Phillip has a broad commercial chancery practice with a particular emphasis on property and insolvency. He appears regularly in the High Court and county courts. Before joining chambers in 2010, Phillip read law at Worcester College, Oxford at undergraduate and graduate level and worked at the Law Commission in the Property, Family and Trusts team. 

Notable Cases 

Marquis Francois-Eudes De Louville De Toucy v Bonhams 1793 Limited [2011] EWHC 3809 (Ch); [2012] BPIR 793 – Phillip appeared as sole counsel for the Respondent auction house in this appeal against a bankruptcy order before Vos J concerning bankruptcy and mental capacity.

Inbakumar v United Trust Bank Limited (Chancery Division, 23 February 2012) [2012] EWHC 845; [2012] BPIR 758  – Phillip appeared as sole counsel for the Respondent bank in this appeal against the refusal to set aside a statutory demand before Vos J. Judgment had been entered against the debtor but additional claims in the same proceedings involving co-guarantors and valuers were ongoing. The debtor unsuccessfully argued (inter alia) that the ongoing proceedings were a reason why the demand should have been set aside under rule 6.5(4)(d).

Areas of Emphasis

Corporate insolvency:

Phillip appears regularly in the Companies Court, usually on behalf of officeholders, in a wide variety of applications, including those involving misfeasance, directors’ loan accounts, transactions at an undervalue and preferences, unlawful dividends, wrongful trading and sections 234 and 236 of the Insolvency Act 1986.

All aspects of the compulsory winding up process including applications to restrain presentation/advertisement, validation orders, petition hearings and applications to rescind. 

Personal insolvency:

Phillip frequently appears in court covering applications to set aside statutory demands, petition hearings (with particular experience of acting for local authority petitioners in respect of council tax) and applications for annulment, rescission, possession and sale, suspension from discharge and charging orders.

Commercial:

Phillip has experience of a broad range of contractual disputes including commission agreements, equipment rental, loan agreements and guarantees, banking, sale of goods, building contractors and business sale agreements.

Property:

Phillip advises on all aspects of property and landlord and tenant law, including residential and commercial possession proceedings, the renewal of business tenancies, easements and restrictive covenants, mortgages and disrepair/dilapidations.

General chancery:

Wills and probate, intestacy and family provision

Career and Education

Called to the Bar (Lincoln’s Inn) - 2008

Member of the Chancery Bar Association

BA Jurisprudence, Worcester College, Oxford – 2003-2006

Bachelor of Civil Law, Worcester College, Oxford – 2006-2007

Lord Denning Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn – 2007

Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law – 2007-2008

Research Assistant, Law Commission – 2008-2009

Levitt Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn - 2009