Monckton Chambers is very pleased to announce the appointment of Ian Rogers, Robert Palmer and Gerry Facenna to the Equality & Human Rights Commission Panel of Counsel.

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.

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Ian Rogers
Robert Palmer
Gerry Facenna

In R (Western Power Distribution Investments Ltd) v Cardiff County Council, the Administrative Court quashed a decision of the Council to designate land it owned as a nature reserve under section 21 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. The Claimant was engaged in a long running planning battle with the Council over its plans to develop the neighbouring land.

The Council had acquired the designated land as “public walks or pleasure grounds” under section 164 of the Public Health Act 1875, with the result that it was held under a statutory trust for the benefit of the public for the purposes of recreation. Western Power successfully argued that the designation of the land as a nature reserve was unlawful because the 1949 Act required that nature reserves be managed for conservation purposes, and that any recreational purposes for which the land was also managed should not compromise the conservation purposes. Since management of the land for conservation purposes would conflict with the recreational purposes for which the land was held in trust, the Council ought first to have sought formally to appropriate the land for use as a nature reserve – which would have required it to advertise its intentions and to allow an opportunity for the public (including the Claimant) to object.

Robert Palmer represented Western Power, led by John Steel QC.

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Robert Palmer

The NHS has launched a High Court claim for damages for abuse of a dominant position in relation to the supply of Gaviscon against Reckitt Benckiser with all 10 Strategic Health Authorities and 144 Primary Care Trusts in England behind Andrew Lansley as Secretary of State for Health who is leading the action.

Last year the OFT fined Reckitt Benckiser £10m over its supply of Gaviscon to the NHS for abusing its dominant market position in the supply of heartburn remedies by restricting competition.  Reckitt withdrew cheaper alternatives as their patents had expired, therefore limiting the choice available to prescribing pharmacists.

Christopher Vajda QC and Philip Woolfe are representing the Department for Health.

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Philip Woolfe

The High Court has granted permission to apply for a judicial review to environmental group Greenpeace.  Greenpeace filed a claim at the High Court, for permission to seek judicial review of the UK’s ongoing consideration of license applications for the exploitation of North Sea oil reserves located in deep water, in the wake of the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The organisation argues that ministers had acted unlawfully, due to their failure to carry out the appropriate assessment of the risks that new drilling poses to protected habitats.  They are seeking court orders effectively preventing the issuing of new licenses which relate to areas close to environmentally-sensitive sites and which support whales, dolphins and other legally protected species, until the outcome of the investigation into the causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion is known.

If successful, Greenpeace’s action will affect over 20 oil production licenses and could delay future licensing rounds.  The full hearing is expected in the summer term.

Robert Palmer and Laura Elizabeth John are representing Greenpeace.

For further coverage, please click here.

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Robert Palmer
Laura Elizabeth John

GCR has published its Barrister Survey and has listed Monckton as an elite set in competition law.  Furthermore, Jon Turner QC has been profiled as a leading silk, with Daniel Beard and Josh Holmes listed as leading juniors.  GCR’s write-up also names nine other members for their achievements in competition law.

“Monckton Chambers is very highly regarded for its authority and regulatory work, its private casework also wins accolades. Jon Turner QC (profiled) is praised across the board, while Christopher Vajda QC, Paul Lasok QC and John Swift QC are all recognised as big players. Lasok represented Enron in its damages appeal against English Welsh & Scottish Railways.

Renowned silks Peter Roth QC and Kenneth Parker QC were appointed High Court judges in October 2009, while leading South African barrister David Unterhalter SC joined Monckton in the same year. He is chairman of the appellate body of the World Trade Organisation, and is representing the UK’s Office of Fair Trading in its construction cartel investigation appeals. The chambers also welcomed Alistair Lindsey, a mergers specialist who joined from Allen & Overy LLP in 2009.

The standout performer among Monckton’s host of talented juniors is Josh Holmes (profiled). Daniel Beard (profiled) and the “hardworking and creative” Meredith Pickford also attract significant plaudits; Beard has been standing counsel to the OFT since 2006, while Pickford represented Orange and T-Mobile in their telecoms joint venture Everything Everywhere. Ronit Kreisberger and Paul Harris are seen as the chambers’ rising stars.”

A panel of Supreme Court Judges has refused BAA Limited permission to appeal to the Supreme Court  against the judgment of the Court of Appeal.  The effect of the Court of Appeal’s judgment  was to reinstate the report of the Competition Commission, which required the sale by BAA of Gatwick airport, Stansted airport and one of Glasgow or Edinburgh airports.  The Court of Appeal’s judgment overturned the effect of an earlier decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal which had set aside the report on the basis that apparent bias arose in relation to the position of one of the members of the Commission appointed to investigate and report on the supply of airport services in the United Kingdom.

Ben Rayment was junior counsel to the Commission.

To read our case note, please click here.

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Judgment was delivered in the High Court in Halo Trust v The Secretary of State for International Development.

The case concerns the procurement of services for mine clearance and development work in Cambodia.  The Department of International Development (DFID) had been funding the claimant, the Halo Trust, and the successful tenderer, Mines Advisory Group (MAG) through an “Accountable Grant” mechanism. DFID decided to put the funding on a contractual basis and run a framework competition, with one supplier selected for each country supported under a mini-competition.  The mini-competition for Cambodia was won by MAG, and the Halo Trust challenged.

This judgment is another application of whether a body should be restrained by the operation of Regulation 47H of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006. Regulation 47H restrained DFID from placing a contract with MAG once proceedings had been issued.

It was decided in this case the suspensory effect of regulation 47H should be brought to an end, and DFID should be permitted to enter into a contract with MAG.

This case is the third in which a contracting authority sought to have the “suspensory effect” of proceedings lifted, following  Indigo v Colchester Institute, and Exel v University Hospitals.  In each case the contracting authority was successful.  In each case members of Monckton Chambers appeared for the contracting authority.

Jennifer Skilbeck acted for the successful Secretary of State for International Development

To read our case note, please click here.

On 26 January 2011, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the case of X v Mid Sussex Citizens Advice Bureau and others [2011] EWCA Civ 28.  The case concerned a volunteer worker at a Citizens Advice Bureau who alleged that she had been discriminated against on the grounds of her disability.  The relevant domestic law (at the time, the Disability Discrimination Act 1995) did not apply to volunteers in the situation of X, who was providing services on a non-contractual basis and without remuneration.  However, it was argued for X that she was protected by the provisions of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (“the Framework Directive”).  It was argued that the domestic law did not correctly implement the provisions of European law in this respect.

The Court recognised that “the case raises an issue of some importance and interest to the voluntary sector”, and submissions were heard from the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who holds responsibility for the relevant domestic legislation, as well as from the parties.

The Court of Appeal dismissed X’s appeal.  The Court held that the Framework Directive did not apply to volunteers in the position of X.  It rejected X’s argument that her work for the CAB was an “occupation” for the purposes of the Framework Directive.  The Court held that the Directive was plainly limited in its field of operation and that it was inconceivable that the draftsman of the Directive would not have dealt specifically with the position of volunteers if the intention had been to include them.  The Court also referred to and relied upon the legislative history of the Directive.  The Court refused to make a reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Kassie Smith acted for the Secretary of State.

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Kassie Smith QC

Physiotherapist Stephen Brennan has today (21 January) won his appeal against the decision of the Health Professions Council (“HPC”) to strike his name from the register of physiotherapists after his involvement in what has become known as the “bloodgate” scandal. Mr Brennan admitted a total of five instances of being involved in faking blood injuries by providing rugby players with fake blood capsules to gain an unfair sporting advantage.

In September 2010 the HPC decided that Mr Brennan was unfit to practice and his name was struck off. Paul Harris, counsel to Mr Brennan, said that Mr Brennan would face sanctions for his actions, but that the “one strike and you’re out for good” approach was of “gross severity” and was disproportionate. Today, at the High Court Mr Justice Ouseley quashed the decision against Mr Brennan and ordered the HPC to reconsider the case.

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Paul Harris QC

Monckton Chambers has been featured on 4 occasions in The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2011. All four entries appear in the top 10, they are:

1.British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) & Others v OFCOM & Others

Featuring:

• Meredith Pickford for BSkyB
• Josh Holmes and Ben Lask OFCOM
• Paul Harris and Fiona Banks for the FA
• Tim Ward for Freesat UK Ltd &
• Daniel Beard Top Up TV Europe

2. Morrisons; (2) Imperial Tobacco; (3) Cooperative Group; (4) Safeway; (5) Asda; &
(6) Shell v Office of Fair Trading (OFT)

Featuring:

• Meredith Pickford for wm Morrison Supermarkets, Safeway Stores & Safeway Ltd
• Paul Lasok QC, Elisa Holmes, Rob Williams, Anneliese Blackwood and Ligia Osepciu for the OFT

3. Alstom Transport v Eurostar International & Siemens

Featuring:

• Michael Bowsher QC and Ewan West for Eurostar
• Rob Williams for Siemens

4. Imperial Tobacco, British American Tobacco, Philip Morris Ltd and Gallaher Ltd v Secretary of State for Health and the Attorney-General

Featuring:

• Ian Rogers will appear for the Department for Work and Pensions