Gatehouse Chambers

Construction & engineering, Insurance, Commercial litigation

Louis Zvesper specialises in construction, professional liability, and insurance disputes. He is ranked as a leading junior by Chambers and Partners in construction: professional negligence and insurance; and by The Legal 500 in professional negligence and insurance & reinsurance. Louis was listed as one of 20 new leading names in the legal profession at the UK bar for 2024.

In construction, Louis acts for a wide range of clients such as developers, contractors, construction professionals, site owners etc. On the insurance side, he acts for both insurers and policy holders.

Louis is regularly instructed on all aspects of litigation and dispute resolution, and to represent parties from pre-action through to trial and appeal, including in various forms of ADR. His experience ranges from domestic disputes through to billion-pound claims.

Louis’ recent instructions include:

• Instructions from Fenchurch Law to act for Stonegate Pub Company Ltd in Stonegate v MS Amlin & Ors. Louis was being led by Ben Lynch KC, Adam Kramer KC, and David Pleiner KC. The case was listed as one of The Lawyer magazine’s top 20 cases of 2022. It concerned a £1 billion claim for business interruption losses due to COVID-19, and is a market leading case addressing issues arising from COVID-19 in relation to aggregation, post-policy period causation, treatment of furlough and government support, and AICW.
• Instructions from Keoghs to act for architects in the £50m leading cladding and fire safety defects claim of Shepherd Construction, one of The Lawyer magazine’s top 20 cases of 2024, led by Michael Wheater KC.
• Instructions from Stewarts to act for developers on a £100m cladding and fire safety defects claim relating to a number of high rise residential developments, involving both professional indemnity insurance and third party claims, led by David Pleiner KC.
• Instructions from Keoghs to act for architects in a £50m multi party dispute relating to cladding and fire safety defects at a high rise residential development in Cardiff, led by Michael Wheater KC.
• Instructions as sole counsel Lester Aldridge to act for a care home provider pursuing insurers under the Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act 2010 for cover under professional indemnity insurance in a series of claims relating to employer’s agent and architectural negligence at three care homes, resulting in render and fire safety defects, with a combined value of £8.5m.
• Instructions as sole counsel from CMS to act for an energy distributor in a £2.5m claim for defective connection works for a substation and PV generating station.
• Instructions as sole counsel from Richard Nelson to act for a contractor in a £1.5m claim relating to negligent over-specification of concrete reinforcement by a structural engineer in two residential developments.
• Instructions as sole counsel from Fenchurch Law to act for a contractor in relation to a £800,000 coverage dispute regarding progressive water damage to wooden roof cassettes.
• Instructions as sole counsel from Kennedys on a multiparty £650,000 claim for defective groundworks at the Saracens rugby ground carpark.
• Instructions as sole counsel from Kennedys to act for insurers in relation to a £600,000 coverage dispute arising from a burglary at a computer hardware shop.

Louis has contributed chapters to Construction Professional Indemnity Insurance (Sweet & Maxwell); Construction All Risks Insurance 3rd edition (Sweet & Maxwell); Construction Insolvency 7th edition (Sweet & Maxwell); and Risk and Negligence in Property Transactions (The Law Society).

Call: 2015

BILA TECBAR SCL Lincoln’s Inn

BPTC (Very Competent) – City Law School Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction) – City Law School MA Modern Literary Theory (Distinction) – Goldsmiths College London BA Comparative Literature (First) – King’s College London Lord Denning Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn) Lord Haldane Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn) Equity & Trusts Research Prize Shortlist (City Law School) Dean’s Award (King’s College London)