News & Events
News & Events
Landmark judgment handed down in IBM v Dalgeish – Court of Appeal allows IBM’s appeal against breach of duty of good faith ruling. Andrew Spink QC and Nicolas Stallworthy QC both act for respondents in the Court of Appeal. The litigation involved two occupational pension schemes established in the UK for IBM’s employees. The Court of Appeal has now allowed IBM’s appeal against Warren J’s “breach judgment” dated 4 April 2014, and dismissed the Representative Beneficiaries cross-appeal against one aspect of that judgment in which Warren J had found in favour of IBM. The judgment is available to read here.
News 4 Aug, 2017
Andrew takes over the role from Laurie Rabinowitz QC and will serve for two years, having previously served as COMBAR’s Vice Chair as well as Chair of its International Committee, which is responsible for coordinating the Association’s activities in all non-UK jurisdictions. Before that, Andrew was Chair of COMBAR’s North American Committee and organised the annual North American Meetings for 2012 and 2013. Ranked by Chambers UK as a Leading Silk (Pensions) and by The Legal 500 as a Leading Individual, Andrew Spink QC is a highly respected advocate with 31 years’ experience at the Bar, of which 14 years have been as a successful QC. A registered advocate at the Dubai International Financial Centre, Andrew is also called to…
News 4 Jul, 2017
A series of detailed papers explaining the potential effect of Brexit on a number of practice areas relevant to commercial practitioners have been produced by teams of COMBAR members. These have been produced in the following areas: conflicts of laws, banking, financial services, international arbitration and competition law. The documents can be found here. They were also recently submitted to the Ministry of Justice following a meeting with the Lord Chancellor in December, attended by a number of members of the COMBAR Brexit Committee including Andrew Spink QC. Andrew Spink QC, Deborah Sabalot, Oliver Assersohn, Farhaz Khan and Miranda de Savorgnani each contributed to the paper on the impact of Brexit on financial services. Miranda de Savorgnani also contributed to the…
External Publications 31 Jan, 2017
Andrew Spink QC and Saul Margo represented the Trustees of the Coats Pension Plan in regulatory proceedings brought by the Pensions Regulator against the Coats Group. The case raised novel issues concerning the interpretation of the legislation concerning Financial Support Directions and, in particular, the Regulator’s jurisdiction to conduct its own calculations in order to determine whether a scheme is insufficiently resourced. Following the exchange of Representations, the Regulator and the Trustees have achieved a settlement with the Coats Group that will protect the pensions of 24,000 scheme members in a deal described by John Ralfe (an independent pensions consultant) as “the most important” one that the Regulator has reached. This is the first settlement of such an action achieved…
News 20 Dec, 2016
Outer Temple Business Team members Andrew Spink QC, David Russell QC, Michael Bowes QC and Miranda De Savorgnani were joined on a panel at the St Petersburg Legal Forum by India’s Minister for Law and Justice, D. V. Sadananda Gowda. The panel examined the advantages of using specialist barristers in commercial litigation and arbitration and third party funding in such cases. Outer Temple has participated in several satellite legal events hosted by Russia’s RBC network, a large business media group. The events were centred around Case studies and practical aspects of Arbitration and Litigation, and were designed to showcase the ability and expertise of the UK Bar in leading bespoke international legal projects. For more details about the forum’s agenda click here.
News 23 May, 2016
Outer Temple Chambers is pleased to announce that it will play a significant role in the St Petersburg International Legal Forum which is being held between 18 and 21 May 2016 in Russia. The initiative is spearheaded by Alexey Karpenko, an Outer Temple Professional Associate, who is the senior partner at Forward Legal, in Moscow. Joint Heads of Chambers, Michael Bowes QC and Andrew Spink QC, together with David Russell QC, Fiona Scolding and Miranda de Savorgnani will give talks on Trusts, Regulation of Company Groups, International Tax rules, Public Procurement, Banking Regulation and International Arbitration to an audience of Russian government representatives, the judiciary, international organisations, General Counsel of Russian corporations and the international media. The official programme will cover topics as Private…
News 18 May, 2016
Andrew Spink QC and James Rickards (instructed on behalf of the Trustee by Victoria Leigh of Squire Patton Boggs) have appeared before the Determinations Panel in relation to the Carrington Wire Defined Benefit Scheme (the “Scheme”). The case concerned the termination of a guarantee given by OAO Severstal (a large steel company based in Russia whose subsidiary Severstal-Meitz was also a target) that guaranteed Carrington Wire’s funding obligations to the Scheme (Carrington Wire being the Scheme’s principal employer). The termination of the guarantee was contrary to various assurances given by OAO Severstal and Severstal-Meitz that the guarantee would remain in place. The case against OAO Severstal (and its immediate subsidiary Severstal-Meitz) settled shortly before the commencement of the Determination Panel’s hearing…
News 1 Jun, 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
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
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
Fifteen Outer Temple barristers, including six QCs, and three Chambers directors will be in Dubai from 5th – 8th May meeting with, and presenting to, a range of organisations, local law firms and businesses. The visit includes a reception for around 70 guests at the Capital Club Dubai. The visit welcomes David Russell QC who has relocated his principal base to Dubai, marks the permanent presence of OTC in Dubai, and reaffirms the commitment of Outer Temple Chambers to working in the Middle East. Among those visiting Dubai is Ali Almihdar the only English-qualified barrister who is a Saudi lawyer; he is head of Almihdar Law Firm based in Jeddah. Andrew Spink QC, head of the business department at Outer Temple…
News 27 Apr, 2014
A landmark judgment has been handed down in the IBM Project Waltz proceedings, in which Outer Temple silks Andrew Spink QC and Nicolas Stallworthy QC appeared for the Trustee of IBM’s two principal UK defined benefit pension schemes and the Representative Beneficiaries respectively. In 2009 IBM announced that, with effect from 2011, the two schemes would close to further benefit accrual, IBM UK’s longstanding early retirement policy would become much more restrictive and salary increases would only be offered in future to members of the schemes if they signed “Non Pensionability Agreements” (under which any such increases would not count as “pensionable salary” so as to feed into the calculation of their past service benefits). This controversial package of proposals,…
News 6 Apr, 2014
