Christopher McNall > Chambers of Richard Chapman KC > Manchester, England > Barrister Profile
18 St John Street Chambers Offices
18 St John Street Chambers
18-20 ST JOHN STREET
MANCHESTER
M3 4EA
England
- Set Profile
- Go to...
Christopher McNall
Work Department
Agriculture, wills and contentious probate, chancery, commercial, mediation.
Position
After undergraduate and graduate legal studies in Oxford and Poland, Christopher taught law at the Universities of Oxford and Cardiff. He came to the Bar in Manchester in 2005, since then he has undertaken a wide range of Chancery and commercial cases. He aims to bring a robust and practical approach to all my clients’ cases, and to make a worthwhile contribution to them. He understands the importance of careful and comprehensive pleadings, and many of my cases are resolved at that early stage. Agriculture: Christopher regularly instructed in agricultural disputes of all kinds, both before the Courts and in arbitrations, including disputes about tenancies, partnerships, land, planning and environmental law. He is also a fellow of the Agricultural Law Association, and gives seminars nationwide on agricultural law. Wills and Contentious Probate: Christopher advises and acts, both for beneficiaries and executors, in claims across the whole range of disputed wills (including fraudulent wills, disputes as to capacity, undue influence, knowledge and approval, and revocation) and claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975. Chancery: Christopher advises and acts in the range of matters which belongs to the Chancery Division of the High Court, and Chancery Business in the County Court, and especially disputes involving rights of way and boundaries, tenancies, mortgages, professional negligence (especially solicitors), fraud, and breach of fiduciary duties. He has an interest in intellectual property, and has recently acted in claims and applications for urgent injunctive relief involving domain-name and trademark infringement, and passing-off. Commercial: he advises and acts in commercial disputes such as debt claims, and claims concerning defective goods, performance, or workmanship. Recent cases of this kind have involved groundworks at an onshore gas terminal, and windows in a series of shopping centres. Christopher contributed the chapter on ‘Insolvency’ to the recent book ‘The Impact of the Human Rights Act on Private Law’ (Cambridge, 2011). Mediation: Christopher accepts instructions to act as a mediator. He is an accredited mediator (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) and an associate member of the Association of Northern Mediators. He also has considerable experience of representing clients in mediations.
Career
Called 2005; Middle Temple.
Languages
Polish (conversational), Hungarian (basic).
Memberships
Administrative Law Bar Association; Agricultural Law Association (Fellow); Association of Northern Mediators (associate); Chancery Bar Association; Society of Legal Scholars (associate member); Northern Circuit of the Bar; Northern Circuit Commercial Bar Association.
Education
Hawarden High School, Flintshire; University of Oxford (BA MA DPhil); Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland; University of the West of England, Bristol (Bar Vocational Course). Scholarships and Prizes: Middle Temple (Scholar); Magdalen College Oxford (Scholar); Jagiellonian University Krakow (Scholar); Agricultural Law Association ‘Chairman’s Trophy’ 2009; Junior Counsel to the Crown (Provincial Panel) 2010 – date.
Lawyer Rankings
Regional Bar > Northern Circuit > Agriculture
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1Christopher McNall – 18 St John Street Chambers ‘Christopher is a go-to barrister for agricultural matters. He is a lateral thinker and a good negotiator who quickly grasps the issues in a case.’
Regional Bar > Northern Circuit > Chancery, probate, and tax
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1Christopher McNall – 18 St John Street Chambers ‘Christopher is always very well-prepared, both in terms of his knowledge of the facts and the law, and in his written documents. He knows and researches the law in order to provide very practical solutions, he has an easy and approachable manner, and he presents a reasonable and highly persuasive argument in court.
18 St John Street Chambers is praised as ‘an excellent set’ and its members assist clients with a wide range of contentious and non-contentious business and property, chancery, and tax mandates. The set houses Richard Chapman KC, who has expertise in direct and indirect tax matters, and Jennifer Newstead-Taylor, who is also skilled in tax matters and traditional Chancery work, as well as VAT cases in which MTIC fraud is alleged. Christopher McNall has substantial experience in handling inheritance tax cases, and he has appeared before the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. He represented the revenue in corporation tax case HMRC v Dolphin Drilling Ltd, concerning if a tender support vessel in the North Sea is a floating hotel. Elisabeth Tythcott is another notable team member active in the business and property courts, and she represented the claimant in Feili v Faily & ors, a case concerning a dispute over the treatment of an estate’s principal asset between six siblings.