About

John has a busy mixed practice, focusing on family, civil, property, and employment law. Although based in London, John accepts instructions all across England and Wales, and frequently travels out of London for his work.

John is known to be a tenacious, persuasive advocate and is always well-prepared for his clients’ matters. John is attentive to details and is well-versed in the procedural rules and legal principles, which provide him with a competitive edge in advancing his client’s case.

Besides English, John also converses fluently in Mandarin Chinese.

John regularly represents individuals and businesses in his practice area. John accepts instructions via solicitors and is also accredited to accept instructions via direct access.

In addition to representing clients at Court, John can also be instructed to provide legal advice, written opinion and drafting in his practice areas.

Practice Areas

Family

John’s family law practice focuses mainly on financial remedies, private children law matters and non-molestation matters.

John is also experienced in dealing with complex financial remedies matters involving multiple properties, significant pension pots and cross-border assets. John regularly represents clients in all stages of hearing, including the first appointment, financial dispute resolution (FDR), pre-trial review and final hearing.

As part of his practice in private children law matters, John is regularly instructed to provide representations in cases involving applications for a live-with order, specific issue order and/or prohibited steps order. John is experienced in dealing with all stages of the proceedings, including the first appointment, dispute resolution appointment, and final hearing. The cases John dealt with are commonly complex, involving alleged domestic abuse, alleged abuse of substances/alcohol by a parent, coercive control, parental alienation and domestic relocation.

Example of work insludes:

• C v C – John represented the applicant in an application to enforce a financial remedy order and successfully obtained an interim charging order on behalf of the Applicant.
• B v B – John represented the applicant in a financial remedy matter and successfully persuaded the Court to enforce a Rose Order in his client’s favour.
• S v B – John represented the respondent at the final hearing of a financial remedy matter, which concluded to the client’s satisfaction.
• E v L – John represented the respondent in a non-molestation application and successfully persuaded the court to dismiss the non-molestation application.
• C v C – John represented the applicant, father, in a private children law matter and successfully negotiated on behalf of his client for a shared live-with order by consent in his client’s favour.
• J v H – John represented the applicant, mother, in the final hearing relating to child arrangement order applications and successfully persuaded the Court to make an order for a shared live-with order in his client’s favour.
• A v T – John represented the applicant, mother, in an application for a child arrangement order. John’s client was seeking a live-with order and the return of the child after not being able to see the child for months. John represented the client in the matter and successfully persuaded the Court to reinitiate his client’s contact with the child, and eventually secured a final live-with order in the client’s favour.

Civil

John maintains a broad civil practice covering a wide range of general common law matters.

John represented businesses and individuals in a wide range of commercial disputes, involving contractual disputes, auction disputes, debt recovery, loan agreements, sale of goods/services, breach of duties owed to consumers/employees, negligence and enforcement of debts/judgments.

John also frequently advises and acts on behalf of clients in company law matters, including breach of director duties, breach of fiduciary duties, and proceedings under the Insolvency Act 1986 against directors of a company.

John’s civil practice also spans insolvency matters, including bankruptcy petitions and winding up petitions.

John is regularly instructed to provide advice and representation in personal injury claims and claims for credit hire.

Example of work insludes:

• R v F ** –

• D v W – John represented the claimant in his claim for compensation arising from breach of contract and successfully persuaded the Court to award the claimant damages and costs.

• P v N E P Limited - John represented the claimant in the Cost and Case Management Conference of a multi-track claim and successfully persuaded the Court to reduce the Defendant’s costs budget significantly.

• M v PSA F UK Ltd - John represented the claimant at the hearing of the Defendant’s application to strike out. With great attention to detail, John quickly identified that the Defendant failed to plead the alleged limitation issue on which it relied in its strike-out application and successfully persuaded the Court to dismiss the Defendant’s application. John also recovered legal costs for his client.

• DE E S Ltd v F – John represented the applicant and successfully persuaded the Court to make a final charging order in his client’s favour.

• A v N I A Co Ltd – John represented the defendant, an insurance company, at the trial and successfully persuaded the Court to dismiss the Claimant’s claim for alleged damage to vehicle and credit hire charges.

• H v B Ltd – John represented the claimant at the trial for his claim for personal injury relating to work, successfully persuaded the Court that the defendant was liable for the injury due to lack of proper training and recovered damages and costs

• C v A I Plc – John represented the claimant at the trial for his claim for personal injury arising from a road traffic accident at a roundabout. John successfully persuaded the Court that the defendant was at fault for the accident, and the Court awarded the claimant damages and costs.

• John assisted his client, an ultrasound clinic, in drafting a letter of response to a letter of claim that alleged medical negligence, which successfully dissuaded the potential claimant from pursuing the matter further.

Property

John is regularly instructed in contentious property matters, including property trusts, beneficial interests in properties, boundary disputes, trespass to property, nuisance claims between neighbours, etc.

John also regularly acts for landlords and tenants in both residential and commercial property disputes, including possession claims, applications to suspend or set aside possession orders/warrants for possession, housing disrepair claims, other landlord and tenant matters, and disputes on leases (residential and commercial).

John also has experience in dealing with applications for injunctions related to property matters,such as for re-entry to property.

Example of work insludes:

• Malik & another v Malik – John represented the defendant and successfully persuaded the Court to strike out the claimant’s claim for purported interest in a property. In that case, the Claimants argued that they were entitled to a share of the property in issue, but John successfully persuaded the Court that the claim discloses no reasonable grounds. John also successfully persuaded the Court to award costs to his client.Aslam v Begum – John represented the claimant, a landlord, in successfully defending the tenant’s application to suspend enforcement of possession and obtained legal costs in favour of his client.
• C v A – John successfully represented the claimant, a landlord, in recovering possession of a property on mandatory ground 8 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988, rent arrears and legal costs
• M v P - John represented the claimant, a landlord, in recovering possession of a property on mandatory ground 8 of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1988, rent arrears and legal costs.

Employment Law

Employment law is a significant part of John’s practice. John is regularly instructed to represent employees, trade union and employers at all stages of employment proceedings, including preliminary hearings, judicial mediation and final hearings.

John is also regularly instructed to provide written legal advice and draft legal pleadings, including particulars of claim, particulars of response for his clients.

Example of work insludes:

• C U & others v A B B Limited (in administration) - John represented the claimants in a 2-day final hearing and successfully persuaded the Tribunal that the trade union was the appropriate representative under s.188(1B)(a) of TULR(C)A 1992 and that the Respondent did not comply with its duty under s.188(2), (4)(d) and (4)(e) of TULR(C)A 1992. John also successfully persuaded the Tribunal that there were no special circumstances under which the respondent could rely on s.188(7) TULR(C)A 1992 and successfully recovered damages for the respondent’s failure to consult before collective redundancy.
• O v RKBC – John represented the claimant at a five-day employment trial. The matter involved a claim for the employer’s failure to make reasonable adjustments under s.20 of the Equality Act 2010. John successfully persuaded the Court to extend the time limit for his client’s claims that were otherwise out of time. John’s client successfully recovered damages for injury to feelings from the employer.
• John assisted his client, a healthcare provider, in drafting a letter of response to their previous employee’s letter regarding alleged employment disputes, which successfully dissuaded the employee from pursuing the alleged dispute.
• John advised and represented the claimant in a judicial mediation hearing relating to the claimant’s employment claim, which concluded favourably to his client’s satisfaction.

Client Testimonials

• “I have received a truly outstanding service from Counsel John Sheng. Words cannot do justice to the part he played in my case. Counsel John Sheng handled every aspect of my case with professionalism and integrity. He took the time to understand my case in detail and was able to handle difficult negotiations with the required fortitude. During this difficult time, he ensured I was prepared and understood all legal aspects clearly. He proved to be a great legal representative and an even better counsel during what has been the most difficult phase of my life. Having Counsel John Sheng on my side proved to be priceless. We achieved a remarkable result which far exceeded my expectations, and I must attribute the unbelievable result to Counsel John Sheng’s meticulous nature and persistence. My faith in the justice system has been restored thanks to Counsel John Sheng. I will be forever grateful for your services. Thank you and God bless you”
• “Just wanted to say thanks for today. John was absolutely brilliant and massively helped us win the case. Very much appreciated.”