Jonathan Compton
Partner
Dispute Resolution and Commercial Litigation
Jonathan is the Lead Dispute Resolution and Litigation partner based in Guildford. Qualified as both a Solicitor and Barrister, he is a Certified Arbitrator and holds a Master’s Degree in International and Competition Law. His practice is both domestic and international, and involves advising private individuals and commercial organisations of all sizes.
Jonathan works across all areas of commercial dispute resolution including commercial disputes, banking and finance, regulatory and anti-trust/competition law. In recent years he has been involved in cases that reviewed the legality of local government decisions, advised on mergers, cartels, and the enforceability of contracts in relation to competition law and has advised on and won adjudications under the JCT suite of documents.
Jonathan has an extremely high success rate not having lost a case in the last 14 years.
Work highlights
HIGH-STAKES COMMERCIAL CASES
Jonathan has two reported cases, Rexy Finance Limited v Morgan Stanley International and Close Brothers Limited v Ridsdale and others, both involving large commercial disputes. In the first case he acted for the Claimant customer (a company based in Singapore and involving aspects of Singaporean and Malaysian banking law), and in the second for a commercial lender.
MULTI-MILLION POUND AVIATION DISPUTE RESOLUTION
Advising in relation to professional negligence, banking law and advising in relation to the selling of interest rate hedging products and a multiparty competition law case involving an allegation of prohibited concerted practices within the UK.
LARGE TRANSNATIONAL DISPUTE
Advising on a large transnational dispute involving the aviation sector and a claim for £40m. This involved commercial litigation and CAA authority regulatory issues.. Jonathan successfully resisted a summary judgment application and forced the airline into a negotiating position, leading to the ultimate settlement of the case
SHAREHOLDER DISPUTES
Resolving sensitive partnership and shareholder disputes in excess of £3m.
CHARITABLE TRUST
Advising in relation to a large 1880s charitable trust case involving disposal of an asset worth £80m.
Services
Sectors
Recent articles
Insights
Drag Along rights… No, not a date with Ru Paul, but a crucial and little-known clause outside legal circles.
05/03/2024
Media spotlight
Jonathan Compton talks to Which? about the need for supermarkets to make pricing clearer for consumers looking for the best deal
Jonathan Compton20/07/2023
Insights
The clock is ticking for Microsoft to get their deal over line, or they'll be liable to pay $3bn to Activision
12/07/2023
Insights
Following allegations that supermarkets are making major profits on fuel and groceries, the CMA has launched an investigation
11/07/2023