Commercial
Introduction
Lisa Linklater KC is a leading silk with a well established reputation nationally for her expertise, advocacy, strategic excellence and advice in high value disputes across the full range of commercial litigation. She is Vice-chair of the Northern Business and Property Bar Association.
Recommendations
Lisa has been recommended as a Band 1 silk for two consecutive years by both Chambers and Partners UK Bar Guide 2025 and Legal 500 UK Bar 2025 in three practice areas – Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chancery and Insolvency and Restructuring. Testimonials are in the recommendations section opposite. They recognise Lisa’s many skills and personal qualities that have cemented her reputation in heavyweight and high profile cases in silk. The current legal directories note: “Lisa is very capable with complex commercial litigation and is able to cut through complicated matters quickly. She is a pleasure to work with and is also great with clients”, “Lisa is technically excellent” and “a formidable opponent”.
Expertise, Skills and Personal Qualities
Lisa is highly experienced in acting for a very wide range of clients in cases and disputes that are high-profile (including many attracting media attention), set a legal precedent (either for the client or generally), are of high financial value, intersect with criminal matters and/or are of reputational importance to the client. Lisa is recognised by Legal 500 UK Bar 2025 as “pragmatic, intelligent, and always calm and considered”, as well as being “tenacious in battle”. She has a wealth of experience in advocacy in the Business and Property Courts of the High Court, the Court of Appeal and in Alternative Dispute Resolution (including arbitration and mediation).
Lisa brings 30 years of experience in advising and representing diverse clients including companies (plcs, SMEs and household names), banks and other lenders, high net worth individuals (often in their capacity as shareholders, directors, members of LLPs, partners or co-owners of commercial and residential property), insolvency practitioners (as office holders or LPA receivers), central government (Secretary of State for Business and Trade and HM Revenue and Customs), local government, sports clubs, solicitor firms and trustees of substantial trust funds. She is instructed on behalf of clients by and against regional, national and international law firms.
She is highly experienced in the successful resolution of disputes by court proceedings in the Business and Property Courts of the High Court or Court of Appeal, as well as by Alternative Dispute Resolution (including arbitration and mediation). Lisa has extensive experience in both the private and public sectors, including in the technology, energy, financial services, property, retail, healthcare, construction, insurance, hospitality, education and manufacturing sectors.
Lisa is highly adept in cases involving expert evidence, particularly of a financial nature.
Lisa is valued for her excellent leadership skills, collaborating very effectively with a very wide range of clients and legal teams to advance clients’ objectives effectively: “she is always challenging us on aspects of the case we might not have thought of. She really raises the game of everyone working with her.” Lisa frequently works with lawyers who are specialist in other legal jurisdictions (recent examples include Jersey, Isle of Man, Scotland, Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia) or other silks, junior Counsel or lawyers with complementary expertise (recent examples include criminal, tax on transactions and matrimonial). She also regularly leads junior Counsel (where appropriate to the case and client).
Recent Experience and Highlights
Examples of Lisa’s commercial practice in silk include:
Arbitration
- Acting for a retiring member of a very well known accountancy LLP in respect of the arbitration of protracted and fiercely contested disputes relating to the payment of goodwill under a deed of covenant and capital payment under an LLP agreement (2024 – ).
Banking and Finance
- Advising guarantors of and shareholders in a company carrying out a substantial residential property development in East Yorkshire on strategy in dispute with lender of a bridging loan of £4m for the development. The dispute involved the alleged sale of their shares in the company to a third party by the lender further to a charge over the shares (2024 – ).
- Acting on behalf of one of the world’s largest banking and financial organisations in respect of substantial claims under guarantees of commercial lending (2024 – ).
Commercial Contracts
- Acting for Claimant in long-running dispute to recover unpaid commission of £2.35m due to the Claimant, as appointed representative for independent insurers, listed for trial in the High Court in London in 2025 (2024 – ).
- Advising German company in respect of dispute with English company regarding contract for home delivery and installation service for high-class retailers and related loan agreement (2024).
- Advising local authority and private sector partner in respect of a public contract relating to a very substantial joint venture property development in the North West, involving issues relating to public procurement law (2023).
- Acting in the High Court in London for Defendant to very high profile, factually and legally complex alleged claim of £12m by company administrators. The claim is for alleged dishonest assistance and knowing receipt of breach of trust and alleged breaches of directors’ duties, relating to a share sale by the Defendant of his shares in the company. Lisa has collaborated closely with Jersey lawyers in respect of a freezing order obtained in the Royal Court of Jersey (2023 – ).
Company and corporate law disputes
- Acting for and advising a minority shareholder in respect of share forfeiture provisions flowing from Good Leaver/Bad Leaver clauses in a shareholders’ agreement. The shareholder agreement was part of a complex suite of corporate documentation, created following investment by private equity investors in the company. The company had developed and owns valuable software (2024 – ).
Directors
- Acting as lead Counsel for the Secretary of State for Business and Trade in a very high profile matter under the Company Director Disqualification Act 1986. The matter involved very high value transactions, a complex group structure, cross-border law issues, complex and novel legal company and insolvency law issues, very substantial documentary evidence, as well as highly complex financial issues (2023 – 2024).
- Successfully securing the early and favourable settlement of substantial alleged claims against directors of companies in liquidation. The claims were brought by liquidators or assignees who had purchased claims from liquidators and alleged breach of the creditor duty, recognised by the Supreme Court in BTI 2014 LLC v Sequana (2024).
Injunctive relief
- Successfully securing in the High Court in Manchester the dismissal of an application by a borrower for an interim injunction to prevent a finance house from enforcing its security in respect of a substantial property development in the Midlands (2023).
- Advised and successfully acted for long established vehicle bodybuilder in a dispute with the joint administrators of a high profile insolvent company concerning a payment, described as a deposit, of £5m. The dispute centred on novel issues relating to the application of a provision, introduced by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (2023 – 2024).
Merger and acquisition disputes
- Acting for seller of shares in a company in the technology sector in hotly contested claim against purchaser for earn-out of up to £11m under a share purchase agreement, involving disputes as to the construction of the contract (2023 – ).
- Acting in respect of claim for breaches of warranties under share purchase agreement, including advice in respect of contractual limitation clauses and the scope of a set off clause (2021 – 2023).
- Acting for a partner in a very substantial residential and commercial property portfolio in Yorkshire, built up over many years (2024 – ).
- Acting for a partner in a long-standing partnership in a very substantial property portfolio in the North West with related shareholder dispute (2024 – ).
Restitutionary claims
- Successfully securing the discontinuance of a claim against a director for restitution in respect of tax liabilities relating to an Employee Benefit Trust, shortly before the trial of the claim in the High Court in Leeds (2023).
- Currently acting in respect of dispute relating to jointly owned commercial and residential property portfolio in London and the North West with a value of over £10m and related allegations of unfair prejudice under s994 Companies Act 2006 (2023 – ).
- Successfully advised and acted for trustees of a long-established family trust with a large number of beneficiaries, including many minors, in an application to extend the trust pursuant to the Variation of Trusts Act 1958. The trust’s assets include shares in a company, which owns valuable commercial property in Sheffield. (2022 – 2024).
- Successfully and swiftly securing the purchase of shares by majority Respondent shareholders following a protracted, factually and legally complex dispute between shareholders, involving a related company that had received substantial inter-company loans. The company involved provides brand protection to many household names (2024 – 2025).
- Successfully securing the purchase of client’s shares in a hard fought s994 petition relating to an online gambling business following the dilution of client’s shareholding by an allotment of new shares. The case involved a group of companies, including subsidiaries registered in Gibraltar. The client’s shares were valued by an expert valuer from a Big Four accounting firm with the client’s shareholding being valued as if the allotment of the ”new” shares had not taken place (2023 – 2024)
Solicitors
- Advising solicitors on merits and strategy relating to threatened professional negligence claim against them relating to a high value property transaction in London (2024 – ).
- Advising solicitors on very sensitive and complex issues relating to a request under the Insolvency Act 1986 for information relating to a client where client confidentiality issues arose (2023 – 2024).
Sports Law
- Acting for and advising board of directors (most of whom were volunteers) on strategy on threatened injunction in respect of highly acrimonious dispute between different sections of a very well established sports club (a company limited by guarantee) (2024 – ).
Examples of Lisa’s significant experience in this field before taking silk are in the commercial cases list below. Please see the bespoke CVs opposite for details of Lisa’s practice, expertise and experience in company (particularly shareholder disputes), insolvency, commercial fraud and property and trusts.
Further Expertise and Personal Qualities
Lisa is very widely published in her areas of specialism, as set out in the publications section above. She is regularly invited to chair or speak on topical legal developments in commercial litigation to regional, national and international law firms. In 2023 Lisa was chair of a prestigious panel of international experts at the 40th Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime and in 2024 she chaired at the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Security Conference in Manchester.
Commercial Cases
Lisa’s experience in commercial litigation and commercial contract before taking silk includes the following:
COMMERCIAL LITIGATION
- Securing a favourable settlement for the defendants to a £5 million misfeasance and transaction defrauding creditors claim, brought by the liquidators of an offshore partnership that had moved onshore in long-running HCt BPC proceedings (2018 – 2021).
- Wybone Limited: Successfully defended serious allegations and defeated injunction application against client director in respect of management of successful company (2020)(HCt).
- [2019] EWHC 546 (Ch) and [2019] EWHC 1928 (Ch): Successfully defended challenge to the English High Court’s jurisdiction and claim that England was forum non conveniens, securing payment of debt and withdrawal of claim in Northern Ireland for over £1.7 million (HCt).
- Northgate Lighting Limited v Brite Source PTE Limited: Acted for Singaporean company in disputed winding up petition relating to lighting supplies valued at $2.2 million (2019) (HCt).
- Acted for Sports Direct in defending emergency application for delivery up of items in High Street stores following the purchase of House of Fraser (in administration) (2018) (HCt).
- Representing company that bought a pharmaceutical business from a company in administration in claims brought by the administrators that the terms of the business sale agreement had been breached (2017) (HCt).
- Successfully defending injunctive relief proceedings brought by a major manufacturer of bed products that had purchased a portfolio of properties from administrators in a “fire sale” and obtaining a favourable settlement of claim before a six day trial. The claim centred on allegations of civil fraud and was related to high profile criminal proceedings relating to the premises (2016) (HCt).
- Successfully obtained freezing order for leading travel company, based in Yorkshire (2015) (HCt).
- Advised and represented leading household name in the energy sector in dispute relating to power station in the North West (2015) (HCt).
- Obtained injunction on behalf of an academy in West Yorkshire to help secure pupils and employees following violent threats by a pupil (2014).
- Close Asset Finance Limited v B & ors: Defended application for repossession of specialist machinery, used to make medical milk for export pursuant to licence, and subject to hire purchase agreements, brought by finance house. The first hearing of the application settled, preserving use of machinery for client during administration (2015) (HCt).
- Oxford RFS v AP & ors (2013) (Briggs J) Successfully obtained an interim injunction on behalf of a company against a former employee restraining use of confidential information and records taken in a developing technology in the energy sector and subsequently successfully settled claim.
- Paragon Mortgages Ltd v MP [2011] All ER (D) 65 (David Steel J) Acted for borrower in multi-million pound claims under guarantees and on personal mortgages of buy to let properties in Leeds where LPA receivers had been appointed.
- Lowes v W Machell Joinery Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 794, [2012] 1 All ER (Comm) 153 and [2011] EWCA Civ 798 (Rix LJ, Lloyd LJ and Lewison J) Whether a staircase was unfit for purpose under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 due to non-compliance with Building Regulations and the extent to which new points may be taken on appeal and costs consequences.
- GE Money Home Lending Ltd v H C Wolton & Sons Ltd (t/a Wolton Chartered Surveyors) [2010] All ER (D) 116 (May) [2010] PNLR 28 (HHJ Behrens) Whether or not claim form in professional negligence proceedings could be amended in respect of name of one of the parties outside limitation period.
- Michael Gerson (Leasing) Ltd v Loach and others [2002] All ER (D) 147 (Jul) (Court of Appeal) (Pill LJ, Robert Walker LJ and Sir Martin Nourse) Succeeded in appeal on issue of construction of chattel leasing agreement.
COMMERCIAL CONTRACTS
- Successfully acted for construction company in claim for specific performance of a contract to purchase land with a contract value of £4m in a dispute that had lasted 10 years (2020 – 2021) (HCt).
- Unwin v Bond [2020] EWHC 1769 (Comm), a precedent case on good faith clauses in shareholder agreements and one of the first trials to take place remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Advising a local authority on successfully exiting an onerous contract relating to mortuary services (2019).
- Successfully defending a claim under a joint venture agreement and by proprietary estoppel to a valuable quarry at an 8-day trial (2019) (HCt).
- Representing a Yorkshire Fastest 50 company in defending a claim brought by a commercial agent for in excess of £2.5 million in alleged unpaid commission (2018).
- Advising in alleged breach of contract claim relating to project in Dubai (2018).
- Successfully acted for sellers of shares in claim against purchasers for breach of share purchase agreement involving a company providing car repair services for insurers. Case settled before issue of proceedings (2017).
- Atlantisrealm Ltd v Intelligent Land Investments (Renewable Energy) Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1029, [2017] C.P. Rep. 39, [2017] EWHC 564 (TCC): Acted for the Claimant in a substantial claim of over £1 million for breach of warranties in a share purchase agreement involving a wind farm in Scotland. The case settled before a 10-day trial and following a high-profile appeal centred on disclosure of legally professionally privileged documents by the Defendant.
- Lisa successfully acted for a major commercial landscaping company in obtaining settlement of a claim of just under £1 million in the Mercantile Court against a local authority. The claim was for breach of a public sector contract relating to groundworks in parks, schools and other amenities under the control of the local authority (2015) (HCt).
- Successfully defended seller of shares in claim for alleged breach of warranties in a share sale agreement relating to a debt collection company in a case involving complex forensic accounting issues on the issue of liability (2015) (HCt).
Please see the bespoke CVs opposite for details of Lisa’s practice, expertise and experience in company (particularly shareholder disputes), insolvency, commercial fraud and property and trusts before taking silk.
