Insolvency
Bradley has quickly developed an interesting and varied insolvency practice. He regularly advises on prospects and strategy in subrogated recoveries against builders and developers who are either insolvent or which have been struck off the register. He is also regularly instructed by both petitioning and supporting creditors in winding-up petitions heard in the Insolvency & Companies Court.
Examples of specific work in the insolvency field include:
- Representing a natural person in insolvency proceedings initiated after he defaulted on a personal guarantee. Bradley successfully avoided a final bankruptcy order, allowing the debtor time to satisfy the debt in full.
- Advising the insurer of a major high street brand, now in administration, as to the effect of a side agreement for reimbursement on an employers’ liability policy. In one claim in particular, Bradley successfully resisted an application to add the insurer as the second defendant to a personal injury claim on the grounds that neither the Insolvency and Companies Court nor the administrator of the First Defendant had given permission for a stay imposed by operation of law under schedule 1B of the Insolvency Act 1986 to be lifted.
- Reviewing and advising on a winding-up petition brought by a petitioning company which was itself in creditors’ voluntary liquidation.
- Advising a natural person on the potential impact of an adverse judgment in the Dubai Court of First Instance in respect of a failure to discharge a personal guarantee, how any adverse judgment might be enforced in the English jurisdiction, and the effect of bankruptcy.
- Advising a construction client in respect of a “genuine dispute” raised by a company in response to a Statutory Demand and as a defence to a winding-up petition.
- Advising and acting for a respondent homeowner in an application brought by a contractor to set aside a statutory demand.
Selected Cases
Professional Negligence
Bradley is developing a strong drafting and advisory practice in the professional negligence field. The matters he advises on often have a property angle and involve multiple defendants. His recent instructions include:
- Representing a lettings agent and its director in a complex claim brought by litigants in person for damages following an unsuccessful possession claim by their landlord. At a preliminary hearing, Bradley secured the strike-out of the claim against the director on the grounds that she had at no stage acted in a personal capacity.
- Drafting a defence for an insurer and its pharmacy client in a claim brought by a litigant in person for discrimination.
- Settling a defence on behalf of architects in a claim brought by homeowners in contract and in tort in respect of allegedly defective designs and specifications.
- Acting on behalf of a managing agent, successfully resisting an application by a local authority to add the agent as an additional defendant to a housing disrepair claim.
- Representing a lettings agent in a possession claim brought by the agent in error rather than by the landlord. Bradley advised on difficult matters of process and procedure and was ultimately able to broker a settlement agreement which released the agent from the proceedings without prejudicing any future claim by the landlord.
- Representing a loss adjuster in professional negligence proceedings brought by a policyholder whose home suffered water damage.
- Drafting a defence and advising an insurer and its insured, an estate agent and property management company, in respect of a claim brought by a former tenant for housing disrepair over a four-year period.
- Drafting a defence for the insurer of a surveyor alleged to have overvalued a residential property by failing to identify a footpath crossing the land.
- Advising an insurer and its landlord lay clients on the prospects of a recovery claim (including substantial uninsured losses) against a property management company alleged to have failed to notify the landlords that their tenants had abandoned the property. Whilst the property was vacant, a burst pipe caused major water damage.
- Acting for an estate agent and its insurer, advising and drafting a defence in respect of a disrepair claim brought by a litigant in person.
- Settling a defence and advising on prospects in a claim brought by a buy-to-let landlord against her estate agent/property manager.
- Advising a professional risks insurer and drafting a defence in a claim brought against an estate agent and its landlord client concurrently in respect of multiple alleged failures to protect a tenant’s deposit across successive assured shorthold and statutory periodic tenancies.
- Providing liability and quantum advice to an insurer and drafting a letter of response in respect of a professional negligence claim intimated against a solicitor for failing to issue the proposed claimant’s personal injury claim before the expiry of the primary limitation period.
- Settling a defence and advising on strategy in a claim brought by a litigant in person against a surveyor in respect of an alleged breach of contract and/or negligent RICS Home Survey Level 3. The claim engaged questions of the correct measure of loss in claims brought against surveyors.
- Drafting a defence and advising on strategy in contract claim brought against an estate agent by his landlord client.
- Drafting a defence to a claim brought in respect of a negligent conveyance by a partner prior to merger with the defendant successor firm.
- Advising an insurer and its property management client and drafting a defence in a claim brought against a landlord and his property manager in respect of disrepair in a luxury flat in south west London.
- Drafting a defence and advising an insurer on strategy in a claim brought against multiple defendants by a leaseholder against a property management company in negligence and malicious falsehood.
- Drafting a defence and advising an insurer in a claim brought by a landlord against his estate agent over an allegedly mis-sold insurance policy.
During his pupillage seat under the supervision of James Sharpe, Bradley was exposed to a number of aspects of James’s professional negligence practice. Work completed in this area during pupillage included:
- Drafting a defence to a claim brought by the purchasers of a business against an LLP and one of its members in respect of allegations of negligence in failing to detect fraud in the business’s accounts (during pupillage).
- Drafting a defence and advising on limitation in a professional negligence claim brought against a provider of wealth management services (during pupillage).
- Advising on the enforceability of a settlement agreement in the context of a professional negligence claim brought against a firm of solicitors (during pupillage).
Selected Cases
View full profile »Awards
- Queen Mother Scholarship, Middle Temple (2020)
- Winner, Cardiff University Undergraduate/GDL Moot (2020)
- Arteaga Prize for best performance in Spanish Language & Literature, Oxford University (2004)
- Various academic scholarships, Merton College (2001-2004)
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Qualifications
- BA, Modern Languages & Literature (French & Spanish – First Class), Merton College, University of Oxford
- GDL (Distinction), Cardiff University
- BTC & LLM (Outstanding, with Distinction in LLM), Cardiff University
