Property & Trusts
Introduction and Expertise
Lisa Linklater KC is a leading property barrister with an established reputation nationally for her expertise, advocacy, advice and strategic excellence in Chancery, Commercial Dispute Resolution and Insolvency/Restructuring, including property and trusts disputes. Lisa has practised in this area of practice for 30 years. Lisa’s practice in this field often links with shareholder, partnership and joint venture disputes, corporate insolvencies, Law of Property Act receiverships, commercial fraud or banking and finance. She is Vice-chair of the Northern Business and Property Bar Association.
Recommendations
Lisa is recommended as a Band 1 silk in these practice areas by Chambers and Partners UK Bar 2025 and Legal 500 UK Bar 2025. 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.
Experience, Skills and Personal Qualities
Lisa brings 30 years of experience in advising and representing a diverse range of companies, individuals, banks and other lenders, office holders of insolvent companies, Law of Property Act receivers, Government departments, local authorities and other public sector bodies, solicitor firms and trustees of substantial trust funds. Lisa works closely with clients and instructing solicitors to tailor strategy to clients’ objectives and to succinctly and clearly advocate on behalf of clients. Lisa’s advice in this technical area is practical, creative, commercial and accessible. She is adept in effectively leading teams of different sizes for the benefit of clients.
Lisa’s property and trusts practice is often high value, high profile, with complex legal or factual issues and/or reputational or precedent issues for the client. She is currently instructed in respect of disputes relating to jointly owned property portfolios with a value of over £10m and a claim in a high profile corporate insolvency for accessory liability to alleged breaches of trust of over £12m.
Lisa Linklater KC’s property practice includes:
- All issues as to mortgages, debentures and other forms of security, particularly in a corporate insolvency context;
- Law of Property Act receiverships;
- Disputes concerning substantial property portfolios, often jointly owned and involving the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996;
- Express, resulting and constructive trusts;
- Proprietary estoppel (often disputes within families and relating to farms, frequently also involving partnership issues);
- Shareholder, joint venture and partnership disputes within the property sector and/or involving commercial, agricultural or residential property and/or property development;
- Allegations of fraud e.g. sham transactions and
- Property issues in a personal or corporate insolvency context.
Lisa Linklater KC’s trusts practice includes:
- Breach of trust;
- Cross-border issues;
- Dishonest assistance;
- Knowing receipt;
- Account of profits and equitable compensation;
- Co-ownership of property disputes;
- Discretionary trusts (particularly of shares in companies within the context of shareholder disputes).
Lisa Linklater KC’s significant experience and expertise as lead trial Counsel in the Business and Property Courts of the High Court of Justice and in the Court of Appeal underpins the strength of her oral and written advocacy and strategic excellence at all stages of disputes in this field.
Recent Highlights
Recent highlights of Lisa’s property and trusts practice in silk include:
- Acting for a partner in a very substantial residential and commercial property portfolio in Yorkshire, built up over many years (2024 – ).
- 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 advising and acting with junior Counsel for liquidators of a property development company that had entered liquidation before completion of the development of a mixed residential and commercial project, following the entry into contracts for purchase of the units with investors, many of whom reside in Kuwait (2023 – 2024).
- 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 – ).
- Acting for a partner in a long-standing partnership in a very substantial property portfolio in the North West with related shareholder dispute (2024 – ).
- Successfully acting in respect of very substantial property claim involving allegations of sham, linked to allegations of unfair prejudice in respect of a company within a family business (2023 – ).
- Advising as to threatened professional negligence claim against solicitors relating to high value property transaction in London (2024 – ).
- 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).
- Advising LPA receivers and lender in respect of priority between a debenture and option agreement, involving lending of just under £10m in a matter which attracted significant media attention (2023).
- 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).
- 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).
- Cleveland Bridge UK Limited (in administration): Successfully secured directions from the High Court for joint administrators of a former global leader in the design of complex structures including theShard on a complex application relating to the distribution of £7m. The application involved novel issues relating to fixed and floating charges, the equitable doctrine of marshalling, substantial preferential creditor claims by HM Revenue and Customs and Saudi law (2022).Examples of Lisa’s significant experience in this field before taking silk are in the “property and trusts” cases section below.
Property and Trusts Cases
Lisa’s experience in property and trusts cases before taking silk includes the following;
REAL PROPERTY, TRUSTS AND RELATED CLAIMS
- 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).
- Successfully realising an investment in valuable crowd-funded property development company in Cheshire for shareholders by just and equitable winding up petition (2018) (HCt).
- Representing trustee of shares in directions application involving issues including missing beneficiaries (2018) (HCt).
- Acting for a high-profile retailer in defending emergency proceedings for the delivery up of items in the high-street stores it was occupying (2018) (HCt).
- Representing a purchaser of a pharmaceutical business from administrators in claim by landlord for dilapidations and unpaid rent. Landlord is relying upon Jervis v Pillar Denton Ltd for priority over other creditors (2017) (HCt).
- Advising in respect of trust issues following a pre-pack sale of 40,000 individual voluntary arrangements.
- Advice as to whether a grant by a charity to a company in liquidation was held on Quistclose trusts (2016).
- 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”, relying on an alleged overriding interest. The claim centred on allegations of civil fraud and was related to high profile criminal proceedings relating to the premises (2016) (HCt).
- Acted for the trustees of “fighting fund” in application relating to use of the fund in legal proceedings relating to a tax scheme. The case to which the fund relates is high profile (2016) (HCt).
- Advised trustees of trust on the implications of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 for the trust (2015).
- Represented former employee in claim based on promised interest in shares by owners/directors, relying upon trusts analysis. The case was further complicated because shares had been swapped into a major international company.
SECURITY INCLUDING LPA RECEIVERSHIPS
- Advising a peer to peer pawn broking platform in respect of loans secured against six ships (2017).
- Advised assignee of mortgages and guarantees on alleged undue influence in context of investment property in the North West (2015).
- Firstpoint Security Trustee Ltd v Enterprise House Development Ltd & ors: Acted for Law of Property Act receivers of a hotel in the Midlands in successfully defending application for an injunction brought by second charge holder and securing payment of the costs and expenses of the receivers (2014)(HCt).
- 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 in circumstances where LPA receivers had been appointed.
PARTNERSHIP AND PROPRIETARY ESTOPPEL DISPUTES
- Acting in a factually and legally complex property dispute spanning 40 years within a family in respect of a property portfolio valued at c. £4m and alleged partnership, in which she led other Counsel (2020).
- Successfully acted for defendant to claims of approximately £1 million in respect of solicitors’ partnership in legally and factually complex claim involving property portfolio. Case involved complex limitation issues and an entangled factual history (2020 – 2022).
- Representing a partner in a family farming partnership in a dispute involving an enviable Yorkshire Wolds arable farm valued in excess of £6 million in which a proprietary estoppel claim was made (2017 – 2018).
- Successfully defending a claim under a joint venture agreement and by proprietary estoppel to a valuable quarry at a 2 week trial (2016 – 2019).
