The Lawyer has recognised Julianne Kerr Morrison as its “Barrister of the Week” for her role in the Court of Appeal’s recent decision to uphold Ofcom’s £50m fine of Royal Mail and its finding that Royal Mail abused its dominant position by obstructing rival Whistl from breaking into the wholesale market for bulk mail delivery services (See website news 07 May.) Julianne joined the dispute, three years ago, back when Ofcom was still drafting a decision in its initial investigation.
Julianne appeared for Ofcom alongside leading counsel Josh Holmes QC and Nikolaus Grubeck in the proceedings in which all parties– Royal Mail, Ofcom and Whistl – were represented by leading and junior counsel from Monckton Chambers. Julianne is reported as commenting that such in-chambers combat, common in competition disputes, is no more than “healthy rivalry” that makes you work harder. “It’s great to be up against your colleagues. You know what they’re capable of, so it really makes you focus on doing the job well when you know people that you respect and like are going to be putting their best foot forward as well.”
The Lawyer article also highlights Julianne’s varied caseload which includes working on an anti-trust claim involving Google’s shopping service, data protection matters involving sexual violence victims, and citizenship deprivation cases in which British individuals are being stripped of their citizenships due to alleged association to certain terror groups or for time spent in ISIS controlled areas.
“Barrister of the Week” is selected by The Lawyer’s Litigation Tracker team. Subscribers can access the full article here.