The Legal 500

Maitland Chambers is one of the largest commercial Chancery sets in the UK. With 23 Silks and 43 juniors, its reputation for excellence extends to many areas of law, from commercial and contractual disputes to Chancery, property and insolvency.

The set: Maitland Chambers handles a very wide range of cases – from major litigation involving multinational companies to property disputes in the county courts. Several barristers at the set have been called to the Bars of Hong Kong, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Grenada and the Isle of Man and have appeared in Jersey, Bermuda, the Far East, the Bahamas and Brunei.

All of chambers’ barristers are members of the Chancery Bar Association and many are members of COMBAR and the Property Bar Association. Members of chambers sit as arbitrators, mediators and legal assessors. DPA is available. The size and breadth of chambers’ expertise means that it can provide teams of barristers to deal rapidly and thoroughly with complex cases that raise a broad range of issues. Chambers’ aim is to provide clients with a professional and efficient but approachable service.

Types of work undertaken: Commercial law and contractual disputes: chambers provides advocacy and advice on commercial disputes and problems, including financial regulation, banking and insurance, guarantees and other security, mergers and acquisitions, and management buyouts.

Company law: chambers deals with every aspect of company law, including shareholders’ disputes, actions against directors and boardroom battles. It conducts litigation about public share issues, listing particulars, derivative actions and similar matters.

Property law: chambers offers a comprehensive property-related service, having expertise in all aspects of landlord and tenant law, for example, residential, commercial and agricultural tenancies, rent reviews, 1954 Act renewals, leasehold enfranchisement claims, dilapidation claims, breaches of covenants, service charge disputes and environmental protection; and all aspects of real property work, for example, conveyancing, option agreements, easements, restrictive covenants, overriding interests, mortgages, subrogation, boundary disputes, property-related torts, and equitable rights and interests.

Insolvency: chambers’ expertise in company law dovetails with its excellent reputation for corporate insolvency law, particularly its more contentious aspects. Every week, junior barristers can be seen in the Companies Court presenting or contesting winding up petitions, administration petitions and other insolvency applications.

Civil fraud, tracing, constructive trusts, freezing injunctions and search orders: Maitland Chambers has always been very active in these fields, and was involved in some of the first major worldwide asset freezing and tracing battles, and continues to contribute to the development of the field.

International and offshore: corporate and contentious trusts and taxation advice, and international commercial litigation and arbitration.

Partnership: Maitland Chambers advises on every aspect of partnership law, including partnership accounts disputes and restrictive covenants.

Pensions: chambers has specialists dealing with the contentious and non-contentious aspects of pensions law.

Charity: chambers contains many of the leading practitioners in charity law.

Taxation: chambers advises on taxation matters arising out of its principal areas of practice.

Trusts, administration of estates, probate, administration, wills, intestacy, family provision: Maitland Chambers handles disputes about wills and the administration of estates, including the duties and rights of trustees, personal representatives, beneficiaries and other family members.

Professional negligence: actions against surveyors, accountants, solicitors and other non-medical professionals.

Intellectual property, entertainment, sports and media law: chambers has a strong reputation in this area, having acted in many high-profile disputes involving well-known musicians, artists, authors and media personalities. Chambers deals with problems involving copyright, rights in performance, trade and service marks, breach of confidence, registered and unregistered design rights, and passing off.