Professor Panos Koutrakos has been mentioned in the Opinion by Advocate General Ćapeta of the European Court of Justice in Case C 500/20 ÖBB-Infrastruktur Aktiengesellschaft v Lokomotion Gesellschaft für Schienentraktion mbH.

This case is a reference to the Court of Justice by the Supreme Court of Austria. It is about the interpretation of the 1980 Convention concerning International Carriage by Rail (COTIF) and the Uniform Rules concerning the Contract of Use of Infrastructure in International Rail Traffic (CUI Uniform Rules) annexed to the Convention. The dispute is about the liability of a railway infrastructure manager and whether it covers the costs incurred by a carrier as a result of having to lease locomotives to replace their existing locomotives due to damage cause to them. The Convention is an international agreement concluded by the European Union and most of its Member States (in other words, it is a mixed agreement). A central question to this case is whether the European Court of Justice has jurisdiction to interpret the relevant provisions of the Convention.

In her Opinion, delivered on 3 February 2022, Advocate General Ćapeta referred to the book co-edited by Professor Koutrakos entitled Mixed Agreements Revisited – The EU and its Member States in the World as well as his chapter in the book, entitled ‘Interpretation of Mixed Agreements’ (pp 116-137).

Professor Koutrakos has written widely on the relationship between EU and international law and is the author, amongst others, of the authoritative EU International Relations Law 2nd edition.

Kristina Lukacova has been admitted to practise as a barrister of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court in the Territory of the Virgin Islands.

Every year, The Lawyer Hot 100 recognises a diverse mix of legal professionals who have been the standout lawyers in the UK over the previous twelve months. This year, Monckton Chambers has two members amongst the 19 “Hot 100” barristers listed – Ronit Kreisberger QC and William Hooper.

Ronit Kreisberger QC is described as follows:

Highly in demand, with a jam-packed diary right up to the end of 2022, Ronit Kreisberger QC is spearheading heavyweight competition litigation at Monckton Chambers.

She is at the heart of the collective actions trend, acting on several high-profile cases at the CAT. Hot on the heels of Merrick v Mastercard, she acted in Justin Le Patoure v BT. The £600m claim against BT alleged excessive pricing in abuse of its dominant position in stand-alone landline telephone services. In 2021, she represented the claimants in a £1.5bn collective action case against Apple. The tech giant has allegedly been overcharging customers of its App Store.

This is Kreisberger’s second time in the Hot 100, having made the list in 2007 when she was just two years’ call. Then, she acted in the first case in which a UK court awarded damages for harm suffered because of a competition law infringement.

There is no sign of her slowing down any time soon, as she kicks off this year with a case very similar to the Apple one, this time against Google.

The Hot 100 also highlights William Hooper:

Monckton Chambers’ reputation as a world-class centre for competition knowledge is undisputed, but the set is perhaps less recognised for the quality of its commercial tenants. Changing that perception, says junior barrister Will Hooper, is exactly why he joined the set and his work is gaining Monckton the commercial recognition he thinks it deserves.

The biggest win in Hooper’s year came in a case over what was once the most expensive car ever sold. The dispute over the $44m contract was covered in the national media and catapulted Hooper’s profile to a much higher level; helpful when one of your key goals is profile-building for the set.

As 2022 starts, Hooper is already contemplating what will define his next year. It already looks like the next 12 months will include the telecoms and advertising sectors. The latter is particularly fresh ground, with a case to be heard considering the much-spoken-of-but-little-understood area of NFTs. If Hooper scores a win, he could well define the future of NFT cases and that would do his and Monckton’s reputations no harm whatsoever.

Subscribers to The Lawyer can read the full article and details of the hundred here.

At the meeting of the General Assembly of the governing body in world motorsport in Paris on 17 December 2021, the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) decided to elect Philip Moser QC as a Judge of the FIA Courts.

His mandate will run as of 1 January 2022.

Twelve months after his appointment to chair an independent review of the Criminal Legal Aid system, Sir Christopher Bellamy QC, leading the Criminal Legal Aid Review (CLAR), has published the 160 page “Independent Review of Criminal Legal Aid”.

The report makes the case for funding for criminal legal aid to be increased for solicitors and barristers as soon as possible to an annual level of ‘at least 15%’ above present levels to ensure that a “level playing field” between defendants and prosecutors was maintained. “£135m is, in my view, the minimum necessary as the first step in nursing the system of criminal legal aid back to health after years of neglect,” warns Sir Christopher as the report tells ministers that funding is vital to stem the exodus of lawyers from criminal justice and the current backlog in the crown court system.

In a written ministerial statement, Lord Chancellor Dominic Raab promises a full response no later than the end of March 2022.

You can read the full report here.

Published on the 15th December, the review and its findings has received considerable media interest including The Times, the BBC and The Law Society Gazette.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today published the independent lessons learned review by John Swift QC, which considers the FCA’s supervisory intervention on Interest Rate Hedging Products (IRHP).

The report is the culmination of over two years of work, in which the Review team considered around a million documents and conducted dozens of interviews with stakeholders. It sets out a full account of the legal and regulatory context, and the history of the FCA’s intervention, before reaching detailed findings and making 21 specific recommendations for the FCA.

The Report is available here.

John Swift QC was assisted by Nikolaus Grubeck and Kristina Lukacova as well as by an Ashurst LLP team led by David Capps and by Kemp Communications.

The Review has been covered in: The Times, Financial Times, Bloomberg, The Guardian, Reuters, The Times,  Market Screener

At last night’s awards ceremony, Monckton Chambers and its members won two awards – Ben Lask won Junior of the Year for Competition and Monckton Chambers was awarded Competition Set of the Year.

Competition Junior of the Year, Ben Lask, is Standing Counsel to the Competition and Markets Authority. He is described in the most recent Chambers Bar Guide as “very much on top of the issues; he is an accessible barrister and turns things around over a short timescale.” Recent high profile cases include acting for the CMA in Facebook’s unsuccessful appeal concerning the CMA’s use of interim measures in merger investigations and representing Royal Mail and BT in the ongoing Trucks litigation.

Although not winners on the night, we were also delighted that Jon Turner QC and Paul Harris QC were in the shortlist for Competition Silk of the Year and Julianne Kerr Morrison was in the running for Competition Junior of the Year.

The awards, which are based on research for the 2022 edition of Chambers UK Bar, reflect a set’s pre-eminence in key practice areas. They also reflect notable achievements over the past 12 months including outstanding work, impressive strategic growth and excellence in client service.

For further details, see the Chambers and Partners website.