The Legal 500

Work Department

Litigation commercial; public international law; property litigation.

Position

Partner and head of litigation at Carey Olsen, is particularly recognised for public law and judicial review; law of contract; property law and general commercial litigation. Has represented a number of public bodies in high-profile disputes, including the Jersey Financial Services Commission in a judicial review by a large local Trust Company against a decision to refuse to grant it a license to operate in Jersey as a financial services provider; acted for TOP Produce Ltd and Fairview Farms Ltd in a case which has resulted in a landmark decision from the European Court striking down as illegal a Jersey statute which sought to regulate the Jersey agricultural industry. He has acted in partnership and shareholder disputes, a large construction case, Redrow plc and in the play.com v play.co.uk litigation and a number of trust disputes. He is a recognised leader in Jersey contract law and Jersey customary law.

Career

Barrister, Middle Temple 1991; advocate of the Royal Court of Jersey 1994; partner in the firm 1995. Publications: John is a founding member of the Jersey Law Review and a regular contributor. In 2004 he wrote ‘Jersey and the United Kingdom: a choice of destiny’; October 2004 ‘Cause for consideration: whither the Jersey law of contract’. His long essay ‘The mysterious case of the ship abandoned off Sark in 1608: the customary law relating to choses gaives’ was published in a collection of essays by the University of Caen. ‘The Triumph of the Country: The Rural Community in Nineteenth Century Jersey’ (Jersey 1994); ‘The Effect of the ‘Fourniture et Garantie’ Clause in an Hereditary Contract’ (Jersey Law Review February 1997); ‘The Sources of Jersey Contract Law’ (Jersey Law Review, February 1999); ‘The Ten-day rule and article 52 of the Loi (1880) sur la propriété foncière’ (The Jersey Law Review, July 1997); co-author of chapter on Jersey in ‘International Tracing of Assets’ (FT Law & Tax, London 1997); co-author of chapter on ‘Jersey Offshore Financing: Security and Insolvency’ (FT Law & Tax); ‘Resolution and the Jersey Law of Contract’ (The Jersey Law Review, October 2000).

Languages

French.

Member

Founding member of the Jersey Law Review; external supervisor for a PhD student on the property law of Jersey.

Education

De La Salle College, Jersey; University of Warwick (1984 BA Hons History; 1991 PhD); City of London University (1990 MA Law); Université de Caen (1993 Certificate d’Etudes Juridiques Françaises et Normandes).

Practice Areas

Litigation - commercial; Property - litigation; Public international law