Practice Direction 57AC Trial Witness Statements in the B&PC

Matthew Hall and Geraint Wheatley discuss various issues relating to evidence in property cases.

They address how the new regime for witness statements in PD 57AC is being implemented in practice in the BPC, from both anecdotal and caselaw perspectives, as well as considering the concept of 'judicial notice’.

 

 

Matthew HallMatthew Hall 

Year of Call: 1999

Matthew Hall is a specialist property, trusts and probate barrister.

He has over 20 years’ experience in all areas of land law (including landlord and tenant and service charge disputes). The focus of Matthew’s work is now mainly property development and commercial / retail premises and in particular rights of way and restrictive covenants (advising regularly on ransom strips access to development plots) ), retail valuation and redevelopment issues under the 1954 Act (e.g. advising a local authority on a lease to a football club) and torts affecting land (e.g. a 6 day TCC nuisance trial concerning leaking fuel).

Matthew also regularly advises local authorities and other public bodies on the exercise of their land-holding functions, particularly concerning city centre redevelopment.

 

Geraint WheatleyGeraint Wheatley

Year of call: 2001

Geraint Wheatley is recognised as a leading junior in the 2021 legal directories, and has been ranked as such for a number of years.

His submissions were recently praised by the Court of Appeal as "excellent" in the important case of Thorpe v Frank [2019] EWCA Civ 150, in which he successfully appealed a decision of the Upper Tribunal concerning the proper limits of the law of adverse possession.

Geraint is an experienced chancery and commercial practitioner, combining an outstanding academic background with tactical awareness and an eye for detail. His practice covers the full range of property and commercial litigation, as well as professional negligence.

He regularly acts in both the High and County Courts for institutional clients such as developers, banks and national limited companies. He has appeared a number of times before the Court of Appeal and the First Tier Tribunal: Property Chamber (formerly the Adjudicator to HM Land Registry).

Call: 0345 034 3444

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