Stephen
Bishop

Stephen came to the Bar after 20 years in industry, within engineering and IT, where he held appointments to Director level.

This enables him to bring a pragmatic approach, blending the experience of having been both an employee and a director working in different countries and business cultures, blended with advocacy skills honed in the criminal courts. He has employed and dismissed staff and understands the realities of business and employment.

Stephen has experience in the High Court of injunctions dealing with confidential information, team moves, restrictive covenants and computer imaging orders.

He is also highly IT literate after years working at IBM and was a Certified Cyber Forensics Professional EU. This makes him well placed to deal with fraud or breaches of confidentiality by employees and eDiscovery. In a number of cases Stephen has been able to show that documents have been falsely created or represented in litigation by claimants and respondents.

• Employment Tribunal/EAT
• Unfair dismissal
• Discrimination
• Whistleblowing
• Redundancy
• Psychiatric personal injury resulting from harassment involving cross examination of expert witnesses
• High Court
• Restrictive covenants including injunctions
• Confidential information and intellectual property including computer imaging orders and injunctions
• Team Moves

Stephen’s commercial and technical background, coupled with his previous crime practice, mean he is well-placed to deal with commercial fraud, eDiscovery and cases involving confidentiality and privilege.

Within Stephen’s broad property practice, he also has experience of cases involving sham trusts and deeds, professional negligence in property transactions, and estate agent fees and duties. He deals with all aspects of Property law — from leases to adverse possession, trespass, boundary disputes and restrictive covenants — and also has experience of introducers’ commission on finance for residential property development.

Property Law Stephen deals with all aspects of Property law from leases to adverse possession, trespass, boundary disputes and restrictive covenants. He also has experience of introducers’ commission on finance for residential property development.

He has experience of service charge disputes, for both landlords and residents as well as Trusts of Land and Appointment Trustees Act 1996 (TOLATA) disputes.

Stephen also acts in Estate Agents cases in respect of commission disputes, both for agents and for principals.

Stephen has experience of HMO cases in the FTT, County court and the criminal courts.

Dispute Resolution Stephen has experience of general contractual disputes and is particularly well placed to assist in disputes involving engineering and IT related contracts. He has recently worked on a case concerning provision of software solutions and whether the software was a good under the SGSA 1982. Cases include bespoke and standard machine tool contracts, and introducers’ commission on finance for residential property development.

Stephen recently settled a multimillion pounds partnership dispute relating to development and supply of EPOS solutions in Russia Stephen has experience in the High Court of enforcement of foreign arbitration awards and domestic adjudications.

He has successfully taken on insurers for unlawful termination of insurance and credit suppliers for linked transactions under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 Stephen has acted in the High Court in respect of freezing injunctions, search and computer imaging orders.

Stephen has a wide-ranging experience in civil fraud both in obtaining freezing orders to prevent dissipation of the proceeds of fraud and the substantive claims.

Stephen’s experience of criminal proceedings coupled with his civil experience of Trusts of Land and Appointment Trustees Act 1996 disputes, means he is well placed to assist spouses, partners and other interested parties whose assets are at risk from confiscation and recovery proceedings under the Proceeds of Crime Act; including: Advising and successfully representing a criminal’s ex partner in negotiation with the NCA, and the criminal, at the proposed enforcement stage regarding an extension built as a gift. There was also a related TLATA case in the County Court.

Successfully representing a criminal’s ex partner in the Crown and County Courts where her 50% interest in the home was established on the basis of a common intention constructive trust.

Certified Cyber Forensics Professional EU

Planning and HMOs: Children Count as Residents (Paramaguru v Ealing LBC ([2018] EWHC 373 (Admin) (27 February 2018)

Kingsgate Development Projects Ltd v Jordan & Anor [2017] EWHC 343 (TCC) This was one a few cases to date in the Shorter Trials Scheme. It was an easement and boundary dispute between a developer and a retired couple involving interpretation of a 1960 conveyance and plan, along with expert evidence as to contemporaneous aerial photography. Stephen succeeded on the physical extent of the right of way as granted, the boundary and that electric gates in this case did not amount to a substantial interference of the right of way.

R. v Williams (Orette) [2012] EWCA Crim 2162, [2012] EWCA Crim 3100 Appeal and certified point of law concerning the reverse burden of proof contained in s.1(5) of the Firearms Act 1982 and art.6(2) of the European Convention on Human Rights 1950.