Property & Real Estate Barristers
Andrew Butler QC
Year of call 1993
Silk 2018
Instructing Andrew
For further information or to instruct Andrew please contact one of our following clerks:
Billy Forecast
Practice Managers
“He’s an excellent counsel and the pleadings he drafts are top-notch. He cuts through the paperwork.” “He is great with clients.”
Chambers UK 2022
“Incredibly impressive on the detail – commercial in his approach, with superb drafting skills. He gets on very well with clients. Robust and calls it as he sees it – he doesn’t sit on the fence but gives clear, definitive and reasoned advice.”
Legal 500 2022
“A formidable but always reasonable opponent. He consistently provides high calibre, clear advice.”
Chambers UK 2021
“He is quickly developing his silk practice.”
Legal 500 2021
“Embarrassingly good on his feet and great with clients.”
Legal 500 2020 (Property Litigation)
“He is extremely user-friendly and his tenacious and practical approach makes him a favourite with clients.”
Chambers UK 2019
“He can very quickly review a large amount of information and detail and provide practical and specialised advice, often at short notice.”
Chambers UK 2019
“Gets on well with clients, a good advocate and calm under pressure.”
Legal 500 2018
“A property specialist who is known for his expertise in cases driven by professional negligence claims. Sources see him as an approachable and accessible practitioner.”
Chambers UK 2016
“He has excellent drafting skills and is a good advocate.”
Legal 500 2015
“Highly experienced in leasehold enfranchisment and related professional negligence matters.”
Legal 500 2014
“A personable man, who has a keen intellect and a very commercial attitude…a tough, able and sensible practitioner.”
Chambers UK 2015
“Someone who offers technical knowledge matched by the ability to give practical advice. One source observed that ‘he impressed greatly with his ability to get to the heart of the issue and grasp the key facts. He has been responsive and has inspired confidence from the start’.”
Chambers UK 2014
- Lawyer Monthly, Business Barrister of the Year (2015)
- FCI Arb
- MA (Oxon)
- BA
- Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- Commercial Bar Association
- Professional Negligence Bar Association
- Property Bar Association
Described in Legal 500 as “embarrassingly good on his feet and great with clients”, Andrew Butler QC practises in the areas of Property and Business & Commercial, and is Head of Chambers’ Business & Commercial Group. While he accepts instructions across the full spectrum of commercial and property work, he particularly specialises in development disputes and professional negligence matters, with company law issues also forming an increasing part of his caseload.
Andrew is a qualified mediator and a member of both the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the London Court of International Arbitration. He is an adjudicator on the panel of the Professional Negligence Bar Association. He was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2018 and (again in the words of Legal 500) is “quickly developing his silk practice”. The last few months have seen him appear in the Supreme Court and increasingly regularly in the Court of Appeal, as well as the Commercial and Business and Property Courts.
Andrew has been short-listed for Barrister of the Year in the Lawyer Awards 2020.
Areas of expertise
Andrew’s background is in Real Property and the majority of his practice is in professional negligence and commercial claims with a property element.
In the former context, he has undertaken claims against architects, surveyors, insurance brokers and solicitors, among other professionals (see, further, “Professional Negligence” below).
In the latter context, he undertakes cases in a variety of contexts, recent examples including a Supreme Court case involving estate agency fees (Devani v Wells [2019] 2 WLR 617); a dispute over land registration in the context of company breakdown (Knightsbridge Properties v South Chelsea Properties [2017] 11 WLUK 42); and a bitterly-fought neighbour dispute over restrictive covenants in which Andrew succeeded at first instance and in the Court of Appeal (Jones v Oven [2018] EWCA Civ 1895).
Andrew undertakes purely commercial work, often with an international element. Recent examples include the successful resistance of an attempt by a creditor under a judgment obtained in China to enforce that judgment in the UK (Ningbo Jiangdong Jiemao Import & Export Co Ltd v Universal Garments International Ltd [2017] 11 WLUK 660); a multi-million pound dispute arising out of a construction dispute in Sierra Leone which gave rise to jurisdictional challenges and a contest over security for costs in which Andrew prevailed in the Court of Appeal (Dawnus Sierra Leone v Timis Mining Corp [2016] EWCA CIv 1066); and TBD v Simons and others, an ongoing dispute between a supplier to the aviation industry and ex-employees competing in alleged breach of restrictive covenants.
As set out in the Real Property section, much of Andrew’s work in this context (and outside it) has a professional negligence element. For example, Andrew is currently engaged in a multi-million pound dispute in the Commercial Court concerning the management of investments by a Cyprus-based investment management company operating in the Indian property market. Other ongoing cases include claims against solicitors by a property investor for allegedly inadequate advice given in the context of the acquisition of a portfolio of lease-for-life properties, and by a gaming business whose advisers failed to make a timely application for a 1954-Act lease renewal; and a claim against surveyors arising out of a defective survey of a high-value residential property in Oxfordshire.
Andrew is a trained mediator and has ample experience of the mediation process, both as advocate and mediator.
Notable Cases
- Goyal v Florence Care Ltd. [2020] EWHC 659 Successful appeal against decision of County Court Judge giving rise to questions about (a) the continuation of proceedings against a bankrupt Defendant; (b) equitable accounting; and (c) solicitors’ responsibilities in respect of third party funds.
- UCP v Nectrus [2020] PLR 9 £21m dispute following loss of substantial funds invested by Isle of Man entity in construction projects in India – action brought against Cyprus-based Investment Manager - acted for Defendant in 13-day split trial in Commercial Court involving issues of liability, causation and reflective loss – appeal pending to Court of Appeal.
- Quantum Advisory Ltd v Quantum LLP [2020] EWHC 1072 (Comm) Dispute over enforceability of Services Agreement entered into in 2007 between C company and then newly-established LLP incorporated as vehicle for group restructure – issues over reasonableness of restrictive covenants in particular – appeal to Court of Appeal pending.
- Devani v Wells [2019] 2 WLR 617 Supreme Court decision on formation of oral contracts and effect and application of s.18 Estate Agents Act 1979.
- Jones v Oven [2018] EWCA 1895 Successful resistance of appeal against High Court decision ([2017] EWHC 1647) involving construction and interpretation of restrictive covenants.
- Ningbo Jiangdong Jiemao Import & Export Co Ltd v Universal Garments International Ltd [2017] 11 WLUK 660 Successful application for reverse summary judgment against creditor seeking to enforce Chinese judgment in the UK.
- Dawnus Sierra Leone Ltd v Timis Mining Corporation Ltd & Another [2016] EWCA Civ 1066 Successful appeal against Judge's refusal to award security for costs against counterclaiming Defendant - whether Defendant's preference for litigating in alternative forum a relevant factor.
- Dawnus Sierra Leone Ltd v Timis Mining Corporation Ltd & Another [2016] EWHC 236 (TCC) Jurisdictional challenge in construction dispute and cross-application for anti-suit injunction seeking to restrain proceedings in Sierra Leone.
- Fresca-Judd v Golovina [2016] 4 WLR 107 Successful defence of claim by landlord's insurers seeking to recover damages from tenant following flood at demised premises - whether insurers entitled to bring subrogated claim - whether tenant liable on the facts.