News & Events
News & Events
In a case described by the BBC as “Made in Dagenham for the 21st Century”, thousands of female ASDA shop workers are claiming equal pay with the company’s predominantly male warehouse staff, saying their own work is of equal value. Three Outer Temple barristers, Andrew Short QC, Naomi Cunningham and Keira Gore are instructed by Leigh Day for the claimants. All three were previously instructed in mass equal pay litigation against Birmingham City Council. The ASDA case is the first such claim against a private sector employer, but it is unlikely to be the last. You can read more on the BBC.
News 25 Oct, 2014
Outer Temple has been recommended as a Top tier set in Business & Regulatory Crime, by the Legal 500.
News 16 Oct, 2014
Outer Temple Chambers has been instructed by the Environment Agency in an enforcement action taken against 3 companies, their directors and managers. The case is one of the most significant waste prosecutions ever brought. On 3 October 2014 Tim appeared at the PCMH in the case before His Honour Judge Piers-Higgins sitting at Hereford Crown Court. The Judge was told that the regulator alleges the defendants saved at least £2m in landfill charges by depositing over 60,000 tonnes waste unlawfully in a quarry in Shropshire. Two defendants admitted offences contrary to the Environmental Permitting Regulations. Their cases were adjourned for sentence. The case against the 3 corporate defendants and 3 other individuals was adjourned for trial following not guilty pleas.…
News 12 Oct, 2014
Benjimin Burgher addressed the Dubai Employment Lawyers group, at the offices of Hadef & Partners. His presentation was on the current legislative position in DIFC employment law and he illustrated how it applies to specific circumstances.
News 12 Oct, 2014
Members of Outer Temple Chambers and the director, Steve Graham, are in Dubai this week for the major legal social event of the year. The quaintly named “Cirque du Loi”, the annual legal gala dinner now in its third year, is “an all in celebration of the Dubai Legal Community for the benefit of the DIFC Courts Pro Bono programme”. Heads of Chambers, Andrew Spink QC and Michael Bowes QC are joined by Keith Bryant QC, Michael Patchett-Joyce, Benjimin Burgher, Ali Almihdar, David Russell QC, and Samir Salloum. Ali Almihdar is also head of Almihdar Law Firm in Jeddah and he holds the unique status of being the first Saudi Arabian lawyer qualified as a member of the English Bar.…
News 9 Oct, 2014
At a hearing on 10 October before Judge Zara, Tim Green successfully defended Birmingham City Council against an application for a Litter Abatement Order made by John Hemming MP. Mr Hemming had challenged the Council’s policy of charging £35 per household for collecting green waste from homes across Birmingham. The charging policy was introduced in February 2014 after enabling legislation came into force in 2012. Whilst 50,000 households in Birmingham now pay for the green bins to be collected doubling the amount of green waste recycled and saving the Council £2.5m, other households had ignored the charge and simply fly-tipped their green waste in the streets. The Council had a policy of dealing with fly-tipping by taking steps to educate…
News 9 Oct, 2014
We are delighted to note that Outer Temple has been commended in the FT’s Innovative Lawyers 2014 report, for our approach to managing change and for introducing “a new contribution structure to incentivise and retain high-earning barristers”. The restructuring came to the FT’s attention following a presentation by director, Christine Kings, to the Legal Futures Conference on new business structures in October 2013. Our restructuring reflects an enormous amount of effort and goodwill by all staff and barristers in Chambers and the determination and leadership of the three new heads, David Westcott QC, Michael Bowes QC and Andrew Spink QC. The changes were driven by the recognition that we need to respond quickly to opportunities in a fast moving market…
News 8 Oct, 2014
Outer Temple is delighted to announce that James Leonard has won the accolade of ‘Professional Discipline Junior of the Year 2014’, at the Chambers Bar Awards. Ben Compton QC was nominated as a ‘Silk of The Year’ and Stephen Climie was shortlisted as a ‘Health & Safety Junior of the Year’ . On Wednesday 1st October, Outer Temple was shortlisted as a candidate for the Legal 500 Awards in the category ‘Personal Injury & Clinical Negligence Set of the Year’, a category it won in 2013.
News 2 Oct, 2014
Ben Compton QC has been acting for Beko PLC in relation to the fridge freezer fires, that led to the Santosh Muthiah inquest that was recently concluded before HM Coroner for North London. Beko PLC had been investigated both by the police for corporate manslaughter and then by Hertfordshire Trading Standards in respect of potential charges under the General Product Safety Regs of 2005 but without any charges being preferred. At the subsequent Inquest, following full legal argument, the Coroner ruled that there was insufficient evidence for a conclusion of “unlawful killing” and returned a conclusion of accidental death together with a short narrative. Further details can be found here.
News 29 Sep, 2014
Patrick Sadd spoke on Friday 26 September 2014 at the annual Cambridge Medico-Legal conference, to an audience of doctors, solicitors and barristers in Peterhouse College. He looked at a case study on the use of experts in litigation drawing on a recent abuse case in which the Claimant was seeking £5 million damages, Patrick Raggett v The Society of Jesus Trust 1929 for Roman Catholic Purposes [2012] EWHC 3132. The Court heard from 4 expert witnesses; the Judge preferred the evidence of only 1 of the 4. The case sets out the pitfalls of experts becoming advocates on behalf of one or other side. You can read more here.
News 28 Sep, 2014
Outer Temple’s Paul Rogers represents South Lakes Wild Animal Park in the inquest into the death of Sarah McClay, an animal carer who was killed when attacked by a tiger, in the keeper enclosure of the tiger house in May 2013. Paul was instructed by RPC solicitors.
News 16 Sep, 2014
This week at the Independent Jersey Care Inquiry, Patrick Sadd and Harriet Jerram questioned witnesses about abuse in foster care and in care homes. Read the accounts in: The BBC: Jersey abuse victim ‘failed by social services’ Premier Christian Radio: Catholic Church contacted by care inquiry The Metro: Forced to sleep next to a dead nun: Public inquiry hears of horrific abuse suffered by children in Jersey care home
News 11 Sep, 2014
