Keating Chambers

Mercy Milgo has a thriving and varied practice across Chambers’ core areas including construction and engineering (particularly building and fire safety matters), energy & natural resources (waste- to-energy plants), international arbitration, adjudication and insurance (relating to construction projects).

She enjoys acting as sole counsel and as a junior as part of a wider legal team. She has recently been instructed:

• as sole counsel in a c£5.5 million adjudication concerning alleged fire safety (cladding, insulation and cavity barriers) defects in a large student residential development, successfully arguing (on behalf of the Responding Party) for the dismissal of the Referring Party’s claims in full;
• in an ongoing multi-million euro international arbitration concerning the use of a pioneering anaerobic digestion technology at a waste- to-energy plant (led by Fionnuala McCredie KC and William Webb KC);
• in an ongoing multi-party TCC dispute regarding defective drainage systems at a large residential development (led by Paul Bury);
• in a fire safety dispute concerning matters of principle arising from Martlet Homes Limited v Mulalley & Co. Limited [2022] EWHC 1813 (TCC) (the first decision from the TCC on fire safety (external wall insulation) following Grenfell)), the Developer Remediation Contract and the use of PAS 9980:2022 (led by Simon Hughes KC); and
• in the UK Covid19 Inquiry (Module 4) as part of the junior counsel team instructed by the UK Department of Health and Social Care (led by Sam Stein KC and Abdul Jinadu).

Mercy is familiar with all common standard forms including the JCT, NEC, FIDIC, as well as bespoke construction contracts and PFI agreements. She has a particular interest in NEC and is a contributing author of Keating on NEC (2nd edition) which provides commentary on NEC3 and NEC4. She is also a contributor to Keating on Construction Contracts. Before coming to the Bar, Mercy read the BCL at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford, before joining Keating as the Chambers’ Legal Assistant. In this role, she assisted arbitrators with the drafting of awards, and updated various publications including Chitty on Contracts and Keating on JCT.

Mercy regularly appears in Court and has spent time in the Court of Appeal marshalling Coulson LJ in Providence Building Services Ltd v Hexagon Housing Association Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 962, a landmark case concerning the proper construction of JCT DB (2016) termination (for late payment) provisions.

Having grown up in Kenya, Mercy is also fluent in Swahili and is familiar with the East African region. She was recently in Nairobi to speak at the annual African Construction Law (ACL) conference.

Mercy accepts instructions to advise, draft pleadings, and represent clients in litigating a broad range of commercial matters, with an emphasis on construction and engineering contracts and related professional negligence matters.