Christopher Jones > Chambers of Matthew White > Bristol, England > Barrister Profile

St John’s Chambers’ ‘excellent‘ Chancery and probate team stands out on the Western Circuit, with members offering ‘a wide range of expertise‘. Clients benefit from John Dickinson’s former experience as a Chartered Accountant and his ‘fantastic eye for detail’, while Alex Troup KC recently acted in the high-profile Court of Appeal case of Hughes v Pritchard, which considered the validity of the deceased’s will on the grounds of testamentary capacity as well as a proprietary estoppel claim to a substantial plot of farmland. Christopher Jones is a highly regarded probate and trust specialist and has recently acted in contested will claims, disputes over the administration of trust funds, and several significant proprietary estoppel claims, while Oliver Wooding has broad experience, including in connection with the rectification of lifetime trusts and applications for the removal of executors, and Joss Knight appeared in Bracey v Curley, which considered the principles of will construction and the availability of rectification as a remedy.

St John’s Chambers is a ‘first-class‘ set for property and construction law work, with ‘a range of experienced barristers and upcoming juniors‘. John Sharples is ‘outstanding on commercial property matters‘ – he recently acted for the respondent in Ali v Khatib & ors, a Court of Appeal case which resolved conflicting first instance authority to clarify the law relating to occupation rent, including the weight to be given to the occupying party’s conduct or circumstances when determining when rent is payable. James Pearce-Smith acts in construction disputes involving builders and subcontractors as well as in professional negligence claims against architects and developers. Christopher Jones, ‘very confident in court and in arbitrations‘, has a broad property practice, while Charles Auld, ‘a robust and creative advocate‘, has considerable experience dealing with boundary disputes, landlord and tenant work, rights of way, and land registration. Adam Boyle recently acted for the respondent in Philpott v Bovisand Park Limited, an unusual considering whether an applicant might prescriptively acquire an easement over land, notwithstanding permission to use the land having been granted, if they are in fact subjectively unaware that such permission has been granted.