Ben qualified in April 2011 and is a Partner in our Property Litigation team.

Ben is a member of the Property Litigation Association and his extensive experience in this area sees him deal with a range of complex contentious property matters. His work has been recognised in the Chambers Legal Guide as Up and Coming, marking Ben out as a leading voice in the Property Litigation sector.

His commercial approach and ability to distil complex areas of law to present clear and practical advice that clients can act on are valued by his clients.

Ben’s specialisms include:

• Dealing with subterranean reservations/rights and trespass.
• Resolving mining royalty disputes.
• Advising on the enforcement of mining leases.
• Providing strategic advice to enable or restrict property development (including access and ransom disputes)
• Handling commercial tenancy work – dealing with both opposed and unopposed 1954 Act renewals, break notices, and dilapidation claims.
• Delivering advice on restrictive covenants, overage, and easements (often within the context of development) – including rights of way; and
• Assisting with property related professional negligence claims against other solicitors and property professionals.

Ben has a particular interest in development work, frequently working closely with the firm’s mining and development clients.

Examples of Ben’s recent work include:

• Dealing with the modification of a restrictive covenant to enable a multi-million pound development to proceed.
• Resolving a significant royalty dispute for a mining client.
• Assisting a developer client to negotiate a favourable outcome in respect of a ‘ransom strip’.
• Developing and implementing a strategy designed to bypass the provisions in a pre-emption and overage agreement to enable development of a key marine site.
• Dealing with contested property portfolio work (s25 Notices, s26 Requests, s146 notices etc) for a large privately owned portfolio worth in excess of £400m.
• Bringing a professional negligence claim against a firm of solicitors for failing to properly advise on risks relating to a registered mineral title.

Ben has a strong interest in exploring opportunities for businesses to collaborate more effectively and works proactively on a range of initiatives designed to deliver added value for both clients and referrers.

When not at work, Ben enjoys playing squash, football and tennis with varying degrees of competency.