Embedded Files
Grounding the Resolution in Litigation Reality
My role as mediator is rooted in two decades of high-stakes litigation experience. I understand the pressures you face: the limited costs budget, the challenge of managing an unreasonable client, and the need for objective, professional advice. My purpose is to serve as a credible, informed voice in the room that supports the advice you are already giving to your client.
Proven Experience Where It Matters
I trained as a litigation solicitor in West London, qualifying in 2004, and have litigated actively ever since, including over a decade as an equity partner and Head of Department in the South West.
Specialist Expertise: My bread and butter areas are contested Property and Probate litigation, including boundaries, commercial agreements, and corporate disputes.
Breadth of Practice: I've successfully run most strategies known to English litigation across an enormous range of cases, from European procurement and faulty goods to esoteric matters like mundic reports and unregistered land.
High-Stakes Exposure: I've worked with (and against) some of the biggest law firms in the country, surprising and upsetting them through strategic advocacy. I know how litigators think and come assembled with a litigator's instincts.
Legal Precedent: I have won challenging cases that resulted in reliable precedents now cited in practitioners’ textbooks, including the White Book.
While trial is the ultimate objective, and litigants should never be denied their right to a final determination, my experience on the front line forged my belief in mediation.
In all those challenging cases, very few parties left the process truly happy. Winners regretted the work and cost, and not one of them enjoyed enduring it.
My commitment to mediation stems from this reality. I approach disputes aware that they are conducted under the shadow of litigation and trial, but I know that it would be a tragedy to miss the possibility of unlocking the dispute if the possibility exists—and it nearly always does.
A Human and Approachable Process
I have been deep in the trenches and understand the stresses litigation professionals shoulder. That is why I mediate with a commitment to clarity and accessibility.
Direct Communication: I use plain and direct words and straightforward language unless the context forces us to play a lawyer.
The Person Behind the Mediator: I am a normal person, easy to work with. I enjoy motorbikes, all-grain home brewing, barbecues, and the usual dad-stuff. I believe that being relatable helps manage the inevitable tension of a high-stakes negotiation.
Logistics & Location: I live with my family in Falmouth (mainland Britain’s most South Westerly mediator), but I am happy to travel anywhere your case requires.
Accreditation and Contact
Accreditation: I am a registered mediator with the Civil Mediation Council, registration number 2345. I was guided and trained by some of the absolute best currently practising in the UK.
Next Step: Want to know more? Call me directly on 01326 546885, start a WhatsApp conversation, or email to begin a confidential discussion about your matter.
Ellis -v- Ellis High Court (Chancery Division) (Costs): 2025 HHJ Berkeley: as vindication of the strategic decision to issue a claim to prove an estate despite protests of a lack of letter of claim, and of the strategic decision to reject an offer of mediation made without full disclosure. I acted as Claimant's solicitors at the time of those events. Authority for the proposition that rejecting an offer to mediate is not necessarily fatal. Officially reported.
Dunstan -v- Ball, High Court (Chancery Division): 2024 HHJ Berkley leading authority: As to whether a will can be proved where the attesting witness was not called at trial to give evidence of the attestation. Reliable authority for the proposition that a will can be pronounced in solemn form regardless of non-attendance of the attesting witness where there is no active challenge to the attestation from the other party. Officially reported.
Dallimore v Trezise, [2024] EWHC 837 (Ch), HHJ Blohm KC. Whether land used by a riding school was partnership property in the absence of accounting records and proof of source of purchase funds. Reported but not yet publicly published.
James -v- Scudamore, High Court (Business and Property) 2023 HHJ Matthews leading authority: as to the execution of a Will and the effect of delay in equity (i.e. laches) in bringing a claim challenging its validity. First and only authority for the proposition that: ‘unjustified delay, possibly on its own…and certainly when coupled with acts amounting to waiver of the claimant's right, will bar the claim’. Officially reported.
McDonagh -v- Reeve, High Court (Business and Property) 2023 Joanna Smith J : As to the construction of a covenant prohibiting ‘additional building’ where an existing single building was proposed to be replaced by another, larger, single building. Officially reported.
Stutt -v- Neal and Others, PT-2023-BRS-000117 (2023) successful application to prove a will where there was a potential but unpursued dispute as to alternative wills and the process had indefinitely stalled. I was personal representative as well as solicitor.
Philipott -v- Bovisand Park (2023) FTT: Successful opposition of an application to register a private right of way alleged to have been acquired by prescription. Officially reported.
Hampton -v- Arzeen (2022) FTT: Successful claim for adverse possession where the claim was disputed because of an alleged wayleave agreement. Officially Reported.
Wright -v- Green, First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) 2022: As to a determination of breach of covenant under a residential long lease under s168(4) of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002, i.e. forfeiture of a long residential lease. Breach was building works / alterations. Officially reported.
Bowyer -v- Brown and Another, PT-2022-000879, (2022): Removal of all personal representatives (one requiring service in Germany) under s50 Administration of Justice Act 1985, made at the instigation of one of them, because of insurmountable conflicts between them.
Tattersalls Limited -v- (1) Tom George (2) Alex Elliot Mayors and City of London County Court (2021) HHJ Hellman: On the enforceability and fairness of auction conditions following the sale by auction of an uncompetitive racehorse. National media attention.
John Stuart Condliffe -v- Old and Others, High Court (Chancery) (2021) Bristol HHJ Matthews; Probate: successfully opposing a professional executor’s claim for remuneration of more than £300,000 on an unremarkable estate worth less than that, potentially wiping out all legacies.
Rickard v Collins, Upper Tribunal Lands Chamber (2021): As to the discharge of a restrictive covenant under s84 of the Law of Property Act 1925. Officially reported.
Toms v Ruberry, Court of Appeal (2019), (second appeal) leading authority: As to the ability of a commercial landlord to serve a s146 Notice before a contractual right of re-entry had arisen. Authority for the proposition that ‘a section 146 notice can be served only after the contractual right of re-entry has become enforceable’. Officially reported.
Charmleaves -v- Turner-Richardson First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), 2019: As to determination of breach of covenant in a long residential lease with a view to forfeiture; the breach was use of residential premises as a holiday let. Officially reported.
Toms v Ruberry: High Court (2017) Dingemans J: (first appeal of County Court judgment). As to the ability of a commercial landlord to serve a s146 Notice before a contractual right of re-entry had arisen. Officially reported.
Perks v Perry, Court of Appeal Permission Hearing (2011) Etherton LJ: As to the need to offer independent legal advice on a commercial lease that manifestly prejudices a guarantor
Charles Simpson Organisation v Redshaw [2010] 2514 (Ch), Chancery Division, Birmingham District Registry, Permission Hearing (2014) Kitchen J leading authority for the proposition that, in a Mobile Homes Act 1983 site agreement , ‘“amenity of the protected site”…simply means the quality of being agreeable or pleasant. The Court must therefore have particular regard to any decrease in the pleasantness of the site or those features of the site which are agreeable from the perspective of the particular occupier in issue.’. Cited as authority multiple times since.
Zissis v Lukomski, Court of Appeal (2006) leading authority: A rare appeal of an award of a Party Wall Surveyor and the authority for the correct process to be followed in bringing an appeal. Authority for the proposition that ‘Part 52 was intended to cover a form of statutory appeal like that under section 10(17) and that the provisions of Part 52 are amply sufficient to allow justice to be done on such an appeal.’ Officially reported.
I've also acted as solicitor with conduct in countless cases that were not reported or didn't reach trial, giving me relevant key experience in TOLATA, constructive trusts, international contract disputes, freezing orders, data theft, property injunctions, passing off and IP, nuisance, property damage, structural trespass, misrepresentation, specific performance, express and prescriptive easements, rescission, leasehold enfranchisement, land grabs, 1954 Act renewals, dilapidations, disrepair, unlawful evictions, disappointed beneficiaries, proving and challenging wills, rectification, restitution and unjust enrichment, housing and homelessness, harassment, franchises, partnerships, agricultural tenancies, sitting tenants, professional negligence, individual and corporate insolvency, EU procurement, mental capacity, and probably more that have faded from memory (but have not had the pleasure of personal injury, clinical negligence, family law, or employment).
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