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.

Eric Metcalfe took part in visit to Bahrain on behalf of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law in order to discuss freedom of expression issues following the recommendations of the Bassiouni Report in 2011.

The Centre was invited to Bahrain by the Minister for Justice and met with a range of government officials, newspaper editors and NGOs concerning laws relating to free speech and media regulation.

Monckton Chambers are delighted to sponsor the Ian Hutton Memorial Moot at Nottingham Law School.

The moot is now in its third year, and will be taking place on Saturday 9^th February 2013.

Ian Hutton had always taken a great interest in the development of young people, and as a student was a keen mooter.  This annual undergraduate mooting competition takes place in his memory.

The moot, which forms an integral part of the third year LLB mooting module, will involve a tricky issue of human rights law around a problem written by Tom Lewis, director of the Nottingham Law School Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice.

Monckton Chambers are delighted to sponsor the Ian Hutton Memorial Moot at Nottingham Law School.

The moot is now in its third year, and will be taking place on Saturday 9^th February 2013.

Ian Hutton had always taken a great interest in the development of young people, and as a student was a keen mooter.  This annual undergraduate mooting competition takes place in his memory.

The moot, which forms an integral part of the third year LLB mooting module, will involve a tricky issue of human rights law around a problem written by Tom Lewis, director of the Nottingham Law School Centre for Conflict, Rights and Justice.

Case C-239/12 P Abdulrahim v Council

The General Court of the European Union has recently adopted a number of orders declaring that there is no need to adjudicate on applications for annulment in terrorist sanctions listing cases on the basis that the names of the applicants have been removed from the lists imposing restrictive measures while their cases were pending   (Orders in Cases SIR; Petroci; Fellah; Gooré; Afriqiyah; Ayadi; Dagher; El Fatmi; Attey; Ezzedine and Ghreiwati). The present appeal from the General Court by Mr Abdulrahim was the first such case to come before the Court of Justice and was heard by the Grand Chamber in December 2012.

In his Opinion delivered today the Advocate General has proposed that the Court should: (1) set aside the order of the General Court and (2) refer this case back to the General Court for it to rule on Mr Abdulrahim’s action for annulment.

The AG agreed with the appellant that he has a continuing interest, notwithstanding the repeal of the contested act, in seeking the retroactive elimination of his inclusion on the list within the legal order of the EU in the context of the asset-freezing measures at issue, “which unquestionably have an adverse effect on the persons concerned not only by restricting the use of their property rights, but also by publicly designating them as being associated with a terrorist organisation.” Thus, “an applicant has a continuing interest, in spite of the repeal of the European Union act at issue, in having the courts of the European Union recognise that he should never have been included on the list at issue or that he should not have been included according to the procedure which was adopted by the European Union institutions.”

The judgment of the Grand Chamber is awaited.

Philip Moser QC of Monckton Chambers acts for the Appellant.

The high profile dispute over the sale of Liverpool FC has settled, averting a 50 day trial.

The claimants, former owners Hicks and Gillett, attempted to delay the start of the trial and vary the security for costs order. They argued that they could not raise the funds to pay for the case should the trial begin in April and that the payment for security for costs should not be expedited, therefore delaying the case until late 2013 or early 2014.

In the judgment Lord Justice Lewison stated: “The parties’ positions fluctuated during the course of the [High Court] hearing, not least because Mr Malek dropped the bombshell that neither he nor his instructing solicitor could conduct the trial in June. But it was never suggested to the judge that the indication that he gave in his draft judgment back in August that he wished to see a trial early in 2013 was wrong in principle.”

A statement released today stated: “The parties have now agreed a settlement (the terms of which are confidential). All claims and allegations made against Messrs Broughton, Purslow and Ayre have been withdrawn by Messrs Hicks and Gillett and all legal proceedings between the parties concluded.”

Paul Harris QC and Owain Draper of Monckton Chambers acted on behalf of the defendants Broughton, Purslow and Ayre.

The decision has been featured in an article in The Lawyer. To read the article in full, please click here.

The second Sir Jeremy Lever Lecture will be held at 17.00 on Friday 1 February 2013. All are welcome to attend.

The lecture will be held at the Gulbenkian Theatre, St Cross Building, University of Oxford.

The Faculty of Law have decided that this lecture, which was first held in 2012 to mark Sir Jeremy Lever QC KCMG’s pioneering contribution to European Law, both at the university and in practice, should be made an annual event. This year’s lecturer with be the Rt Hon the Lord Mance of Frognal, JSC on the topic: ‘The Interface between Domestic and EU Legal Systems’. Former Advocate General Walter van Gerven, Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven will take the chair.

Monckton Chambers is delighted to support the new lecture series.

On 20 December 2012, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (“CAT”) handed down judgment in the case of Tesco v OFT.  Tesco had appealed against a decision of the Office of Fair Trading that Tesco had participated in two separate concerted practices, referred to as the 2002 and 2003 cheese initiatives, which had as their object the restriction of competition in breach of the Chapter I prohibition in the  Competition Act 1998.

Following a five week trial in the CAT in April/May 2012, the CAT held that the Office of Fair Trading was right to find that on three occasions in 2002 Tesco had engaged in the indirect exchange of future pricing intentions in relation to the supply of cheese in the United Kingdom contrary to the Chapter I prohibition in the  Competition Act 1998 s.2(1). The remainder of the OFT’s findings in relation to alleged concerted practices in 2002 and in 2003 were set aside as against the appellant.

To read the judgment, please click here.

Kassie Smith acted for the Office of Fair Trading.

Heriot Currie QC of Monckton Chambers has been appointed as one of four new members to the panel of chairmen of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT).

Chairmen of the CAT are expected to oversee “large, high profile and complex cases often raising novel points of law and procedure”.

Appointments to the panel are made by the Lord Chancellor based on the recommendation of the Judicial Appointments Commission and following an open competition. The CAT’s membership comprises a panel of chairmen and a panel of ordinary members.

Heriot practises in both Scotland and England. He commenced practice at the Scottish Bar in 1979, was Standing Junior in Scotland to the Department of Trade and Industry between 1987 and 1992 and was called to the English Bar (Gray’s Inn) in 1991. In 1992 he was appointed Queen’s Counsel in Scotland. In 2005, he also commenced practice at the English Bar when he became a member of Monckton Chambers. His practice has covered a wide range of commercial cases, including, competition law, intellectual property, judicial review, procurement, human rights and EU law, professional negligence, commercial fraud, building and engineering contracts, arbitrations and public inquiries.

To read the Competition Appeal Tribunal’s press release, please click here.