The ‘well balanced and pragmatic’ team at Charles Russell Speechlys LLP is well versed in the full gamut of property litigation matters, and regularly acts for ultra-high-net-worth individuals, commercial investor and developer clients, and retail occupiers. The ’excellent’ David Haines leads the team, while Emma Humphreys has an ‘unrivalled reputation’ in the field, and advises on break rights, arrears, rights of light matters, and dilapidations. Praised for his ’strategic mind’, James Souter focuses on enfranchisement requirements in the development space, the ‘extremely easy to work with’ Lauren Fraser handles service charge disputes and lease breaches, and Georgina Muskett, who is regarded for her ’logical’ approach, advises freehold owners and tenants on contentious property issues.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Emma Humphreys has developed the expertise and insight of dealing with Upper Tribunal Claims for the discharge/modification of restrictive covenants on residential land. She is also an excellent lawyer.'
'Georgina Muskett was the lead senior associate. Her organisational and communication skills were excellent and her response times speedy but answers well thought out and logical.’
- 'Emma Humphreys - unrivalled reputation and at the top of her game. Respected by all; someone who gets things done both in and out of the courtroom.’
‘Overall, a very strong real estate team with real depth.'
‘Emma Humphreys makes this practice unique. She is highly capable, extremely intelligent and very much in tune with the requirements of our business.’
‘Charles Russell Speechlys have real strength and depth of expertise across all aspects of property litigation. I have extensive experience of working with them across a range of high value and difficult disputes and they are undoubtedly market leaders in the service they offer to clients across many sectors in this area.'
- Lauren Fraser is extremely easy to work with and runs difficult litigation in a way that commands the confidence of the client.
‘James Souter is London's King of Rights to Light, as he demonstrated recently in a major high court case which settled at the doors of the Court. If its a big development case, it goes to James.'
Key clients
- Church Commissioners for England
- Howard de Walden Estates Limited
- Ballymore Group
- Stonegate Pub Company Limited
- abrdn
- LCP Group, including London & Cambridge Properties, L&C Investments Limited etc.
- Derwent London Plc
- Eton College
- Actis LLP
- Pivotal Homes
- Workspace Group
- London Hotels Collection
- RCL Cruises
- Bellway Homes Ltd
- Berkeley Group
- Greenwich Millennium Village Ltd
- Manhattan Loft Corporation
- The Merchant Taylors’ Company
- Hollybrook Limited
Work highlights
- Advised Arico Intervest Limited in pursuing arrears and achieving a replacement lease following its tenant’s liquidation.
- Advised the Dulwich Estate on recovering the costs of lift refurbishment works and secured a Tribunal determination as to the appropriate apportionment of the service charge between the leaseholders.
Lawyers
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Practice head
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David Haines