Alistair acted for Dubai University in an action alleging a fraudulent will in the Chancery Division, with the judgment handed down on 26th March. Leading Juila Beer of Selbourne Chambers, and instructed by Liz Fyfe of Thornton Jones, both specialists in contentious probate, Alistair was successful in demonstrating that the defendant, a professor of engineering, and his two principal witnesses, both doctors of philosophy, had been responsible for a conspiracy to put false evidence before the court in support of the professor’s claim that a will had been validly executed in his favour to the tune of over £3.5 million. The defendant’s case collapsed when the final witness admitted that the account which they had put forward was untrue. The University was awarded full indemnity costs.
Alistair says, “The case was defended by a national firm of solicitors who asserted that the action was inappropriate and that the word of a professor and two doctors should not be doubted. It took some courage on the part of the University and its solicitor to stand their ground. I was brought in because of my experience in fraud and the combination of an experienced cross-examiner and a junior who knows her way around the technical aspects of probate worked very well. A very satisfying result”