Year of Call: 1993
Clerk: Michael Lieberman
Gareth has over twenty years experience in civil litigation, combining a busy Commercial, Chancery and Regulatory practice, with his property work being particularly recommended by The Legal 500. His commercial practice covers defamation, company law, insolvency, partnership disputes and property whilst his chancery caseload includes disputes both over land and contentious probate.
The Legal 500 2018 recommends him as being "noted for his experience in boundary disputes, trespass matters and Land Registration adjudications" and previous editions have reported that "his practice includes restrictive covenants" and that he is ‘recommended for boundary disputes, adverse possession claims, and sales and trusts of land.’
Gareth has developed a practice acting for both Claimants and Defendants in defamation claims. His significant cases include Talbot v Elsbury (2011) HC (CDR) .L.R. 2012, 19(5), 220), Law Review (C.T.L.R. 142.) concerning a high profile use of information technology to publish defamatory remarks. The case involved a complainant and defendant who were politicians, making remarks on Twitter during an election campaign.
More recently Gareth was instructed in the High Court on behalf of a local politician complainant allegedly defamed in widely distributed political newsletters; on behalf of a Mid Wales Doctor specialising in homeopathic medicine and alternative treatment methods allegedly defamed by a medical academic; on behalf of a local councillor allegedly defamed against the background of a planning dispute; and other claims involving the use of social media as a conduit to distribute allegedly defamatory words.
Gareth has developed a thriving regulatory practice and is preferred Counsel to the Chartered Insurance Institute, the leading professional body for the global financial services profession, and he regularly advises and represents company directors in relation to Companies Act 2006 offences. He also undertakes multi-track personal injury and clinical negligence work for both claimants and defendants.
Gareth’s Commercial & Business Disputes caseload includes:
- Commercial property including rent reviews and leasehold enfranchisement
- Common law contractual disputes
- Company law including directors' duties and shareholders agreements
- Defamation
- Insolvency
- Landlord and tenant
- Partnership
Gareth's Chancery (Land) caseload includes:
- Adverse possession
- Boundaries
- Easements
- Land Registration adjudications
- Nuisance
- Planning
- Restrictive covenants
- Sales and Trust of Land
- Trespass
Gareth's Chancery (Trusts and Probate) caseload includes:
- Administration of estates
- Contentious probate
- Implied, constructive and resulting Trusts
- Inheritance Act
- Wills
Gareth is a member of the Wales Specialist Bar Association and the Wales Commercial Law Association and often gives seminars and training to lawyers on the Wales & Chester Circuit. Educated at Cardiff High School, Gareth went on to study at Cardiff University, Aberystwyth University and Bar School at Inns of Court School of Law, High Holborn.