Practice Overview
Richard is an experienced advocate with a broad Business and Property Work practice, covering the Commercial, Commercial Fraud, Insolvency and Property departments, with extensive experience of acting in an advisory capacity or drafting, and in advocacy of all kinds.
Richard’s practice has a particular emphasis on the commercial litigation sphere, including contractual disputes and company and partnership matters, including shareholders’ disputes and unfair prejudice petitions.
Richard also has extensive experience in insolvency and property matters, and also matters of trusts and chancery within the commercial context.
Richard is comfortable and has experience acting both as a senior junior individually, and as part of a wider Counsel or legal team.
Richard has been recognised for many years as a Leading Individual in Chambers & Partners in Commercial Dispute Resolution and Restructuring/Insolvency, and a Leading Junior in The Legal 500 in Company and Insolvency. Richard has been described as: “technically excellent whilst also commercially minded”; “very thorough with excellent attention to detail…great with clients, calm and unflappable on his feet”; as having “a magical vision to find ways through difficult cases and pathways to resolutions that others don’t see”; and as “strong in commercial litigation, particularly corporate and shareholder litigation. He is a go-to for depth of knowledge, client management, and skill”.
Richard was appointed to the Attorney General’s Regional Panel in 2015 and has been on the A Panel for many years. As such, Richard has experience of dealing with government cases including directors’ disqualification.
Reported or notable cases in which Richard has appeared or been involved include the following:
Royle v Together Commercial Finance Ltd [2024] EWHC 2915 (Ch) – led by Lesley Anderson KC and involving numerous other silks – concerning allegations of various breaches on the part of a lender and other parties, said to amount to some £40,000,000
Re Alam Investments Ltd [2023] EWHC 1460 (Ch) – led by Mark Cawson KC and later Paul Chaisty KC – 42 day trial of preliminary issues in 5 linked actions, amongst other hearings, concerning control of a family supermarket business and a family history spanning several decades, with the actions including an unfair prejudice petition, derivative action, a possession claim and claims for various economic torts
Re G – 2023 – unrep – case concerning fictitious citations generated by unchecked use of Chat GPT – reported in Law Society Gazette, 29 May 2023
Re Batra – unrep – case concerning the scope of the validation order regime under the Insolvency Act 1986 – commentary in Insolvency Intelligence, 2019, Issue 4, p 159 and Sealy v Milman’s Annotated Guide to the Insolvency Legislation
Absolute Living Developments Ltd (in Liquidation) v DS7 Ltd [2018] EWHC 1432 (Ch) & [2018] EWHC 1717 (Ch) – led by David Mohyuddin KC – cases concerning principles for award of security for costs in relation to companies in liquidation and committal for breach of freezing injunctions
Re Budniok [2017] EWHC 368 (Ch) and related cases – acting as part of the legal and Counsel team for the Crown concerning the interpretation of the then newly instituted bankruptcy application process
Re Warwick – [2017] EWHC 2610 (Ch) – concerning distribution of funds in relation to a company limited by guarantee in liquidation, including concerning deceased or dissolved past members, in the absence of provisions in the Articles as to the same
Montpellier Estates Limited v Leeds City Council [2013] EWHC 166 QB – assisting generally in the preparation of and dealing with various interlocutory hearings
Autofocus Limited/Accident Exchange Limited litigation (2012-13) – assisting in the appeals in numerous cases arising from the fraudulent manufacturing of “expert” evidence in credit hire cases
Litigation arising from the Buncefield Oil depot disaster (2008) – assisting a national law firm in relation to an action against the manufacturer of safety devices at the depot
