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.

Education has been in the spotlight with the country in lockdown. With schools and universities closed “until further notice”, the education sector is being subjected to a broad spectrum of novel problems, from setbacks to pupils progress and financial compensation claims by fee-paying learners, to concerns for the most vulnerable students and potential human rights infringements, with grading disputes potentially following this summer.

A number of Monckton Chambers’ public law barristers have considerable experience of working with the education sector. The current crisis has provided a focus for them to come together to share their views and expertise under the banner of a dedicated Education Law Group. Recognising the need for specialist advice to the sector, Monckton’s Education Law Group will provide clients and contacts with meaningful support. The launch of the blog is the next step.

The blog is written by specialist barristers from Monckton and covers important developments across the field of education law. It includes:

• case notes on important judgments, both from Monckton and elsewhere;
• legislative changes and analysis of their implications, for example in relation to human rights; and
• commentary on topical issues in education law, such as school closures due to COVID-19.

You can visit the blog, where you can also subscribe to receive posts by email.

It is aimed at all those active in this area: solicitors and barristers, students and parents, schools, universities and other FE & HE institutions, local authorities, the Department for Education, Ofsted and other education regulators.

We hope that readers will find the blog to be an enjoyable as well as a valuable resource.

Adapting to the challenge and not cancelling existing arrangements for a series of seminars by the Commercial Law Juniors at Monckton Chambers was the motivation behind Monckton’s first foray into webinars. Resending invites to invite contacts to zoom and virtually attend the original roundtable discussions resulted in an audience of over 175 tuning in to speakers William Hooper and Alfred Artley who delivered talks on ‘Frustration & Force Majeure in a COVID19 Context’ and ‘Enforcement of ‘hybrid’ foreign penal Judgments’.

Last week’s successful inaugural webinar is now being followed by:

Thursday 9th April – 5pm
Ciar McAndrew will focus on ‘Evidence from abroad’: Obtaining evidence in Arbitral proceedings from witnesses based in other EU Member States.

Thursday 16th April – 5pm
William Hooper will present on ‘Late amendments: pitfalls and procedure’.

William recently acted for the successful party in Fisken v Carl [2019] EWHC 3360 (Comm) which concerned very late amendments to make allegations of fraud in the purchase of the world’s most expensive car.

If you wish to register for either seminar please email Chris at cobrien@monckton.com

Monckton Chambers is currently extending the webinar formula to feature other practice areas.

Kristina Lukacova, who has a broad commercial and chancery practice with a focus on commercial litigation and company and insolvency matters, has joined Monckton Chambers.

Kristina has a particular interest in private international law and is regularly instructed in cases involving complex issues of jurisdiction, including acting as sole counsel on a $4m contract claim before the DIFC-LCIA Tribunal, defeating a jurisdiction challenge and succeeding on a preliminary issue of contractual interpretation.

Kristina has worked with barristers from Monckton Chambers on recent instructions, including acting for the Secretary of State for Transport in relation to Eurotunnel’s challenge of Brexit-related contracts for additional ferry capacity. She was led in this case by Philip Moser QC, and assisted alongside Azeem Suterwalla and Ewan West.

Philip Moser QC, joint Head of Monckton Chambers, welcomes Kristina to Monckton Chambers:

“We are delighted that Kristina Lukacova has joined Monckton Chambers to bring her expertise to the growing team of members who are practising in the commercial and arbitration fields, both domestically and internationally. These may be challenging times and it is even more important that we continue to look to the future with confidence, optimistic about our ongoing strategic goals.”

The members and staff of Monckton Chambers warmly congratulate Rob on ‘taking silk’ yesterday. Rob was sworn-in along with the 113 other new QCs, at the official Queen’s Counsel Appointments Ceremony 2020 at Westminster. The Rt Hon Robert Buckland QC, who was appointed as Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice on 24 July 2019, officiated.

Rob is a highly experienced barrister and advocate practicing in competition law, procurement law and other public law and regulatory litigation. He won Competition Junior of the Year at the Chambers Bar Awards 2019.