. Examples of his recent work include:
Christopher appears in the High Court and District Registries in insolvency matters and has recently been instructed in matters relating to transactions at an undervalue, preferences, post-petition dispositions, applications to set aside statutory demands, bankruptcy petitions and whether there are exceptional circumstances to postpone an order for sale.
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