Keating Chambers

Mercy Milgo specialises in construction, engineering, energy, professional negligence and related insurance disputes. Mercy enjoys undertaking work in her own right, as well as led work as a member of larger counsel teams drawn from both inside and outside Chambers. Recent highlights include acting:

• as sole counsel in a c£5.5 million professional negligence adjudication concerning alleged fire safety (cladding, insulation and cavity barriers) defects in a large student residential development, successfully arguing (on behalf of the Responding Party Architect) for the dismissal of the Referring Party’s claims in full;
• as sole counsel in a Remediation Order costs and case management hearing in the First Tier Property Tribunal (Property Chamber). This is an ongoing multi-party dispute regarding alleged structural and fire safety defects at a residential development;
• in a multi-million-euro international arbitration concerning the use of a pioneering anaerobic digestion technology at a waste to-energy plant (led by Fionnuala McCredie KC and William Webb KC);
• as sole counsel in a 2.5-day multi-track trial in a dispute concerning the release of a retention sum due to the landlord upon the completion of related snagging items, pursuant to an agreement for lease; and
• in a fire safety dispute concerning matters of principle arising from Martlet Homes Limited v Mulalley & Co. Limited [2022] EWHC 1813 (TCC), the Developer Remediation Contract and the use of PAS 9980:2022 (led by Simon Hughes KC).

Mercy has experience with all common standard forms including the JCT, NEC, FIDIC, as well as bespoke construction contracts and PFI agreements. She has a particular interest in NEC and is a contributing author of Keating on NEC (2nd edition) which provides commentary on NEC3 and NEC4 standard forms. She is also a contributor to Keating on Construction Contracts.

Mercy regularly appears in Court and has spent time in the Court of Appeal marshalling Coulson LJ in Providence Building Services Ltd v Hexagon Housing Association Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 962, a decision concerning the proper construction of JCT DB (2016) termination (for repeated specified default) provisions.

She was also involved in the UK Covid19 Inquiry (Module 4) as part of the counsel team instructed by the UK Department of Health and Social Care and led by Sam Stein KC and Abdul Jinadu.

Mercy provides advice, drafting and representation at all stages of the litigation process with a focus on complex construction and engineering disputes and related insurance matters.