Paul Stevenson

Profile

Paul is a down-to-earth, friendly barrister with a wide range of interests. He puts clients at ease and aims to offer sound advice and a practical service that provides good value for money.

Prior to being called to the Bar Paul was employed by the City of London Corporation working in parliamentary affairs. Outside chambers Paul is also a trustee and chair of a registered charity, Future for Africa, which works in West Africa.

Experience

Paul has a wide experience of a broad range of chancery and commercial work and practices at all levels from the Small Claims Track to the Multi Track and in County Courts, the High Court and specialist tribunals. His particular areas of expertise are:

Property

Paul is frequently instructed in a range of property matters and appears regularly for both Claimants and Defendants.

Landlord and tenant

Paul has particular experience in landlord and tenant matters (both residential and commercial) in matters including possession, forfeiture, disrepair and other breaches of covenant and applications for leasehold extensions. Paul acts for a whole range of clients including private landlords, housing associations, local authorities, RSLs and mortgagees.

Paul has expertise in a range of niche areas including the application of the tenants’ “right of first refusal” and the Right to Manage (“RTM”) provisions of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987, particularly in relation the validity of statutory notices served under those provisions.

Paul also has expertise in housing matters, particularly those relating to anti-social behaviour of tenants and trespassers. Paul frequently appears on applications for anti-social behaviour injunctions and Interim Possession Orders. Paul has recently given seminars on the “gang injunction” related amendments to CPR Part 65.

Paul has also assisted with a variety of more complex matters including two appeals concerning the “Right to Buy” legislation and is often instructed to deal with applications relating to leasehold enfranchisement and claims for new leases under both the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 and LRHUDA 1993. He has also assisted in a large dispute before the High Court concerning disrepair.

Real property

Paul has a varied and interesting real property practice and often advises clients, drafts pleadings and undertakes advocacy work (including before the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry) regarding:

• Boundary disputes;
• Easements;
• The enforcement of positive and restrictive covenants;
• Co-ownership; and
• Matters which engage the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996

Unique and cultural property

Paul has particular interest in the recovery of unique and high value items and the application of conversion and bailment as an aid to the recovery of such items. He has been instructed to recover items including a racehorse and an antique brace of pistols. He has a wider interest in “cultural” property and is a member of the Institute of Art and Law.

Probate and the administration of estates

Paul has advised in probate matters, in particular the administration of estates on intestacy.

Work of interest includes:

• The application of estoppel to the requirement for writing under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954.
• Resisting a claim brought by prolific “buy to let” investors against tenants for the cost of an entire bathroom refit with a successful counterclaim for the return of a deposit held under a Tenancy Deposit Scheme where the only damage to the property was to a cistern lid.

Business & Commercial

Paul has experience in advising, drafting and of advocacy on all tracks in commercial matters. He has acted for a wide-range of clients in the following areas:

• Consumer contracts, including those involving utility companies and claims arising from package holidays;
• Conversion of goods, including unique and high-value goods;
• Sale of Goods Act disputes;
• Contractual disputes between sports agents;
• Commercial agreements relating to building and construction disputes;
• Insolvency, both corporate and individual;
• Protection of confidential information and restraint of trade; and
• Disputes over contracts of insurance including disputes over cover and the duties of a broker

Paul has a particular interest in matters involving partnerships and joint ventures particularly where those matters engage other commercial, company law and employment issues.

Paul is building a practice in arbitration and adjudication, with a particular interest in international dispute resolution where it engages cultural heritage (such as the repatriation of art and artefacts). His interests are wider, however, and he will be attending a 5-day conference later this year on international arbitration in the energy sector. He has advised on adjudications under the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.

Recent work of interest includes:

• Advice on a multiplicity of claims including the determination of a partnership at will and the sale of partnership property, shareholding and directorship disputes and employment complaints in the context of duress.

• A successful claim against an airline resulting in a judgment that their conduct fell outside the scope of EU Regulation 261/2004 and that their terms and conditions fell foul of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999.

• An application for a “springboard” injunction on behalf of an accountancy practice to restrain the use by a former employee of confidential information.

• A High Court action against a partnership for the recovery of a substantial deposit paid for a steel plate mill to be shipped FOB.

• Recovery of compensation from a bailee for reward for “short delivery” in the context of carriage of goods.

Public and administrative

Paul regularly undertakes national security work on the instruction of the Treasury Solicitor. Paul was instructed as part of the defence team in an action seeking damages for alleged complicity in the transfer of individuals to, and detention in, Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere (Al Rawi & Others v. The Security Service & Others). As a result, Paul is familiar with the challenges of working within a team engaged in very large-scale litigation and particularly the disclosure difficulties which arise in such claims.

Paul has also been instructed in judicial review actions. A recent example includes a complaint brought against a London Borough regarding planning failures which involved questions regarding the interpretation of a defective order of the Court.

Paul is also familiar with areas of administrative challenge including claims which engage the Data Protection Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

During pupillage Paul assisted Geraint Jones QC with the pleading and preparation of a case brought under Articles 6 and 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Employment

Paul’s employment practice by design dovetails with his commercial and property practice. Paul regularly appears in employment tribunals at all stages of complaints from case management discussions and pre-hearing reviews to final hearings acting for both Claimants and Respondents. Paul has particular experience in employment disputes which engage other commercial disputes, such as insolvency, restraint of trade or confidentiality. His interest includes unfair and wrongful dismissal (with a developing practice in misconduct dismissals), redundancy and claims which engage TUPE. Paul has advised on high value claims which include elements of insolvency.
In common with his property practice, Paul also advises and appears in employment questions which engage proprietary rights such as restrictive covenants.
Paul has a particular interest in claims with an international element or where diplomatic immunity is a factor.
Alongside appearances in tribunals, Paul is frequently asked to advise on a range of specialist solutions including restraint of competition covenants and compromise agreements.

Publications

Paul is a contributor to journal Art, Antiquity and Law and has recently published an article entitled “A Titanic Struggle: One Possible Resolution to the Conflict between Preservation for the Public Good and Private Law Property Rights”. This article focuses on wrecks and examines the limits of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Paul is also a contributor to the Lawtel employment law bulletin, most recently publishing a report on guidance as to how appellate tribunals should consider the decisions of first instance tribunals.

Paul frequently contributes to property and commercial law updates published by Tanfield Chambers and has recently published articles on:

i. The operation of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996, particularly the requirement for a written contract and the question of submission to the jurisdiction of an adjudicator;
ii. Landlords’ liability under the tenancy deposit scheme requirements of the Housing Act 2004 in light of recent Court of Appeal decisions; and
iii. The impact of Qualifying Long Term Agreements and service charge consultation in the context of estate management

In his spare time Paul comments more generally on matters relating to cultural heritage, art, constitutional law and politics on www.periscopepost.com.

Member, Chancery Bar Association

Associate Member, Property Bar Association

Member, Employment Law Bar Association

Member, Employment Lawyers Association

Member, Institute of Art and Law

South-Eastern Circuit

Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb)

The Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation 

Qualifications

MA (Oxon)
Dip. Law
Middle Temple, Astbury Scholar, Anglo-American Scholar (2006), Harmsworth Exhibitioner
ACIArb (Associate, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators)