The Dispute Resolution and Compliance team is a flexible and responsive multi-disciplinary team which provides specialist legal services across our clients.

The team comprises five groups, each headed by a senior lawyer, providing legal advice and representation in the following areas.

Senior lawyers

Byron Britton

Head of Law, Dispute Resolution and Compliance and Deputy Monitoring Officer (Kingston)

Byron qualified as a Solicitor in 1994 with Hodders Solicitors specialising in Commercial Litigation and Housing Law, before joining Steeles Law LLP where he headed the Local Authority Litigation Team acting primarily for the London Borough of Lambeth and Westminster City. He subsequently joined Devonshires where he acted for a range of local authorities and social landlords in their Housing Management Team. In 2008 Byron was called to the Bar and joined the Chambers of Mr Nicholas Grundy QC at Five Paper Buildings where he specialised in Housing and Public Law for 10 years. In 2017 he joined the shared legal service of the London Boroughs of Havering and Newham as Principal Lawyer for Housing, Litigation and Employment before joining SLLP in 2018 as Head of Law, Communities and Environment.

Email: Byron.Britton@merton.gov.uk

Mark Cooper

Assistant Head of Law, Dispute Resolution and Compliance

Mark qualified as a Solicitor in 2005, but started his career as an outdoor clerk with the London Borough of Southwark before becoming a Legal Assistant. He has worked at the London Borough of Camden (dealing with commercial property conveyancing), Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames and London Borough of Wandsworth (leading on Debt Litigation) before transferring to SLLP. Mark specialises in Housing and Anti-Social Behaviour. 

Mark also sits as a Committee member of the Social Housing Law Association.

Email: mark.cooper@merton.gov.uk

David Fellows

Assistant Head of Law, Dispute Resolution and Compliance

David qualified as a Solicitor in 1990 whilst with the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames having joined the Council in 1985 as a Trainee Legal Executive.

After being admitted as a Solicitor David stayed with the Council working across a range of areas including litigation and in regulatory enforcement and working his way up to Joint Acting Head of Legal Services and Deputy Monitoring Officer. 

In 2013 he transferred to SLLP when Kingston and Sutton joined the shared legal services as Assistant Head of Law for the then Litigation Housing and Planning Team. He continued to be Deputy Monitoring Officer for Kingston until October 2019.

Email: david.fellows@merton.gov.uk