Gatehouse Chambers

John Beresford specialises in commercial and property law. John has appeared in levels of tribunal up to and including the Court of Appeal. He has experience of a wide variety of commercial matters including contractual disputes, breach of fiduciary duty claims, fraud, joint venture disputes, shareholder disputes, tracing claims, agency disputes, breach of confidence claims and financial services regulation. John’s substantial property practice encompasses commercial and residential landlord and tenant disputes, leasehold management matters, secured lender claims and various matters heard in the First-Tier Tribunal.

Notable current and past instructions include:

Tillman v Lloyds Bank Plc and Better Capital LLP: John acts for the Claimant (a former owner of the Jaegar and Aquascutum fashion brands) in his c£150m unlawful means conspiracy claim which is being heard in the Commercial Court. John is led by Brie Stevens-Hoare KC. Toner v Telford Homes Ltd [2021] EWHC 516 (QB): John acts for the Fourth Defendant in these ongoing proceedings which concern a property purchased ‘off plan’ by the Claimant who is making allegations of breach of contract, negligence, deceit, harassment and defamation against various parties. John was successful in securing strike out of the defamation and breach of contract claims made against his clients. Freear v Andrews [2020] EWHC 3497 (QB): John successfully represented the Defendant in resisting the Claimant’s application for summary judgment / strike out in a claim concerning a £1.6m property investment. This ongoing matter raises some interesting points of law concerning Quistclose Trusts. Ramjotton v Patel [2020] UKUT 19 (LC), [2021] 2 WLUK 148: Upper Tribunal decision concerning the scope of the jurisdiction under paragraph 5A of Schedule 11 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. John acted successfully for the Appellant. A v B: John acts for the Respondents in an ongoing HM Land Registry rectification claim where serious allegations of fraud are being made. John is led by David Lewis KC. Holyoake v Candy [2017] EWHC 3397 (Ch): John acted for the Claimants in their £132m claim against the Candy Brothers & others arising out of a property development gone wrong (led by Roger Stewart KC of 4 New Square Chambers). The 9 week trial of this matter (which featured in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2017) was heard in the Chancery Division and judgment was handed down in December 2017. These proceedings generated a number of interlocutory decisions (([2017] EWHC 387 (Ch), [2018] EWHC 377 (Ch), [2018] 2 WLUK 495, [2018] EWHC 502 (Ch)). R v J: John was instructed by a high-end fashion label to defend a £3m claim for statutory compensation under the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993 (led by David Lewis KC). This matter settled. B v S: John acted (as sole counsel) in Queen’s Bench Division proceedings on behalf of a start-up drinks company defending allegations that it had wrongfully terminated an exclusive distribution agreement. This matter settled John acted successfully for an entrepreneur in seeking an order for pre-action disclosure against a publicly listed real estate services company. This matter received coverage in the Guardian, the Times and the Financial Times.

John graduated from the University of Oxford with a Double First in Law where he received numerous university and college prizes including the Gibbs Prize (Proxime Accessit) for the best university performance in Contract, Tort, Trusts and Land Law.

Call: 2012

Commercial Bar Association Chancery Bar Association The London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association TECBAR

BA (Jurisprudence) – Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford (Double First) BPTC – BPP Law School (Very Competent) Shelford Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn Gibbs Prize, University of Oxford Lord Mansfield Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn Hardwicke Scholarship, Lincoln’s Inn College Scholarship, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford Isaiah Berlin Prize, Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford The Citigroup Scholarship, University of Oxford