News & Events
News & Events
We are delighted to announce that David E. Grant has been elevated to the ranks of silk and, from 21st March 2022, will officially be David E. Grant QC. David E Grant has practiced as a barrister for over 20 years, specialising in chancery and commercial law with specialist expertise in pensions, trusts, tax, will and estates, professional negligence, financial services, asset recovery, insolvency and employment. David was called to the Bar in 1999 and is a member of Inner Temple. He has extensive advocacy experience in courts and tribunals up to the European Court of Justice. He has also attended numerous mediations and round table meetings in a wide variety of cases. He has been recommended in Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500 since 2007 and is described…
News 21 Mar, 2022
Lloyd’s of London has today issued a Public Censure, the first of its kind, against Atrium Underwriting Limited relating to non-financial misconduct by employees and failures by Atrium in the way in which it responded to allegations of misconduct. In regulatory Market Bulletin Y5252, Lloyd’s set out its policy in relation to conduct involving harassment, bullying, discrimination, and consumption of alcohol or drugs at work. The Bulletin makes clear that in addition to the actions of individuals, of “equal importance is the culture of the firm for whom the individual works and whether it supports or tolerates a culture of unacceptable personal behaviour towards others.” The proceedings against Atrium were brought as a result of serious failures by the firm including failures…
News 16 Mar, 2022
Helen Pugh acted for the successful applicants, Crimson Flower Productions Ltd and others, who were seeking the maximum extension of 2 years to an existing extended civil restraint order in Re: Glass Slipper. The respondents were various companies within the ‘Glass Slipper group’ and their sole director who had persistently sought to re-litigate a dispute they had with Crimson Flower Productions Ltd arising out of the production of a Film in ‘Swan Lake’ by the Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg. That dispute had been decided definitively in favour of Crimson Flower, one of the applicants, a number of years ago in IPEC proceedings. Trower J’s order extending the ECRO demonstrates the flexibility and breadth of the ECRO jurisdiction. Noting there was…
News 15 Mar, 2022
Two members of Outer Temple’s International Organisations Law have been instructed in the first set of cases before the Islamic Development Bank Administrative Tribunal (IsDBAT) which is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Alex Haines and Victoria Brown have been instructed in a case before the IsDBAT in a case involving an allegation of unlawful termination of employment. The Islamic Development Bank (IsDB) is a Multilateral Development Bank (MDB) whose mission includes the promotion of social and economic development in Member States and Muslim communities worldwide. The present membership of the IsDB consists of 57 countries, with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia funding almost a quarter of its total capital. The IsDBAT is a judicial body that functions independently of the IsDB; its…
News 14 Mar, 2022
Fiona Horlick QC has secured an acquittal of her pharmacist client in a bribery trial which concluded last week at Southampton Crown Court. Fiona’s client, a pharmacist, was accused together with two other pharmacists and a doctor, of bribery on behalf of pharmaceutical companies in order to secure the prescribing of medications on the NHS. All four defendants maintained their innocence. The trial followed a 6 year investigation with the need to scrutinise hundreds of thousands of documents and communications dating back around 20 years. However, serious disclosure failures on behalf of the investigation team were uncovered in large part by Fiona’s team and the prosecution offered no further evidence after 6 weeks of trial. The trial was expected to last…
News 9 Mar, 2022
Andrew Spink QC, Helen Pugh and Chloë Bell have been successful in major bitcoin fraud case Ellis v Digit Europe Ltd. In Ellis v Digit Europe Limited the claimant alleged he had been the victim of a multi-million pound, complex fraud perpetrated by a web of persons unknown and sham companies purporting to offer bitcoin investment and management services. In December and January the claimant obtained worldwide freezing orders against alleged recipients of bitcoin identified following a tracing exercise on the blockchain which led to deposit addresses on the Kraken exchange.A fully contested return date due to be heard on Thursday 3 March by Mr Justice Jacobs raised wide ranging issues including a challenge to the now familiar view that…
News 9 Mar, 2022
To celebrate International Women’s Day, we asked some of our female barristers about their experiences and what they think of being a woman in the legal industry. Some people may still have the impression that law is a man’s game but this is not the case any more. The Bar is becoming more and more diverse and representative of the real world and women now make up over 38% of the industry according the the Bar Council. This figure has steadily increased over the last two decades but there is still a long way to go. So, to mark International Women’s Day, and in keeping with this year’s theme #BreakTheBias, we thought we would ask some of our female barristers…
News 8 Mar, 2022
Two members of our International Organisations Law Team have been instructed in a case before the World Bank Administrative Tribunal in Washington DC against the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Alex Haines and Carin Hunt have been instructed in a case before the World Bank Group’s Administrative Tribunal (WBAT) involving an allegation of indirect sex discrimination. The WBAT was established by the Board of Governors of the Bank in 1980. It acts as a judicial forum of last resort for the resolution of cases submitted by World Bank Group staff members alleging non-observance of their contracts of employment or terms of appointment. The WBAT’s decisions are final and binding on the Bank. The WBAT is composed of seven judges, all of whom…
News 16 Feb, 2022
Lydia Seymour recently acted for the successful Respondent in CRAFT v Pope & Others [2022] EWCA Civ 22, which considered the extent to which a company could subsequently challenge the decisions of sole Directors and Members to award themselves company property. CRAFT brought claims for breach of directors’ duties and breach of fiduciary duty against its former directors/members who had awarded themselves company property in circumstances in which the company’s constitution prevented distribution of its assets. The Defendants had asserted that they could not be in breach of any duty to the company because the interests of the company should be equated to the interests of the sole members/directors, and further that the company could not bring any claim in…
News 9 Feb, 2022
Four Claimants, all represented by James Counsell QC and Benjamin Bradley, have settled their claims for damages against Chelsea Football Club for undisclosed six figure sums in abuse proceedings. The Claimants settled their claims for damages against Chelsea Football Club for undisclosed six figure sums on 7th February at a pre-trial review hearing. The claims, which were listed for a six week trial, involving 62 witnesses, in four weeks’ time alleged that two former employees, Graham Rix, the former England international footballer, and Gwyn Williams, whilst working for the club’s youth training programme in the 1990s, racially abused these four young black footballers when they were aged between 14 and 18. At a court hearing in May 2021, the High…
News 8 Feb, 2022
Louis Weston recently acted for the British Horseracing Authority in the prosecution of two men charged with doping a horse at Newcastle Racecourse, resulting in 10 years disqualification and a nominal fine for the faultless trainer. The British Horseracing Authority instructed Head of the Sports Law Team, Louis Weston, to act on their behalf at the hearing of Neil Waggot and Stephen Walker, two stable hands employed by Newcastle Racecourse. The hearing centred around alleged doping of horses in 2018. Ladies First was a favourite to win at Newcastle but was well beaten by 22 lengths and later tested positive for Timolol, a beta blocker. CCTV footage showed Waggot and Walker acting suspiciously and appearing to administer something to the…
News 28 Jan, 2022
Representing the Respondent operators of the Mytaxi app (now called Free Now), Andrew Short QC and Peter Linstead have successfully opposed the Claimant’s appeal to the EAT of a decision that a London Hackney carriage driver using the taxi app was not a ‘worker’ when using the app to source and transport passengers. Introduction In a decision handed down on 18 January 2022 in Christopher Johnson v Transopco UK Ltd [2022] EAT 6, the EAT upheld the decision of the employment tribunal, where Peter Linstead appeared unled for Transopco, that although the driver had an obligation of personal service, the operator was a ‘client or customer’ of the driver’s business for the purposes of s.230(3) of the Employment Rights Act…
News 24 Jan, 2022
