News & Events
News & Events
Consideration remains at the heart of contract law in England and Wales but the current crisis throws the unsatisfactory state of the law into sharp relief. Nicholas Hill and Patrick Tomison consider the current state of the law and how it might change to reflect the commercial reality of the 21st Century. In 2018 Lord Sumption JSC said that “[m]odern litigation rarely raises truly fundamental issues in the law of contract”. The Common law’s approach to consideration in contract law is one such issue highlighted by the current crisis. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush In Revisiting Foakes v Beer, Nicholas Hill and Patrick Tomison revisit the Common law’s approach to the principle of consideration enunciated “in…
Insights 12 Jun, 2020
Practical tips for remote hearings and electronic bundles – Nicholas Hill reflects on a seven-day trial by Skype in the Lloyds GMP litigation. Nicholas Hill recently acted, led by Andrew Short QC, and instructed by Ivan Walker of Walkers, for the Eighth Defendant in the second substantive trial in the Lloyds Banking Group Pension Trustees Limited GMP litigation. The 2018 Judgment [2018] EWHC 2839 (Ch) confirmed that pension scheme trustees are required to adjust non-GMP benefits to equalise overall scheme benefits. The proceedings earlier this month concern the impact of the equalisation obligation on transfers out. Judgment is awaited. Nick sets out some practical tips and observations about the use and impact of technology adopted in the recent trial. In the…
Insights 26 May, 2020
Adams v Options SIPP UK LLP (formerly Carey Pensions UK LLP); Nicholas Hill comments on the Judgment two years in the making: clarity and relief for SIPP operators and execution only financial services businesses. In March 2018 the Chancery Division heard the high-profile test case on the liability of Carey Pensions UK LLP, a provider and administrator of self-invested pension plans (SIPPs), to the Claimant investor, whose underlying investments were alleged to have been manifestly unsuitable. A little over two years later Judgment has finally been handed down. The SIPP industry (and indeed a wide range of institutions conducting business on an execution-only basis) will welcome the Judgment. Case Note Nicholas Hill has written a short case note considering the Judgment…
Insights 21 May, 2020
On 26 October 2018 Mr Justice Morgan handed down Judgment in Lloyds Banking Group Pensions Trustees Limited v Lloyds Bank PLC & Others. Andrew Short QC and Nicholas Hill acted for the Representative Beneficiaries, instructed by Ivan Walker of Walkers Solicitors. This landmark decision settles the longstanding question of whether Pension Scheme Trustees are required to adjust non-GMP benefits (“Excess”) in order that the total benefits received by male and female members with equivalent age, service and earnings histories are equal. In summary, the Judge held that: Pension Scheme Trustees are obliged to adjust the Excess payable under schemes in order that the total benefits received by male and female members with equivalent age, service and earnings histories are equal.…
News 26 Oct, 2018
Nicholas Hill successfully appeared before the Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC) of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 20 April 2016. His client was the team leader in a large UK bank which had paid a multimillion pound fine as a result of failures identified by the FCA in respect of its Payment Protection Insurance complaint handling process. The FCA’s Enforcement Team proposed to impose a prohibition order on Nicholas’ client prohibiting his client from performing any function in relation to any regulated activity carried on by an authorised person, exempt person or professional firm. Enforcement proposed (what is often described as) a time limited prohibition order with a duration of two years but the significance of any prohibition for Nicholas’…
News 11 May, 2016
We are pleased to announce that Outer Temple members Tom Gibson and Nicholas Hill have been successfully appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown. The appointments are effective as of 29th February 2016, for the duration of five years.
News 25 Jan, 2016
Richard Lissack QC and Nicholas Hill successfully defend an international property management company (with over 1,100 sites in the UK) against a prosecution brought by the London Borough of Havering. The case, listed across two weeks at Snaresbrook Crown Court, concluded after two days following cross-examination of the Prosecution’s expert Consultant Engineer, the Prosecution accepting that they no longer had a realistic prospect of securing a conviction. The case was based on an alleged breach of s4 of the Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 following serious injury to a 12 year old boy resulting from his deliberate misuse of a flying escalator installation. The Defence case was founded on three principal arguments: (i) that the prosecution was…
News 10 Sep, 2013
