General News

Welcome to the third edition of our family newsletter. We wish you and yours all the joys of the season and all the best for better times in 2021. In this edition we bring you a round up of the topics covered in our brunch talks, the news of a new Silk appointment in our team, new appointments to the family team, and our latest articles and news.

3PB sees two new Silks announced

17th December 2020

It is with great pleasure that 3PB Barristers announces that, on the recommendation of The Lord Chancellor, Her Majesty The Queen has announced her intention to appoint family barrister Lucy Hendry and public and employment law barrister Mathew Gullick as Queen's Counsel in the Ministry of Justice's new Silk appointments published today, 17 December 2020. Lucy Hendry was called to the Bar in 1988 and is a family barrister and accredited mediator who specialises in...

Max Schofield’s OnlyFans VAT case is referred to the European Court of Justice ahead of Brexit

15th December 2020

3PB’s commercial and tax barrister Max Schofield was instructed to advise Fenix International Limited, who operate the OnlyFans website, in their VAT dispute with HMRC about the VAT liability of online platforms under EU law. OnlyFans is a global social media platform where fans subscribe to creators to see online content. Led by Valentina Sloane QC of Monckton Chambers, Max obtained an order from the UK’s First-Tier Tribunal (Tax) referring the question of the validity...

3PB Barristers will be hosting the 'Oxfordshire Resolution: Private Children Law Update & Christmas Quiz' on Tuesday 15th December 2o20 via Zoom. Aimee Fox and Amy Beddis will provide an update on 'Private Children Law', considering the impact of Covid-19 on Enforcement and Variation applications and top tips for family professionals to assist with Remote Hearings. This will be followed by a Christmas Quiz. This event is FREE for members or £24 (incl VAT) for non...

Watch now: webinar on court of protection - property and affairs

9th December 2020

3PB's Emma Waldron and Matthew Wyard hosted a webinar on ''Court of Protection: Property & Affairs'' on Wednesday 9 December 2020 focusing on the issues of Deputies and their cost recoverability. In this recording Emma and Matthew discuss the decision of the Court of Protection in ACC & Ors and its impact on the ability of property and affairs deputies to recover their costs of legal proceedings from the protected party’s assets. They also consider...

Matthew Curtis edits the Employment and Discrimination team's December newsletter

3rd December 2020

Matthew Curtis welcomes you to our last Employment and Discrimination newsletter of 2020 and thanks this month's contributors: Stephen Wyeth, Karen Moss, Colin McDevitt, Sarah Bowen, Lachlan Wilson, Andrew MacPhail and Joseph England. You will find this month’s newsletter packed full of 3PB news, analysis and case law updates, as well as our opening hours over the Christmas period. You are also invited to register to attend our 10 December webinar on 'Personal injury claims...

Staffordshire County Council barrister Nicola Brown joins the family law team at 3PB  

3rd December 2020

Family barrister Nicola Brown (1998 call) is joining 3PB in Birmingham from Staffordshire County Council where she has been a senior in-house advocate undertaking many care cases involving allegations of neglect, emotional, sexual and physical abuse, child death, FII and spousal killing. Nicola, who starts with 3PB on January 4th 2021, specialises in care and placement proceedings and now acts for local authorities, parents, guardians and grandparents in cases involving serious non-accidental injury, sexual abuse, chronic...

Watch again: webinar on vicarious liability and reflective loss

2nd December 2020

3PB's Head of Chambers David Berkley QC, Seb Oram and Naomi Webber hosted a very well-attended webinar this morning on vicarious liability and reflective loss. In this lockdown year the Supreme Court has not been idle. The common law, by nature organic, was, in 2020, significantly developed or at least refined in respect of two key concepts. First, in Barclays Bank v Various Claimants [2020] UKSC 13 and WM Morrisons Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants...

Joseph England reviews the whistleblowing case of Dray Simpson v Cantor Fitzgerald

30th November 2020

3PB’s specialist employment and discrimination law barrister Joseph England, who last year authored a book on whisteblowing, provides an article examining the Court of Appeal's judgment on the case of Simpson v Cantor Fitzgerald Europe. This case revisits wide-ranging issues of various fundamental whistleblowing concepts across its seven grounds of appeal. The judgment and the earlier EAT judgment provide a useful summary and discussion about key components of whistleblowing legislation and are a comprehensive read for...

Authors discuss new legal book on school exclusions

26th November 2020

3PB education barristers Charlotte Hadfield and Alice de Coverley marked the launch of their new legal text on 'The Law in Relation to School Exclusions' with a Q&A session led by fellow barrister Lachlan Wilson yesterday (25 November). Exclusion from school is a sanction of last resort that can hugely and adversely impact a pupil’s life outcomes for many years. Moreover the law relating to school exclusions is a complex tangle of public and regulatory...

3PB and Partners in Costs discuss QOCS, Precedent T and cost management rule changes

26th November 2020

3PB Barristers and Partners in Costs reviewed QOCS, Precedent T and cost management rules changes in a very well-attended webinar on 25 November. 3PB Barrister Mark Sullivan looked at “Qualified one way costs shifting (QOCS) - Opportunities & Pitfalls. A Review of Recent Case-Law". Comments include a look at the scope of QOCS and the limitations on costs protection set out in CPR Parts 44.14 and 44.15, with particular reference to recent High Court and Court of...

3PB Family Clerks win the family law community vote at the 2020 Family Law Awards

25th November 2020

Rob Leonard, Ian Charlton and the 3PB family team clerks came out top in the public vote at this year’s Clerking Team of the Year at the prestigious Family Law Awards.  Held remotely for the first time in its ten year history, the two practice directors for the 70-strong team of family barristers were quick to thank all those who propelled them to victory this year, after missing out last year as one of the...