Call: 1987
Paul Stafford is a self-employed, independent barrister whose practice is governed by the Code of Conduct of the Bar of England and Wales. He is regulated by The Bar Standards Board [Bar Ref 22796] and is fully insured with the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund [BMIF Ref 2360/020] to provide legal services, please refer to the BMIF website for full details of the world-wide cover provided. He is registered for VAT under the reference 524130883.
Paul Stafford is a property lawyer with a particular expertise in manorial rights.
Typically these arise within land transactions or disputes involving landowners or developers and which engage the law of minerals and mineral reservations, the law of commons, local authorities, and – increasingly – renewable energy. The work is sometimes litigious but mostly advisory in nature and of significant complexity, and he receives enquiries and instructions from individual and corporate clients across the globe.
He has written a book on the subject, A Brief Guide to Modern Manorial Law, due for publication in March 2025.
He is a member of the Legal Services Panel of the Government of the British Virgin Islands. He also sits as chairman of the National Disciplinary Committee of the Conservative Party, dealing with complaints against party members from local level to senior political figures with household names.
Trusts of land, reverter of sites, mortgage fraud, joint ventures, rights of way, land registration, ecclesiastical law, chancel repair liability, mineral rights, manorial rights and professional negligence in relation to property matters have all been aspects of Paul’s real property practice. The litigious side of this practice has involved long and complex cases with repeated appearances in the senior appellate courts over many years. The advisory side includes clients, both individual and corporate, who may be trustees, landowners or developers.
His litigation and advisory experience of land registration and manorial rights was drawn on by the House of Commons Justice Select Committee who invited him to provide evidence to their inquiry into the future of manorial rights law. In their report, published in 2015, his contribution was extensively referred to and his advice reflected in the report’s conclusions. He has published substantial articles on the law of manorial rights in relation to its land registration and litigation aspects.
In recent years he has also lectured, written and blogged on the property law aspects of fracking. His article, ‘Free to Frack? – Landowners and the loss of common law rights under the Infrastructure Act 2015’ appeared in the Property Law Journal for June 2017.
Regulatory proceedings, including complaints to ombudsmen, are now widely used against professionals as an alternative to negligence claims. Paul has extensive experience of defending professionals against all three routes of attack – primarily solicitors in the context of property or commercial chancery work, but also accountants, surveyors and financial advisers. The advisory aspect of this work has involved keeping professional partnerships or individuals on the right side of the regulator. The contentious aspect has involved representing them before the ombudsman, in disciplinary proceedings and in court.
For ten years Paul sat regularly as a member and occasional chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, the Admissions and Licensing Committee and the Appeals Committee of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). In the Administrative Court he was the first, or one of the first, barristers to obtain a successful judicial review against a decision of the Financial Services Ombudsman: Garrison Investment Analysis Ltd v Financial Ombudsman Service Ltd [2006] All ER (D) 110; [2006] EWHC (Admin) 2466, Sullivan J. He has been recognised in the Legal 500 for his significant caseload in relation to disciplinary hearings involving solicitors.
Paul Stafford has significant experience of the contentious and non-contentious aspects of chancery commercial practice over many years. His contentious work has included disputes involving banks, guarantees and indemnities, corporate insolvency, cause of action assignment and VAT fraud. He acted for Names in the closing phases of the long-running Lloyds litigation, and for HMRC in a large carousel fraud case. Examples of his non-contentious work include the drafting of management buy-out and shareholders’ agreements for a major professional services company; advising on the duties of trustees in relation to building contracts; advising on sensitive pre-merger issues following the merger of two large firms of solicitors.
Fundamental to commercial chancery work is contractual interpretation, which is also central to what is normally regarded as the different and distinct area of construction law. Throughout his time at Ten Old Square, Paul has received instructions in relation to very substantial building and civil engineering cases. These have ranged from advising trustees of a major London hospital in connection with their duties under a building contract to acting for government, at local authority level and overseas, in major arbitration and/or litigation with a multi-jurisdictional element. Due to the sums involved, these cases have often involved representation in the appellate courts.
A Brief Guide to Modern Manorial Law by Paul Stafford of Ten Old Square is now…
Paul Stafford will deliver a webinar for MBL on 19 March 2024 about key issues…
Paul Stafford recently gave a lecture on ‘Minerals and Manorial Law’ to the Minerals team…
