Joshua Cainer

Year of Call:
2019
Direct Access:
No
Joshua.cainer@outertemple.com Email
+44 (0)20 7353 6381
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Joshua has a broad civil practice which covers pensions, commercial and chancery, public, regulatory and human rights law, employment and discrimination and private international law. He was recently appointed as junior counsel to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry by Baroness Hallett, Chair of the Inquiry, and is also a member of the Attorney General’s Junior Junior Scheme.

 Education and Previous Experience

Joshua completed a BA (Hons) in Law (2013-2016), in which he received a Double First, and an LLM (2016-17), in which he obtained a First, at Downing College, University of Cambridge. During the course of his studies, Joshua pursued his interests in public law and human rights law as a research intern at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in 2016. He was also a research assistant to Shaheed Fatima QC in 2017 for the final report of the Inquiry on Protecting Children in Conflict.

Following his legal studies, Joshua worked at the Court of Appeal as the Judicial Assistant to Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls from 2017 to 2018. Whilst at the Court of Appeal, Joshua worked on a wide variety of cases involving, among other things, commercial law, professional discipline law, public law, human rights law, personal injury law and civil procedure. He also helped prepare research for lectures on a range of legal topics.

Joshua was awarded the Lord Denning Scholarship and Hardwicke Entrance Scholarship from Lincoln’s Inn and an Excellence Award from BPP University to study the BPTC (2018-19), where he received an Outstanding. He was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn in 2019.

Whilst completing the BPTC, Joshua also supervised undergraduate students in Administrative Law at Newnham College, University of Cambridge for the 2018/19 academic year.

Expertise

Joshua is developing a broad practice covering pensions law and trusts law, including in related public law and regulatory matters.

Joshua also has particular experience in areas of public and regulatory law which cross-over with the pensions law elements of his practice. He spent four months on secondment to the Pensions Regulator, during which he assisted on work relating to defined benefit superfunds and gained significant practical experience in the field of pensions regulation. He also has experience of the new regulatory regime and criminal offences introduced by the Pension Schemes Act 2021, as well as the Pensions Regulator’s moral hazard powers more generally, having delivered training in this area with other members of chambers.

Examples of Joshua’s recent work includes the following:

  • Assisting in a pensions case raising complex historical validity and rectification issues (assisting Andrew Spink QC, David E Grant QC, Saul Margo and Stephen Doherty).
  • Advising a scheme member about making IDRP complaints and a Pensions Ombudsman complaint regarding the revocation of survivors benefits under the Local Government Pension Scheme.
  • Assisting a member of chambers with advising on the pensions consequences following a TUPE transfer from a public sector employer to a private sector employer.
  • Assisting a member of chambers with advising on a Bradstock compromise of a s.75 debt.
  • Instructions from a leading solicitors firm to review the governing documentation of several occupational pension schemes.
  • Assisting a member of chambers in drafting submissions to the Pensions Ombudsman in a complaint relating to a transfer of accrued pension entitlements between two public sector pension schemes.

Joshua also gained significant experience in pensions disputes during pupillage when he was supervised by both Naomi Ling and David E Grant. The following are representative examples:

  • Assisting Naomi Ling (as a pupil) in the 2019 Rail Franchising Litigation [2020] EWHC 1568 (TCC) (concerning public procurement law challenges to Stagecoach’s disqualification from the tender process for three rail franchises, on the basis of its bidding approach to pensions issues with the Railways Pension Scheme which arose out of intervention by the Pensions Regulator).
  • Assisting David E Grant KC (as a pupil) in Chambers v Thomas Miller Wealth Management Limited (2020) (concerning pensions liberation, resulting trusts and equitable tracing).
  • Assisted a member of chambers (as a pupil) in drafting a complaint to the Pensions Ombudsman in a case concerning Beckmann entitlements under TUPE.

Assisting a member of chambers (as a pupil) in a case concerning a member’s request for a cash-equivalent transfer value from an occupational pension scheme.

Joshua is developing a varied commercial and chancery and has a particular interest in cases which engage questions of private international law. He also has a keen interest in disputes involving cryptoassets and has written articles in this field (see list of publications).

Joshua also spent six months on secondment to the Bank of England, during which he gained significant practical experience advising on a regulatory investigation into whether an insurer had breached its regulatory requirements and should be issued with a warning notice.

Examples of Joshua’s recent instructions include the following:

  • Advising an individual in relation to a high value item purchased at auction on behalf of a client who defaulted on payment, raising legal issues relating to contract, agency, property and bailment.
  • Successfully representing an insurance broker at trial in a claim concerning a contractual entitlement to claw back commission payments from an insurance agent in respect of cancelled insurance policies.
  • Advising and representing a telecommunications company in a number of strike out and summary judgment applications in cases concerning claims for breach of data protection legislation, misuse of private information and breach of contract.
  • Successfully obtaining an order for wasted costs against a solicitors firm.
  • Drafting a defence and counterclaim in a claim for breach of contract arising out of a construction dispute.
  • Assisting a member of chambers in drafting pleadings for a case concerning unpaid fees for financial and investment advisory services in the DIFC Courts.
  • Assisting a member of chambers in advising on a financial services claim involving Braganza and Socimer
  • Assisting a member of chambers in an application to enforce a foreign judgment, raising issues of private and public international law, including state immunity.
  • Assisting a member of chambers in a number of civil contempt proceedings arising out of commercial disputes.
  • Assisting a member of chambers (as a pupil) in a case concerning claims for breach of contract and civil fraud arising out of an insurance indemnity paid out in an international sale of goods context.

Assisting a member of chambers (as a pupil) in drafting an advice and particulars of claim for applications to remove executors under s.50 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 and for court directions on the administration of an estate under CPR Pt 64.

Joshua acts for both claimants and respondents and has a varied practice covering all aspects of employment and discrimination law, as well as related areas of commercial law. He has previous experience in matters involving: unfair dismissal claims; whistleblowing claims; discrimination law; claims involving human rights law; group action equal pay claims; TUPE claims; restrictive covenants; and internal investigations.

Joshua also has significant experience in alternative dispute resolution in the employment field. He has advised on settlement agreements for a range of employees, including senior executives, and also has had experience in securing successful outcomes for clients at a number of judicial mediations in the employment tribunal.

Examples of Joshua’s recent instructions include the following:

  • Representing a respondent at a three-day final hearing against two unauthorised deductions claims arising out of overpaid wages, raising issues of contractual variation, whether a COT3 agreement was vitiated by economic duress and the availability of an unjust enrichment claim by means of equitable set-off in the Employment Tribunal.
  • Representing a practice nurse at a three-day final hearing in an unfair dismissal claim arising out of multiple misconduct allegations relating to clinical practice.
  • Advising on the application of the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to an NDA clause contained within an employment settlement agreement.
  • Successfully defending an airline at a one-day final hearing against an unfair dismissal claim arising out of a collective redundancy process.
  • Successfully representing a public authority in a one-day preliminary hearing where the tribunal dismissed the claimant’s disability discrimination claims on the grounds that her menopause and back pain did not qualify as disabilities.
  • Advising a group of individuals working for a media company about whether they qualified for employee or worker status.
  • Successfully defending an airline at a two-day final hearing against a claim for failure to make reasonable adjustments to a recruitment process.
  • Advising an employer on liability for inducing breach of contract in respect of a new employee’s post-termination restrictive covenants arising from his previous employment.
  • Successfully representing the claimant in a one-day preliminary hearing to determine whether he had a disability for the purposes of his disability discrimination claims against a major national retailer.
  • Advising on an employee’s contractual obligations to disclose to his employer an external interest in a new start-up company.

As a pupil, Joshua was supervised by both Naomi Ling and David E Grant, gaining experience in a wide range of employment law work, including a discrimination claim concerning service complaints under the Armed Forces Act 2006 and a disclosure of confidential information case being litigated in parallel arbitration and employment tribunal proceedings.

Joshua has significant experience in public law, regulatory and human rights matters, having previously taught undergraduate students in Administrative Law as well as having worked on a wide range of appellate cases relating to public law and human rights whilst a judicial assistant to Sir Terence Etherton, Master of the Rolls.

He also has particular experience in areas of public and regulatory law which cross-over with the commercial and pensions law elements of his practice. He recently spent four months on secondment to the Pensions Regulator, during which he assisted on work relating to defined benefit superfunds and gained significant practical experience in the field of pensions regulation. He also previously spent six months on secondment to the Bank of England, during which he assisted on a regulatory investigation into whether an insurer had breached its regulatory requirements and should be issued with a warning notice.

Examples of his recent instructions include the following:

  • UK Covid-19 Inquiry – appointed as junior counsel to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry by Baroness Hallett, Chair of the Inquiry.
  • Advising a public body on potential public law challenges arising out of decision-making undertaken in a commercial context (led by John McKendrick QC).
  • Inquest touching on the death of AB – represented the family of the deceased in a two-day Article 2 inquest into a death occurring during hospital admission. The coroner gave a narrative conclusion which included findings of systemic and individual failings amounting to neglect by the NHS Trust.
  • AA and BB v C County Council – instructed in relation to certain interim matters in two linked ‘failure to remove’ cases involving children who are claiming damages for common law negligence and Human Rights Act damages for breach of their rights under Articles 3, 6 and 8 of the ECHR.
  • EE v Secretary of State for the Home Department – successfully obtained a grant of immigration bail for a vulnerable adult where there was no realistic prospect of the Secretary of State effecting deportation within a reasonable period.
  • Assisting a member of chambers with advising on and pleading judicial review proceedings in a children’s social care matter.

During pupillage, Joshua assisted members of Chambers in a range of public law matters, including the following matters:

  • Assisting Naomi Ling (as a pupil) in the 2019 Rail Franchising Litigation [2020] EWHC 1568 (TCC) (concerning public procurement law challenges to Stagecoach’s disqualification from the tender process for three rail franchises, on the basis of its bidding approach to pensions issues with the Railways Pension Scheme which arose out of intervention by the Pensions Regulator).
  • Assisting a member of chambers (as a pupil) in drafting an advice on collaterally challenging the legal basis for bringing a regulatory prosecution as unlawful under public law.
  • Assisting a member of chambers (as a pupil) in drafting an advice concerning transport regulation, local government law and public procurement law.

Joshua is experienced in matters which raise issues of both public and private international law and welcomes instructions in these areas. He has also written a number of recent articles on private international law. The following examples are representative of Joshua’s experience in international law matters:

  • FS Cairo (Nile Plaza) LLC v Brownlie [2021] UKSC 45 – acting for the claimant in successfully resisting the defendant’s appeal to the Supreme Court in the leading case on the scope of the tort gateway for serving proceedings out of the jurisdiction at common law and the operation of the presumption and default rule of similarity between foreign law and English law (led by Sarah Crowther QC and Daniel Clarke).
  • Assisting a member of chambers in a number of regulatory and criminal matters involving international maritime law, including issues relating to the COLREGS 1972, MARPOL 73/78, UNCLOS and the SUA Convention.
  • Assisting a member of chambers in an application to enforce a foreign judgment, raising issues of private and public international law, including state immunity.
  • Assisting a member of chambers (as a pupil) in a case concerning claims for breach of contract and civil fraud arising out of an insurance indemnity paid out in an international sale of goods context.
  • Assisting Sarah Crowther QC and Daniel Clarke (as a pupil) in a number of international travel law claims, including fault-based personal injury claims and Odenbreit claims brought against insurers under foreign law.

Related updates

Joshua Cainer is regulated by the Bar Standards Board (BSB) and holds a current practising certificate. If you are not satisfied with the service provided, please click here.

“I would like to thank you for your considerable efforts in respect of this matter which went a long way to achieving what I consider to be a very good outcome”

Solicitor testimonial

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HR advisor for public sector client

“I am very impressed with the work you have done for us … We rate you very highly, and I truly hope you continue to be willing to work with us in future.”

Solicitor, Employment Tribunal case

“I have been very impressed with Joshua throughout the matter – his client care, drafting, advocacy and knowledge is above and beyond his call and I look forward to working with him on other suitable matters.”

Solicitor, Employment Tribunal case

“Joshua has a deep understanding and knowledge of very technical areas in law, and he goes above and beyond in coming up with varied and multiple solutions to complex legal problems. His key strength is in identifying the core issues almost instantaneously, and delivering very measured and articulate and deeply considered responses to problems arising in our client work.”

Solicitor testimonial

To find out more, contact Sam Carter on +44 (0)20 7989 6669 or Colin Bunyan on +44 (0)20 7427 4886 for a confidential discussion.

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  • Greener Litigation Project – member of the Steering Committee and the CPR and Court Engagement Working Group (2022-present)
  • Association of Pension Lawyers (APL) – Junior Sub-Committee member (2023-present)
  • Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR)
  • Constitutional & Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA)
  • The Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn

  • Buchanan Prize (Lincoln’s Inn) (2019)
  • Lord Denning Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn) (2018)
  • BPP Excellence Award (BPP Law School) (2017)
  • Senior Harris Scholar (Downing College, University of Cambridge) (2016 and 2017)
  • Kathryn Wilsey & Keith W Lerch Book Prize for Law (Downing College, University of Cambridge) (2016 and 2017)
  • Foundation Scholar of Downing College (Downing College, University of Cambridge) (2016)
  • Littleton Chambers Prize for Labour Law (Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge) (2016)
  • Hardwicke Entrance Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn) (2016)
  • Rebecca Flower Squire Scholarship (Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge) (2014, 2015 and 2016)
  • Harris Book Prize (Downing College, University of Cambridge) (2015)
  • Kathryn Wilsey & Keith W Lerch Scholarship for Law (Downing College, University of Cambridge) (2014 and 2015)
  • Seton Cavendish Book Prize (Downing College, University of Cambridge) (2014)

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