Charlotte Steinfeld

Call: 2004

Practice areas

Mediator

Charlotte has a broad commercial-chancery practice and has acted in both High Court and County Court disputes across a wide range of areas, including: Contract (commercial and consumer); Wills and Probate (both contentious and non-contentious, including in Part 8 Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 matters); International and Domestic Sale of Goods and the Supply of Goods and Services; Landlord and Tenant (both commercial and residential); Insolvency and Bankruptcy; and Mortgages and Security.

Charlotte is also Head of the 10KBW Mediation Group and in 2021 established 10KBW’s mediation panel. She is a CEDR accredited commercial mediator, registered with the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) and a mediation advocate, representing clients at mediation since 2008.

Charlotte’s mediation experience includes both two-way and multi-party disputes in the areas of: Contentious Probate (particularly in Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 matters where a family member seeks reasonable financial provision under a will); Property (issues of valid transfer, TOLATA in relation to cohabiting couples); Breach of Contract (construction, asset finance and leasing, general); Tort (neighbour boundary disputes, conversion of goods); Landlord & Tenant (disrepair, listed building consent) and Company (family shareholder). Charlotte will also accept mediation appointments and mediation advocacy instructions in workplace matters.

Charlotte has completed executive education at the Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation with world-renowned negotiator, Professor Bruce Patton, co-author of the seminal text, Getting to Yes: Negotiating an Agreement Without Giving In and a co-developer of the Harvard framework of principled negotiation.

Charlotte is unique as a mediator in that she coaches parties and their legal representatives in the Harvard framework in order to help them to maximise and claim value. Her mediation style is assertively facilitative. She assists parties to hold a rigorous yet respectful negotiation, helping to ensure that a workable agreement is made in the parties’ mutual self-interest.

As mediation advocate, Charlotte is praised by clients as being “entirely unfazed by [complex, late instructions]”, and able to “get up to speed in no time at all”. Her experience as barrister, negotiator and mediator allows her to analyse a dispute from all legal, practical and commercial angles. She is therefore pragmatic, tactical and robust in negotiations, knowing astutely and intuitively how to work with the mediator to ensure her client’s success.

Charlotte has also acted as a judge, trainer and facilitator in mediation and negotiation skills:

  • Panel judge, 2022, 2021 and 2020 CEDR National Student Negotiation Competition
  • Facilitator, CEDR New Dialogues programme for emerging leaders under 30.
  • Mediator, CEDR mediation advocacy training for junior Magic Circle lawyers at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
  • Lead on 10KBW webinar series on mediation and negotiation.

Charlotte studied law at both undergraduate and postgraduate level, attaining a Distinction and one of the highest marks in the year for her LLM in International Commercial Law at the University of Nottingham. Her dissertation on commercial insurance law, “Should the Insurance Law Warranty Survive Reform?”, awarded a Distinction, was requested by the Law Commission (England and Wales) to be used as part of their on-going insurance contract law review in 2007.

Civil

Charlotte has acted on behalf of some of the UK’s largest financial institutions and other commercial organisations, appearing in the High Court and County Court. She has experience in the following areas:

Commercial and Consumer Contract: acting in disputes involving international trade and risk, consumer credit, hire purchase agreements and the law of guarantee, breach of contract and conversion of goods, sale of goods, agency, credit hire, unfair bank charges, the supply of goods and services and advising on insurance matters regarding insurable interest and on data protection issues.

Wills and Probate (Contentious and Non-Contentious): advising executors and beneficiaries in both contentious and non-contentious probate matters, including, for example, advising on replacement of executors, undue influence in the preparation of a will and procedure in propounding a will. Advising on probate and equitable undue influence in the execution of a series of wills. Also experienced in Part 8 Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 matters involving disputes regarding reasonable provision between family members. Often also required to advise in relation to issues of property transfer.

Landlord and Tenant (Commercial and Residential): acting mainly for commercial and residential landlords, experienced in, for example: advising on and drafting defences and counterclaims in claims for specific performance, damages and injunctions, possession proceedings, disputes in respect of non-payment of rent, multiple breaches of covenant, return of security deposit, disrepair from rising damp and forfeiture. Experience in housing law, acting for Defendants: illegal subletting, applications to set aside eviction warrants, disrepair claims, applications for re-entry.

Insolvency and bankruptcy: applications to appeal on decisions against proof under 14.8(1) Insolvency Rules 2016, winding up petitions for various types of creditors/petitioners including supervisors of failed IVA, judgment creditors and trade creditors, advising on alleged breaches of Insolvency Rules 1986, applications to annul bankruptcy orders, opposing applications for annulments, applications to set aside statutory demands, dealing with issues of notice and obtaining permission to take over carriage of a petition.

Mortgages and Security (Commercial and Residential): acting for various banks, building societies and mortgage companies in possession actions, including opposing applications to suspend a warrant of possession/stay an eviction, defending appeals and acting repeatedly for a large clearing bank in several order for sale hearings of both commercial and residential properties. Also acted for Defendant applicants.

Charlotte also has experience in: planning inquiries, disputes involving express and constructive trusts and enforcement proceedings, including acting for various banks/commercial organisations in numerous return of goods, charging order and other debt enforcement hearings. She has also acted for the Home Office in relation to disclosure for the Grenfell Inquiry.

Mediation

Charlotte has experience across the range of civil and commercial legal areas that typically lend themselves to mediation, including in multi-party disputes, for example:

  • Inheritance disputes including claims under Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, where family members (siblings, spouse and/or co-habitee) allege a will has not made reasonable financial provision for them.
  • Property including TOLATA claims relating to the family home of formerly cohabiting couples, one such case also involving a dispute over whether the property was part of the couple’s property business portfolio or whether it was their residential home. Also multi-party matter involving allegations of fraudulent transfer of property.
  • Breach of Contract in the areas of construction and also asset finance and leasing, including those between commercial parties and SMEs. One involving issues of alleged tort of conversion of goods to be used in a building project.
  • Family Shareholder dispute involving sibling directors of a multi-generational family business.
  • Landlord and Tenant including disrepair and issue of unauthorised works requiring listed building consent.
  • Boundary and Neighbour dispute, involving high-value residential property and claims of harassment.
  • Asset Finance and Leasing dispute re telephony equipment, issues of agency, breach of contract and liability of assignee. Disparity in size of mediating parties.

In 2020, Charlotte completed the CEDR Workplace Mediator Skills Training Extension (WMST) and will also accept mediation appointments and mediation advocacy instructions in workplace matters.

Notable Cases

Mediation

  • Represented large UK-based asset finance and commercial hire company and its assignee at mediation in hire purchase and agency dispute relating to commercial telephony equipment. Successful Defendants recovered all sums requested, including costs, in an on-the-day settlement.

Cases

  • Acted on behalf of large asset finance company in finance lease dispute relating to the hire of a number of bulldozers utilised at the Olympic 2012 site. Issues included alleged breach of the hire agreement and guarantee.
  • Acted for successful London based freight forwarder/shipping agent in a dispute over the risk of allegedly stolen goods destined for the Caribbean

Awards

  • Winner of Inns of Court School of Law (ICSL) and Blackstone’s civil moot, awarded highest marks ICSL had ever awarded for mooting (2004)
  • Clothworkers’ Foundation Mary Datchelor Trust Award (2003, BVC)
  • Lawrence Atwell Award (2003, BVC)
  • Dove Naish Award (2002, BVC)
  • Kettering Old Grammar School Award (2003, BVC)

Education

  • Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation, Executive Education (2019)
  • Mediator, CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) Accreditation (2016)
  • LLM International Commercial Law, Distinction (2nd in year) (2006)
  • Bar Vocational Course, Very Competent (2004)
  • LLB (Hons), Upper Second Class Honours (2003)

Memberships

  • Lincoln’s Inn
  • Civil Mediation Council (CMC)
  • London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association (LCLCBA)
  • British Insurance Law Association (BILA)
  • Association of Women Barristers (AWB)
  • CEDR Exchange (MyCEDR)

Publications

  • 2021 – Quoted in: “We Can Work It Out” on the rise of commercial mediation by MariaLuisa Taddia The Law Society Gazette (online), 6 December 2021

Testimonials

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all concerned as I believe the best possible result was achieved… I recommend that mediation is sought on these issues where a dispute [of this nature] is made and that you use Charlotte… as she had done a lot of work on this case and I believe put strength into [it…Her] use of her knowledge was paramount for a successful outcome.’  

Director, UK Asset Finance and Leasing Company

“We instructed Charlotte to represent our client in a complex three-way Inheritance Act Claim mediation. Counsel who was initially instructed was unable to attend, which only gave Charlotte a few days to prepare. Given the complexity of the issues involved, we could not have complained if Charlotte declined the instructions. But entirely unfazed by the challenge, Charlotte accepted the instructions and got up to speed in no time at all. Incredible! This is testimony to Charlotte’s confidence, experience and professionalism among her many qualities. Importantly, Charlotte is very personable. This very much helped her to manage the client’s concerns during the day. Charlotte helped us tremendously by accepting the instructions. Without Charlotte’s stepping in, we would have had a major problem. We have worked with Charlotte on a number of cases and will continue to do so. it is true to say that we cannot recommend Charlotte (and her Clerks) highly enough.”   

Partner, Regional Law Firm

Interests

Yoga, cycling, photography, spending time with family