David Sawtell

Summary of Research Interests

My research is primary concerned with the doctrinal study of private law relating to the development of land and the built environment. It centres on the taxonomic interface between construction law and land law. I am especially interested in the doctrinal framework which governs the relationships between those involved in and affected by development and construction, such as neighbouring owners, residential and commercial occupiers, and the project participants themselves.

I am currently undertaking my PhD under the supervision of Professor Martin Dixon, considering the effect of construction operations on interests in land. I am also a practising barrister at 39 Essex Chambers.

PhD Thesis Title

‘The effect of construction operations on interests in land’.

Supervisors and Advisor

Professor Martin Dixon (Supervisor); Professor David Howarth (Advisor)

Start Date

Lent 2019

End Date

Michaelmas 2023

Education

Ph.D. Candidate, University of Cambridge (2019–present)

• Francis Paterson Scholarship from the Society of Construction Law

Master’s Degrees:

King’s College London, MSc Construction Law (2015-2017); (Distinction)

• Prizes for best overall graduate, best dissertation, the best performance in the second-year examinations, and best performance in the Module AL construction technology examination

University of Cambridge, MPhil Medieval History

• AHRB funding
• Dissertation deposited in the Seeley Historical Library

Bachelor’s Degree:

University of Cambridge, MA History

Awards and Scholarships

• Francis Paterson Scholarship from the Society of Construction Law
• Best Paper Prize for submitted paper following Cambridge Centre for Property Law conference Regulatory Issues in Property Law, ‘The residential leaseholder’s interest in construction operations’, 2019
• Commendation in the Society of Construction Law Hudson Prize essay competition 2019
• Lord Denning and Lord Sunley Scholarships, Lincoln’s Inn
• AHRB funding for MPhil
• Edward Lord North Scholarship, Peterhouse
• Exhibitioner, Peterhouse

Teaching and Research Experience

• Academic year 2021-2: supervisor in land law at Peterhouse; supervisor for Paper 8 for the Department of Land Economy

Professional Experience

• Practising barrister at 39 Essex Chambers, London, specialising in construction, property and commercial law

Professional Qualifications

• Called to the Bar (Lincoln’s Inn), 2005
• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

Recent Representative Publications

Articles

• ‘The residential leaseholder’s interest in construction operations’ (2019) 11(2) Journal of Property, Planning and Environmental Law, 108
• ‘Enrichment-based claims for a quantum meruit in construction disputes’ [2019] 36(1) International Construction Law Review 101

Journals

• ‘Six more years of adjudication’ Adjudication Society Newsletter Summer 2021
• ‘The remedies of the mortgagee and appointing receivers’ (2020) 35(11) Butterworths Journal of International Banking & Financial Law 767
• ‘Legal perspectives on putting buildings right post-Grenfell conference’ (co-author) (2020) 23(1) Journal of Housing Law 15
• ‘Adjudications brought by insolvent companies - an exercise in (f)utility?’ (co-author) (2020) 31(8) Construction Law 24

Books

• A Practical Guide to the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (2^nd edition, Law Brief Publishing, 2021) (co-authored)
• Editor of the chapters on adjudication and payment in Wilmot-Smith on Construction Law (4^th edition, OUP, 2021)

Papers

• 2021: ‘Causation in English Construction Law: Time for a Re-statement?’ (SCL Paper 229). An analysis and re-statement of the English law of causation in construction law. Originally presented as a paper at the SCL in June 2021.
• 2020: ‘Teams of Rivals? How English Construction Law Forces Contracting Parties to Work Together’ (SCL Paper D231) (Commended Entry for Hudson Prize)

Book reviews

• ‘Restrictive Covenants Affecting Freehold Land by G. Newsom and E Paton’ [2021] (1) Conveyancer and Property Lawyer 114.
• ‘Collaborative Construction Procurement and Improved Value by D. Mosey’ (2019) 35(6) Construction Law Journal 384.

Blogging

• Regular contributor to ‘Housing after Grenfell’ blog, University of Oxford [ https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/housing-after-grenfell ]

Conference Presentations

• Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference (Durham): ‘Injunctions, land and the cynical breach’ (2021)
• Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference (Exeter): ‘Intervening uncertainty in property relations and legal interventions into liability, remedies and enforcement: re-visiting the doctrine of frustration’ (2020)
• Regulatory Issues in Property Law (Cambridge Centre for Property Law) ‘The residential leaseholder’s interest in construction operations’ (2018)

Working papers

• ‘Overage agreements and temporal aspects of property development in English land law’, temporal nature of land law obligations and contract (accepted as a work in progress for Modern Studies in Property Law 2020: conference cancelled due to COVID-19).