News & Events
News & Events
As part of a team of counsel, Naomi Ling has successful defended Department for Transport against a challenge to their process of awarding rail franchises. Naomi Ling acted as specialist pensions counsel as part of an 11 strong counsel team defending the Department for Transport against a challenge to the 2019 rail franchising process. Arriva, Stagecoach and Virgin Trains (the latter acting as part of a consortium) were disqualified from the competitions from the East Midlands and South Eastern and West Coast Partnership rail franchises because they had failed to submit bids that were compliant with the pensions requirements. They challenged this decision, claiming that the Secretary of State had acted unlawfully in requiring them to assume uncertain future pensions…
News 18 Jun, 2020
Lydia Seymour presents an Employment Law Webinar on Pension claims in the Employment Tribunal. As part of the 28 barristers – 14 day Employment Law Series, Lydia Seymour presents a Q&A Webinar on Pension claims in the Employment Tribunal. Lydia recently presented this webinar in a series of employment law seminars put together by Outer Temple’s Daniel Barnett. In this webinar Lydia Seymour looks at pensions cases in the Employment Tribunal focussing particularly on auto-enrolment and discrimination. She discusses the new employment rights which have been introduced along with the auto-enrolment regime, and how these rights may become more frequently litigated as a result of the pensions implications of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. The second part of the webinar…
Webinars & Recordings 5 Jun, 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…
Legal Blogs 21 May, 2020
In this case concerning police pensions, the claimant married couple claimed that it was a breach of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and unlawful age discrimination not to grant widow’s benefit to Mrs Carter, if Mr Carter dies before her, on the basis that they only married after Mr Carter retired from police service in 1977. Police pensions are governed by statutory rules under which members have a right of appeal on certain matters to the Crown Court but, in a judgment handed down on 13 June 2019 (R (Carter) v Chelmsford Crown Court and others [2019] EWHC 1484 (Admin), [2019] ICR 1470), the Divisional Court (Coulson LJ and Andrew Baker J) held that this right…
News 21 Jan, 2020
Teresa Rosen Peacocke has authored an article published in the Trust Quarterly Review, titled ‘Under the Influence’. The article is a discussion of two England and Wales cases and the relationship necessary to raise a presumption of undue influence. Teresa discusses two contrasting cases concerning the question of whether there are limits in principle on when and how a relationship of influence can arise for the purposes of the doctrine of presumed undue influence. The first case Teresa examines is Macklin v Dowsett, in which the England and Wales Court of Appeal allowed an appeal on the basis that a relationship of influence sufficient to ground a finding of presumed undue influence arose in the course of the transaction under scrutiny.…
External Publications 3 Dec, 2019
Stephen recently acted for a high profile master developer in proceedings under the rules of the Dubai International Arbitration Centre (DIAC). The arbitration related to the sale and development of commercial real estate, and the provision of infrastructure by the master developer. Stephen acted as lead counsel over the course of a four day hearing, which heard evidence from a number of expert witnesses, and successfully obtained an award exceeding $14 million on behalf of his client. Stephen has recently returned to chambers following a secondment to the arbitration team of a leading UAE law firm. His UK practice is focused on commercial litigation, particularly within the field of pensions and financial services. Stephen is also a registered advocate before…
News 12 Jul, 2019
The High Court has today allowed an appeal from the Pensions Ombudsman in the case of five police officers who were hit with a massive pensions tax when they accepted offers of civilian employment within a month of retirement before the age of 55. The officers lost their protected pension age and their lump sums and pensions were deemed unauthorised payments. The High Court found that the pensions administrators should have known that this would be the case but had nevertheless sent the officers misleading information suggesting that their lump sums would be tax free. The pensions authorities are now liable to compensate the police officers for their losses. This is an important case relating to the duty of pensions…
News 11 Jul, 2019
The Supreme Court today refused permission to the government to appeal in the cases of McCloud and Sergeant relating to age discrimination in the judges and firefighters’ sector pension schemes. The Court of Appeal held in December 2018 that the age protection given to those within 10 years of retirement when public sector pensions were changed from a final salary to a career average basis, was discriminatory on the grounds of age and that the government had acted irrationally in offering it. This decision will have a major impact on the provision of pensions in the public sector. Andrew Short QC’s specialist practice centres on pensions, employment, and general commercial work. He has acted in many of the leading cases…
News 27 Jun, 2019
Lydia Seymour will be speaking at the UCL Pensions Law: Policy & Practice Conference on 20th June 2019 in London. The conference is being jointly organised by The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Slaughter and May, and the UCL Faculty of Laws and Lydia’s talk will explore: the background to the 2015 public sector pensions changes; the Court of Appeal’s decisions in the judges’ and firefighters’ age discrimination challenges, and the policy issues which arise. Please click here for further information about the conference. Lydia’s practice includes all aspects of ‘black letter’ pensions law, including: de-risking, rectification, withdrawal arrangements in multi-employer schemes and trustee duties. Her clients include the Pensions Regulator, employers, trustees, trade unions and individuals. To instruct Lydia, please…
News 18 Jun, 2019
Under the statutory rules of the Police Pension Schemes, members have a right of appeal on certain matters to the Crown Court. In a judgment handed down on 13 June 2019 in the case of R (Carter) v Chelmsford Crown Court and others, the Divisional Court (Coulson LJ and Andrew Baker J) has held that this right does not apply to contingent rights, for example a right to widow’s benefit where the relevant member is still alive. Instead, the Divisional Court held, the claimants in this case should seek declaratory relief from the High Court (QBD) by way of Part 8 proceedings. The Crown Court’s jurisdiction in statutory pension appeals has always been something of a bone of contention; this…
News 13 Jun, 2019
We are delighted that Andrew Short QC has been shortlisted in The Lawyer Awards 2019 – ‘Barrister of the Year’ category. The Lawyer Awards are the leading awards initiative within the legal calendar and clear recognition of legal excellence. Andrew Short QC’s practice centres on pensions, employment, and general commercial work. Recent case highlights include ground-breaking decisions over discrimination in pay and pensions, in Abdulla v Birmingham City Council, Brierley v Asda, McCloud v Lord Chancellor, and Sargeant v LFEPA. His “practical” and “realistic” approach together with his “great understanding of the commercial issues in a case” make his strategic advice and his advocacy highly sought after by his clients, whether they are national or international companies or organisations, public bodies,…
News 7 May, 2019
We are delighted to announce the successful recruitment of four new barristers to our ranks. As of Monday, 8th April 2019 we extend a warm welcome to: Louis Weston Louis Weston, top-ranked sports law specialist and regulatory law barrister joins us from 3 Paper Buildings as a full Member of Chambers. Louis was the recipient of the 2017 International Advisory Experts Award: Sports Law Lawyer of the Year in England and has a thriving Sports Law practice. He prosecutes before the British Horseracing Authority, the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, the Turf Club, the World Professional Snooker and Billiards Association and before other arbitral bodies. He acts before both courts and regulators in disputes arising from sports contracts and doping…
News 5 Apr, 2019
