News & Events
News & Events
Following on from their previous article considering the scope of the moratorium from a lender’s perspective, Andrew Spink QC, Justina Stewart and Saaman Pourghadiri consider the thorny question of whether all defined benefit pension scheme contributions are exempt from the payment holiday under the moratorium. In this note Andrew Spink QC, Justina Stewart and Saaman Pourghadiri consider one important issue for insolvency and pensions practitioners which arises from the Moratorium in Part A1 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (“IA 86”) introduced by the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (“CIGA 2020”). The note sets out various arguments going to the vexed issue of which forms of employer contribution to an occupational pension scheme fall within the payment holiday under the…
Legal Blogs 15 Oct, 2020
With suspension of insolvency enforcement due to end shortly, lenders face the prospect of borrowers entering the new, free-standing moratorium. Andrew Spink QC, Justina Stewart and Saaman Pourghadiri consider the impact of the new moratorium from a lender’s perspective. How vulnerable are lenders upon entry into the moratorium? Which categories of charge holders are more vulnerable? How might lenders protect their positions, and what opportunities might a moratorium present to lenders? In this in-depth article, Andrew, Justina and Saaman consider: Protections for lenders arising from: the requirement of companies to meet lenders’ capital and interest payments during the moratorium; the disapplication of “ipso facto” provisions to most financial services contracts; and the ability of lenders, in practice, to stymy the…
Legal Blogs 9 Sep, 2020
John McKendrick QC, Justina Stewart and Chloë Bell write in the latest edition of the Journal of International Banking & Financial Law on potential public law implications of the UK Government’s plans for synthetic LIBOR to address tough legacy contracts. Plans announced in June 2020 to give the FCA enhanced powers to tackle “tough legacy” LIBOR contracts using “synthetic LIBOR” are intended to apply to a “narrow pool” of contracts. It is still unclear how such contracts will be defined, whether the pool will in fact be narrow and how precisely the legislation and enhanced FCA powers will operate in relation to such contracts. The reality, however, appears to be the imposition of synthetic LIBOR on parties to “tough legacy”…
News 1 Sep, 2020
Justina Stewart successfully secured summary judgment in the sum of over $ 17 million and an award of indemnity costs. The hard-fought application involved a plethora of interesting issues – including regarding the Hague Convention on Service and whether the High Court’s jurisdiction was supplanted in the context of a suite of documents containing different dispute resolution clauses. In Punjab National Bank (International) Ltd v MBL Highway Development Company Ltd, Justina Stewart, instructed by Milan Kapadia of Royds Withy King, acted for the claimant in proceedings against the subsidiary of an Indian entity which delivers and operates large-scale infrastructure projects. The Bank provided financing for an Indian highway / toll road project, in the context of a complex collection of…
News 24 Jun, 2020
Justina Stewart was delighted to speak today to over 170 attendees on the consequences of LIBOR transition for the Middle Eastern banking market. The talk focused on the significant challenges to both Middle Eastern banks and regulators brought about by LIBOR transition, and some of the steps that can be taken to mitigate associated risks. Many thanks to Al Tamimi & Company, and particularly Justina’s co-speakers, Mark Brown and Matthew Heaton, for hosting such an interesting talk. Justina Stewart is ranked as a Leading Junior in Banking & Finance and Insolvency, and is appointed to the Attorney General’s Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown. A former economist and investment banker, she is described in directories as “incredibly impressive and a…
Webinars & Recordings 18 Jun, 2020
Tim Prudhoe and Justina Stewart look at the likely implications of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill on several overseas jurisdictions. In the short time since first published (22 May 2020), much electronic ink has been spilt on the most significant reforms introduced by the UK Parliament in a generation to insolvency and restructuring law – the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill. Much, though, is still left unsaid as to the likely wider reach outside of the UK of the finished product. The raw material is there for this to have a major impact in several overseas jurisdictions that follow the English common law model (albeit not, directly, its actual statutory regime). In this article, Tim Prudhoe and Justina Stewart highlight the…
Legal Blogs 12 Jun, 2020
Outer Temple Chambers’ Justina Stewart and Signature’s Johnny Shearman’s article on pressure on market participants to address litigation risk bedevilling LIBOR transition has been published in the FT’s Global Risk Regulator. Covid-19 has caused a dramatically increased need for credit, as well as significant uncertainty about the value of a huge range of assets. LIBOR is the world’s most widely used interest rate benchmark. Market behaviour, in light of Covid-19, has only served to confirm the lack of LIBOR’s representativeness. Therefore, the FCA and the Bank of England have not changed their core message – firms cannot rely on LIBOR being published after the end of 2021. However, as matters stand, it remains for the market to effect the transition.…
Covid-19 8 Jun, 2020
We are delighted to announce that Justina Stewart, Nick Johnson QC and Sophie O’Sullivan have joined Outer Temple Chambers, providing strong additions to our Commercial and Business Crime teams. Justina Stewart is a commercial and chancery barrister, with a particular focus on banking, financial services, regulatory, company, insolvency, civil fraud and business crime, and related professional negligence. Justina works in the UK and internationally. Ranked as a Leading Junior in Banking and Finance and Insolvency, Justina has been described in the directories as “a force to be reckoned with” who is “far more financially literate than most barristers”. Before coming to the Bar, Justina was an international investment banker, working with top-ranked corporate finance teams on complex transactions, predominantly in…
News 29 Nov, 2019
