Introduction
John Randall KC has a broad based practice in chancery and commercial law, acting in a wide range of work including contractual, company, property and professional negligence disputes, together with commercially related judicial review claims and a variety of sports law matters. He is also an accredited mediator. John has acted in a substantial number of lengthy trials and high value claims. His experience includes two major trials involving the extensive use of computers, both in trial preparation and in the court room during the hearing. Amongst John’s most substantial cases have been:
- Supreme Court / House of Lords cases concerning the development and clarification of English Law with regard to easements (Regency Villas v Diamond Resorts [2019] AC 553) and the economic torts and conversion of intangibles (OBG v Allan and Mainstream Properties v Young [2008] 1 AC 1).
- Three cases in the Isle of Man High Court representing life assurance companies facing large claims in respect of related allegations in the financial services field.
- Queen’s Bench proceedings on behalf of >70% of the UK brewing industry in respect of conspiracy to convert metal beer kegs on a commercial scale, with pleaded losses exceeding £70M.
- An ICC arbitration claim for a quoted bio-technology company arising out of the (alleged) breach and termination of a contract for the marketing of a new pharmaceutical product across a number of the largest states in the EC, with pleaded losses of US $100 million.
- A group action brought in the Chancery Division by 129 farmers against their union and some independent solicitors, for negligent advice in relation to limitation periods under European Law. Ten lead cases were tried together before Evans-Lombe J in Birmingham over seven weeks.
- Queen’s Bench proceedings on behalf of a substantial Building Society seeking to recover losses of over £50 million from MIG and pool insurers in respect of post-property crash defaults and capital losses.
John has acted in a number of applications for judicial review, mostly with a commercial background. His experience includes such claims against the Chief Executive of Skills Funding (concerning legitimate expectations allegedly arising from a lengthy and expensive grant application process – R. (on the application of Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education) v Chief Executive of Skills Funding [2010] 3 EGLR 125), against the General Council of the Bar (in relation to the operation of its (then) ‘black-listing’ policy for non-payment of barristers’ fees), against the British Coal Corporation (arising out of its decision to sell land to one developer rather than another), against the Secretary of State’s decision making on planning appeals (including R v SSE ex parte Centre 21 Ltd – 4 cases, one of which resulted in a highly unusual mandatory order against the Secretary of State) and against a Council for banning a (then) amateur sports club from use of its training ground, in purported pursuance of the Council’s anti-apartheid policies (Wheeler v Leicester City Council [1985] AC 1054 HL).
Amongst John’s other sports law clients have been the late Barry Sheene MBE (claim arising from a serious accident on test day at Silverstone – GP Motorcycling), a current Formula 1 racing team, an EFL Championship football club, a professional footballer (career ending injury suffered during a match), and a number of amateur sportsmen (including an Olympic athlete, a boxer and a moto-cross rider). John is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales law school in Sydney, where he has taught since 2004, and teaches courses in Advanced Contract, Legal History and Principles and Practice of Advocacy. He is also a frequent speaker at legal seminars in the United Kingdom. John’s international experience includes appearances in the Court of Appeal of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, the High Court of Justice, Staff of Government Division (appeal court) in the Isle of Man, and the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, and providing expert evidence of English law for Courts in Spain and Eire.
In 2012 John received Birmingham Law Society’s ‘Barrister of the Year’ award. He enjoys sport, in particular rugby union (being a keen follower of the Leicester Tigers) and international cricket, travel and music.
Recent cases
John’s recent experience includes appellate cases concerning:
- Whether English courts have jurisdiction to deal with a restitutionary claim in respect of the purchase money for an abortive sale of land overseas (Hamed v Stevens)
- Adverse Possession over part of a city centre pavement outside a well-known night club, which had not been adopted as public highway, and the admission of fresh evidence on appeal, requiring a re-trial (Balevents v Sartori)
- The operation of section 2, Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 – the previous leading Court of Appeal case explained, and several subsequent first instance cases disapproved (Keay v Morris Homes)
- When testamentary capacity, and knowledge and approval, are to be judged, and whether a first instance case concerning deteriorating testators which had stood since 1883 was correctly decided (Perrins v Holland)
- Proprietary estoppel where the claimant was already party to a declaration of trust in the instrument of acquisition (Clarke v Meadus)
Publications
- ‘Criminal Convictions and the Civil Courts’ (with Matthew Dyson) [2015] Cambridge Law Journal 78
- ‘England’s Splendid Isolation’ in Comparing Tort and Crime (ed. Dyson), 2015 (Cambridge University Press) (with Matthew Dyson)
- ‘Express Termination Clauses in Contracts’ [2014] Cambridge Law Journal 113
- ‘When Louisa Carlill Caught the ‘Flu (Carlill v The Carbolic Smoke Ball Company)’ in Cases that Changed our Lives: Volume 2 (eds McDougall and Wilson), 2014 (LexisNexis Butterworths, London)
- ‘Detinue, Trover & Conversion’ in Historical Foundations of Australian Law – Volume II, Commercial Common Law (eds.) Gleeson, Watson and Peden, 2013 (Federation Press, Sydney) (with Prof Brendan Edgeworth)
- ‘Caparo v Dickman – Legal Celebrity or Jurisprudential Substance’, in Cases that Changed our Lives (ed McDougall), 2010 (LexisNexis Butterworths, London)
- ‘Proprietary estoppel and the common intention constructive trust – Strange bedfellows or a match in the making?’ (2010) 4 Journal of Equity 171
- The Tort of Conversion (with Prof Sarah Green), 2009 (Hart Publishing, Oxford) – finalist in the triennial Inner Temple Book Prize (2011)
- ‘Rethinking the Economic Torts’ (with Prof Simon Deakin) (2009) 72 Modern Law Review 519
Commercial Fraud and Asset Tracing
John has handled many civil fraud claims, for a variety of clients, including:
- most of the nation’s largest brewers acting together to combat wide-scale commercial theft of metal beer kegs (Heineken UK and 4 ors. v City Wholesale and 10 ors.)
- Dyson Technology (one of whose employees who had been taking bribes/kick-backs overseas (Europe & Far East), and putting much of the proceeds into his wife’s name; world-wide freezing injunction for £3.5 million: Dyson Techonology and ors. v Curtis and anor.), and
- a professional football club in administration (whose former chairman had sought to appropriate its valuable land for himself through a complicated series of financial and property transactions: Wrexham AFC v Crucialmove).
John was, by invitation, the key-note speaker at the 2012 annual Midlands Fraud Forum, where he spoke about criminal prosecutors and civil litigators working together to combat fraud.
Although the nature of civil fraud work is that much of it goes unreported, John has reported cases in the field, including:
- Wrexham AFC v Crucialmove [2008] 1 BCLC 508 (Court of Appeal) – Directors’ conflict of interest; breach of fiduciary duties; whether bad faith precluded award of summary judgment; appeal against decision of Norris J successfully resisted; and
- Esprit Telecoms v Fashion Gossip [2000] All ER (D) 1090 (Court of Appeal) – claim for unjust enrichment and conspiracy to deceive; alleged that F had misused a premium rate telephone system provided by E; F contended that E had misjudged the risk of legitimate exploitation by failing to correct an error which it knew to be present; successful appeal against summary judgment in excess of £1 million.
His largest claim to date has been that in Heineken UK and 4 ors. v City Wholesale and 10 ors., a multi-million pound claim (pleaded at >£70M plus exemplary damages) on behalf of claimants who between them constituted >70% of the UK brewing industry against numerous defendants, varying from individuals to the UK subsidiary of a publicly quoted German company, for conspiracy to convert very large quantities of metal beer kegs for commercial profit. A particular feature of this litigation was an unusual level of co-ordination between criminal prosecutors (the CPS) and the legal representatives of the victims (on whose behalf John was instructed).
John has spoken on client confidentiality and English money-laundering laws at an International Bar Association conference on international litigation held in Miami.
Recent Cases:
- Advising and acting in a case arising from allegations of mis-management of the funds of an investment syndicate into which a number of individuals associated with the Middle East had invested significant sums, and in turn alleged wrongdoing on the part of some of the investors in seeking to achieve some ‘self-help’ redress. Various off-shore entities and a number of different overseas jurisdictions are involved.
- Advising and acting for a vehicle leasing company, which alleged the dishonest use of vehicle leasing agreements in respect of very high value motor vehicles (eg Bentleys) in the Liverpool area.
Commercial & Partnership
John has advised on and appeared in numerous company law cases, particularly shareholders’ disputes (including the long-running matter of Ciro Citterio Menswear plc, which involved many court hearings and generated several reported cases), cases concerning the consequences of directors’ breaches of duty, several of which have been reported (including Wrexham AFC v Crucialmove and Re MDA Investment Management Ltd (Nos 1 & 2)), and claims on warranties given in share sale agreements (one of which is reported – Daniel Reeds v EmEss Chemists). John has also dealt with more technical matters, such as obtaining court sanction for companies to reduce their share capital, and giving advice incidental to company sales/take-overs. John has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales law school in Sydney since 2004. He is also a frequent speaker at legal seminars in the United Kingdom. In 2012 John received Birmingham Law Society’s ‘Barrister of the Year’ award. John enjoys sport, in particular rugby union (being a keen follower of the Leicester Tigers) and international cricket, travel and music.
Recent Cases:
- Advising and acting in a matter raising issues concerning potential technical errors made when a company re-purchased its own shares (during the period of transition between differing Companies Acts), and whether former shareholders have any entitlement to a share of the proceeds of a potentially highly profitable sale of the company.
- Advising and acting in a substantial dispute between directors/shareholders concerning an agreement about the constitution of a group of companies with minority interests in individual trading subsidiaries, the extent to which new and profitable business was required to be put through a particular company and so forth.
- Advising and acting in a dispute within a family company, concerning allegations of (financial) abuse of a managerial position by one family member, and cross allegations of mis-conduct within the company by another family member.
Contentious Wills, Trusts & Probate
John has advised on and acted in numerous private client cases in these fields. In recent times, his highest profile case in court has been Perrins v Holland [2011] Ch 270. In what is now a leading Court of Appeal case, the appellants launched a root and branch attack on the rule in Parker v Felgate (1883). The case raised fundamental questions of legal principle concerning testamentary capacity, knowledge and approval, and how the legal requirements in respect of those apply to the case of a deteriorating testator. John appeared for the successful Respondents.
John provided expert evidence of English law concerning the legal and beneficial co-ownership of both real and personal property for a Spanish court dealing with civil and criminal proceedings for alleged tax evasion in Palma, Majorca. The defendants were 2 high net worth individuals, both UK citizens and resident. John’s evidence took the form of a written expert report for the Court on oath (as an Apostille), and then an update/revision of the same following the decision of the Supreme Court in Jones v Kernott. The Case settled on the first day of trial in March 2012.
John has been a Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales law school in Sydney since 2004, teaching courses in Advanced Contract, Legal History and Principles and Practice of Advocacy. He is also a frequent speaker at legal seminars in the United Kingdom. In 2012 John received Birmingham Law Society’s ‘Barrister of the Year’ award. John enjoys sport, in particular rugby union (being a keen follower of the Leicester Tigers) and international cricket, travel and music.
Recent Cases:
- Acting for the Claimant in a relatively unusual proprietary estoppel/constructive trust case, where the claimant was already a party to an express declaration of trust in the instrument by which the subject property was originally acquired. John’s first involvement in the case was being briefed to conduct the appeal before Warren J of a Master’s Order striking the claim out, which was successful. The judgment is reported, and a number of articles and case comments have appeared in various legal publications about it. The case recently settled, shortly before the window for trial.
- Providing expert evidence of English law for a Spanish Court on legal and beneficial co-ownership of both real and personal property.
- Advising on a complicated matter concerning interests in and claims to the estate of a deceased, one of whose children (John’s lay client) is himself a solicitor.
- Appearing for the successful Respondents in the leading Court of Appeal case of Perrins v Holland, concerning testamentary capacity, knowledge and approval, and how the legal requirements in respect of those apply to a deteriorating testator.
Insolvency
John has advised on and appeared in numerous insolvency cases both (historically) as a junior and over the past 25 years as a silk. His highest profile case in court in recent years was OBG v Allan, concerning whether and when an invalidly appointed Administrative Receiver can be held liable in trespass, conversion and the economic torts, which John won at trial and lost 3-2 in the House of Lords. Two of the highest profile insolvencies in which John has advised are those of Portsmouth Football Club (2010) Limited (advising the Administrators concerning aspects of the sale of Fratton Park) and of MG Rover Group Limited (advising the liquidators on aspects of pension related issues).
John’s other reported insolvency cases include cases on retention of title clauses, wrongful preferences, transactions at an undervalue, debt subordination agreements, unlawful loans to directors, Insolvency Act provisions concerning pension trustees, the judicial control of Administrators and the effect on a bankrupt of a Tomlin Order entered into by his Trustee. John is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales law school in Sydney. He is also a frequent speaker at legal seminars in the United Kingdom.
In 2012 John received Birmingham Law Society’s “Barrister of the Year” award. John enjoys sport, in particular rugby union (being a keen follower of the Leicester Tigers) and international cricket, travel and music.
Recent Cases:
- Advising a company director on attacks on various securities granted to him prior to an Administration. The Administrators sought to invoke Insolvency Act provisions concerning wrongful preferences, transactions at an undervalue, and floating charges.
- Advising Administrators of a group of companies concerning the legal attribution of trading receipts as between different group companies, and the consequences for the operation of securities and the pari passu distribution principle.
Professional Liability
John has considerable experience of professional negligence work both (historically) as a junior and over the past 25 years as a silk. He has acted both for and against barristers (including Chancery silks), solicitors, accountants and surveyors, and against engineers, a naval architect and a surgeon. Following the previous property crash, John was involved in a significant number of valuers’/surveyors’ negligence claims for WBBS, Lloyds and other lenders for allegedly negligent over-valuations for mortgage lending purposes. Foster, JJ Dent & ors. v NFU & ors., though only briefly reported, was a 7-week trial of 10 lead cases in a group action by c.130 farmers (with various solicitor defendants too, in a number of cases) for professional negligence in relation to advice on European law and limitation periods tried before Evans-Lombe J.
The very lengthy judgment found for (in effect) most of the group claimants (for whom John appeared). In Moffat v Burges Salmon John was successful before both Neuberger J and the Court of Appeal (reported at [2004] PNLR 13) in the interlocutory legal arguments about the operation of the ‘loss of a chance’ approach to damages where (unusually) there had been a previous case tried. That case went on to final trial before Neuberger J, though it settled (on confidential terms) before the end of the hearing.
Recent Cases:
- Providing second opinion for mortgage lender on extent to which possible to remedy consequences of negligent failings of solicitors in circumstances where a dishonest borrower had ended up obtaining a mortgage advance without having created a legally valid first charge in favour of the lender.
- Advising on and formulating a claim in negligence against solicitors who acted on a sale of development land just at the turn of the market, where a technical defect in the contract had been at least one factor in placing the vendors in a position where they had no commercial alternative but to agree to negotiate a (downward) revision in the sale price.
- Advising claimants on (i) prospects of their claim against consulting engineers for their role in designing their (custom built) house and supervising the construction of the same, where the local water table was high and the mudstone layer above it was breached in the course of construction, and (ii) preparation of their claim for trial.
- Advising a substantial firm of solicitors (on instructions from a well-known London firm) facing a complicated professional negligence claim arising out of previous advisers’ failure to protect the interests of their client properly or effectively in relation to what (it is alleged) should have been very considerable proceeds of sale of development land. The case involves off-shore tax avoidance arrangements, breach of fiduciary duty by previous advisers, and an initially ineffectual English liquidation of an off-shore company.
Real Estate
John has advised and appeared for a number of national house builders and regional property developers over many years, and since the collapse of Lehman Brothers property has become the largest single area of his practice. In addition to his reported cases, John has advised and acted in a substantial number of cases concerning the enforceability or otherwise of contracts for the sale of development land entered into at pre-GFC values, with purchase consideration between £5M and £30M at stake – all of which were resolved without reaching trial.
John has also acted in a number of applications for judicial review with a property law background, including claims against the British Coal Corporation (arising out of its decision to sell land to one developer rather than another), and against the Secretary of State’s decision making on planning appeals (including R v SSE ex parte Centre 21 Ltd – 4 cases, one of which resulted in a highly unusual mandatory order against the Secretary of State).
John was the first silk practising from chambers outside London to be recommended for Real Estate Litigation in the Chambers & Partners UK Guide (2012), and has been so recommended in every year since. He is also recommended for Property in the 2020 Legal 500 and for Real Estate in the 2019 Who’s Who Legal. John is an Adjunct Professor at the University of New South Wales law school in Sydney, where he has taught since 2004, teaching courses in Advanced Contract, Legal History and Principles and Practice of Advocacy. He is also a frequent speaker at legal seminars in the United Kingdom.
Recent Cases:
- Easements over a golf course and other sports and leisure facilities in favour of a time-share resort (Regency Villas v Diamond Resorts).
- Development agreements, restrictive covenants, benefit, release and enforcement of covenants (Bryant Homes Southern v Stein Management).
- Grounds for opposition to renewal of business tenancies, ‘other reason connected with the use or management of the holding’, previous litigation between landlord and tenant (Horne and Meredith Properties v Cox).
- Adverse Possession over part of a city centre pavement outside a well-known night club, which had not been adopted as public highway, and the admission of fresh evidence on appeal, requiring a re-trial (Balevents v Sartori).
- The operation of section 2, Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 – the previous leading Court of Appeal case of Tootal was explained, and several subsequent first instance cases were disapproved (Keay v Morris Homes).
- The true nature and extent of commoners’ rights of grazing, registered under Commons Registration Act 1965 (Hall v Harris).
- Proprietary estoppel where the claimant was already party to a declaration of trust in the instrument of acquisition (Clarke v Meadus).
- Rights of light and the Prescription Act 1832 (Salvage Wharf v G&S Brough).
- The construction and fulfilment of a condition precedent to a valuable put option agreement (Bovis Homes v Persimmon Homes.
Reported Cases
Commercial Fraud and Asset Tracing
Wrexham AFC v Crucialmove [2008] 1 BCLC 508 (CA) – Directors’ conflict of interest; breach of fiduciary duties; whether bad faith precluded award of summary judgment
Esprit Telecom v Fashion Gossip [2000] All ER (D) 1090 (CA) – Unjust enrichment and conspiracy to deceive; Alleged misuse of premium rate telephone system; Summary judgment
Company & Partnership
Hague Plant Ltd v Hague [2015] CP Rep 14 (CA): Companies, directors, breach of fiduciary duty, dishonest assistance, pleadings, amendment
Cobbetts LLP v Hodge [2010] 1 BCLC 30 – ‘Employed partner’ of solicitors’ firm – whether in law a partner – what fiduciary duties owed to the firm – obligation not to make ‘secret profit’ without obtaining fully informed consent – preparatory activity for future employment
Wrexham AFC v Crucialmove [2008] 1 BCLC 508 (CA) – Directors’ conflict of interest; breach of fiduciary duties; whether bad faith precluded award of summary judgment
Mainstream Properties v Young [2005] IRLR 964 (CA) – Directors’ breach of fiduciary duty and taking advantage of corporate opportunities; third party liability for inducing same
Re MDA Investment Management Ltd (Nos 1 & 2) [2005] BCC 783 (Ch D) – Directors’ breach of duty in pre-liquidation transactions concerning the company’s business etc
Thakrar v Ciro Citterio Menswear plc [2002] EWHC 1975 (Morritt V-C) – Unfairly prejudicial conduct; Share valuation; Company entered administration; Compromise of appeal by mediation; Court of Appeal refusing to make agreed Tomlin Order; contractual enforceability of settlement; directions to Administrator under the Insolvency Act
Ciro Citterio Menswear plc v Thakrar [2002] 1 WLR 2217 (Ch D) – Director; Fiduciary duty; Purchase of property with loan from company; Whether unlawful loan constituting misapplication of company funds; Whether giving rise to constructive trust or tracing relief
Re A Company ex parte P [1997] 2 BCLC 1 (Ch D) – Minority shareholder’s petition; Company already subject to a written shareholders’ agreement; Whether petition an abuse of process
Daniel Reeds v EmEss Chemists [1995] CLC 1405 (CA) – Claim on warranties on a share sale agreement
Re Tecnion Investments Ltd [1985] BCLC 434 (CA) – Minority shareholder, alleged unfair prejudice, companies in overseas jurisdictions allegedly controlled by respondents, disclosure of documents in their possession, alter ego companies, piercing the corporate veil
Contentious Wills, Trusts & Probate
Clarke v Meadus [2013] WTLR 199 (Ch D) – Proprietary estoppel, whether precluded because the claimant was party to an express declaration of trust in the purchase deed
Keay v Morris Homes [2012] 1 WLR 2855 (CA) – operation of section 2, Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989
Perrins v Holland [2011] Ch 270 (CA) – testamentary capacity, want of knowledge and approval, and the rule in Parker v Felgate (1883)
Ali v Kahn [2009] WTLR 187 (CA) – trusts, co-ownership and the presumption of advancement
Sandhar v Sandhar & Kang Ltd [2008] EWCA Civ 238 (CA) beneficial interests; commercial property; declarations; expert evidence
Griffiths v WE & DT Cave Ltd (1998) 78 P&CR 8 (CA) – Options, valuation, open market value
Sutton v Sutton [1984] Ch 184 (Ch D) – enforceability of interests arising from part performed oral contract; public policy etc
Insolvency & Restructuring
OBG v Allan and 2 other appeals [2008] 1 AC 1 (HL) – Administrative receiver, liability for failure to realize full value of intangible assets, interference with contractual relations, scope of tort of conversion
Re Casa Estates (UK) Ltd (In Liquidation) [2014] 2 BCLC 49 – Corporate Insolvency — Transactions at an Undervalue – Interaction of the Cash-flow and Balance-sheet insolvency tests
Fairfax Gerrard Holdings v Capital Bank plc [2008] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 297 (CA) – Retention of title; Contract terms; Conversion; International trade; Issuing banks; Letters of credit
Re MDA Investment Management Ltd (Nos 1 & 2) [2005] BCC 783 (Ch D) – Directors’ breach of duty in pre-liquidation transactions concerning the company’s business etc
Re SSSL Realisations (2002) Ltd [2005] 1 BCLC 1 (Ch D) – Debts; Indemnities; Liquidation; Pari passu principle; Subordination agreements; Subsidiary companies; Sureties
Re Far East Abrasives Ltd [2003] BPIR 375 (Ch D) – corporate insolvency; creditor’s petition for administration order opposed by company; realisation of assets; discretion
Thakrar v Ciro Citterio Menswear plc [2002] EWHC 1975 (Morritt V-C) – Unfairly prejudicial conduct; Share valuation; Company entered administration; Compromise of appeal by mediation; Court of Appeal refusing to make agreed Tomlin Order; contractual enforceability of settlement; directions to Administrator under the Insolvency Act
Ciro Citterio Menswear plc v Thakrar [2002] 1 WLR 2217 (Ch D) – Director; Fiduciary duty; Purchase of property with loan from company; Whether unlawful loan constituting misapplication of company funds; Whether giving rise to constructive trust or tracing relief
Re Helene plc, SSTI v Forsyth [2000] 2 BCLC 249 (Ch D) – Directors’ disqualification proceedings; Company incorporated in Scotland; Jurisdiction
Re Thirty-Eight Building Ltd (Nos 1 & 2) [1999] 1 BCLC 416 & [2000] 1 BCLC 201 (Ch D) – Preferences; Transfer of property to trust in favour of directors’ family company pension scheme; Meaning of connected person; Exemption for trustee of pension scheme; Applications to rescind, review or vary orders in insolvency
Re Ross (A Bankrupt) [1998] 1 BCLC 56 (CA) – Action by trustee in bankruptcy; Tomlin order; Whether the bankrupt bound by the stay
Re Westmid Packaging Services (No 1) [1995] BCC 203 (Ch D) – Directors Disqualification proceedings – adding an additional respondent out of time – correct procedure
Professional Liability
Moffat v Burges Salmon [2004] PNLR 13 (CA) – Professional negligence; Solicitors; Limitation; Loss of opportunity; Admissibility and exact legal relevance of judgment and order in earlier trial
JJ Dent and ors v National Farmers Union [1999] The Independent July 5 (Ch D) – 7-week trial of 10 lead cases in a group action by c.130 farmers against their union for negligent advice concerning ECJ limitation periods (with various solicitor defendants too in a number of the individual cases)
Real Estate
Regency Villas v Diamond Resorts [2019] AC 553 (Supreme Court): Easements – time-share development – express grant – subject matter of grant rights to use sports and leisure facilities on adjacent land – whether such rights capable of being subject matter of an easement – validity – appeal from Court of Appeal [2017] Ch 516 dismissed and cross-appeal allowed – judgment in Chancery Division [2016] 4 WLR 61 restored
Bryant Homes Southern v Stein Management [2017] 1 P&CR 6 (Ch D) – Development agreements, restrictive covenants, benefit, release and enforcement of covenants
Horne and Meredith Properties v Cox [2014] 2 P & CR 18 (CA) – Business tenancies, grounds for opposition to renewal, ‘other reason connected with the use or management of the holding’, previous litigation between landlord and tenant
Clarke v Meadus [2013] WTLR 199 (Ch D) – Proprietary estoppel, whether precluded because the claimant was party to an express declaration of trust in the purchase deed
Keay v Morris Homes [2012] 1 WLR 2855 (CA) – Operation of section 2, Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989
Wickens v Cheval Property [2011] 1 P&CR DG9 (Ch D) – Obligations concerning, and passing of risk in, fixtures and fittings in contract for the sale of land
Salvage Wharf v G&S Brough [2010] Ch 11 (CA) – Rights of light and the Prescription Act 1832
Bovis Homes v Persimmon Homes [2010] NPC 108 (CA) – Construction and fulfillment of a condition precedent to a valuable put option
Commission for the New Towns v JJ Gallagher [2003] 2 P&CR 3 (Ch D) – Highways, presumptions, Inclosure Acts, rights of way
Mills v Blackwell (1999) 78 P&CR DG43 (CA) – Reservation of right of way – construction of reservation for “vehicles of every description” and for “all purposes” – context of deed as a whole – surrounding circumstances at the time of execution of the deed, including principally the physical layout
Griffiths v WE & DT Cave (1999) 78 P&CR 8 (CA) – Options, valuation, open market value
IDC Group v Clark (1993) 65 P&CR 179 (CA) – Easement, licence, right of escape in the event of fire
Education
Jesus College, Cambridge: B.A. (Hons) 2:1 – 1977 (MA – 1981)
Appointments and Memberships
Barrister of New South Wales – 1979
Barrister & Solicitor of Western Australia – 2001
Deputy High Court Judge – Chancery & Queen’s Bench Divisions 2000 to 2016
Recorder – Crown & County Courts (Assistant Recorder 1996; Recorder 1999 to 2016)
External examiner, Bar Professional Training Course 2008 to 2015
Adjunct Professor, University of New South Wales 2013 (Visiting Fellow 2004)
Senior Fellow, University of Melbourne 2013 to 2017
Member, the Society of Legal Scholars
Bencher of Lincoln’s Inn 2003
Member, Legal Services Consultative Panel 2000 to 2009
International Bar Association
Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR)
Midland Chancery and Commercial Bar Association (MCCBA)
Testimonials
“He is never wrong on authority and his attention to detail is remarkable.” Chambers & Partners 2025
“John Randall is exceptionally thorough, always well prepared and always gets into the details.” Chambers & Partners 2025
“John is one of the best lawyers in Birmingham. He is very experienced and extremely good. He uses his experience to be fair and targeted in his points – he knows how to achieve best results.” Chambers and Partners 2024
“John’s attention to detail, drafting skills and advocacy, and the effort he puts into the case, make him the epitome of brilliance.” Chambers and Partners 2024
“John stands out for his ability to incorporate the commercial drivers of a dispute into what is always a hugely complex legal matrix.” Chambers and Partners 2024
“John’s natural talents are obvious with his sheer attention to detail. By the start of a trial, he knows the facts better than the parties and easily hits every curveball from witnesses and judges.” Legal 500 2024
“John is one of the leading chancery silks in the country. He marries technical brilliance with a keen commercial focus, and is likeable and fun to work with to boot.” Chambers & Partners 2023
“He is just really excellent. I have seen him in court and he is very good on his feet.” Chambers & Partners 2023
“He has the rare skill of telling the judges what they want to hear and clients what they need to hear while keeping everyone happy.” Chambers & Partners 2023
“John is the go-to silk for heavy corporate litigation in both Birmingham and London. He is a real polymath across many areas of law. He is peerless, fearless and is always the right choice for big cases.” Legal 500 2023
“John’s towering strength is his ability to absorb the whole landscape of a document, pinpoint the issues and analyze them with surgical precision. He never looks down on his clients, even if they have made mistakes.” Legal 500 2023
