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.

Monckton Chambers is delighted to announce that the ten sets of Chambers participating in the Mentoring Scheme for underrepresented groups have, between them, offered places on the scheme to nearly 200 applicants from groups that are underrepresented at the Bar.

The scheme will make a real contribution to increasing opportunity and diversity at the Bar, by providing mentees with a source of information and advice, and by making it clear that a career at the Bar is open to anyone, from any background.

More details about the scheme are here.

It is open to people from underrepresented groups including women; people from minority ethnic backgrounds; people with disabilities; LGBT+ people; people who spent time in care; and people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The participating sets of Chambers are:

• Monckton Chambers
• Blackstone Chambers
• Brick Court Chambers
• Essex Court Chambers
• Fountain Court Chambers
• Gatehouse Chambers
• Keating Chambers
• 7 King’s Bench Walk
• One Essex Court Chambers
• 3 Verulam Buildings

Paul Harris QC has won the “Barrister of the Year” category in this year’s The Lawyer Awards. The virtual awards ceremony was hosted by BBC news anchor Huw Edwards, who announced the winners of the 29 awards.

In summarising why Paul was the winner of this award, the presenter highlighted the judges’ recognition of Paul’s trailblazing collective competition law proceedings (CPOs) practice, and in particular his “strong leadership of a novel case” in acting for the opt-out claimants in Walter Hugh Merricks CBE v Mastercard Inc. This was the first mass consumer claim successfully brought under the new collective action regime and the judges were impressed with Paul’s “extremely strong advocacy credentials” in this “relatively new area of law.”

The judges also cited Paul’s “pre-eminence in, and his commitment to, his chosen fields of competition and sports law, as supported by the detailed testimonials by instructing solicitors and clients as to his personal and legal ability, which led further force to his submission”

These testimonials can be accessed here.