William Buck

William is a specialist commercial barrister who litigates across a wide spectrum of disputes. He has for many years been consistently recommended in Legal 500 as a leading commercial practitioner. He is regularly instructed on high value cases in the High Court and in other jurisdictions, including in the Isle of Man. He has also acted in a range of international arbitrations and adjudications.

Commercial work – The wide range of work covered includes shareholder/director disputes, guarantee claims, agency disputes, trust litigation, sales of goods, provisions of services, partnership matters, construction, banking and financial services. William adopts a commercial approach to all instructions, focused on achieving the goals of the client in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. Instructions can be accepted and dealt with at very short notice, including outside of usual business hours (William can be emailed directly in such circumstances).

He has a particular focus on asset finance litigation and is regularly instructed by several of the largest financial providers in the market. A substantial element of this work is of an interlocutory nature, often on a without notice basis, including the obtaining of freezing orders, injunctions and orders for delivery up. Many cases also have an international element to them, with recent cases involving the application of Spanish, German and Turkish law and where parties and assets are located outside of the jurisdiction.

His offshore work predominantly relates to the financial services market and disputes concerning trusts. He is currently instructed on several multimillion pound disputes in the Isle of Man concerning investment based life assurance bonds.

As detailed below, William has considerable appellant experience, regularly appearing before the Court of Appeal on a wide range of issues. Non-contentious advisory work is also undertaken, including the drafting of terms of business, agency agreements and loan agreements.

Property Work – William undertakes a range of property related work, including disputes concerning the sale of land, options to purchase, overage agreements, easement disputes and general landlord and tenant matters. This work is undertaken predominately for commercial clients involving non-residential premises.

Professional Negligence – Work is also undertaken in respect of professional negligence claims against professional advisers such as solicitors, accountants, financial advisers and surveyors. The majority of this work is undertaken on behalf of claimants.

Reported cases:

• BMW Financial Services v Hart [2012] – Court of Appeal decision on the accrual of limitation periods in claims made pursuant to liquidated damages clauses.
• Thewlis v Groupama Insurance [2012] EWHC 3 (TCC) – decision on the validity of Part 36 offers
• Kaur v Kaur [2011] (CA) – trust dispute before the Court of Appeal
• Autoweld v Kito Enterprise [2010] EWCA Civ 1469 – dispute concerning the construction of gas pipelines in the Arabian Sea before the Court of Appeal
• Westlaw v Boddy, SRA intervening [2010] EWCA Civ 929 – Court of Appeal consideration of illegal contracts between solicitors and third parties
• Pinfold North v Humberside Fire Authority [2010] LGR 995 – decision concerning the legal status of ‘officers’ in local government
• G.E. Capital Bank Limited v Rushton [2006] 1 WLR 899, [2006] 3 All ER 865 (CA) – Court of Appeal decision on a claim for conversion and the legal concept of good faith
• Spencer v Wood (t/a Gordons Tyres (a firm)) [2004] (CA) – enforceability of CFA before the Court of Appeal

What the Directories say:

Recommended as a leading individual (Commercial, Insolvency and Property) by The Legal 500 UK 2013, who state:

William Buck ‘knows when to fight and when to settle’