Dispute resolution

Graham is a consultant solicitor in the litigation team and has specialised in professional negligence claims for over 20 years. He trained at Trowers & Hamlins, qualifying in 1992.

His recent successful cases include over 30 professional negligence claims arising out of an elaborate mortgage fraud, recovering over £5million on behalf of borrower/purchaser clients who have been defrauded into buying substantially overvalued “buy to let” properties.

He has also acted for a group of investors who had purchased properties ‘off plan’ in the Philippines that were either not built or were sold twice. In this case the investors brought successful claims against the negligent solicitors who failed to ensure that the purchase contracts were backed with the promised performance bonds that should have protected the buyers from default by the developer.

He has also acted in various other professional negligence matters, relating to solicitors, barristers, valuers/surveyors, accountants, financial advisors, banks and insurance brokers.

Graham takes pride in providing clear, concise and practical advice and is regularly contacted to offer expert comment on media reports relating to professional negligence and property.

He is on the register maintained by the London Solicitors Litigation Association of solicitors with experience of supervising and executing civil search orders.

Transactions:

Reported cases and cases of interest include:

• Laib v Aravindan [2003] EWHC 2521 QBD, The Times [13/11/2003] – Claim against solicitors for loss of chance to pursue a negligence claim against a mortgage lender involving complex issues relating to limitation.
• Vinayak v Lovegrove & Eliot [2007] EWHC 9009 – Claim against solicitors arising out of failure to advise that break clauses in leases could only be exercised by original lessee. Court held that losing solicitors could not compel disclosure of conditional fee arrangement.
• Tavistock Repertory Guarantors Ltd v Gregory Rowcliffe Milners HQ02X2325 – Claim against solicitors who lost client the right to renew lease of theatre premises resulting in agreed damages of £2,020,000. This is believed to be possibly the highest sum ever recovered from a solicitor who has acted “pro bono.”
• Ayton v RSM Bentley Jennison [2014] QBD Lawtel – Held defendant in fraud and negligence claim not entitled to rely on defence of tender before claim (action), which is a defence still only available in liquidated claims.

Memberships:

Professional Negligence Lawyers Association

Leisure:

Shooting, badminton, skiing and motorcycling.

Lisa Ginesi is a partner in our commercial litigation and dispute resolution team.  Her practice covers a wide range of commercial disputes and predominantly relates to all forms of property disputes. The clients Lisa acts for range from large corporate property developers and investors to private property owning individuals.

Lisa regularly advises on a wide variety of issues affecting both residential and commercial properties and an extensive range of contractual disputes. Lisa has particular expertise in landlord and tenant disputes, the 1954 Act, dilapidation issues, nuisance claims; boundary disputes, possession claims, construction and development contracts, party wall disputes, trespasser proceedings and all aspects of enfranchisement.

In every case, Lisa actively looks for ways to reach practical and cost-effective solutions, whether that is through negotiation, court proceedings, self-help remedies or alternative dispute resolution. She works with her clients as part of a team, often alongside surveyors, engineers and a variety of other experts.

Recent Transactions include;

• Successfully appealing against two Party Wall Awards and securing costs for our client in a case relating to a substantial development in Shoreditch.
• Acting for a corporate property developer in a dispute to enforce the terms of a sale and construction agreement, to enable our client to complete their development and sell a number of flats.
• Acting for a sole trader tenant, of a commercial shop in Great Russell Street in a claim against his landlord for unreasonably delaying and withholding consent to an assignment of his lease.
• Acting for a residential property developer who intended to carry out underpinning works and was served with an injunction obtained by the Council to stop works for alleged breach of planning regulations and starting excavation for basement works.
• Advising on a complex lease renewal of commercial premises under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954, involving; disputed terms for a new lease; unauthorised sub-lettings and breach of planning legislation.
• Advising a client who owns the freehold of a large residential block of flats in London in relation to a number of applications to extend leases under the 1993 Act, including dealing with applications to the First Tier Tribunal. Conversely, advising a number of tenants, in a different block of flats, on their rights to extend their leases.
• Advising on a range of enfranchisement issues, including lease extensions and purchases of freeholds under the 1993 and 1967 Acts, and rights of first refusal under the 1987 Act.
• Acting in a number of contractual property disputes including; disputed joint venture agreements; breaches and termination of JCT contracts; claims against insurers for losses and claims for unpaid fees and defective works.

Early in her career, Lisa had the privilege of being part of the team which took a highly technical lease renewal case to the House to Lords (P&O v Graysim).

Some notable and reported cases include;

• Sai Ventures Ltd v Compar Properties Ltd [2016] – an appeal against two Party Wall Awards in a case relating to a substantial development in Shoreditch.
• H Waites Ltd v Hambledon court Ltd and others [2014] – landlord and tenant dispute concerning air space and extent of the tenants’ demise.
• Anslow and others v Norton Aluminium Ltd [2012] – a GLO claim for multi million pound damages in nuisance, claimed to be caused by smell, noise and dust.
• Delgable Ltd v Perinpanathan [2005] – landlord and tenant dispute concerning the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 Act and liability to repair roof.
• P&O Property Holdings Limited v Graysim [2005] – dispute on the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. This was a Supreme Court decision.

Judicial Appointment:  Lisa was appointed a Deputy District Judge to the South Eastern Circuit in 2020.

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Lisa was educated at Haydon Bridge High School in Northumberland and then studied law at the University of West London. She was admitted as a solicitor in 1992, having trained and qualified at Carter Lemon Camerons.  Lisa is a member of the Property Litigation Association, Women in Business, Women in Property, the Association of Women Solicitors and the Law Society.

Michael has over 40 years’ experience, including in multi-jurisdictional litigation.

Before embarking on his legal career, Michael studied biochemistry and worked in ICI Pharmaceuticals. Upon qualifying as a Solicitor, Michael and his brother Robert founded Sookias & Sookias in 1985, which merged with Carter Lemon Camerons in 2021.

Clients know that when they entrust their cases to Michael the matter will be in good hands and Michael will do more than what is seemingly possible to achieve the best outcome. Michael has a reputation for seeing beyond barriers and finding creative solutions. His talent is in pushing open doors where others see walls.

Michael is a member of The Lawyers Christian Fellowship, The London Solicitors Litigation Association, Association of Christian Law Firms and a board member of Advocates Europe and a Trustee of various Christian Charities.

Michael speaks Armenian and Farsi. He leads a weekly ‘Salt & Light’ gathering where he leads and teaches a group of people from all walks of life about the spiritual causes of broken relationships.

Mike joined our team as a Senior Associate Solicitor in our Family and Dispute Resolution Departments in 2023.

He is well-versed in all the key areas of family law, including divorce, matrimonial finance, child arrangement, and Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act (TOLATA) issues.

He is also a member of Resolution, which means he is dedicated to resolving disputes in a non-confrontational manner with other Family Lawyers.

Mike handles a variety of private family matters, such as:

• Divorce and Separation;
• Financial Disputes;
• Matters related to Children (like child arrangements and financial provision for children);
• Cohabitation Disputes;
• Prenuptial and Postnuptial Agreements;
• Injunctions (like applications for Occupation and Non-Molestation Orders).

We are glad to have Mike on our team, and we know his friendly, professional approach will be a big help for clients navigating their legal issues.

Neil Acheson-Gray is a consultant solicitor and part of the private client department. He has specialised in matters including contentious probate for more than three decades.

He trained at a leading firm in Holborn, qualifying as a solicitor in 1983 and then spent 25 years as a partner in the family firm with offices in Marble Arch and Richmond. This gave him a wealth of experience in estate planning, Wills, estates and trusts and carrying out the role of Executor and Trustee.

Neil has subsequently spent 6 years with a firm in Fetter Lane where he successfully developed the firm’s contentious probate capability, bringing his wealth of experience of private client work to the cut and thrust of claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependents) Act 1975 and contested Wills.

Notable cases:

• Acting for the family of an elderly lady seeking to prove the validity of an allegedly forged or fraudulent Will in her favour
• Acting for several children of a lady whose other daughter was alleged to have forged her mother’s Will
• Acting for a widow whose stepchildren were claiming provision from his estate
• Acting for a widow whose own son inherited all her late husband’s estate
• Representing a child whose siblings were seeking her removal as Executor
• Acting for the beneficiary of an estate in the removal of one of the Executors
• Acting for the surviving partner of the man she lived with who remained married to his wife and left his entire estate to her and he children
• Acting for a surviving husband in relation to a claim made by a friend he had allegedly maintained
• Opposing a Will made by someone who took her own life whilst suffering from serious mental illness
• Advising a daughter whose stepmother left her share in a family property to her nephew contrary to her late husband’s wishes

Alongside this, Neil has continued his established practice in the field of Wills and Probate, dealing with a variety of interesting estates and meeting a wide range of clients from all walks of life, with estates large and small, complex and straightforward.

Neil is married and lives in Surrey. Outside of work he enjoys all forms of sport, travel, cookery, photography and the arts. His greatest inspiration and his greatest critics are his wife, three children and above all his grandson who together provide all the distraction needed from an absorbing and rewarding career which he is pleased to continue at Carter Lemon Camerons LLP.

Neil will shortly turn 70 which is an age when solicitors start to wind down and he is no exception. Neil will remain active working from home dealing with his clients and introducing them gradually to his successors. Neil has a wealth of experience in probate work, both contentious and non-contentious, and enjoys nothing better than advising clients about Wills and Lasting Powers of Attorney.

Seamus Smyth is head of litigation and arbitration. His practice is primarily commercial with an emphasis on arbitration, financial services and work for South African and Italian clients.

Transactions

His reported cases include RH Green & Silley Weir v BR (limitation period against 3rd party), de Bry v Fitzgerald (security for costs), Hartt v Newspaper Publishing (libel concerning a work by Michelangelo), Pearson v Sanders Witherspoon (valuation of loss of chance), Siebe Gorman v Pneupac (status of consent orders), Senate Electrical v NTL (liability of an employee for acquisition warranties) and Bendell v Smith & Others (a successful recovery action by a lender on a shared appreciation mortgage equity release – the only such case to go to trial).

Recently involved in enforcement of foreign arbitration awards, claims arising from the banking upheavals since 2007, a successful claim against a high street bank resulting from a banking error and a successful claim against estate administrators and their solicitors for wasting the estate funds on irresponsible litigation.

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Educated (BA, LLB, Wits) and first qualified as an attorney in South Africa, he requalified in England in 1977, took an LLM at UCL and a Diploma in International Arbitration at QM, and became an FCIArb. He is chairman of the British South African Law Association (for the second time), chairman of Michaelhouse UK Trust, chairman of Global Leadership Foundation (UK), a former President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and Trustee and President of Town Malling Cricket Club (established in 1827!).  He was until 2012 a Visiting Senior Lecturer in International Commercial Arbitration at London Metropolitan University.  When work and domesticity permit he plays some cricket and more golf (but – which is immediately obvious – not nearly enough).