News & Events
News & Events
Outer Temple Chambers is delighted to welcome Joshua Hitchens to our public law team. Joshua qualified in 2018 and practises in all of Chambers’ specialisms. He is a member of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Panel of Counsel and has acted in a number of high-profile public law matters. Most recently, he acted for the Claimant in the landmark case of R(Ncube) v Brighton and Hove City Council, Shelter Intervening [2021] EWHC 578 (Admin) in which it was established that Covid-19 is an emergency for the purposes of the Local Government Act 1972 and that local authorities have statutory powers to accommodate those with no recourse to public funds during the pandemic. He is also currently instructed in a…
News 15 Mar, 2021
Outer Temple Chambers is delighted to welcome David Haines to our clinical negligence and personal injury team. David qualified in medicine in 1998 and practised as a junior doctor prior to joining the Bar in 2005. He has since built a broad ranging, complex, clinical and dental negligence and personal injury practice. He also undertakes sports, Court of Protection and inquest work. He has considerable experience in advisory work, settling pleadings including schedules of special damages and counter schedules. David is a particular authority in clinical negligence and is ranked in Chambers and Partners 2021. The legal directory notes that he is “clear, fastidious and bright…excellent with clients and experts alike and has a great understanding of medical issues”. They…
News 18 Nov, 2020
John McKendrick QC appears in the case of Re AB, to determine whether or not to accede to a mother’s application for the English courts to recognise a foreign protective measure in respect of her incapacitated daughter. In Re AB [2020] EWCOP 47 the Senior Judge of the Court of Protection, HHJ Hilder was required to apply Schedule 3 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (“MCA”) to determine whether or not to accede to a mother’s application for the English courts to recognise a foreign protective measure (a guardianship order made by the New York courts) in respect of her incapacitated daughter. The judge surveyed the case law and statutory provisions and concluded that recognition of the guardianship order would…
News 20 Oct, 2020
Speakers from Outer Temple Chambers were delighted to be joined by The Rt Hon Sir Ernest Ryder and Sarah Castle for a webinar looking at the current and future role of litigation friends. Watch the full webinar here. The role of a litigation friend for those who lack capacity is changing rapidly and at Outer Temple Chambers, members have experience ranging from the parole board to private client cases, far beyond the traditional scope of clinical negligence, personal injury, professional negligence and Court of Protection work. To explain these developments and what it may mean for the future, our panel of experts was led by The Rt Hon. Sir Ernest Ryder who, as Senior President, has made a major contribution…
Webinars 3 Aug, 2020
John McKendrick QC is representing a GP in a trial conducted solely over Skype in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Law Gazette stated that this is a legal first… Lawyers have stated this could be a model way to ensure court business continues during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mr Justice Mostlyn decided that the hearing should be conducted over Skype to enable it to proceed without risking the health of any of the participants, some of who are in vulnerable groups or live with people who are. John represented the GP of a man in his 70s who suffered a major stroke in 2016 in the Court of Protection case. The trial will decide whether it is in his best…
News 19 Mar, 2020
Alex Cisneros acted for the Office of the Public Guardian (“OPG”) in the latest guidance case before the Senior Judge of the Court of Protection, Her Honour Judge Hilder. This case involved fifteen applications where the donor of a Lasting Power of Attorney (“LPA”) had attempted to instruct their attorney to provide financial assistance and maintenance to a person other than themselves. The OPG asked for guidance from the court as to whether this was permitted or whether the instruction would fall foul of the gifting provisions within s.12 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. The court confirmed that instructions within an LPA that provide for attorneys to use the donor’s funds to benefit persons other than the donor may…
News 23 Sep, 2019
We are delighted to announce that Alexander Line has been appointed to the Attorney General’s C panel. Alex’s appointment starts on 2 September and runs for five years. Government relies on the panels for advice, guidance and representation which means that Alex, ranked by Chambers & Partners for his expertise, will be available to carry out work for the Crown across his main areas of practice of public law and employment law. Alexander is a civil practitioner, whose practice is focused particularly on the areas of education, social welfare, court of protection, public law, employment and discrimination. He regularly appears in employment tribunals, county courts and different chambers of the First-Tier Tribunal. He also has High Court, Employment Appeal Tribunal,…
News 17 Jul, 2019
John recently appeared for the appellant in the Court of Appeal challenging a first instance declaration that a termination at 23 weeks was lawful and in an incapacitated woman’s best interests. The appeal was heard urgently the day before the termination was due to take place. The Court of Appeal, McCombe, King and Peter Jackson LJJ granted permission to appeal, allowed the appeal and dismissed the NHS Trust’s application. The Judgment can be found here. The Court emphasised the mandatory section 4 requirements of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the need to fully consider the wishes and the feelings of an incapacitated person and importantly the views of others, as well as the medical evidence, when it was proposed the…
News 11 Jul, 2019
John McKendrick QC is currently acting in the High Court, London for an NHS trust responsible for the treatment of a 17 year-old Jehovah’s Witness. The boy, who has leukaemia and who lives in the south east of England, has refused potentially life-saving blood product treatment for his condition, because of his religious beliefs. NHS trust doctors are respecting the boy’s views and doctors are not treating him with blood products. Lead barrister for the trust, John McKendrick QC said that the boy had refused to consent to treatment involving “blood products” and that the teenager was “extremely articulate about his Jehovah’s Witness faith”. John regularly appears before the Administrative Court, Court of Protection, Family Division, the Tribunal system and the…
News 7 Jun, 2019
Claire van Overdijk has been invited to speak at an upcoming European Law Institute (ELI) event in Milan supported by the European Union. The European Law Institute, founded in June 2011 is an entirely independent organisation, supported by the European Union with the aim of improving both the quality of European law and legal development and understanding. Claire is set to take part in a panel session seminar on 22 March, focusing on “The Notion of ‘Measure of Protection’ and the Relationship between the Law of Adults’ Protection and Neighbouring Fields of Law”, within the overarching theme of the protection of adults in international situations. Please click here for the full agenda. Claire’s involvement in this event follows on from a joint European Commission and Hague…
News 7 Mar, 2019
We are delighted to announce that Nathan Tavares QC, Mark Mullins and Simon Burrows have been authorised to sit as fee paid judges of the Court of Protection. They will deal with both health & welfare and property affairs cases. At the recent Court of Protection Practitioners Association annual conference in Manchester, Vice President of the Court, Mr Justice Hayden, said that the quality of applications for this recruitment exercise was the highest he had seen in any comparable competition. He welcomed the experience that new appointees to the Court would bring. Nathan, appointed QC this year, is a specialist clinical negligence and personal injury practitioner. His particular interests are in acquired brain injury, the Court of Protection and mental health law. Mark…
News 27 Sep, 2018
The London Borough of Enfield v Matrix Deputies Ltd & Anor [2018] EWCOP 22 (Matrix No2) sets down important guidance on the practice to be followed when an application is made to the Court of Protection to call in a deputy security bond where it is said that there has been a loss to the estate of an incapacitated person. It builds on previous guidance from the court in Re Gladys Meek and sets out what evidence the COP will expect to see and the process to be followed. The judgment also looks at the entitlement of COP deputies to raise fees for their role and at what rates clarifying a number of areas of contention first highlighted in the…
News 25 Sep, 2018
