Sir Paul Morgan

Arbitrator

+44 (0)20 7306 0102 pmorgan@wilberforce.co.uk

Call: 1975 KC: 1992

Practice overview

After 14 years as a High Court Judge, Paul retired as a judge on 30 September 2021 before joining Wilberforce Chambers as an arbitrator on 1 October 2021. He is an accredited mediator. Before becoming a High Court Judge in 2007, he was a Deputy Chairman of an Agricultural Land Tribunal from 1999 to 2007 and sat as a Deputy High Court Judge between 2001 and 2007.

Paul was called to the Bar in 1975 and commenced practice in specialist chambers, later known as Falcon Chambers. He took silk in 1992. Throughout his career at the Bar, he specialised in property law but his practice included many connected areas of law, such as insolvency and professional negligence. His work involved a high volume of litigation and court appearances at first instance, principally in the Chancery Division and in the County Courts, but often in the Court of Appeal and on six occasions in the House of Lords. He frequently appeared as counsel in arbitrations involving the valuation of property (both rental and capital valuations) or involving agricultural land.

Paul is a member of the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA), the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA), the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (CIArb). He is also a member of the KC Appointments Panel.

As well as acting as an Arbitrator, Paul has experience in and accepts appointments to undertake:

Expert Determination
Advice to Independent Experts
Early Neutral Evaluation
Mediation

Sir Paul's expertise

Cases at the Bar

In view of the large number of reported decisions in which he appeared, the references are restricted to cases in which Paul appeared as counsel in the House of Lords:

Bakewell Management Ltd v Brandwood [2004] 2 AC 519 (prescription and illegality)
Runa Begum v London Borough of Tower Hamlets [2003] 2 AC 430 (Article 6 of the Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms)
Malekshad v Howard de Walden Estates Ltd [2003] 1 AC 1013 (leasehold enfranchisement)
Elitestone Ltd v Morris [1997] 1 WLR 687 (fixtures)
Melluish v BMI (No. 3) Ltd [1996] AC 454 (capital allowances)
Landau v Sloane [1982] AC 490 (Rent Acts)

Cases as a Judge

Paul was a judge of the Chancery Division from April 2007 to September 2021. In addition to sitting in the Chancery Division he also sat as a judge in the Upper Tribunal (both the Tax and Chancery Chamber and the Lands Chamber), the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Administrative Court. He dealt with the full range of litigation in the Chancery Division, including:

General commercial litigation
Civil procedure
Jurisdiction
Company law
Unfair prejudice petitions
Partnership
Domestic Insolvency
Cross-Border Insolvency
Competition
Trusts
Pensions
Intellectual property
Real property
Probate
Charities
Taxation and duties

Paul consistently delivered his judgments within a reasonable time. Many of the judgments which he gave are available on bailii.org and the usual websites. There are too many judgments over a 14 year period to list here but the following are some of the judgments given in his last three years as a judge:

General commercial litigation

Abdulrida v Al_Najar [2021] EWHC 398 (Ch)
Goyal v Florence Care Ltd [2020] EWHC 659 (Ch)
Engineering Equipment & Materials Users Association v JT Ltd [2019] EWHC 2753 (Ch)

Civil Procedure

Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank v Persons Unknown [2021] 1 WLR 3834
Ideal Shopping Direct Ltd v Visa Europe [2020] EWHC 3399 (Ch)
Future Publishing Ltd v Edge Interactive Media Inc [2019] EWHC 2752 (Ch)

Jurisdiction

Satfinance Investment Ltd v Athena Art Finance Corp [2020] EWHC 3527 (Ch)
Apple Retail UK Ltd v Qualcomm UK Ltd [2018] EWHC 1188 (Pat) and [2018] EWHC 2711 (Ch)

Company law

Re A Company (Injunction to restrain presentation of petition) [2021] 1 All ER (Comm) 181
Reliance Wholesale Ltd v AM2PM Feltham Ltd [2019] EWHC 1079 (Ch)

Insolvency

Benkel v East-West German Real Estate [2021] EWHC 777 (Ch)
LF2 Ltd v Supperstone [2018] Bus LR 2303

Competition

FP McCann Ltd v CMA [2020] CAT 28

Intellectual property

Yellow Bulldog Ltd v AP & Co Ltd [2021] ECC 10
Lufthansa Technik AG v Astronics Advanced Electronic Systems [2020] EWHC 1968 (Pat)
Manchester United FC v Sega Publishing Europe Ltd [2020] ETMR 44
Lifestyle Equities CV v Royal County of Berkshire Polo Club [2019] FSR 14
R (Drain) v Birmingham Crown Court [2018] 1 WLR 4865

Real property

Victus Estates 2 Ltd v Monroe [2021] EWHC 2411 (Ch)
N3 Living Ltd v Burgess Property Investments Ltd [2020] EWHC 1711 (Ch)
Poste Hotels Ltd v Cousins [2020] RTR 31
Mc Donagh v Bank of Scotland plc [2019] 4 WLR 12
Villarosa v Ryan [2019] 1 WLR 515
London Borough of Hounslow v de Vere [2018] EWHC 1447 (Ch)
Fouladi v Darout Ltd [2018] EWHC 3501 (Ch)
Lowe v William Davis Ltd [2018] 4 WLR 113

Trusts

Barker v Confiance Ltd [2018] EWHC 2965 (Ch)
Hilton v Cosnier [2018] EWHC 2728 (Ch)

Pensions

Axminster Carpets Group Retirement Benefits Plan, Punter Southall v Hazlett [2021] EWHC 1652 (Ch)
Lloyds Banking Group Pension Trustee Ltd v Lloyds Bank plc (No. 1) and (No. 2) [2019] Pens LR 5 and 6, [2020] EWHC 3135 (Ch)
Corsham v Police and Crime Commissioner for Essex [2020] ICR 268
Coats UK Pension Scheme Trustees Ltd v Styles [2019] EWHC 35 (Ch)

Charities

Derby Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation v Derby City Council [2020] Ch 586
Charity Commission for England and Wales v Wright [2019] EWHC 3375 (Ch)

Taxation and duties

Hyman [2021] UKUT 68 (TCC)
Hannah [2021] STC 436
Davies [2020] STC 649
Royal Opera House [2020] STC 1170
Virgin Media [2020] STC 947
Hicks [2020] STC 254
Logfret Ltd [2019] STC 544

Local Government

Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames v Moss [2019] EWHC 3261 (Ch)

Financial Regulation

Financial Conduct Authority v Neville Registrars Ltd [2020] 1 All ER (Comm) 629

Sir Paul's insights & events View all thought leadership View all events

Events / Webinars
The First 100 Years of the Law of Property Act 1925: A Celebration
Thursday 1 May 2025 | 12.15pm - 5.55pm, followed by drinks and canapés,
The View at The Royal College of Surgeons
£75 + VAT | 3.5 CPD
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Articles
Consents or Agreements Preventing the Acquisition of Rights to Light by Prescription and the Position of Successors in Title
Sir Paul Morgan has written an article for the Conveyancer which has now been published in [2022] Conveyancer 365-381. The article is entitled “Consents or Agreements Preventing the Acquisition of Rights to Light by Prescription and the Position of Successors in... Read more
By Sir Paul Morgan
Wednesday 7 December 2022
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News
Dispute resolution: The role of neutral evaluation in mediation
Article by Sir Paul Morgan A series of developments in 2021 has meant that disputes lawyers must be more ready than ever to recommend mediation before or during litigation. The courts are prepared to use a different tool, that of... Read more
Friday 18 March 2022
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News
Sir Paul Morgan appointed an Evaluator with Independent Evaluation
We are delighted to announce that Sir Paul Morgan has been appointed as an Evaluator with Independent Evaluation (IE), while remaining a full-time Arbitrator and Mediator at Wilberforce Chambers. IE is a unique form of dispute resolution that combines Early... Read more
Friday 11 March 2022
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