Class Actions
England & Wales
19 August 2025
Reputed for its depth of experience, Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP’s property litigation practice handles co-ownership and development disputes, enfranchisement matters, and residential disputes concerning rights of light and easements. ‘Superstar’ Ben Robinson leads the group, frequently representing institutional landlords and cases involving fire safety strategies and cladding matters. Sara Stephens focuses on forfeiture proceedings, disrepair, and nuisance claims, whereas Donald Lambert covers litigation relating to leases and conditional sales.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Ben Robinson is an excellent team leader.’
‘Sara Stephens is a stand out lawyer with excellent knowledge base and client care skills. Ben Robinson is a superstar.’
‘Penningtons Manches Cooper has a strong property litigation practice, with particular expertise in the area of development disputes and block management. The team is knowledgeable and thorough.’
‘Donald Lambert is amongst the most experienced and knowledgeable property litigators around. He is a very good lawyer as well as commercially astute. Laura Rowley is up-and-coming as a diligent senior associate.’
‘A first rate property litigation team. One of the top real estate litigation firms in the UK in terms of respect and ability’
‘Donald Lambert - One of the top prop lit lawyers around. Always focused on achieving the best result’
‘The team exhibits a high level of customer service and interpersonal skills. They are completely upfront about fees and are careful to not create 'billable hours' unreasonably. They keep completely up to date with the ever-changing world of Social Housing and are keen to seek the views of multiple organisations on the impact of any changes.’
‘Ben Robinson - absolutely conscientious professional who is incredibly well regarded within the sector.'
Key clients
- Aviva Investors Ground Rent GP Limited & Aviva Ground Rent Holdco Limited
- The Max Barney Estate
- L1 Capital
- Wooldridge Group
- Flight Centre
- Sellar Property Group (developers of The Shard)
- Peabody Trust
- Labtech
- Deekay Group
- Urban Edge Group
Work highlights
Acting for the respondent in the Supreme Court case of Aviva Investors Ground Rent GP Ltd and another (Respondents) v Williams and others (Appellants), which ensures that landlords retain control over discretionary management decisions regarding residential service charges.
Acting for an institutional investor in relation to a rent review arbitration on behalf of the landlord against McDonalds.
Acting for Southern Housing Group on a case heard in the country court, which questions whether an assured tenant was using a property as their principal home.
Practice head
Ben Robinson
Other key lawyers
Sara Stephens; Donald Lambert