Commercial, Insolvency, Professional Negligence, Real Estate, Property Damage & Insurance Disputes, Wills & Trusts, Proprietary Estoppel, Mediation, Agriculture & Rural Affairs
Call : 2010
Deputy Head of Commercial team
Natasha is a commercial and chancery barrister and mediator who is often instructed as sole counsel in high value, multifaceted litigation against significantly more senior opponents in the High Court and is consistently ranked as a leading junior in Chambers UK and Legal 500. She has been instructed as sole counsel on several matters against KCs as well as instances where the other side are represented by more than one barrister. Natasha is thought to be the only regional junior on the Legal Services Panel for the BVI and is also Junior Counsel to the Crown on the Attorney General’s Regional B Panel.
Natasha has experience of offshore litigation across her practice areas and has a particular interest in trust disputes. She has a dynamic commercial practice incorporating arbitration, banking, breach of fiduciary duties, civil fraud, company & partnership disputes, professional negligence, insolvency and trusts. Her private client practice focuses on trusts, contentious probate and charities. Natasha’s real estate practice is limited to disputes over beneficial interests in property e.g. proprietary estoppel and trusts of land including TOLATA as well as the commercial aspects of property such as contracts for the sale of land, misrepresentation and mortgages. Natasha is a great go-to counsel for complex matters and is very responsive and approachable. She is known for her robust yet practical strategy for resolving issues. She brings clarity and direction to a matter and is praised for her excellent submissions and pleadings. Natasha is particularly well-placed to assist on matters involving an overlap between her specialisms.
The legal directories currently describe her as “really tenacious and experienced, incredibly user-friendly and a really good team player”; someone who “has a great eye for detail” and “will go the extra mile for clients and instructing solicitors”; “very astute and quickly grasps the issues at hand. She is a strong advocate and a quick thinker. She provides considered and thorough advice”; “always thinks outside the box”; “incredibly well-prepared and knows her cases back to front. She is relatable and provides thorough advice to her clients. Her advocacy is strong, and she presents her arguments clearly and succinctly.”
Previous editions refer to her as “extremely knowledgeable and efficient”; “a great go-to counsel for complex matters – very responsive and approachable”; “insightful, personable and very intelligent”; “a fountain of knowledge”; “meticulous”; “knows the law inside and out”; “very pragmatic, approachable and thorough”; “very astute and is able to look at complex issues and break them down easily to determine the best strategy to meet a client’s needs”; “practical and tactical”; “excellent with clients”; “able to think creatively to reach a novel solution to difficult legal issues”; “extremely intelligent, with an eye for practical and innovative solutions”; someone who “has real technical brilliance” with “forensic attention to detail” who “builds a great rapport with clients”. Natasha’s technical expertise has been described as “phenomenal”. She is noted as being “an assertive and tenacious advocate” who makes “excellent” submissions and “particularly comes into her own in closing arguments”. She is someone who “brings clarity and direction to a matter” and is “always keen for a challenge”.
Natasha particularly enjoys trials, appeals, tactical and urgent high risk applications such as freezing injunctions, applications for security for costs and strike out and/or summary judgment applications. She represented the successful party in a significant case concerning allegations of warehousing litigation and strike out (Lloyd v Hayward & Another [2024] EWHC 2033 (Ch)). She has undertaken numerous mediations and joint settlement meetings.
Natasha has been led on particularly complex matters such as a forfeiture rule dispute concerning the death of a UK millionaire in the Ukraine which received national press coverage and a multimillion pound commercial dispute regarding new technology and emerging markets with litigants located in China. She has also been instructed as part of a team of counsel on large scale, high value and document-heavy disputes.
Natasha has also been published several times in the Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal and has contributed to LexisPSL on a variety of insolvency matters. She regularly delivers seminars in her areas of specialism and can be contacted directly or via the marketing team or the clerks for speaking engagements. Publications and Podcasts
Instructing Counsel - Part 1 Podcast 1975 Act claims – Is the net estate enough? “Topical talks with Title Research: Challenging Estate Administration Costs” – with Freeths LLP, Episode 30. “TOLATA claims: Practical tips and complexities” – The Real Estate Pod from St John’s Chambers with Lucia Mills of Roskilly & Mills, Episode 1. “Topical talks with Title Research: Reasonable Financial Provision” – with Freeths LLP, Episode 28. “Proprietary estoppel remedies: expectation and acceleration”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal, Vol 240, 2023, pp. 13-20. “Wills: The public interest – whose view counts?”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal, Vol 239, 2022, pp. 20-24. “Topical talks with Title Research: Will dispute trends” – with Freeths LLP, Episode 20. “Topical talks with Title Research: Will disputes and protecting an estate” – with Freeths LLP, Episode 19. “Claims for reasonable financial provision – a round up”, Family Law Journal, Vol 52, 2022, pp. 384-389. “Wills: sealing royal wills – justifiable secrecy?”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal, Vol 229, 2021, pp. 19-25. “Disclosure, intermeddling and compensation (Walker v The Official Receiver)”, LexisPSL “When to distribute”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal, Vol 194, 2018, pp. 14-17. “Value judgment: Ilott v Mitson [2017]”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal, Vol 186, 2017, pp. 4-6. “When to indemnify”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal, Vol 185, 2017, pp. 18-21. “Wills: At Your Disposal?”, Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal, Vol 179, 2016, pp. 7-11 (with John Dickinson)