David Matthias KC KC > Francis Taylor Building > London, England > Barrister Profile
Francis Taylor Building Offices
FRANCIS TAYLOR BUILDING, INNER TEMPLE
LONDON
EC4Y 7BY
England
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David Matthias KC KC
Work Department
- Licensing
- Administrative and Public
- Commercial and Property
- Planning
- Compulsory Purchase and Land Valuation
- Local Government
- Arbitration
Position
David Matthias K.C. was called in 1980 and took Silk in October 2006. He is a qualified Arbitrator having been appointed a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in 1998, and has been an LSM Accredited Mediator since 2018.
David acts for a wide range of individual, corporate and local authority clients, specialising in licensing, judicial review, commercial and property dispute resolution, planning and compulsory purchase, and local government law.
He has a wealth of experience and a strong reputation for advising and for conducting both litigation and arbitration in major cases in all those areas – recently, for example, on behalf of clients including the Sutton Harbour Group, Bristol Rovers FC, Capita, Datasharp UK, West Ham United, Westminster City Council, the London Boroughs of Camden, Havering and Hackney, and Casinos Austria International GMBH. David’s overseas work has included appearing for a consortium of property developers before the Court of Appeal in the Turks and Caicos Islands, and appearing before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg on behalf of Westminster City Council in ‘Hemming’ – the most important licensing case of recent times. He is instructed by major firms of solicitors and some of the busiest local authorities in the country, as well as acting directly for companies, individuals and pressure groups who choose to engage him on their own account on a Licensed Access or Direct Public Access basis.
As a qualified arbitrator since 1998 and an accredited mediator, David enjoys a high reputation for arbitration – both as an advocate and a sitting arbitrator – and for mediation.
Career
Called 1980; Inner Temple; took Silk 2006.
Memberships
Fellow of Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb)
Education
BA Hons Law.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Licensing
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Francis Taylor Building is ‘one of the premier sets in the context of alcohol licensing and has excellent strength in terms of some of the leading juniors around.’ The set houses barristers who represent nightclubs, bars, restaurants, casinos, betting shops, and major festivals, among others. Gerald Gouriet KC chiefly acted in gambling licensing matters in 2024, but represented Veezu Holdings Limited as an intervener in Uber Britannia v Sefton MBC, a case concerning if private hire platforms who accept bookings are required to themselves enter into a contractual obligation with the passenger to provide the journey. Also of note is David Matthias KC, who is adept at representing local authorities with licensing policies, and has a great deal of experience in this area. Another key name to note is Jeremy Phillips KC, whose ‘knowledge of premises licensing is immense‘. The set’s deep bench of juniors includes Leo Charalambides whose ‘knowledge of areas around licensing, such as the public sector equality duty’ stands out, whilst also specialising in licensing. Charalambides recently led a challenge in the High Court by a south London nightclub to the lawfulness of holding a remote licensing hearing, during which its premises license was revoked.