News & Events
News & Events
We are delighted to be hosting our Annual Sanctions Forum on Thursday 4th December 2025 at the Royal Automobile Club, London. After 3 successful years, Outer Temple Chambers is pleased to once again be hosting our annual sanctions forum this year at the Royal Automobile Club, London. Outer Temple’s Sanctions experts, together with a line-up of esteemed guest speakers will discuss a range of sanctions related topics, across 3 panels over this breakfast seminar. Topics Panel 1- Retaliatory Measures: Sanctions, Export Controls, and China’s Rare Earth Minerals Panel 2 – Developments in Trade and Trade Services Sanctions Panel 3 – Sanctions and Export Control Issues Arising from AI and Fintech Speakers Oliver Powell KC, Outer Temple Chambers Sophie O’Sullivan, Outer…
We are delighted to invite you to join us on Wednesday 26th November 2025 at The Ritz-Carlton, Dubai for an insightful breakfast seminar on digital assets and sanctions law. The panel of speakers will include Andrew Spink KC, Henry Reid, and Joshua Hitchens, all of Outer Temple Chambers. We are also delighted to be joined by Ed Crosse from Simmons & Simmons Middle East. Our panel of esteemed speakers will discuss the latest trends and global developments in the law, practice and asset enforcement strategies related to digital assets, including in the context of civil fraud claims. They will also consider the effect that extraterritorial US, UK and EU sanctions are likely to have on DIFC disputes and cross-border litigation. Agenda 08:30am – Registration &…
On 12 November 2025, the Prisons & Probation Ombudsman published his report following an independent investigation into failings at the Medomsley Detention Centre between 1961 and 1987. The report catalogued a shocking record of systemic sexual and physical abuse of young detainees in the centre and examined the circumstances in which two detainees died whilst incarcerated at the Detention Centre. The report concluded that Neville Husband, a member of staff at the Detention Centre “was possibly the most prolific sex offender in British history”. The report also found that victims who sought to report abuse were ignored, dismissed, threatened or punished. The report led to a formal apology from the UK Government. The inquiry was established in settlement of a…
News 14 Nov, 2025
Event Date: 5 Dec, 2024
We look forward to our Third Annual Sanctions Forum ‘A Deep Dive into the Russia Regulations, US Sanctions & Sanctions in Sport’ taking place on Thursday, 5th December at The Reform Club. Outer Temple’s Sanctions experts, together with a line-up of renowned guest speakers will be discussing a range of sanctions related topics across 3 panels at our annual sanctions breakfast seminar. Topics: Panel 1 – Sanctions in Sport – from Football to Formula 1 Panel 2 – Down the Russia Regulations Rabbit Hole – pitfalls and peculiarities Panel 3 – US Sanctions – the New World Order Speakers: Louis Weston, Outer Temple Chambers Oliver Powell, Outer Temple Chambers Sophie O’Sullivan, Outer Temple Chambers Jeremy Scott-Joynt, Outer Temple Chambers Salomé Lemasson,…
Event Date: 7 Nov, 2024
We are delighted to invite you to our ‘Contempt of Court In Commercial Disputes’ Breakfast Seminar on Thursday, 7th November at The Reform Club, London. You are invited to join Outer Temple Chambers for a breakfast seminar focusing on contempt of court in commercial disputes in the Business and Property Courts. With the Law Commission Consultation Paper closing on 29 November 2024, high profile committals of Soophia Khan, Graham Darby and Tommy Robinson, and near-misses for Katie Price and Oleg Deripaska, contempt of court is an essential part of a commercial litigator’s toolkit. Members of Outer Temple’s commercial and business crime teams together with guest speakers will discuss a range of contempt matters across three panels: Panel One – ‘Caselaw…
The Supreme Court of St Helena has handed down judgment in the constitutional case of Buckley v the Attorney General in which Josh Hitchens acted for the Plaintiff. Mr Buckley was a remand prisoner detained in HMP Jamestown, a prison which has been repeatedly condemned as inadequate and unsuitable. At the end of trial, the Defendant conceded that the unsafe conditions within the prison violated the Defendant’s positive obligations under the Plaintiff’s Constitutional right to life. In his judgment, the Chief Justice endorsed that concession, and also found that the conditions in the prison breached Mr Buckley’s constitutional rights to be free from inhuman or degrading treatment, to dignity, and his constitutional rights as a remand prisoner. The judge accepted…
News 11 Oct, 2024
Joshua Hitchens appeared as sole counsel for the Claimant, the first mono-British national to be sanctioned under the UK’s post 2018 autonomous sanctions framework. Judgment was handed down on 12 January 2024 in the third s.38 Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (SAMLA 2018) delisting challenge brought under the Russian Sanctions Regulations. Mr Justice Johnson held: (a.) SAMLA does empower the Secretary of State to interfere with the right to freedom of speech/expression; (b.) The Regulations are lawful and have the effect the Secretary of State contended they have; and (c.) The interferences with Mr Phillips Convention rights were lawful and proportionate. The Claimant is expected to seek permission to appeal. Background to this case Josh was instructed in this…
News 15 Jan, 2024
Josh Hitchens appears in third ever de-listing claim against the FCDO under the UK’s post-Brexit sanctions framework and the second to be brought under the Russia Regulations. On 15 and 16 November 2023, the High Court heard the second claim brought against the FCDO under s.38 Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 in respect of the Russia Regulations. Josh Hitchens appeared as sole counsel for the Claimant. The case before Swift J concerned the lawfulness of interferences with the right to freedom of expression through sanctions designations and the proper approach to rational connection and proportionality when considering whether interferences with Convention Rights are lawful in a sanctions context. Outer Temple barristers have represented the Claimants in two out of the…
News 17 Nov, 2023
Outer Temple’s John McKendrick KC and Josh Hitchens have been instructed in a judicial review of the Lord Chancellor’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into abuse at Medomsley Detention Centre (“MDC”). A new investigation has been launched into the abuse at Medomsley Detention Centre after thousands of inmates have reported being attacked at the County Durham facility between 1961 and 1987. John McKendrick KC and Josh Hitchens, instructed by David Greenwood of Switalskis solicitors, were instructed in a judicial review of the Lord Chancellor’s refusal to hold a public inquiry into abuse at Medomsley Detention Centre (“MDC”). MDC was a detention centre for young offenders operating between the 1960s and 1980s. It is estimated that nearly 2,000 young people…
News 9 Nov, 2023
Robert Dickason and Joshua Hitchens have secured the dismissal of Contempt Proceedings arising out of the widely reported case of Muyepa v Ministry of Defence [2022] EWHC 2648 (KB). Robert Dickason and Joshua Hitchens, instructed by Marc Livingston, Simon Barker and Catriona Virden of Janes Solicitors, have secured the dismissal of Contempt Proceedings brought against their clients, Brian and Racheal Muyepa. The Proceedings, which arose out of Mr. Muyepa’s record £3.7m claim for non-freezing cold injuries against the Ministry of Defence, will now not proceed to trial, meaning that Mr. and Mrs. Muyepa will not be found guilty of Contempt of Court and will not face the prospect of being committed to prison for Contempt of Court. Find out more…
News 12 Oct, 2023
Following successful appeals before the Islamic Development Bank Group Administrative Tribunal (“IsDBGAT” or “Tribunal”) in 2022 (see below), members of OTC’s International Organisations Team have been instructed in four cases before the IsDBGAT. The team have been instructed before the IsDBGAT in its October docket (11th to 23rd). The Tribunal will sit en banc with judges from Tunisia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Malaysia. Victoria Brown represents the Applicant in a case against the Islamic Development Bank (“IsDB”) Alex Haines and Victoria Brown represent the Applicant in a case against the Islamic Corporation for the Insurance of Investment and Export Credit (“ICIEC”). Alex Haines and Victoria Brown represent the Applicant in a case against the Islamic Corporation for the Development…
News 3 Oct, 2023
Josh Hitchens has been instructed in a claim by the first ever mono-British citizen to be made subject to an asset freeze under the UK Sanctions regime. The claim brought under s.38 Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2018 (“SAMLA”) alleges that the decision to sanction the Claimant, a British video journalist operating from the Donbas region was: (a) Unlawful on the ground of illegality as neither SAMLA nor the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 authorise designation in response to lawful political speech by a UK national;(b) That in the alternative, that Regulation 6(3)(a) of the Russia Regulations is Ultra Vires and stands to be quashed; and(c) That the designation decision was a breach of Article 10 and Article 1…
News 21 Jun, 2023
