Overview

Zara Yusuf has quickly developed a thriving commercial chancery practice. She welcomes instructions across all of Chambers’ main practice areas, either as sole counsel or as part of a team.

She is a member of the Attorney General’s ‘Junior Junior’ Scheme and Advocate’s panel of barristers.

In addition to various articles and case notes, Zara is a contributing author to Schaw Miller and Bailey: Personal Insolvency Law and Practice, 7th Ed. (LexisNexis 2026) and Mellows: Taxation for Executors and Trustees (LexisNexis 2026), both forthcoming.

Zara draws on the extensive exposure gained from her varied work before coming to the Bar. Zara worked as a Private Client Tax Advisor at Ernst & Young (International Tax) and Blick Rothenberg. Then, she worked in the Statutory Instruments department at the Cabinet Office, where she helped draft secondary legislation, including pensions and insolvency legislation. Alongside the Bar Training Course, Zara worked as a Research Assistant, where she focused on company, partnership, and agency law for a book titled ‘The Fundamentals of Business Law’. She also volunteered as a Director and Mentor at Young Bar Mentoring and remains committed to improving access to the Bar in this role.

Zara received a first-class degree in Ancient History from Newcastle University, where she ranked first overall in the year and performed the best in the dissertation module, earning multiple academic awards. Zara then achieved a Distinction in the Graduate Diploma of Law (BPP University) and a Distinction in the Bar Training Course (City Law School), having attained numerous top scholarships from the institutions and Inner Temple along the way.

 

Relevant experience

Arbitration

Acting for Binance, the cryptocurrency exchange, in two arbitrations under the HKIAC rules (ongoing, with Christopher Howitt).

Art and cultural property

McPartlin; Donnelly v Lilley & others (2026): Acting (led by Daria Gleyze, on a pro bono basis) for an art dealer facing numerous allegations from TV presenters Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly.

Civil fraud

Zara has been instructed in various civil fraud matters, including advising on a case involving the fraudulent misappropriation of cryptocurrency.

Commercial Disputes

Zara is regularly instructed in a range of commercial matters. She has a particular interest in commercial disputes that intersect with her private client, insolvency, and/or property practice.

Her recent experiences include:

  • Drafting a wide range of statements of case in contractual disputes, including those raising issues of unfair terms, duress, the Consumer Rights Act 2015, bailment, and conversion.
  • Advising on potential Counterclaims, Anonymity Orders, Early Disclosure Orders, a Part 20 Claim, and ancillary interim applications.
  • Securing a favourable settlement on behalf of a defendant company in a breach of contract dispute.
  • Successfully appearing in multiple trials on the Small Claims Track.
  • Advising a consumer on potential claims to bring against a maker of coins and bullion.

Company

Zara has been instructed in a range of company matters, including:

  • Obtaining a time extension for the registration of a charge at Companies House.
  • Appearing in applications under ss. 859M and 859N of the Companies Act 2006.

Restructuring and Insolvency

Insolvency disputes comprise a large part of Zara’s practice. She regularly appears as sole counsel in a variety of contentious personal and corporate insolvency matters, in the County Court and the High Court: from bankruptcy and winding-up petitions to claims by officeholders in respect of antecedent transactions. Zara also frequently acts in an advisory capacity in the insolvency context.

Zara’s recent experience includes:

Advisory and drafting work:

  • Advising on and assisting with the preparation of a liquidator’s claim under s.212 of the IA 1986, regarding the misuse of a sum obtained by way of a Bounce Back Loan.
  • Drafting various pleadings regarding directors’ breaches of duties.
  • Advising on the merits of applications to set aside statutory demands.
  • Advising on the appropriate avenue for the appointment of administrators.
  • Advising in conference about potentially appealing a costs order following a just and equitable winding-up petition and appointing an additional joint liquidator.
  • Advising on and drafting the applications for validation orders.
  • Advising administrators on potential claims that can be brought against the directors.
  • Advising administrators on the validity of an initial extension by creditor consent.

Court appearances:

  • Regularly representing petitioners, debtors, and supporting creditors in hearings for winding-up petitions.
  • Successfully representing a contributory in a just and equitable winding-up petition.
  • Frequently (and successfully) appearing in contested bankruptcy petitions and applications to annul bankruptcy.
  • Regularly appearing in the ICC Interim Applications List.
  • Successfully opposing applications to set aside statutory demands.
  • Obtaining strike-out of an unfair prejudice petition.
  • Obtaining an unless order in the context of an unfair prejudice petition.
  • Successfully representing administrators in an application for a retrospective administration order, an extension of that appointment, and an order placing the company in compulsory liquidation.
  • Securing validation orders (urgent or otherwise).
  • Successfully appealing a costs order on all five grounds, in the context of an insolvency matter.
  • Successfully representing a trustee in bankruptcy in obtaining an order for possession and sale of a bankrupt’s property under s.335A of the IA 1986.

Zara is a contributing author to Schaw Miller and Bailey: Personal Insolvency Law and Practice, 7th Ed. (LexisNexis 2026), which is authored by several members of Three Stone. Zara wrote the chapters about bankruptcy petitions and prior transactions.

Taxation

Further to her experience working as a Private Client Tax Advisor, Zara has worked on a range of matters involving taxation, such as assisting Stephen Woodward with advice on stamp duty land tax liability and the Settled Land Act 1925.

Zara is a contributing author to Mellows: Taxation for Executors and Trustees (LexisNexis 2026), along with Stephen Woodward. Zara wrote the chapter about the administration of a trust: income tax.

Before coming to the Bar, Zara worked as a Private Client Tax Advisor at Ernst & Young and Blick Rothenberg, where she gained valuable experience in all areas of UK taxation of individuals, often with a cross-border aspect.

Trusts, Wills and Probate

Trusts, Wills, and probate form a significant part of Zara’s practice, which spans both contentious and non-contentious matters. These instructions frequently involve:

  • Disputes over the administration of estates and trusts;
  • Challenges to Wills;
  • Claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975;
  • Proprietary estoppel and disputes over land or assets; and
  • Disputes over the actions of personal representatives and trustees.

Examples from Zara’s recent advisory and drafting work include:

  • Advising on the merits, procedural aspects, and drafting of an order for sale application, in the context of an estate dispute.
  • Drafting witness statements for various claims under the 1975 Act.
  • Advising diverse clients on claims under the 1975 Act, including on matters of merits, quantum, and settlement. By way of example, Zara has advised a potential claimant under the 1975 Act of their prospects of success following their discovery that they are a child of the deceased by DNA evidence.
  • Advising a co-executor on the merits of making an executor removal application.
  • Drafting a Letter Before Action challenging the validity of a Will on the grounds of testamentary capacity, want of knowledge and approval, undue influence, and fraudulent calumny.
  • Drafting a deed of appointment and retirement of trustees.
  • Advising an executor in a multi-jurisdictional administration.
  • Advising an executor on whether they should sign and/or act on a deed of variation.
  • Advising an Administrator on the prospects of successfully defending a proprietary estoppel claim, and on various associated matters.
  • Prepared an opinion for the court on the merits of a proposed settlement involving a protected party (pursuant to CPR r.21.10), regarding a claim under the 1975 Act.

Most of these disputes settle out of court, including at mediations, which Zara is happy to attend. Nevertheless, Zara has gained varied court experience, including:

  • Representing a defendant at the hearing of an application for interim financial provision, pursuant to section 5 of the 1975 Act.
  • Attending a third-party disclosure order application hearing, in the context of an estate dispute.
  • Attending various directions and case management hearings.
  • Representing a defendant at the hearing of an application for an order for sale under s.14 of the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996.

Property

Zara’s wide-ranging practice sees her instructed as sole counsel in all manner of property disputes, in the County Court, First-Tier Tribunal, and High Court. Often, these property disputes link with private client and/or insolvency issues.

By way of example, these instructions often involve:

  • Boundary and ownership disputes;
  • Commercial landlord and tenant;
  • Injunctive relief;
  • Land registration;
  • Mortgages;
  • Possession claims;
  • Private nuisance;
  • Residential landlord and tenant;
  • Relief from forfeiture claims; and
  • Trusts of land and other equitable claims.

Her recent experiences include:

  • Advising the borrower in a mortgage possession claim and obtaining a vacation of the hearing date.
  • Advising on the recoverability of service charge arrears.
  • Advising on the merits, procedural aspects, and drafting of an order for sale application, in the context of an estates dispute.
  • Advising on the merits of a claim involving water ingress from a neighbouring property.
  • Advising on the merits of a claim involving encroachment.
  • Drafting advice and pleadings in a range of disputes, including those involving derogation from grant, contested lease renewals, and disrepair issues.
  • Successfully opposing an application for relief from forfeiture.
  • LON/00AC/LSC/2024/0270: Appearing in the First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) in a case concerning various service charge disputes, followed by drafting successful written submissions on the construction of the lease, specifically on the recoverability of management agent fees as part of the service charge.
  • Appearing in multiple final charging order application hearings.
  • Regularly advising on claims for possession and appearing (successfully) at possession hearings (including rent, mortgage, and trespass cases), and related hearings, like hearings of applications for permission to issue a warrant for possession of property.

Pensions

Zara has worked on various pensions matters, including advising on the merits of bringing a claim against an occupational pension scheme provider regarding possible miscalculations of pension payments.

She also regularly writes articles for The Pensions Barrister.

During her training, Zara drafted advice in a Part 8 rectification claim to equalise the scheme benefits between men and women, following an error introduced during a scheme amendment and replicated in subsequent scheme amendments, and assisted in a prospective Part 8 claim to address the position of the pension scheme membership.

Zara completed the Beginners’ Course on Pensions Law given by the Association for Pension Lawyers.

While working in the Statutory Instruments department at the Cabinet Office, Zara helped draft pensions legislation.

 

 

Community and other

  • Panel Member at Advocate (2025 – Present)
  • Attorney General’s Panel of Counsel – Junior Junior Panel (2025 – Present)
  • Director and Mentor at Young Bar Mentoring (2023 – Present)

Qualifications

  • Bar Training Course – Distinction, City Law School (2023 – 2024)
  • Graduate Diploma in Law – Distinction, BPP University (2021 – 2023)
  • BA Ancient History – First-class (first overall), Newcastle University (2016 – 2019)
  • Public Access Authorised

Selected work history

  • Research Assistant – Newcastle University Law School (2023 – 2024)
  • Statutory Instruments Paralegal – Cabinet Office, Government Legal Department (2022 – 2023)
  • Private Client Tax Advisor – Blick Rothenberg (2020 – 2022)
  • Private Client Tax Advisor (International) – Ernst & Young (2019 – 2020)

Prizes and scholarships

  • Academic Excellence Scholarship – City Law School (2023)
  • Philip Teichman Award – Inner Temple (2023)
  • Bar Course Exhibition Scholarship – Inner Temple (2023)
  • Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Award – Inner Temple (2023)
  • Full-fee Programme Ambassador GDL Scholarship – BPP University (2021)
  • GDL Exhibition Scholarship – Inner Temple (2021)
  • Senior Johnson Prize – Newcastle University (2019)
  • Letter of Commendation – Newcastle University (2019)

Professional Memberships

  • Chancery Bar Association (ChBA)
  • Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR)
  • Contentious Trusts Association (ConTrA)
  • Honourable Society of Inner Temple
  • Property Bar Association

Publications, articles and seminars

Zara is a contributing author to Schaw Miller and Bailey: Personal Insolvency Law and Practice, 7th Ed. (LexisNexis 2026) and Mellows: Taxation for Executors and Trustees (LexisNexis 2026).

As for articles, Zara is an author of various LexisNexis Case Notes and other articles:

Further, she regularly writes for The Pensions Barrister:

Zara enjoys giving seminars and does so regularly in Chambers and for firms of solicitors. Suggestions for topics are always welcome. Her recent talks include:

  • Restructuring and Insolvency: Top Cases of 2026;
  • Non-Spousal Claims under the Inheritance Act 1975: Principles, Pitfalls, and Practical Points;
  • Technology Insights: Artificial Intelligence in Disputes – Opportunities, Risks and Why Lawyers Still Matter;
  • Texts, Trusts, and Trustees in Bankruptcy.