Daniel Scott

Insolvency

Daniel is developing a diverse insolvency practice. He regularly acts for office holders, directors, creditors and insolvent companies.

Recent instructions include:

• Successfully acting for a Trustee in Bankruptcy in obtaining an order suspending the discharge of a bankruptcy and an order that the bankrupt attend for an examination pursuant to section 366 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
• Advising regularly on issues of disclaimer of onerous property in both corporate and personal insolvencies.
• Acting in a high-value offshore misfeasance claim brought by a liquidator against the former directors of the company.
• Regularly advising on pensions-related issues in an insolvency context.
• Appearing in numerous winding up and bankruptcy petitions and related applications.

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Pensions

Daniel has a very busy pensions practice. He has particular expertise and experience in both regulatory and non-regulatory pensions matters, and his practice encompasses both personal and occupational pension schemes. He particularly enjoys grappling with the complex technical problems with which pension schemes and their stakeholders are often faced.

In regulatory matters, Daniel acts both for the Pensions Regulator and for other Directly Affected Parties. Recent work includes:

• Acting (as sole counsel) for a Target of the Regulator’s moral hazard powers under the Pensions Act 2004 in substantial ongoing proceedings.
• Acting as legal clerk for the Determinations Panel of the Pensions Regulator on a regular basis.

Daniel’s recent non-regulatory work includes:

• Advising the Scheme Manager of a public service pension scheme on its vires and its decision-making process in the context of the scheme’s internal dispute resolution process.
• Appearing (as sole counsel) in the latest round of MNRPF litigation. Daniel successfully obtained permission for the Representative Beneficiaries to bring a Part 8 counterclaim against the scheme Trustee claiming the payment of arrears of pension benefits to which some members were possibly entitled. The litigation raises interesting questions about limitation in such claims after the decision in Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Ltd v Lloyds Bank Plc and others [2018] EWHC 2839 (Ch)

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Property

Daniel has a busy and varied property practice. He deals regularly with landlord and tenant disputes (both commercial and residential), real property work and land registration issues. He also has particular expertise in complex possession and trespass claims which involve an element of political protest, and therefore engage human rights considerations. His property practice complements his other areas of expertise, and he often works on property cases which involve elements of trusts law, commercial law, civil fraud and insolvency.

Daniel enjoys working both on his own and as part of a larger team of counsel.

As part of a counsel team, Daniel’s recent experience includes:

• Acting (led by Jonathan Seitler KC) in the London Trocadero (2015) LLP v Picturehouse Cinemas Ltd litigation, one of the leading cases on COVID-affected rent arrears, which is currently on appeal to the Court of Appeal.
• Acting (led by Martin Hutchings KC) in a complex ongoing development dispute, down for a three-week trial in November 2023.
• Acting (led by Tim Penny KC) in the Wang v Darby litigation, which was the first case in which it was conceded by a defendant that cryptocurrencies are property.
• Acting (led by Jonathan Davey KC) in a claim concerning the equitable co-ownership of a multi-million pound commercial property in London.
• Acting (led by Jonathan Seitler KC) in an Expert Determination concerning a dispute over the development of land.

As sole counsel, Daniel’s recent property experience includes:

• Acting for the successful Appellants in a High Court appeal concerning the correct construction of two restrictive covenants over freehold land.
• Acting in numerous complex possession proceedings and trespass, including most recently Balfour Beatty Limited v Persons Unknown [2022] EWHC 874 (QB).
• Acting frequently in proceedings arising out of the Party Wall etc. Act 1996.
• Adverse possession and boundary disputes.
• Acting in a number of claims involving interim and final charging orders over land and orders for sale.
• Advising regularly on complex overage disputes, and other development-related disputes.
• Dealing regularly with issues of disclaimer of leasehold (and more rarely, freehold) property.
• Advising on a number of 1954 Act claims.

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Trusts, probate and estates: contentious

Daniel acts and advises in a broad range of contentious and non-contentious trusts, will and probate matters. He has particular experience of dealing with limitation issues in breach of trust claims under section 21 of the Limitation Act 1980 (and under equivalent offshore legislation). His private client trusts practice often overlaps with his pensions and commercial practices.

Recent work includes:

• A secondment to Ogier’s offices in Jersey, working on international civil fraud and trusts matters. In particular, Daniel assisted in preparing a number of mistake applications under Jersey law.
• Advising beneficiaries on a claim brought against a deceased’s estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.
• Acting in proceedings under Part 64 of the CPR seeking the Court’s guidance on the administration of an estate.
• Regularly advising trustees on decision-making and the exercise of their discretion.
• Regular advising and acting in breach of trust claims.

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