Jill Headford

01392 667688 j.headford@tozers.co.uk

Work Department

Litigation and Employment

Position

A Commercial Dispute Resolution Partner and experienced Court and Tribunal Advocate, Jill specialises in resolving disputes and is a member of the Property Litigation Association. Qualifying as a solicitor in 1990.

Jill specialises in a number of legal areas, with her interests including:

• Land and property disputes – for example over boundaries, covenants and rights of way, often with major commercial or strategic significance.
• Adverse possession
• Issues arising on sale or purchase of property
• Liability for landslip, coastal erosion and flood
• Landlord and Tenant matters, acting for landlords, both commercial and residential.
• Employment Law advocacy in the employment tribunals and the Employment Appeal Tribunal for large national clients.
• Intellectual Property disputes. Jill heads a small team of IP Lawyers who advise on brand protection including registration of trade marks, protection of copyright and the law relating to the internet and data protection.
• Equine Law. A keen horsewoman and owner of four horses (you can never have too many!) and a successful BD competitor, she has many clients with equine connections and very considerable experience of resolving horse related disputes.

WORK

Recent cases

• Achieving a highly successful outcome for clients in a dispute about the rights over an industrial estate which they were entitled to exercise in conjunction with the lease of their factory. The rights were not expressly included in their lease but were crucial to the operation of their business.
• Resolving a long-running, sixteen party dispute about contributions to the cost of upkeep of a commercial estate road, eventually requiring issue in the Chancery Division of the High Court but settled early in the action.
• Acting on behalf of a wildlife trust in defending a claim brought by a neighbouring landowner who denied their right of access to their nature reserve.
• Guiding and achieving a successful team move from a professional practice against fierce opposition from the remaining partners. Team now prospering in its new practice.
• Annulment of bankruptcy of a client who owned c.£3m freehold assets necessitating careful negotiation with the Trustee in Bankruptcy (represented by a city firm and specialist insolvency counsel) and the petitioning creditors (a national utility supplier represented by in house legal counsel).
• Obtaining a landmark ruling for a limited company in a claim against Barclays for mis-selling a complex hedge fund derivative product (these arrangements are also known as “SWAPs”, “interest rate hedging products” or “IRHP’s”)
• Defending a group action against a holiday park owner based on misrepresentation about holiday use
• Substantial settlement against a commercial landlord who unreasonably refused to consent to the assignment of a lease
• Injunction claim against an outgoing recruitment agency employee for breach of restrictive covenants and mis-use of confidential information
• Setting aside an erroneous court order which wrongfully purported to dispose of trust assets
• Successful settlement of a claim arising out of terms of use of an online trading platform.

Languages

English