The Lawyer's Top 20 cases list for 2025 features a significant property dispute involving the Curzon Cinema in Mayfair, in which Mishcon de Reya acts for the Claimant landlord, Fantasio Limited (formerly 38 Curzon Lease Limited).
The case, Fantasio Limited (formerly 38 Curzon Lease Limited) v Curzon Cinemas and Curzon Restaurant & Bar, will be heard in the Chancery Division of the High Court and is listed for six days in June 2025.
It addresses the future of the grade II listed Curzon Cinema and involves complex property law issues under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. The outcome could have wider implications for commercial landlord and tenant law in the UK.
Mishcon de Reya's team is led by partner Joanna Lampert, with support from Managing Associate Isabel Emerson-Lich and Associates Fred Leader, Mohini Mann and Ben Tasker. They are instructing Jonathan Seitler KC, Benjamin Faulkner and Francesca Mitchell of Wilberforce Chambers.
We are also one of three firms (together with Clifford Chance and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan) to be featured in The Lawyer's Top 10 appeals list.
Mishcon de Reya is part of the legal team for the Supreme Court case Mitchell and another (Joint Liquidators of MBI International & Partners Inc (In Liquidation)) v Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber and others. The appeal, scheduled for a three-day hearing on 13 May 2025, will provide clarity on the fiduciary duties of individuals in business and the actions of Sheikh Al Jaber following his company's insolvency. Mishcon de Reya's team includes partners Christopher Ahearne, Daniel Levy and Hugo Plowman, alongside Associates Kiros Papaloizou and Tiffany Morgan.
The firm also acts for O2 in Top 10 Appeal case Phones 4u Limited (in administration) v EE Limited & Others. At trial, Phones 4u comprehensively lost its case that the major mobile network operators colluded to put Phones 4u out of business. Mishcon de Reya successfully defended O2 from Phones 4u's claim that it should be paid damages equal to the value of its business at the time it went into administration, which it estimated to be more than £1 billion. Phones 4u is now appealing that judgment to the Court of Appeal on six grounds. Such is the importance of the outcome to certain aspects of competition law, the Competition and Markets Authority has secured permission to intervene. The appeal will be heard in May. The Mishcon de Reya team is led by Nicola Bridge, supported by Partner Tom Roberts and Associate Emma James.
Read more about the Top 20 cases and about the Top 10 appeals on The Lawyer's website.