An outstanding trial advocate with an insatiable work appetite and a fearsome cross examiner.
Events / Webinars
Wilberforce Fraud, Trusts & Asset Recovery Conference 2023
Wednesday 8th November 2023 | 12.45pm - 5.30pm, followed by drinks
Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch, London
£120 + VAT | 3.5 CPD
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Practice overview
John’s practice comprises a wide range of heavy commercial disputes (including litigation relating to commercial fraud, contested trusts, tracing and insolvency claims across different jurisdictions) and property disputes of all kinds.
John has appeared in all the civil courts in England and Wales from the Upper Tribunal to the Supreme Court and in arbitrations both as counsel and arbitrator. His court room presence marries an easy rapport with the court or tribunal, robust and incisive cross-examination and a lightning fast response to new points as they arise in the case.
He was listed in The Lawyer Hot 100 2023.
John's expertise
Commercial disputes
John’s practice involves a wide range of heavy commercial disputes including litigation relating to commercial fraud, contested trusts, tracing and insolvency claims across different jurisdictions.
Notable recent cases include:
- Acting for a major bank in claims involving fraud and forgery in a challenge to its security by its customer (2024, continuing).
- Acting for a client seeking to rescind a high value contract on the grounds of fraudulent misrepresentation (2024, continuing).
- Acting for a major retailer in connection with a £2.5 billion sale agreement involving the termination of arrangements with a supplier which is alleged to have been in breach of the retailer’s duties of good faith (2024, continuing).
- Acting for a major company claiming damages for deceit from an introducer and defending a counterclaim by the introducer for breach of confidentiality (2024, continuing).
- Acting for administrators of a business claiming that transactions undertaking by the company involving the dispositions of parts of that business were at undervalue (2023).
- Acting for an ultra high-net-worth individual in proceedings in England, BVI and Cayman involving issues of commercial fraud, trusts and tracing (2023-24, continuing).
- Acting for a manager defending allegations of mismanagement and breach of duties of good faith (2023, continuing).
- Acting for a former partner in the business of sourcing and funding pension fund assets in a claim against the other partner for profit share and defending a counterclaim for breach of fiduciary and other duties of £110m (2022).
- Defending a gas authority in an arbitration in a £120m compensation claim (2020).
- Acting for a major utility provider in an arbitration in successfully resisting an arbitration claim by a supplier for a tenfold increase in price involving complex issues of regulation, economics and competition law (2020).
An outstanding trial advocate with an insatiable work appetite and a fearsome cross examiner.- John is an exceptional advocate, brilliant with clients and his charm is phenomenal.
- A master in his field. Unflappable and stalwart.
- He is prized for his undisputed skill and ability to grapple with any issue, no matter how thorny.
- John exudes confidence and reassures colleagues and clients alike in even the trickiest of situations.
Commercial disputes insights & events View all thought leadership View all events
Events / Webinars
Wilberforce Cayman Conference 2023
Thursday 14th September 2023 | 3.45pm - 6.55pm followed by a dinner buffet
Kimpton Seafire ResortFree to attend | 2.25 CPD
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Wilberforce BVI Conference 2023
Tuesday 12th September 2023 | 3.30pm - 6.25pm followed by a dinner buffet
Scrub Island ResortFree to attend | 1.5 CPD
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John McGhee KC listed in The Lawyer Hot 100
We are delighted to announce that John McGhee KC has been listed in The Lawyer Hot 100 2023! The Lawyer’s write-up on John reads as follows: “Wilberforce Chambers’ John McGhee KC was so busy last year he didn’t have much... Read more
Monday 23 January 2023
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John's expertise
Property
John’s practice covers the whole spectrum of real estate from advising and representing developers and investors in contractual disputes over major commercial developments to the esoteric areas of minerals, rights to light and the electronic communications code.
Notable cases include:
- Acting for Cornerstone in an appeal to the Supreme Court concerning fundamental issues as to the scope of the Telecommunications Code (2022).
- Advising developers and neighbouring owners in numerous rights of light claims (2005 to date).
- Acting for a port owner in complex claims against a development corporation relating to access rights to land (2022).
- Hicks v 89 Holland Park (Management) Ltd [2021] EWHC 930 (Ch) – acting for a management company in successfully resisting a claim by the adjoining owner that it was not entitled to refuse consent to plans for a proposed development on aesthetic grounds.
- EMI Group Ltd v Prudential Assurance Co Ltd [2020] EWHC 2061 (Ch) – acting for a landlord in a successful claim against the guarantor under an authorised guarantee agreement involving novel issues under the Landlord and Tenant (Covenants) Act 1995.
- Lodha Developers 1 GSQ Ltd v 1 GSQ1 Ltd [2020] EWHC 2356 (Ch) – acting for the purchaser of high-value residential property in a claim for relief from forfeiture and return of a deposit.
- John is a top property barrister and a go-to silk. He is a master tactician and is extremely clever.
- The guru for rights of light matters.
- John is an extremely good, highly regarded and sought-out figure in the property Bar.
- John is an exceptional advocate, brilliant with clients and his charm is phenomenal.
- An outstanding trial advocate with an insatiable work appetite and a fearsome cross examiner.
Property insights & events View all thought leadership View all events
Recent Cases
Judgment handed down in Mentmore Golf Investments Limited v Gaymer
Property
John McGhee KC | Joanne Wicks KC | Harriet Holmes
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Tuesday 14 October 2025
Recent Cases
Judgment handed down in Cooper v Ludgate House Ltd and Powell v Ludgate House Ltd
Property
John McGhee KC
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Tuesday 8 July 2025External Conferences
PLA South West & Wales Training Event
Thursday 15 May 2025
Burges Salmon, BristolSpeakers:
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John McGhee KC | Tiffany Scott KC | Harriet Holmes | Daniel Scott | Francesca MitchellEvents / 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, London£75 + VAT | 3.5 CPD
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John's Details
BSB/VAT information
Registered name: Mr John Alexander McGhee KC
VAT number: 417762048
Qualifications and Appointments
- BA (Oxon) First Class Honours
- Scholar at University College Oxford
- Lincoln’s Inn Entrance Award
- Wolfson and Denning Scholar at Lincolns Inn
Memberships
- Chancery Bar Association
- Commercial Bar Association
- Property Bar Association
Publications
- Snell’s Equity
- General Editor (1999 – 2015)
- Joint General Editor (2020 – 2023)
- Consulting Editor (2024 – Present)
- The Nature of the Enrichment Inquiry in Degeling & Edelman eds., Unjust Enrichment in Commercial Law
- A review of Boundaries of Personal Property: Shares and Sub-Shares by Pretto-Sakmann in (2006) Vol 122 Law Quarterly Review 533
- When are Negotiating Damages available? in McFarlane & Elliott eds, Equity Today (2023)
- Contributor to Nolan & Smith (eds): Company Voluntary Arrangements: Law and Practice (2022)
Clerk details
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