Real Estate / Property

Gabriel’s Real Estate / Property practice encompasses all elements of real property including landlord and tenant (both residential and commercial), mortgages, easements and restrictive covenants, boundary disputes and conveyancing.

Current and recent cases include:

• Advising on the property aspects of divorce proceedings.

• Advising/acting on arrears of rent and possession claims, and on rent reviews of commercial premises, following the Covid-19 pandemic.

• Advising in relation to property development joint ventures.

• Claims by non-status lenders against surveyors for overvaluing development property.

• Landlord-Tenant disputes (both commercal and residential).

• Setting aside guarantees for undue influence, misrepresentation and fraud.

• A claim for the recovery of service charges for the cost of major works to the Corn Exchange in Manchester.

• Acting for the former director of a property finance company, alleged to have been party to a multi-million pound ‘ponzi-style’ fraud.

• Various disputes over the beneficial ownership of property, particularly where purchased as a buy-to-let.

Commercial and Insolvency

Gabriel’s Commercial and Insolvency practice varies from multi-million pound cases between large corporations to disputes between smaller companies, partnerships and individual traders. He is frequently instructed to advise and represent clients in personal and corporate insolvency matters, and regularly acts for company liquidators, administrators and trustees in bankruptcy.

Current and recent cases include:

• Defending a Client alleged to have misappropriated approximately £5 million worth of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency.

• Assisting investors in compensation claims against solicitors and financial advisers.

• Enforcement of Share Sale Agreements.

• Claims to enforce foreign Judgments and Arbitration Awards.

• Setting aside guarantees for undue influence, misrepresentation and fraud.

• Setting aside bankruptcy orders.

• Partnership disputes.

• Acting for various banks and lending institutions in enforcing guarantees and other securities.

• Defending a director of a company where fellow directors had defrauded the company’s bank through misuse of an invoice-discounting scheme.

• Advising (as part of a team of lawyers in the UK and Spain) a former director of a FTSE 250 company over claims arising under a Share Sale Agreement.

Trusts, Probate & Estates

Gabriel advises and appears in court on a variety of contentious private client matters, from those involving relatively modest estates to multi-million pound offshore trusts.

Recent instructions include:

• Acting on behalf of children in claims for provision out of their deceased parents’ estates.

• Claims to set aside Wills made under duress.

• Claims against solicitors for negligent drafting of wills and maladministration of estates.

• Acting in divorce proceedings in the High Court for third parties claiming to own the properties (valued in excess of £25m) that the wife alleged her husband owned.

• A claim by the widow in a polygamous marriage for a share in the UK matrimonial home.

• Various claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

Professional Negligence

Gabriel regularly advises and acts for both claimants and defendants in professional negligence cases, particularly claims against solicitors and barristers.

Recent instructions include :

• Assisting investors in compensation claims against solicitors and financial advisers.

• Claims against solicitors and barristers for negligent conduct of litigation.

• Claims against solicitors for negligent advice on conveyancing matters in a residential property scheme.

• Claims against solicitors for negligent drafting of wills and maladministration of estates.

• A claim against surveyors for the negligent valuation of a commercial property.

• A claim against managing agents accused of negligently failing to arrange sufficient insurance cover for a property development.