Introduction
Charles joined chambers in 2025 on successful completion of his pupillage under the supervision of Gavin McLeod, David Nuttall, and Kirsty White.
Charles is developing a busy chancery practice across chambers’ core practice areas with a particular interest in contentious and non-contentious Private Client, Real Estate, Insolvency & Restructuring, Commercial, and Civil Fraud matters.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Charles was a paralegal in Farrer & Co’s Contentious Trusts & Estates team, where he assisted on high-value, cross-border trusts and estates disputes. This included Inheritance Act and will validity claims, as well as civil fraud and trust restructuring disputes. As a result, Charles is well versed in complex Chancery and Commercial litigation, particularly in relation to Private Client matters.
Charles’ current and recent matters include:
- Advising on a range of private client matters, including claims under the Inheritance Act, will validity claims, and trustee retirement / removal.
- Advising on and providing representation at a range of interim and procedural applications, including applications for set aside of default judgments, strike out, and transfer to the High Court for enforcement.
- Representing parties at final hearings, including Fast Track and Small Claims trials as well as in the First-Tier Tribunal, regarding commercial, contractual, and property disputes.
- Advising on and providing representation at a forthcoming appeal.
Contentious Wills, Trusts, and Probate
Charles is frequently instructed to advise and represent clients on all aspects of contentious and non-contentious private client practice. He has advised trustees, personal representatives, and beneficiaries on a variety of issues, including questions of the validity, construction, and administration of instruments, the exercise of powers, and the consequences of retirement. Charles is experienced in drafting pleadings, including in High Court proceedings, and has represented clients at interim and directions hearings. During his pupillage, Charles assisted at mediations including in the drafting of position statements and settlement agreements. Charles is also happy to accept instructions in related areas, such as charities law.
Charles’ recent work in this area includes:
- Advising a settlor in relation to the validity of, and possible means of challenging, a purported deed of trust.
- Advising a trustee-executor on the construction and administration of a life interest will trust, following the death of a beneficiary.
- Drafting a Defence and Counterclaim in High Court proceedings relating to the ownership of a family home based on common intention constructive trust, proprietary estoppel, and deathbed gifts.
- Advising on the preparation of evidence in an anticipated Inheritance Act claim by an estranged adult child.
- Advising a lay trustee on the nature of a trust for the proceeds of a life insurance policy and on the effect of retirement / removal.
- Advising a prospective claimant in respect of an Inheritance Act claim and will challenge based on undue influence, formal validity, and want of knowledge and approval.
- Advising in relation to the possibility of a late entry of an Appearance to a caveat.
Examples of work undertaken during pupillage include:
- Drafting Part 8 Claims in Inheritance Act, proprietary estoppel, and constructive trust matters.
- Drafting Particulars of Claim in a will validity claim brought on the basis of want formal validity, want of knowledge and approval, and undue influence.
- Drafting position statements and assisting at mediations in relation to Inheritance Act and testamentary proprietary estoppel claims.
- Assisting on an application under the Presumption of Death Act 2013 as part of the Birmingham Chancery Litigants in Person Scheme.
Prior to commencing pupillage, Charles worked as a paralegal in Farrer & Co’s Contentious Trusts & Estates team, where he assisted on high-value, cross-border disputes. This included high profile litigation, such as Morina v Scherbakova [2023] EWHC 3253 (Ch), as well as Variation of Trust Act claims, Trustee Retirement Applications, and Inheritance Act claims. As a result, Charles has begun to build considerable knowledge across trusts and estates litigation.
Charles has been published in the Trusts & Trustees journal and is a contributor to the LexisNexis Private Client Expert series. Charles has recently begun Trust Issues, a new article series for Chambers looking at common issues in trust litigation. You can find the first article in this series, which provides a comprehensive guide to making Beddoe Applications, here.
Real Estate
Charles accepts instructions in all areas of property law, including proprietary estoppel. During his pupillage, Charles built experience across a range of property matters, including TOLATA claims, possession claims, boundary disputes, and adverse possession claims.
Charles’ recent work in this area includes:
- Representing a respondent landlord in the First-Tier Tribunal in a claim for a Rent Repayment Order.
- Representing a landlord in a complex section 21 possession hearing and at a subsequent application by the tenant to set aside the possession order
- Representing a landlord at a Small Claim trial for damage caused during a tenancy
- Representing debtors in applications relating to mortgage possession claims, including applications to adjourn under section 36 of the Administration of Justice Act 1980.
Examples of work undertaken during pupillage include:
- Advising on the prospects of obtaining an order for sale under section 14 of TOLATA in respect of a disputed family farm.
- Drafting a Defence and Counterclaim in a boundary dispute and adverse possession claim.
Charles has recently prepared an article for Chambers’ Lay of the Land series, looking at the Court of Appeal decision in Nazir v Begum [2025] EWCA Civ 587, which considered the relationship between adverse possession and statutory trusts of estate assets. You can find Charles’ article here.
Insolvency & Restructuring
Charles accepts instructions in all areas of Chambers’ Insolvency & Restructuring practice, including winding up and bankruptcy petitions, statutory demands, as well as associated interim and office-holder applications.
Examples of Charles’ recent work in this area includes:
- Representing Joint Liquidators in a remuneration application.
- Representing parties in winding up petitions including obtaining a substitution for supporting creditors, and successfully applying for a petition to be dismissed where liquidators had been appointed as part of a voluntary liquidation.
- Obtaining an order for transfer of proceedings up to the High Court for enforcement in respect of a bankrupt who had engaged in extensive vexatious litigation.
Charles recently delivered a seminar with Marc Brown on the recent Supreme Court decision of Bilta (UK) Ltd (in liquidation) v Tradition Financial Services Ltd [2025] UKSC 18 at Chambers’ annual Insolvency & Restructuring Conference.
Commercial & Chancery Litigation
Charles regularly advises on and provides representation at a range of procedural and interim applications, including applications for set aside of default judgments, strike out, and transfer to the High Court for enforcement.
Charles also represents clients at Small Claims and Fast Track trials, as well as in applications in the First-Tier Tribunal, in relation to a variety of contractual and property disputes.
Examples of Charles’ current and recent work include:
- Advising on and providing representation at a forthcoming appeal against a case management decision.
- Representing the Claimant in a Fast Track trial for money claimed as a loan, where the Defendant alleged it to be made by way of a gift.
- Representing a Defendant in respect of an alleged breach of an agency agreement in which the Judge found that no agreement had been reached.
- Representing a landlord in the First-Tier Tribunal in resisting a claim for a Rent Repayment Order.Representing a Claimant landlord in respect of damage caused during the course of a tenancy.
- Advising on and providing representation at a range of interim applications, including applications for set aside of default judgments and strike out.
Examples of work undertaken during pupillage include:
- Preparing an application for an urgent injunction to restrain the further use of confidential information by a former employee.
- Drafting Particulars of Claim in respect of a claim for breach of directors’ duties and wrongful trading.
- Representing a Defendant in respect of an alleged breach of an agency agreement in which the Judge found that no agreement had been reached.
- Representing a Claimant landlord in respect of damage caused during the course of a tenancy.
- Representing a Defendant in respect of unpaid invoices and a counterclaim based on the quality of works completed.
Commercial Fraud & Asset Tracing
Charles’ background in private wealth and trusts disputes means he is well-placed to advise in relation to commercial fraud and asset tracing claims, especially those relating to breach of trust, fiduciary duties, and restitution.
Charles’ current and recent work in this area includes:
- Advising a settlor in relation to the validity of, and possible means of challenging, a purported deed of trust.
- Drafting a Defence and Counterclaim in High Court proceedings involving breach of trust, unlawful receipt, and related claims.
Charles will be delivering a talk with Natalie Kearney on recent developments relating to fiduciary duties at the forthcoming Commercial Conference on 13 November 2025.
Qualifications
Bar Practice Course (Outstanding) – University of Law, Birmingham
LLM (Distinction) – University College London
LLB (First Class) – University of Leeds
Scholarships
Lord Denning Scholarship – Lincoln’s Inn
Head of School Module Prizes – University of Leeds
Publications
‘Gone Fishing: Legal Professional Privilege and Data Subject Access Requests in Trust Law (Dawson-Damer v Taylor Wessing LLP [2020] EWCA Civ 352)’ (Case Note) (2020) 26 Trusts and Trustees 884
‘Donatio Mortis Causa and Suicide – An Anomaly within an Anomaly?’ (2018) 4 The Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 367
Appointments and Memberships
Chancery Bar Association
Contentious Trusts Association (ConTrA)
The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn
