News & Events
News & Events
With digital assets and technology constantly evolving, Outer Temple Chambers’ Fintech team take a look at their progress over the last year and the reasons they have been nominated by Legal 500 Bar Awards for best Team, best Silk and best Junior in this area. Worldwide appetite for digital assets and cryptocurrencies has exploded in recent years, with new cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based platforms continuing to develop at lightning speed. However, with new developments come new threats and the law is continuously evolving in response. Outer Temple Chambers has been at the forefront of these legal developments, in both an advisory capacity and in handling precedent setting disputes. The Fintech team takes a look at the past 12 months and the…
Legal Blogs 17 Jul, 2023
Outer Temple’s Anson Cheung comments on the case of Tulip Trading which was first heard in the High Court. This case generated much interest in being the first case to argue that bitcoin developers owed fiduciary duties to the true owners of a defrauded cryptoasset owner. That argument was quickly shot down in the High Court for having no prospects of success, but has now been resuscitated by the Court of Appeal. Background Following an alleged hacking and subsequent theft of keys controlling approximately £3b in cryptoassets, Tulip Trading Limited (Tulip) issued proceedings against certain crypto developers who it claimed controlled and ran 4 different bitcoin networks. Tulip claimed that the developers owed it a fiduciary duty and/or tortious duty…
Legal Blogs 23 Apr, 2023
Justina Stewart and Joshua Cainer identify seven key themes to take away from the Law Commission’s recently published ‘Digital Assets: Consultation Paper’. The Law Commission’s ‘Digital Assets: Consultation Paper’ is a masterful discussion of many key issues relating to digital assets. It comprises over 500 pages of legal analysis along with 47 questions for which the Law Commission has opened a period of consultation ending on 4 November 2022. It is also ideally timed – whilst the Law Commission’s proposals are only provisional (pending consultation), interest in, and disputes concerning, digital assets show no signs of abating. As practitioners continue to see an ever-increasing fallout from the so-called “crypto winter”, alongside gathering momentum on crypto-related fraud, margin call and mis-selling claims, much of…
Legal Blogs 28 Sep, 2022
Outer Temple’s Helen Pugh has written a detailed article titled ‘Misselling Cryptoassets’, where she explores the collapse of Terra USD and Luna. Helen Pugh has written an article discussing the lawsuit against Binance for ‘mis-selling’ of Terra USD and Luna after their massive collapse. This collapse was one of the biggest crypto crashes of all time, losing nearly $40 billion. Within the article, Helen examines this further by exploring three categories of claims: Misstatement/ misrepresentation claimsProfessional negligence; andRegulatory claims Please read the full article here. Find out more Helen Pugh specialises in general commercial litigation, civil fraud, contentious insolvency and company law issues, and professional negligence. Her practice has a strong international element with an expertise in jurisdictional disputes and conflict of law issues, including as they arise…
Legal Blogs 28 Sep, 2022
Outer Temple’s Lydia Seymour analyses the recent decision in CRAFT v POPE. Directors’ Duties – remedies when property is taken in breach of duty. Lydia Seymour, who was instructed by Hugh James, acted for the successful Claimant in CRAFT (Ceredigion Recycling and Furniture Team), an important Chancery Division decision on remedies in cases involving misappropriation of company assets by Directors. This is a useful decision on how remedies should be determined in a situation in which company directors have wrongfully converted company property to themselves—should the property simply be returned in full, or is it open to the directors to argue that they should have credit for sums that they would have received had they acted in accordance with their duties? In this…
Legal Blogs 26 Sep, 2022
Victoria Brown has written an article for LawInSport on the topic of athlete welfare; ‘Bullying In The Weighing Room – Will Bryony Frost’s Case Mark A Sea Change For Sports?’ The willingness and capability of sports governing bodies to tackle discrimination and harassment in sport has long been topical and the case of English National Hunt jockey, Bryony Frost, is the latest in a long line of cases. Head of Sports Law team, Louis Weston, acted for the British Horseracing Authority in this disciplinary case against Robbie Dunne which resulted in a ban for bullying and harassment of Ms Frost and there is now cause for optimism that things may be changing. Victoria Brown has written an article for LawInSport…
Legal Blogs 27 May, 2022
Lydia Seymour has been asked to write an Opinion for the LGPS Scheme Advisory Board on the issue of whether local authorities need to offer a sharia-compliant alternative to the Local Government Pension Scheme. A number of LGPS member authorities had observed that some employees were opting out of the LGPS on the basis of their religious belief, particularly people of the Muslim faith who were concerned that LGPS funds/investments were not Sharia-compliant. At present there is no alternative pension provision from these employers other than the LGPS. The board therefore commissioned a report and asked Lydia to advise on the risk of a successful claim for discrimination or human rights challenge from an employee complaining of a failure by…
Legal Blogs 3 May, 2022
Stephen Doherty explores some recent cases involving “Quincecare Duty”, which has existed for over thirty years, and what these new precedents mean for modern banking fraud cases. “Quincecare Duty” was established in Barclays Bank plc v Quincecare Ltd [1992] 4 All ER 363, and tells us that a bank or financial institution may be liable for processing a fraudulent transaction if the bank has reasonable grounds for believing that there has been an attempt to defraud its customer. Remarkably, it was not until the Supreme Court handed down judgment in 2019, in Singularis Holdings Ltd (In Official Liquidation) (A Company Incorporated in the Cayman Islands) v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd [2019] UKSC 50, that a claimant had successfully argued…
Legal Blogs 8 Apr, 2022
Hong Kong continues to compete and innovate in the world of international arbitration. This is reflected in the legislative framework, key reforms, and the practice of the leading institutions in Hong Kong. This short article introduces Hong Kong as a seat of arbitration and provides an update on recent reform and innovation. Authors David Holloway and Damien McDonald conclude this article with an observation on practice in Hong Kong and how it supports the development of Hong Kong as a leading arbitration seat. Arbitration Framework – supporting commercial arbitration Hong Kong’s international focus The arbitration law in Hong Kong was based on English arbitration law until 1989 when the Arbitration Ordinance was amended to adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on…
Legal Blogs 8 Apr, 2022
The case of Brownlie II highlighted a number of jurisdiction questions. Joshua Cainer acted as a Junior on the case and takes a look at the implications of the decision on commercial law. Joshua Cainer considers some of the outstanding questions about jurisdiction in commercial cases relying on claims in tort following the Supreme Court’s decision in FS Cairo (Nile Plaza) LLC v Lady Brownlie [2021] UKSC 45, [2021] 3 WLR 1011 (‘Brownlie II’). Whilst that case concerned a claim for personal injury, it is likely to have effects on cases involving questions of private international law in a far broader range of practice areas, particularly commercial law. This is a case brought by Lady Christine Brownlie, both in her…
Legal Blogs 8 Apr, 2022
The Court of Appeal has now handed down judgment in Paul v Wolverhampton, Polmear v Cornwall and Purchase v Dr Ahmed – three conjoined appeals on the ‘secondary victim’ criteria for psychiatric injury claims in a clinical negligence setting. Tom Gibson takes a closer look at the implications. While medical negligence practitioners everywhere may have been hoping for clarity in the law, it looks as though the secondary victim claims saga will continue to run. Though the Court of Appeal decided the appeals, perhaps reluctantly, in favour of the defendants, the Court also encouraged the claimants to appeal to the Supreme Court. All three cases featured claimants who suffered psychiatric injuries resulting from family members’ tragic, sudden deaths following medical…
Legal Blogs 18 Jan, 2022
Anthony Lo Surdo discusses the boom in infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific and how arbitration helps to navigate the risk involved with national infrastructure projects. Parts of the Asia-Pacific are in the grip of a boom in infrastructure projects driven, in some cases, by China’s “Belt and Road” initiative and otherwise by historically low global interest rates which has enabled sovereign states either alone or in partnership with private enterprise to fund projects that were hitherto merely a pipedream. In Australia alone, the 12 largest infrastructure projects total in excess of $A80 billion and include the Westconnex road project (NSW, $A16 billion), the Sydney Metro (NSW, $A12 billion), the Western Sydney Airport (NSW, $A5.3 billion), the Melbourne Metro Tunnel ($A11…
Legal Blogs 2 Dec, 2021
