James McCreath
James is developing a broad commercial chancery practice. He has experience of all main areas of Chambers' work, including general commercial disputes, contractual disputes, pensions, real property, landlord and tenant, professional negligence, wills and probate, company, and insolvency.
He enjoys both acting on his own or as a junior, and has on several occasions worked in teams including lawyers from foreign jurisdictions, including in cases where the substantive law of the dispute was not English law. James' practice includes both advisory and litigious work, and he regularly appears in both the county courts and the High Court.
James' recent Court appearances include:
Acting (as junior to Michael Tennet QC) for the Claimant pension trustees seeking declarations as to whether a proposed switch from RPI to CPI was potentially voidable under s.67 of the Pensions Act 1995 (Danks & Others v Qinetiq Holdings Ltd & Another, [2012] EWHC 570 (Ch)).Successfully obtaining summary judgment for United Utilities Water Plc in its dispute with the Manchester Ship Canal Company (as junior to Jonathan Karas QC and Julian Greenhill). The judgment (Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v United Utilities Water Plc, [2012] EWHC 232 (Ch)) establishes that sewerage undertakers inherited water authorities' right to discharge into private watercourses under the legislation privatising the water industry, and resulted in the dismissal of 105 of the 117 trespass claims brought in these proceedings. It is subject to appeal.Successfully obtaining prohibitory and mandatory interim injunctions relating to the use of residential property in Western Australia (Schofield v Yzerman, [2011] EWHC 3141 (Ch)).