Mr Justice Roth has today given his latest judgment in National Grid Electricity Transmission plc v ABB Limited and others.  He has ruled that the French Defendants to the proceedings (companies within the Alstom and Areva groups) must provide disclosure of relevant documents.  After considering extensive evidence from experts in French law, Roth J rejected the argument that there is a real risk of those companies being prosecuted in France under the so-called ‘French Blocking Statute’ (Law No. 68-678 of 26 July 1968) if they comply with a disclosure order from the English High Court.  He also rejected a cross-application, made by the French Defendants, for a request to be made to the French Courts for evidence to be taken under Regulation 1206/2001.

Jon Turner QC, Daniel Beard QC and Laura Elizabeth John of Monckton Chambers acted for the Claimant, National Grid Electricity Transmission plc.

Click here to read the full National Grid v ABB Judgment

Eric Metcalfe has been appointed to the Equality & Human Rights Commission Preferred Panel of Counsel, joining three other members of Monckton Chambers who are already on the panel.

The EHRC’s responsibility is to “promote and monitor human rights and to protect, enforce and promote equality across the seven “protected” grounds – age, disability, gender, race, religion and belief, sexual orientation and gender re-assignment.”

For further information on the EHRC, please click here.

Monckton Chambers is delighted to invite GDL students to join our Barristers for informal drinks to discuss life as a tenant at Monckton and your future career at the Bar.

The evening will be held at Chambers on Wednesday 17 April, 6pm.

We hope that you are able to join us and we very much look forward to welcoming you.

Monckton Chambers is based in Gray’s Inn, near Chancery Lane, London.

RSVP by Friday 12th April to Claire Alderman on 020 7468 6345 or calderman@monckton.com

The Bar Council Pupillage Gateway scheme is now open for applications for pupillage.

Monckton Chambers offers pupillage for twelve months. We recruit pupils in the expectation of being able to offer them tenancy, should they meet the required standard.. In the past 10 years, 16 out of 17 Monckton pupils were offered tenancy.

• Typically, two pupillages have been offered each year.
• We offer pupillage awards of £60,000.

Several members of chambers have come to us via a non-standard route – for example having previously worked at NGOs, as solicitors, academics or civil servants. We welcome such applications.

The application process closes at 11am on 30^th April.

To begin your application through the Pupillage Gateway, please click here.

For more information on pupillage, please click here.

If you have any questions regarding the pupillage application process, please contact Claire Alderman on calderman@monckton.com or 020 7468 6345.

Kassie Smith QC has been interviewed for the ’21^st century silk’ article featured in The Lawyer today.

Kassie is one of just 84 barristers due to take silk this week, and was speaking to The Lawyer about the application process and her practice to date.

She will be formally appointed to Queen’s Counsel by the Lord Chancellor on 27 March.

To read the full article, please click here.

Chambers takes great pleasure in welcoming Thomas Sebastian. Thomas joins Chambers after recently accepting an offer of tenancy.

Thomas has a diverse practice, which spans Chamber’s specialist areas of EU law, competition law as well as public international law (in particular WTO law and investment treaty arbitration).  He also acts in international commercial arbitrations.

Prior to transferring to the Bar in 2012, Thomas practiced for 10 years as a Senior Associate at Allen & Overy LLP’s International Arbitration Group in London and as a Counsel at the Advisory Centre on WTO Law (an international organisation which represents States in WTO disputes) in Geneva.  During pupillage he acquired experience across all of Chambers’ major practice areas.

Thomas comments:

“I am delighted to be joining Monckton and to have the opportunity to develop a diverse practice which ranges across Monckton’s specialist areas as well as the complementary areas of WTO law and investment treaty law.  I very much look forward to working with David and his team, as well as Members of Chambers, in the years ahead.”

Mr Justice Ouseley handed down judgment today on a number of judicial review challenges to the Government’s decision to proceed with a high speed rail link from London to Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester.  The Judge held that the Government’s consultation on the property compensation scheme was flawed and the Government will have to carry out a fresh consultation on that issue.  The Judge dismissed the other challenges to HS2, including, those brought by 15 local authorities located along the route of HS2.  The local authorities contended that the Government’s decision to proceed in Parliament by way of the hybrid bill procedure breached EU environmental law (the EIA Directive), that the consultation leading to the decision was faulty, that the Government failed to comply with its public sector equalities duty and that, in a number of respects, the decision was irrational.

However, following submissions made in court today, the Judge granted permission to the local authorities to argue before the Court of Appeal that the Government’s decision failed to comply with the SEA Directive and that the Government’s failure to reconsult with the local authorities (51M) on their Optimised Alternative to HS2 was unfair and unlawful.

The case has been widely covered in the media, including on the BBC and in The Independent

Kassie Smith appeared for the local authorities

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.