Lena Barnes

Senior Associate

Areas of Expertise

Lena specialises in construction dispute resolution. In addition to advising clients on formal disputes, she frequently aids clients with situations that arise during the life cycle of live projects.

Lena has worked with employers, developers, contractors, and members at various levels of the supply chain. She has experience advising clients using most major forms of construction contract including JCT, NEC, FIDIC, etc.

She particularly enjoys the fast and furious pace of adjudications and is a qualified construction adjudicator.

Her client testimonials praise her work ethic, her consistently impressive work and her best attribute – “the way she is able to see a point in the way a judge is likely to see it, and to advise the client accordingly”.

Experience

Lena started her career in Oxford working in a commercial property team where she started her CILEX Fellowship qualification. Having moved firms, and city, she achieved the fellowship grade whilst at a Cambridge firm before returning to university to complete her LPC. She commenced work as a construction paralegal in the regional office of an international law firm before qualifying though equivalent means. Upon qualification, she joined the construction team within a national law firm where she remained until 2023 when she joined Devonshires.

Publications

Supreme Court Clarifies JCT Termination Clause in Providence v Hexagon (Insights, January 2026)

Devonshires Successful for Hexagon in the Supreme Court (Insights, January 2026)

Hexagon granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in dispute with Providence (Lexology, December 2024)

The importance of three words (Lexology, August 2024)

Success for Hexagon Housing (Lexology, November 2023)

Lena publishes insights on Devonshires’ website on a range of legal topics connected with construction and development.

Conferences

Lena is a confident speaker and delivers engaging and practical seminars and webinars with Devonshires and for third parties on all aspects of contentious construction law.

Education

Lena graduated from King’s College London with an LLB. She was called to the Bar in 2012, before dual qualifying as a solicitor through equivalent means in 2018. In 2025, she received her diploma in Adjudication in the Construction Industry from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Personal

Outside of work, Lena balances her sweet tooth with the occasional workout at the gym.

Professional Membership

Lena is a member of the Adjudication Society, the Society for Construction Law and the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

Testimonials

“Lena Barnes produces consistently impressive work. She is pragmatic and robust, and cuts through the noise to get to the real issues in the case. One of her best attributes is the way she is able to see a point in the way a judge is likely to see it, and to advise the client accordingly.”

Legal 500

“I'm really impressed with Lena Barnes - she consistently works hard, [and] is a pleasure to work with.”

Client feedback

"Lena Barnes - huge capacity for hard work and excellent client care skills."

Client feedback

"Lena Barnes is extremely knowledgeable with a superb attention to detail. She is a great communicator and in difficult (without prejudice) meetings provides a collaborative approach to move parties forward."

Client feedback

"…and Lena Barnes are talented and hard-working senior associates."

Client feedback

"Thank you for your email and thanks for the support, advice and expert handling of the contract closure. It enabled [client name] to exit with a strong position and satisfactory financial settlement."

Client feedback

Get in touch

020 7880 4213

lena.barnes@devonshires.co.uk

London Office
Devonshires Solicitors LLP
30 Finsbury Circus
London
EC2M 7DT

PA: Charlotte Ward

020 7880 4332

charlotte.ward@devonshires.co.uk

Notable Cases

Lena acts for Hexagon Housing in the ongoing dispute between it and Providence Building Services Limited. The dispute has focused on the proper construction of the termination provisions under a JCT Design and Build Contract 2016. Having been successful in an adjudication and in front of the Technology and Construction Court, the Supreme Court has, in January 2026, unanimously overturned the Court of Appeal and found for Hexagon ([2026] UKSC 1). This case is not only of great importance for the construction industry but provides a helpful clarification of the law on the interpretation of contractual terms in standard form contracts.

Lena has recently acted for a Local Authority employer on an ongoing construction project when it was faced with four adjudications in four months. The combined efforts of the team saw our client victorious in three of the four adjudications; with the fourth being withdrawn by the contractor.

Lena acted for an international contractor in a dispute against its sub-contractor in a circa £1.4m dispute under a bespoke NEC 3 ECC sub-contractor. She was part of the team that, within an exceptional tight timeframe, drafted, issued and served the Claim Form and Particulars of Claim. Following the CMC and a hearing to decide disclosure requirements, a stay was agreed to facilitate mediation. A negotiated settlement in favour of the contractor was agreed shortly thereafter.

Has acted for a contractor, on a joint retainer with their insurers, on a Defective Premises Act claim – circa £1.3m. Following the CMC, mediation was attempted and was unsuccessful. As the disclosure process commenced, a settlement was brokered, and the claim settled.

Lena has acted for a well-known developer and provided it with ongoing support on a couple of distressed projects. She assisted with the termination of its contractor’s employment under three building contracts, payment advice and instigated the return of goods it had paid for that had been unlawfully removed from site. Post termination, the contractor launched two adjudications which led to a decision in her client’s favour and an abandoned adjudication. Without prejudice negotiations led to a complex settlement and she drafted the agreement which covered four parties, seven contracts over six projects, the associated retentions, three debts and multiple claims and counterclaims.