Commercial Litigation is a core element of Matthew’s practice. Matthew has experience of a range of commercial work, including commercial disputes involving fraud, banking, company and insolvency law, and real or personal property. Examples of recent work include:

• Assisting Matthew Morrison KC, instructed by the claimants (in liquidation), in a Quincecare/Tugu claim against a bank arising out of a US$100m Ponzi scheme operated by the claimants' former directors (instructed by Triay Lawyers). The proceedings, which settled in the course of the trial on confidential terms, raised significant questions about the extent of a bank’s corporate knowledge; the interaction between regulatory anti-AML duties and Quincecare duties; and the implications of the decision of Lord Sumption in the HK CFI in Tugu.
• Assisting Thomas Elias, acting for the claimants (represented by Virtuoso LLP), in a High Court Claim for copyright infringement, trade mark infringement, and passing off in the context of a contractual dispute for the sale and purchase of company shares.
• Acting in a breach of warranty claim in respect of the defective supply of software
• Acting for a defendant to a claim for unpaid invoices in a long-term supply contract involving a dispute as to the conditions precedent to the claimant's entitlement to payment.
•  Advising the purchaser of a dental practice in respect of a breach of warranty claim against the seller
• Advising in respect of a potential unjust enrichment/breach of contract claim by a consultant who supplied services and industry know-how on the strength of a promise of an equity stake in a startup.
• Acting in respect of various claims for unpaid invoices, including claims by steel merchants and builders.

Having competed in the 28th annual VIS International Commercial Arbitration moot as a law student, Matthew is also interested in, and happy to accept instructions relating to, arbitration (whether domestic or international).

While on secondment with the Commercial Litigation Team at Stevens & Bolton LLP, Matthew gained experience of a range of commercial matters, such as disputes relating to the sale and supply of goods, Investment disputes, and franchise disputes (including disputes regarding franchise renewals).

Trusts and probate work is a core element of Matthew’s practice. While on secondment with the Private Wealth Disputes team at Stevens & Bolton LLP, Matthew was exposed to a wide range of onshore and offshore private client matters, including 1975 Act claims, estate administration disputes, will validity claims, and issues regarding capacity.

Much of Matthew's work involves advising in respect of potential will challenges, often including allegations of undue influence, fraudulent calumny, or other dishonest conduct.

Matthew also often acts for executors, administrators, and trustees in respect of potential claims by them or in respect of the estate or trust property. This work often involves an overlap with his understanding of company, property, insolvency, and commercial disputes.

Examples of Matthew’s recent and current work include:

• Acting (led by Constance McDonnell KC and Amy Proferes) for the claimant in a claim for an equity by proprietary estoppel and a testamentary challenge to the wills of the claimant's late father, in the context of a substantial agricultural property (instructed by JMW Solicitors LLP).
• Acting (led by James Weale) for the successful defendants, in respect of a claim (1) seeking financial provision under the 1975 Act (2) bringing a testamentary challenge against the mother of the First Claimant and the First Defendant, and (3) seeking to set aside various dispositions on the basis of undue influence and/or sham (instructed by Weightmans LLP)
• Acting for the deceased's children, who had been excluded from his will, asserting a proprietary claim to the proceeds of sale of shares held in the names of the children and/or to the assets of the SIPP to which those proceeds were transferred.
• Advising on the rights of surrogate children under a pre-1950 trust instrument and on the implications of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008;
• Advising the administrator of a substantial estate in respect of various claims being brought by or against numerous of its onshore and offshore corporate entities.
• Advising a trust company (with a grant of letters of administration), subject to potential Bartlett duties, as to its potential remedies in respect of historic misfeasance by the directors of a company held as part of the deceased's estate
•  Advising the beneficiaries of an Italian national domiciled in the UK, with assets in both the UK and Italy, in a will validity and administration dispute.
• Advising the executor facing claims by the deceased's father and sister in respect of sums advanced to the deceased pursuant to a mortgage in the name of the deceased and his father.
• A challenge to the validity of a will on the basis of fraudulent calumny and/or undue influence upon the deceased caused by his apparently estranged children;
• A claim against the trustee of a family will trust for an account
• Acting for the claimant cohabitee of many decades in a 1975 Act claim in a dispute involving allegations of domestic abuse.
• Acting for executors in a claim against one of the deceased’s creditors.

During pupillage, Matthew gained experience of:

• A proprietary estoppel/unjust enrichment claim arising out promises made to the claimant by the deceased but not given effect in the deceased’s will;
• issues relating to a reserved power provisions in a trust instrument;
• an issue as to whether a trustee’s exercise of a power of addition would constitute a fraud on a power.

Matthew's practice often has an offshore element, working with local counsel. While on secondment with the Private Wealth Disputes team at Stevens & Bolton LLP, Matthew gained experience of a number of matters relating to the administration of offshore trusts, including a dispute as to the validity of trustees’ removal by a protector. Matthew also gained experience of matters relating to the offshore ownership of companies, particularly in respect of the implications of the dissolution of offshore companies (either by way of escheat or vesting as bona vacantia) on UK real property.

His recent work includes:

•  Advising the former shareholder and director of a BVI company owning UK real property in respect of the wrongful acquisition of the share capital in the BVI company by the client's former legal advisor (instructed by Appleby).
• Assisting Matthew Morrison KC, instructed by the claimants (in liquidation), in a Gibraltar Quincecare/Tugu claim against a bank arising out of a US$100m Ponzi scheme operated by the claimants' former directors (instructed by Triay Lawyers).

Examples of work in pupillage include:

•  Kea Investments Limited v Wikeley Family Trustee Limited. Assisted Gareth Tilley in advising the claimant victim of a worldwide conspiracy in the form of allegedly fraudulent claims and demands in the courts of Kentucky and the BVI brought by the trustee of New Zealand trust.
• Drafted (as a pupil) advice as to the proper construction of reserved power provisions in a trust instrument.

Matthew regularly acts for debtors, creditors, and office-holders, including in respect of winding up and bankruptcy petitions. Examples of Matthew’s recent work are:

• Assisting James Mather in advising creditors as to potential proprietary remedies in respect of deposits paid to an insolvent yacht builder
• Securing multiple adjournments and a validation order for a debtor seeking the time and means to satisfy the petition debt
• Acting for a director facing allegations of misfeasance under section 212 Insolvency Act 1986;
• Acting for in applications to set aside statutory demands;An application to vary the basis of remuneration for trustees in bankruptcy
• Preparing applications for relief under section 127(1) Insolvency Act 1986;
• Preparing applications for relief under section 238 Insolvency Act 1986 relating to transactions at an undervalue to former directors.
• Work on an application for directions by a creditor faced with multiple alleged but unparticularised competing claims to the insolvency estate.

During pupillage, Matthew’s experience included:

• Lemos v Church Bay Trust Company Ltd [2023] EWHC 2384 (Ch): Assisted Thomas Elias and Andrew Gurr in the successful defence of a claim under s. 423 Insolvency Act 1986
• Assisting Michael Walsh KC in advising on a complex matter involving questions of land registration, probate, bankruptcy, and co-ownership.

• Acting in a claim by a purchaser against a negligent surveyor in respect of an unnoticed right of way
• Advising in a claim against a negligent will drafter
• NWG v Vantis Tax Limited. During pupillage, assisted Gareth Tilley in a c.£65m claim against allegedly negligent tax advisers.
• During pupillage, assisted Michael Walsh KC in advising on the professional liability of a firm of solicitors in relation to a property transaction.