News & Events
News & Events
Daniel Barnett has been invited to address the General Counsel Strategy Summit, organised by The Lawyer Conferences, taking place in Lisbon on 13-15 May 2015. He will be speaking on Preventing HR problems Turning Into Litigation, and will cover how to deal with toxic employees, the golden defence to discrimination claims, and practical steps to prevent employee competition. The summit is attended by over 90 chief executives and general counsel from the UK’s largest companies.
News 5 May, 2015
Counsel for the Inquiry, Outer Temple’s Patrick Sadd, has been questioning both a former child care officer, and also an ex-staff member of the Haut de la Garenne home. Danny Wherry was a former Child Care Officer whose job in the 70s and 80s involved visiting youngsters in foster homes and institutions to check on their welfare, and he gave his evidence this week at the Inquiry into historical child abuse, as did ‘Mr K’, a former staff member at the Haut de la Garenne home at the centre of the Inquiry. Under questioning from Patrick Sadd, Mr Wherry stated he saw cases of neglect, including on one occasion where a door handle had been removed from a child’s bedroom…
News 20 Apr, 2015
John McKendrick has represented residents of a learning disabled community in North Yorkshire. For more than 60 years, the village of Botton has been home to people with learning disabilities who share accommodation with volunteer “house parents” and their families. The charity which manages the village, Camphill Village Trust, has proposed that “house parents” be treated as employees rather than volunteers, which the residents believe will gravely disrupt their lives. The three residents whom barrister John McKendrick has represented brought a challenge to the proposed plans, as a breach of their human rights. John told the court: “The claimants have enjoyed a private life both by way of developing relationships with others and also by respect for privacy in their…
News 16 Apr, 2015
Fiona Scolding, led by James Goudie QC (11 KBW), has acted for the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) in the case of the London Oratory’s appeal of the OSA decision against the school. The school decided to go to the High Court to challenge a number of OSA findings that aspects of its arrangements for 2014 and 2015 had breached the schools admissions code. Following a hearing last month, Mr Justice Cobb today gave judgment, choosing to quash the adjudicator’s decision in part. The court’s judgment can be found on the Bailii website.
News 16 Apr, 2015
Eleanor Davison is listed in the first Global Investigations Review Women in Investigations special, which highlights 100 remarkable women in the profession from around the world. The survey ‘profiles lawyers, government prosecutors, barristers, forensic accountants and various in-house counsel, all of whom can serve as inspirations to current and future generations of investigations professionals’. Eleanor is the only Barrister at independent Bar in the UK to be listed in this comprehensive review which reflects on the strength of her practice in global corporate investigations work. Eleanor’s entry in the review: http://globalinvestigationsreview.com/article/2685/eleanor-davison
News 8 Apr, 2015
The Supreme Court on 18 March 2015 handed down a controversial judgment in R(on the application of SG and others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2015] UKSC 16 in which the majority upheld the lawfulness of the Benefit Cap (Housing Benefit) Regulations 2012 (the “Regulations”). The Supreme Court divided 3:2, with Lord Reed, Lord Hughes and Lord Carnwath holding that the Regulations were lawful, while Lady Hale and Lord Kerr dissented. The judicial review challenged the Regulations as indirectly discriminating against the property rights of women contrary to Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights (“ECHR”) taken with Article 1 of protocol 1 of the ECHR (“A1P1”). The Regulations limit the amount of specified benefits…
News 7 Apr, 2015
John gave the keynote address at an anti bribery event at the Peruvian Congress in Lima on 23 March 2015. The event was organised by the Peruvian Congress and the High Level Anti Corruption Commission to reinforce Peru’s efforts to join the OECD. The event focused on designing new laws to deal with corporate liability in respect of bribery. John was invited to speak by Govrisk who played a major role in organising the event. John is also meeting with the British Embassy, the EU delegation and Baker McKenzie. John has many years experience of Latin America.
News 24 Mar, 2015
Tim Green has been authorised to act as the Attorney General for the Isle of Man (IOM) for the purposes of a significant multi-jurisdictional financial investigation. On 18 March search warrants were executed at multiple addresses in three jurisdictions pursuant to this investigation. The IOM is a Crown Dependency with its own Parliament, Courts and Executive. The Island enjoys tax advantages over the UK and has a strong financial services sector. Tim Green was appointed to this role by the IOM government and has a licence to appear as an advocate in the IOM High Court pursuant to this matter.
News 18 Mar, 2015
Following the biggest trial of its kind ever bought by the enforcement arm of the Department of Transport, a jury has just returned a verdict acquitting the directors and senior management of a subsidiary of a bank involved in providing finance to the transport industry on charges of conspiracy to defraud the transport regulator (the Traffic Commissioners of Great Britain). The trial involved allegations that the directors and managers had developed a business model aimed at subverting the regulatory system, and involved extensive evidence from several senior judicial figures within the system. Tim acted for two of the senior managers charged. At the conclusion of a trial which lasted 4 months the jury took 6 hours to return a unanimous…
News 6 Mar, 2015
Fiona Scolding has been re-appointed to the EHRC Panel of Preferred Counsel. Fiona’s appointment runs from March 2015 for four years. The EHRC is the non governmental public body responsible for promoting and upholding rights under the Equality Act and the Human Rights Act. Fiona practises in all areas of public law but with a particular emphasis upon social welfare, education and healthcare law.
News 26 Feb, 2015
Permission to appeal to the Supreme Court has been granted in the case of Lee Hirons v Secretary of State for Justice [2014] EWCA Civ 553; [2015] 2 W.L.R. 256. John appeared at first instance in the Administrative Court and on appeal on behalf of the claimant. A panel of three Supreme Court Justices, chaired by Lady Hale, granted permission to appeal to the Supreme Court after consideration of the written grounds and argument, drafted by John. The appeal to the Supreme Court will consider the extent of the duty to give reasons when the Secretary of State recalls a restricted patient to a secure hospital, after being conditionally discharged by the First Tier Tribunal. John is instructed by Mosytn…
News 25 Feb, 2015
Following on from the liability judgment in the IBM Project Waltz proceedings which was handed down on 4th April 2014, a further lengthy and important judgment has been handed down that deals with the remedies available to members of the scheme. Outer Temple barristers Andrew Spink QC, Andrew Short QC and Saul Margo appeared for the Trustee whilst Nicolas Stallworthy QC and Lydia Seymour, also of Outer Temple, appeared on behalf of the Representative Beneficiaries. In the judgment, Warren J dealt in turn with each of the elements of Project Waltz that breached the “Imperial” duty of good faith and the contractual duty of trust and confidence. Warren J found in favour of the members on the vast majority of…
News 23 Feb, 2015
