The shortlist for the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2020 has been announced and Monckton Chambers and its members are up for multiple awards across two categories.

Monckton Chambers is nominated for the Set award for Competition with Mark Brealey QC in the final three for Silk of the Year and Alan Bates for Junior of the Year for the same category.

Monckton is also in the running for the Set award for Tax with Andrew Macnab shortlisted in the final three for Junior of the Year in the category.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony which will be held virtually on Thursday, 19 November 2020

The aim of the awards is to recognise, reward and celebrate both sets’ and individual barristers’ pre–eminence in key practice areas. The awards are based on the research for the 2021 edition of Chambers Bar and reflect notable achievements over the past 12 months including outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service.

Melanie Hall QC, Ronit Kreisberger QC, Anneli Howard and Imogen Proud are in the shortlist for a Women in Law Award.

The Monckton finalists span four award categories with Melanie Hall in the shortlist for two awards:
Woman of the Year – Melanie Hall QC
Mentor of the Year – Ronit Kreisberger QC
Barrister/Advocate of the Year – Melanie Hall QC, Anneli Howard
Rising Star – Barrister/Advocate of the Year – Imogen Proud

More than 400 legal professionals, law firms, legal departments and other legal businesses have been nominated for these inaugural UK awards that set out to promote diversity within the legal profession.

The Women in Law Awards are the latest in a series of diversity events delivered by Incisive Media, which include The Women in Insurance Awards, The Women in Accountancy and Finance Awards and The Women in Investment Awards. The ethos of the awards is to promote equality across all parts of the profession by showcasing excellence and achievement.

You can read the full shortlist here and the winners will be announced at the virtual ceremony taking place on Wednesday 11th November.

The members of Monckton Chambers congratulate Julianne Kerr Morrison, James Bourke and Khatija Hafesji on their successful applications in the most recent round of Attorney General Panel appointments. Julianne is promoted to B panel; James and Khatija are new additions to the C Panel.

All appointments commence from September for five years.

The Attorney General maintains four advisory panels of junior counsel to undertake civil and EU work for all government departments. There are three London panels (an A panel for senior juniors, a B panel for middle juniors, a C panel for junior juniors) and a regional panel. In addition, there are three Public International Law Panels.

In total, these most recent appointments mean that 22 members of Monckton Chambers are on the following AG’s panels:

• A Panel: Raymond Hill, Anneli Howard, Alan Bates, Ben Lask, Andrew Macnab, Peter Mantle, Brendan McGurk,  Ewan West
• B Panel: Eric Metcalfe, Azeem Suterwalla, Fiona Banks, Julianne Kerr Morrison.
• C Panel: Anneliese Blackwood, Tarlochan Lall,  Conor McCarthy, Michael Armitage, Jack Williams, Imogen Proud, James Bourke, Khatija Hafesji.
• Public International Law B Panel: Anneli Howard, Thomas Sebastian
• Public International Law C Panel: Nikolaus Grubeck

The recently published Who’s Who Legal UK Bar confirms Monckton Chambers as one of the UK’s leading sets.

Monckton Chambers is represented by 29 members across nine practice areas.

Number of Listings:

Arbitration 1
Competition 20
Corporate Tax 1
Environment 3
Government Contracts 10
International Trade & Commodities 1
Media & Entertainment 2
Sports 2
Telecoms 10

The research makes the following summary conclusions:

“Monckton Chambers enjoys a prominent position at the UK Bar, and showcases the breadth and depth of expertise on offer from its barristers in our research this year. Its members earn 50 listings across nine practice areas.

Competition is a core strength for the set, illustrated in our corresponding chapter where we recognise 11 silks and nine juniors for their excellence in the field. Their expertise spans a range of matters, from M&A and state aid to class action cases.

Government contracts is a further area in which it excels, with 10 barristers recognised for their impressive ability when it comes to concessions matters and public procurement proceedings.

The set also performs well in our telecoms chapter, where five juniors and five silks are singled out for their exceptional work handling contentious proceedings spanning a range of matters, including licensing, contractual claims and broadcasting issues.

Standout figures at the set include George Peretz QC and Jon Turner QC, pre-eminent silks in competition law. Josh Holmes QC is a go-to silk for telecoms disputes, while Daniel Beard QC and Anneli Howard are identified as a top-tier advocates for competition and telecoms matters. Michael Bowsher QC, Rob Williams QC and Ewan West and are held in high esteem for their first-rate government contracts practices, while Fiona Banks is distinguished as a top name for sports disputes.”

Read full analysis here.

The Lawyer has selected Daniel Beard QC, who acted for Apple in the €13bn State aid and tax case (see website news 15 July), as its “Barrister of the Week”

The recognition was the result of Daniel being a key member of the team, that convinced EU judges to reverse a European Commission decision, which had ordered Apple to pay back €13bn in taxes to the Republic of Ireland.

Acknowledged by The Lawyer as being “one of the biggest decisions to come out of the appeals court in the EU”, Daniel has worked on the case for the past five years, instructed by Freshfields. Fellow Monckton members Alan Bates, Ligia Osepciu and James Bourke, were also on the team working closely with the in-house lawyers at Apple.

“Barrister of the Week” is selected by The Lawyer’s Litigation Tracker team which also concludes that Daniel Beard is the busiest barrister at Monckton, acting on 31 cases in the public domain since 2015.

Philip Moser QC, joint Head of Monckton Chambers, was elected Chairman of the Bar European Group (BEG) at the Annual General Meeting of the association held online on 15 July 2020.

The BEG is a Specialist Bar Association of the Bar of England and Wales. In addition to having a seat on the Bar Council, it acts as a forum for practitioners, judges and academics to attend meetings, talks and conferences for those whose area of practice or interest is European law and issues concerning the European Union, Brexit and future EU-UK relations.

The Times newspaper has selected Mark Brealey QC, who acted for Sainsbury’s in the Supreme Court over interchange fees, (see last week’s website news), to be its featured lawyer this week.
In today’s column written by Linda Tsang, Mark highlights watching the TV series Crown Court as a teenager, as motivating him to be a barrister; the late David Vaughan QC as a career inspiration; the best advice received being from his father: “Always be polite, never afraid.” and the three qualities a lawyer should have as “Objectivity, clarity and humour – in that order.”

You can read the full feature here.

No longer an EU Member State, the UK’s relationship with the EU has altered fundamentally. Now that Brexit has happened, this requires a forward-looking shift to consider the new legal position after Brexit.

With that in mind, members of Monckton Chambers have launched a new website blog, covering EU Relations Law.

EU Relations Law represents the new, developing area of law (distinct from EU law) concerning the specific arrangements between the UK and the EU post-Brexit, covering all aspects of the new legal relationship between the parties. This includes the potential for private parties to assert rights and/or bring claims based on legal agreements concluded between the UK and EU. It also includes the potential for legal disputes between the EU and UK. The implementation and transposition of the new arrangements also gives rise to potential disputes.

The new website explores all areas of EU Relations Law from both international and domestic law perspectives, including:

• the meaning and application of the Withdrawal Agreement;
• he UK and EU implementations of the Withdrawal Agreement;
• the Northern Ireland Protocol;
• the Future Relationship Agreements;
• case comments on relevant judgments and opinions; and
• legislative changes and analysis of their implications.

You can visit the website at www.eurelationslaw.com, where you can also subscribe to receive new blog posts by e-mail. Blog posts are written by subject specialist barristers at Monckton Chambers, academics, policy experts, regulatory officials and solicitors. The site is aimed at all those interested in the law post-Brexit, including: solicitors, academics, students, regulators, policy experts, and in-house clients.

Professor Panos Koutrakos has been mentioned in two Opinions by Advocates General of the European Court of Justice. Both cases are about judicial review in the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), an area of profound significance. The Court of Justice only has limited jurisdiction in CFSP and there has been developing case-law on the scope of this jurisdiction.

In Case C 730/18 P SC v EULEx Kosovo, the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo was sued for damages by an employee whose contract had not been renewed. After the EU’s General Court had dismissed her action, she appealed to the Court of Justice. In his Opinion, Advocate General Tanchev dealt, amongst others, with the scope of the Court’s jurisdiction in CFSP and referred to two pieces of work by Professor Koutrakos: his book entitled Research Handbook on the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (co-edited with S Blockmans) (Edward Elgar, 2018), and his article on ‘Judicial Review in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy’, (2018) 67 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 1.

In Case C 14/19 P European Union Satellite Centre (SatCen) v KF , a decision by the Appeals Board of the European Union Satellite Centre removing an employee from her post was challenged before the EU’s General Court. After the latter had found for the applicant, the EU Satellite Centre appealed before the European Court of Justice. In his Opinion, Advocate General Bobek concluded that the Court of Justice had jurisdiction to rule on the matter and he referred to the above article by Professor Koutrakos on ‘Judicial Review in the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy’, (2018) 67 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 1.