Kassie Smith will be appearing in the Supreme Court today acting for Defra on an appeal concerning the breach of air  quality limits for nitrogen dioxide in Greater London and other zones in the UK.  ClientEarth is appealing against the Court of Appeal’s decision in May last year to refuse judicial review of the Government’s plans to improve air quality. The lobbying organisation says that under the EU’s Air Quality Directive, the Government should be forced to provide the European Commission with plans for reducing nitrogen dioxide levels by 1 January 2015 in 17 regions of the UK.  Defra has previously been successful in arguing that it is not required to produce such plans under the terms of the Directive.

The case is reported in the Lawyer.

The Irish Prime Minister, Enda Kenny, has formally apologised on behalf of the State for its role in the Magdalene Laundries.

Raymond Hill of Monckton Chambers has been acting pro bono for the survivors of Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, seeking an apology and redress from the Irish State for its failure to prevent four Religious Orders from incarcerating thousands of women and girls in the Laundries and subjecting them to wholly unpaid forced labour. The victims were completely deprived of their liberty, prevented from contacting the outside world, subjected to both physical and emotional abuse, forced to work for long hours in harsh working conditions, with the minimum in terms of food, clothing and medical attention. Even decades on from their release, many of the survivors continue to suffer from their treatment.

The apology follows the findings The McAleese Report, which was published last month.  The report headed by Irish senator Martin McAleese found that the State and the Irish police force bore a major responsibility for sending the women there and failing to protect their rights.

The Irish government has approached the Law Reform Commission’s president, Judge John Quirke, to carry out a three-month review to recommend the criteria for providing support and payments to the survivors.

Raymond has given hundreds of hours of his time over the last 15 months advising the advocacy group “Justice for Magdalenes” on the preparation of evidence to put before the McAleese Committee – and he drafted the main part of their submissions to the Committee. As a result, a number of Irish organisations nominated Raymond for the Bar Pro Bono Award 2012.

This case has been the subject of a lot of press coverage, including the following articles:

Guardian
BBC News

Monckton Chambers is pleased to announce the appointment of Kassie Smith to Queen’s Counsel. Kassie will be formally appointed by the Lord Chancellor on 27 March.

Called to the Bar in 1995, Kassie is an experienced competition and regulatory lawyer, with particular expertise in telecoms and utility regulation.  She frequently appears before the Courts and the Competition Appeal Tribunal both for private clients and regulators in damages actions, judicial review challenges and infringement appeals.

She also has exceptional expertise and experience before the European Courts and the English courts in cases raising issues of EU law (from the High Court to the Supreme Court) and has acted in over 30 cases before the CJEU. Kassie has appeared in cases concerning a variety of issues, including free movement rights, insolvency, telecoms, industrial relations and social policy. She has particular expertise in EU environmental law.

Directories describe her as “a real team player” who is repeatedly applauded for her “strong and efficient” advocacy and “very clear and well-drawn submissions” and as being “exceptionally bright, approachable and willing to go the extra mile to find a solution”.

Kassie’s appointment to Queen’s Counsel has been featured in an article in The Lawyer.

Members and staff warmly congratulate Kassie on her success.

Tim Ward QC of Monckton Chambers was featured in the The Sunday Times yesterday, regarding the success of the Icesave case.

Tim acted for the Icelandic Government in the case in the European Free Trade Area Court. The court ruled that Iceland did not break European free trade laws on deposit guarantee schemes when it did not compensate foreign depositors in the UK and the Netherlands after Icesave’s owner, Landsbanki, collapsed in 2008.

To view the full article, please click here.

To read a case note on the Icesave case, please click here.

Tim Ward QC of Monckton Chambers has today been featured in The Times’ Lawyer of the Week.

Tim recently acted for the Icelandic Government in the Icesave case in the European Free Trade Area Court. The court ruled that Iceland did not break European free trade laws on deposit guarantee schemes when it did not compensate foreign depositors in the UK and the Netherlands after Icesave’s owner, Landsbanki, collapsed in 2008.

To read the full article, please click here.

To read a case note on the Icesave case, please click here.

O’Brien v Ministry of Justice (Council of Immigration Judges intervening)

6 February 2013

[2013] UKSC 6 (SC No 2)

[2010] UKSC 34; [2010] 4 All E.R. 62 (SC No 1)

[2012] 2 C.M.L.R. 25 (CJEU)

The Supreme Court has delivered judgment in the long-running case about a fee-paid part-time judge seeking a pension in respect of his part-time service.

Following three hearings in the Supreme Court and a hearing in the Court of Justice, the Supreme Court has concluded that the Appellant, a recorder, is entitled to a pension on terms equivalent to those applicable to a circuit judge.

At the third hearing in the Supreme Court, the Government argued that the exclusion from pensions was objectively justified. The Supreme Court held that it was not justified.

The Council of Immigration Judges instructed Ian Rogers to intervene in all three hearings in the Supreme Court and in the Court of Justice. The facts of the case concerned a recorder, but there are over 40 different types of fee-paid part-time judge working in the courts and tribunals and 8,000 are estimated to be affected by the judgment. The intervention by the Council of Immigration Judges ensured that the Court was aware of the broader picture and particularly the position of immigration judges. Approximately 72% of Tribunal work is performed by the fee-paid part-time judiciary.

The Court concluded:-

“Although this case is concerned only with the case of a recorder, it seems unlikely that the Ministry’s argument could be put any higher than it has been.”

Ian Rogers appeared for the Council of Immigration Judges in the Supreme Court and in the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Ian has also drafted claims for a large number of fee paid part-time judges in the Employment Tribunal under the Public Access Scheme. Short time limits apply to such claims.

For the judgment, please click here.

The annual Sir Jeremy Lever lecture was held on Friday 1^st February, to celebrate the career of Sir Jeremy Lever KCMG, QC, a pioneer of both the practice and academic study of competition law in Europe.

The lecture was entitled “The Interface Between Domestic and EU Legal Systems” and given by The Rt Hon The Lord Mance and chaired by Professor Walter van Gerven.

The event was again followed by a celebratory dinner at All Souls College.

Monckton Chambers’ Tim Ward QC has successfully steered the Icelandic Government to victory in the European courts, with a ruling yesterday (28 January) meaning that the country is not obliged to repay Britain and the Netherlands for rescuing savers in the collapsed Icesave bank.

A European Free Trade Association (EFTA) court in Luxembourg  dismissed an application brought by the EFTA Surveillance Authority and the European Commission (EC), with Ward defending the Icelandic Government from allegations that it failed to guarantee minimum levels of compensation to savers in the bank.

Iceland’s Foreign Minister, Össur Skarphéðinsson, described Ward as “a legal masterpiece” after the ruling.

To view the full article in Legal Week, please click here.  To read the article in The Lawyer, please click here.

The Global Competition Review (GCR) has published its Barrister Survey, profiling Jon Turner QC and Daniel Beard QC as leading silks, with Alistair Lindsay and Josh Holmes listed as leading juniors.

The GCR Barrister Survey selected seven silks and five juniors in total “who are raising the bar,” and profiled Monckton barristers as follows:

Jon Turner QC

Last year was a particularly busy year for Jon Turner QC, who was seldom out of court. He led a run of five Court of Appeal cases, winning four. These included the Deutsche Bahn litigation; the Humber Oil litigation involving alleged abuse of dominance by a UK port authority; and the KME/Toshiba case. Representing three major mobile telephone companies, he won a landmark appeal against a CAT judgment upholding “ladder pricing” by BT on 08 number charges. Described as “tenacious” in court, and praised for his “in-depth understanding of competition law and economics”, the pace does not look set to slow for Turner in the near future. In the High Court, he is lead counsel for pharmaceutical defendant Reckitt Benckiser in the NHS claim for over £100 million in damages, and counsel for the claimant National Grid in its claim for damages from the EU switchgear cartel. Turner is praised for his relationships with fellow barristers, described as a “brilliant leader -very clever, very inclusive and very supportive”.

Daniel Beard QC

Daniel Beard QC, who was awarded silk in April 2011, has worked on multiple high-profile competition matters, including the merger between News Corporation and BSkyB, and the judicial review of the merger Ryanair’s minority share in Aer Lingus, which has been the subject of two Court of Appeal judgments. Described as “very bright and easy to deal with”, Beard is one of the top choices for solicitors. His recent damages cases include work on Emerson Electric Co v Morgan Crucible before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) and representing copper manufacturer KME in a High Court case that dealt with which damage claims can be brought in English courts, both of which are now under appeal. He has also worked on important appeals against infringement decisions in both the UK and EU, including Polish Telecom’s continuing challenge of a €125 million fine for abuse of dominance and appeals in the construction cartel cases before the CAT. Beard has particular expertise in the telecoms sector, where he has acted in BT’s pay-TV appeal and in the first ever telecoms competition case to be heard in Bahrain.

Alistair Lindsay

Alistair Lindsay has twice made the shift between the bar and private practice, rejoining his original chambers, Monckton, in 2008 after seven years as a partner at Allen & Overy in London. Described as “a dab hand” in merger matters, Lindsay is frequently retained in merger reviews before the UK and European competition authorities, and is currently advising on the first foundation hospital tie-up to be referred by the OFT to the CC. In behavioural matters, he is acting for tobacco company Gallaher in its application to the CAT for permission to appeal against its £50 million fine in the OFT’S closed tobacco case. He is due to appear before the Court of Appeal in a private action alleging abuse of dominance in the shipping industry and in Nokia’s damage claims against LCD manufacturers, which is running parallel to an investigation by DG Comp.

Josh Holmes

Josh Holmes is highly praised by his fellow barristers for his eloquent delivery, excellent client manner and “good grasp of both the big picture and details”. His busy workload includes acting for Gaviscon-maker Reckitt Benckiser in its defence of damage claims brought by the NHS, and representing HTC on an IP and competition case -the first to grapple with the competition implications of FRAND licence terms. In the European courts, he is acting for the UK government in Mastercard’s appeal in the interchange case, and for DG Comp in its defence of several appeals in the airline fuel surcharge case. Before the CAT, Holmes successfully defended against a request for judicial review brought by the newsagents’ trade bodies after the OFT decided to close its investigation of newspaper and magazine distribution. He also represented four UK light bulb producers and a recycling scheme in their recent settlement of a stand-alone damage claim appearing before the High Court.

Chambers is pleased to announce that Melanie Hall QC has been listed in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 2013.

The Lawyer states:

“Not many barristers can claim to have saved the taxpayer £20bn in the past year, but that is exactly what Monckton Chambers’ Melanie Hall QC did in 2012.

The razor-sharp advocate successfully defeated a challenge by sandwich chain Subway over its tax obligations while also defeating a test case on landfill tax.

A tenacious and well-respected advocate, Hall has acted in landmark cases that have shaped the structure and boundaries of VAT and other indirect taxes. She takes the most complex of cases and constructs simplistic and persuasive arguments.”

The annual supplement identifies members of the legal profession who have excelled in their chosen fields during the past year.

To view the Top 100 list in full, please click here.