Ian Miller
Call: 1999
Ian Miller
LLB (Hons) (Pg Dip) (FLBA)
Legal Aid Supplier Number 385FD
Contact
T: 01274 722 560 or 0113 246 2600
Ian is a renowned matrimonial finance and family trusts/TLATA Barrister. Ian also accept instructions in:
Breach of Confidence (and confidentiality)
Misuse of Private Information and how to protect privacy
Defamation (libel and slander)
Advice on publications, press releases and websites to as to ensure privacy is maintained, consents received, and that material published is not defamatory or in breach of copyright.
Ian is able to undertake private FDR hearings for Trusts of Land proceedings, Inheritance Act proceedings and Financial Remedy cases.
Reputation
In 2014, Ian joined the University of Bradford as a lecturer whilst maintaining his practice in Chambers. During his time at Bradford Ian set up the School of Law’s first Law Clinic, acted as Deputy Head for 3 years and was the Director of Clinical Legal Education. Ian resigned his associate professorship at Bradford in 2022 and was invited to head the School of Law and at Bloomsbury Institute London, where he was also appointed Director of the Institute’s Law Clinic programmes.
During Ian’s time in higher education he taught a wide range of core legal subjects including tort, family law, ethics and legal skills.
Ian enjoys teaching and is available to run training courses, upskilling and refresher courses for law firms in addition to more traditional seminars.
In the summer of 2024, Ian returned to practice full time.
Expertise
Family/Civil
Ian has worked in the field of matrimonial finance and TOLATA his entire career, but has focused principally on matrimonial finance and TOLATA since 2014, together with some civil/common law and 1975 Act cases. During his years of a mixed practice Ian undertook a broad range of civil and family work including child protection, professional negligence, Land Tribunal cases, employment law and general common law. These previous practice areas provide Ian with a good grounding in other areas of law that regularly pervade into complex financial remedy cases involving partnerships, third party property ownership, companies, and tracing.
Ian is able to undertake private FDR hearings for Trusts of Land proceedings, Inheritance Act proceedings and Financial Remedy cases. .
Sports Law
Having taught for several years at the University of Bradford, Ian has developed an expertise in defamation, privacy law, misuse of private information, breach of confidence and media law.
Ian developed modules on privacy and defamation law and taught law and media in the digital age to both undergraduate and post graduate students. Having now returned to full time practice with chambers, Ian is now accepting instructions in the following areas of media Law:
• Breach of Confidence (and confidentiality)
• Misuse of Private Information and how to protect privacy
• Defamation (libel and slander)
• Advice on publications, press releases and websites to as to ensure privacy is maintained, consents received, and that material published is not defamatory or in breach of copyright.
Notable Cases
B v B [2022]
Third generation family farm. Assets circa £2.5m gross. Wife well into retirement. Issue as to how the sharing principle should apply to the assets which were brought into the marriage solely by the H. Agreed that the H would pass the farm to the parties’ son. Matter compromised with the W receiving 25% of the assets.
S v S [2022]
In addition to a modest family home, the parties assets were comprised of a significant pension held by one party and valuable commercial land owned by the other with another family member and which was inherited. Should the court depart from equality after a very long marriage on the grounds that half the assets were inherited? If the party holding the inherited land could or should sell the land in question. How should the pension be divided? Matter compromised. Sharing was to apply to the inherited wealth given the length of the marriage (DJ). The inherited land could be released at some point when the party desired it and could be seen as akin to a pension fund for that party. Proceeds of sale of FMH sufficient to house both parties modestly if divided equally. Small pension share required to equalise capital position. 50:50 division of the whole of the assets was appropriate notwithstanding the inherited wealth.
M v C [2016]
Proprietary estoppel – declaration of trust – whether the court may vary the terms of a declaration of beneficial interest set out in a signed declaration on the grounds that the parties had entered into an explicit oral agreement post dating the original declaration.
M had agreed to re-mortgage their jointly owned home in order that C could inject capital into his business in order to support and promote it. The court found that the parties had explicitly agreed that C’s share in the home would be reduced accordingly, and that C would account to M for the benefit he had received on any future sale. The court finding also that C had agreed to meet the additional sums due each month under the mortgage as a result of the borrowing.
Court declaring that M was entitled to the same amount that C had borrowed as a first deduction before dividing the proceeds of sale equally between them. Hameed v Qayyam [2009] EWCA Civ 352 and Clarke v Meadus [2007] EWHC 352 relied upon. (a transcript of the judgment is available). Permission to appeal dismissed by the Court of Appeal.
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