Profile

• MA (Hons) 1st Class, St Andrews
• Robert T Jones Junior Memorial Fellow
• Member of the Chancery Bar Association
• Member of ELA
• Deputy Adjudicator to HM Land Registry
• Called 1995 (Lincoln's Inn)

Max is a general Chancery practitioner specialising in property, probate, insolvency and commercial disputes. Other fields of expertise include employment, professional negligence and costs.

Max embraces the essential function of the advocate: to advance his client's case with the utmost discretion and resolution.

PROPERTY: Max sits as a Deputy Adjudicator to HM Land Registry. He works for a wide range of clients in all areas of property related litigation including:

• rights of way and boundary disputes
• adverse possession
• TLATA claims
• commercial and residential landlord and tenant
• restrictive covenants
• cases concerning Mobile Homes Act 1983
• matters relating to the Inclosure Acts

 Notable cases:

Gordon v Mitchell [2007] EWHC 1854 (Ch). - (Gillett v Holt) estoppel

Sleebush v Gordon - [2005] EWHC 3447 (Ch), [2004] All ER (D) 148 (Sep) Ch D. Proprietary estoppel

Meddick v Shiplake Parish Council - Claim to enforce the provisions of an award under Inclosure Act 1845

Bassett Road Housing Association v Gough CLY 1998 3653 - Right of beneficial joint tenant to seek relief from forfeiture

INHERITANCE AND PROBATE: Max's practice covers probate claims, Court of Protection as well as claims under Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.

Notable Cases:

Plowright v Smith [2006] All ER (D) 234 (Jul). - Challenge to the validity of wills of which the principal beneficiary was a ‘professional will writer'.

INSOLVENCY: Max specialises in corporate and personal insolvency and challenges to Trustees' costs and remuneration.

Notable cases:

Nicholls v Lan & Anor [2006] BPIR 1243, [2007] 1 FLR 744 - Appeal to the High Court concerning the requirement for the Court, in considering a Trustee's application for an order for sale, to have regard to the interests of the creditors specifically rather than generally.

James v Rutherford-Hodge [2006] BPIR 973 - Appeal to the Court of Appeal concerning a bankrupt's standing to seek an annulment of his bankruptcy in reliance upon the equity in his former matrimonial home. 

COMMERCIAL: Max regularly handles contractual disputes in all their common forms including partnership disputes, sale of goods, debt recovery, confidence injunctions, freezing injunctions and other applications for interlocutory relief. 

EMPLOYMENT: Max's practice covers discrimination, unfair dismissal; executive termination and confidence injunctions. 

Notable Cases:

LB of Tower Hamlets v Wooster [2009] IRLR 980 - Age discrimination in dismissal for redundancy prior to the early retirement watershed.

Marshall v BCM EAT 0401/03 TM 22nd July 2003 - Appeal to the EAT concerning the chain of causation in claims for compensation for unfair dismissal. 

COSTS: Max often deals with claims by solicitors to recover their fees as well as claims by trustees in bankruptcy's claims for their costs.

PUBLICATIONS: ‘The Impact of Barclays Bank v O'Brien', Estates Gazette 1997 

MEMBERSHIP:

• ChBA
• Property Bar Association 

EDUCATION:

• MA (Hons) 1st Class, St Andrews
• Robert T Jones Junior Memorial Fellow

If you would like any further information regarding Max Thorowgood's practice, please contact his clerks or call +44 (0)20 7405 6114.