Our Advocates

Professional Information:

Year of Call: 1993
Devil Masters: Richard S. Keen Q.C.; Gordon R. Steele Q.C.; Sheriff William Dunlop
Qualifications: L.L.B. (Hons) (First Class) University of Edinburgh; Dip.L.P. University of Edinburgh; Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators


Biography:

David qualified as a solicitor in 1990 during his traineeship with Bishop and Robertson Chalmers (now Brodies). Thereafter he was Legal Assistant to the Lord President of the Court of Session (then The Lord Hope of Craighead) which involved the provision of legal and administrative support and assistance in the drafting and revisal of rules of court and other statutory instruments.

Since calling David has gained extensive advocacy experience as well as representing clients in successful mediations. David's other interest is in arbitration. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute and has acted as an arbitrator (arbiter). He is available to accept appointments as arbitrator in any dispute in any of the areas in which he specialises. David is co-author of the first commentary on the new Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010 published by W. Green.

In his property practice he has acted for clients in disputes over missives, boundary and access disputes, discharge of real burdens, obtaining compensation for compulsory purchase, council house applications to buy, opposition to rectification of the Land Register, and fraudulent non-disclosure in a sale of property. He has acted in professional negligence claims involving solicitors, a surveyor and architectural technician.

In addition he has an extensive advisory practice covering all aspects of property and related contract law and practice including advising on missives, servitudes and public rights of way, repossessions under standard securities (including Islamic mortgages), liferents, nuisance, and council tax. In intellectual property he has advised on enforcement of trademarks and logos.

In landlord and tenant matters he has experience of actions of irritancy, removing, seeking keep-open orders, declarators of agricultural lease and damages for dilapidations as well as advice across the whole range of occupiers' rights and liabilities.

In commercial matters he has acted for purchasers and sellers of goods ranging from medical equipment through concrete blocks to scaffolding parts, for borrowers and lenders of money, in hire purchase disputes, for partners in dissolution of partnerships and shareholders in dissolution of small companies, including relief for unfairly prejudicial conduct. He has advised on claims by commercial agents on recovery of compensation under the Commercial Agents Regulations. All of that is in addition to an extensive advisory practice covering the interpretation and enforcement of all manner of commercial contracts. In insolvency situations he has acted for clients in recall of sequestrations and dealt with claims against directors and by creditors in sequestrations or liquidations. He has represented a local authority in relation to public procurement.

In his executry and trust practice David has acted for disappointed beneficiaries challenging wills, seeking to prove the tenor of wills, seeking count reckoning and payment, declarators of trust and constructive trust  and the removal of executors. He has represented a client in seeking judicial review of a local authority decision on care costs. He has acted for judicial factors in their appointment and discharge. Not least in this area he has given many opinions on the meaning of wills and trust deeds and issues such as vesting.

Away from work David has two children and enjoys running to keep fit, pilates for flexibility, and ski-ing for sheer pleasure. One day, when time allows he will return to hill-walking. He is also interested in history and travel.


Publications:

• Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010, a commentary by Professor Fraser Davidson, Hew Dundas and David Bartos (co-author) due to be published June 2010
• Case Law Summary Database and articles on his website www.davidbartos.co.uk
• "Advance to Free Parking" : Scottish Law Gazette, December 2007 (and on his website)
• "Double Yellow or Single Yellow": the right to park after Moncrieff v. Jamieson 2006 S.L.T. (News) 9
• "Real Burdens : their effect on development" : Greens' Property Law Bulletin 1997
• Greens' Annotated Rules of the Court of Session 1994 - Co-annotator
• Greens' Scottish Planning Law Encyclopaedia - Former annotator of ss. 1 - 75 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997

David speaks regularly to firms of solicitors on case law in relation to servitudes, rights of access, and real burdens as well as property cases in general. He has also spoken on residential leases at a CLT training conference. He has also given case law update talks on trusts wills and succession matters.


Appointments:

• Standing Junior Counsel to the Department of Work and Pensions: 2000 to date.
• Secretary of TrustBar (The Trusts Fiduciaries and Executries Bar Group) 2006 to 2009.
• Member, Faculty Council, 2002 to 2005
• President, Glasgow Juridical Society 1993

Recent Cases:

These include:

• Forbo-Nairn v. Murrayfield Properties [2009] CSIH 94 (construction and interpretation of missives)
• Hamilton v. Nairn 2010 S.L.T. 399 [2009] CSOH 163 (access across road verge) - currently under appeal
• Park, Petitioners 2009 S.L.T. 871 (whether faxed missives are binding)
• Connell v. Hart [2008] CSIH 67 (construction and interpretation of missives)
• Lightways (Contractors) Ltd v. North Ayrshire Council 2008 S.L.T. 690 (public works procurement, whether breach of regulations, entitlement to interim remedy)
• Yaxley v. Morrison and Others 2007 S.L.T. 756 (rectification of servitude in Land Register)