Maitland Chambers

07 Nov 24

Court of Appeal clarifies scope of estoppel by litigation conduct

Thomas Munby KC and James Kinman appeared for the successful party in Malik v Malik [2024] EWCA Civ 1323, in which the Court of Appeal handed down judgment on 4 November 2023. They successfully argued that the test for whether a party will – by adopting one position in litigation – be barred from adopting a contrary position at a later stage is broad and merits based, unfettered by strict rules. In particular, it is not necessary to identify a clear, unequivocal statement of position by the party in question, and it is wrong to import such a requirement from the law of promissory estoppel....

29 Oct 24

Thomas Munby KC, Emily Gailey and James Mitchell acted for the successful First Defendant in Kireeva v Zolotova

A successful outcome for the First Defendant in Kireeva v Zolotova, in which a Russian bankruptcy trustee had attempted to claim ownership of a valuable property in Italy via a share in an English company. ...

23 Oct 24

Rebecca Page acts for successful shareholders at trial in Lane v Lane [2024] EWHC 2616 (Ch)

On 21 October 2024 the High Court handed down judgment in Lane v Lane [2024] EWHC 2616 (Ch). ...

23 Oct 24

Faith Julian acted for the successful applicant in Re a company [2024]

Judgment has been handed down in Re a company [2024] EWHC 2656 (Ch), in which ICC Judge Burton granted an injunction to restrain a winding up petition on the basis that the applicant company has a genuine and serious cross-claim against the would-be petitioning creditor, in the sum of £44m. The Judge expressly rejected the creditor’s contention that the asserted cross-claim must be capable of being set out in a pleading, holding that “there is scope for this court to determine an asserted cross-claim to be genuine and serious even in circumstances where all of the information one would usually require for it to be properly pleaded, is not before this court.” The Judge reiterated that the threshold test for an injunction of this kind is “low”, and that if there is any doubt about the cross-claim, the court should proceed with caution....

21 Oct 24

Charity fundraising and Abbey Mills Mosque – Mohammed v Daji [2024] EWCA Civ 1247

The Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in Mohammed v Daji [2024] EWCA Civ 1247, a significant case relating to the ownership of the Abbey Mills Mosque in West Ham and the split within the Tablighi Jamaat movement of Islam. The judgment of Newey LJ discusses various aspects of judicial fact-finding about the intentions of donors to a charitable trust, as well as judicial findings of fact....

14 Oct 24

Maxim Cardew represented successful applicants in Mohammed v Patel [2024]

Maxim Cardew represented the successful applicants in Mohammed v Patel [2024] EWHC 2581 (Ch) in their application for a declaration and injunctive relief calling for fresh elections to the Executive Committee of a Charity operating a substantial mosque. The case concerned the correct construction of the constitution of the Charity (an unincorporated association), the lawfulness of a previous election that had been held, and the appropriate test for granting declaratory and injunctive relief in such circumstances. The decision also considered whether and in what circumstances the constitution of a charitable unincorporated association could be waived or varied....

04 Oct 24

Maitland ranked in all its core areas, together with 90 individual rankings in Legal 500 UK Bar Guide 2025

We are delighted to be ranked once again in The Legal 500 across all our core areas of practice. Thank you very much to our clients and colleagues across the profession for their feedback and for the interesting and challenging instructions sent our way. Our clerking team has also rightly received excellent comments from the market. The Legal 500 UK Bar Guide 2025 is now available to view online. You can view the rankings for Chambers and its barristers here....

23 Sep 24

Three new tenants join Maitland

We are delighted to welcome Robert Watt, Olivia Horn and Promit Chatterjee as members of Maitland, following the successful completion of their pupillages....

12 Sep 24

Darragh Connell and Eoin MacLachlan successful in landmark High Court crypto judgment that establishes USD Tether as property under English law

Judgment has been handed down in D’Aloia v Persons Unknown, Bitkub & Ors [2024] EWHC 2342 (Ch). Darragh Connell and Eoin MacLachlan, instructed by Nicola McKinney of Quillon Law, acted on behalf of a crypto exchange, Bitkub Online Co. Ltd (“Bitkub”), in successfully defending a claim brought by Fabrizio D’Aloia. Following a 5-day trial, the High Court held that the Claimant had failed to establish that any of his misappropriated USD Tether had reached the relevant wallet controlled by Bitkub, the sixth Defendant in the proceedings. The entirety of the Claimant's claims against Bitkub in unjust enrichment and as an alleged constructive trustee were dismissed. The judgment considers, for the first time following a contested trial, the status of USD Tether under English law. The High Court concluded that USD Tether did constitute property for the purposes of English law as follows: ...