General News

Property conveyancing solicitors and tax practitioners involved with stamp duty land tax need to be wary after a rise in claims against them for professional negligence for failing to advise on, or failure to submit a return for, Multiple Dwelling Relief (MDR). 3PB’s commercial and tax specialist barrister Max Schofield, who has described the present spike in claims as  a “new negligence outbreak”, explains the importance of multiple dwellings relief when considering stamp duty land...

November employment law update out now!

18th November 2020

3PB employment and discrimination barristers Stephen Wyeth and Lachlan Wilson talk about the latest rules on furlough, Vaughan v Modality Partnership, and Remote Hearings - Practice Direction and Open Justice. Bring yourself right up to date with the latest in employment law by watching this recording coming in at just over an hour:

Family barrister Hayley Manser (2015 call) has today, Monday 16 November 2020, joined 3PB from another chambers with London and South Coast offices, and will work jointly from the national chambers’ Bournemouth and Bristol offices. Hayley has already built up a busy practice in family law and is regularly instructed on a broad range of matters including public and private law children proceedings, matrimonial finance and Family Law Act proceedings. She is regularly instructed in...

Sunyana Sharma features in Counsel magazine about becoming a barrister as a young Asian female

13th November 2020

3PB’s specialist crime and regulatory barrister Sunyana Sharma was featured in the September 2020 issue of Counsel magazine describing her own experiences becoming a barrister as part of the Black Lives Matter campaign. In this article Sunyana describes her own experience and struggles in becoming a barrister as a young Asian female. ‘‘Imagine being a young Asian barrister walking into an eight-handed sentence hearing in a ‘conspiracy to handle stolen goods’ case, picked up the...

Sunyana Sharma tackles lack of ethnic diversity in Counsel magazine

13th November 2020

Counsel magazine featured an article from 3PB’s specialist crime and regulatory barrister Sunyana Sharma, alongside Anjali Gohil of Guildhall Chambers, about the lack of ethnic diversity on the Western Circuit. The article which appeared in Counsel magazine in November states that ‘‘no full-time circuit judge on the Western Circuit appears to be from an ethnic minority. To break that down – there are 12 crown court centres on the Western Circuit, comprised of between one...

3PB sponsors workshop at Family Law Live

13th November 2020

3PB's family team is sponsoring the The Courts and Procedure Update workshop at Resolution's Family Law Live event on 23 November. Family Law Live is a one-day virtual summit including workshops on key sector updates across six areas: Legal Aid, Tax & Pensions, International Law & Brexit, Children, Family Courts and Safeguarding National Chair Juliet Harvey will open the event by reflecting on the challenges of 2020 and how Resolution will help members navigate the...

Max Schofield successfully opposes HMRC's appeal in VAT zero-rating case

13th November 2020

Indirect tax specialist Max Schofield successfully acted for the Respondent juice cleanse company before the Upper Tribunal in HMRC v The Core (Swindon) Ltd [2020] UKUT 0301 (TCC). In this case, a programme of juices was held by the FTT to be zero-rated food rather than standard-rated beverages. Following this decision, HMRC were refused permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal on the papers twice but were eventually granted permission on a limited ground following...

Colin McDevitt and Karen Moss present an update on whistleblowing

13th November 2020

3PB employment barristers Colin McDevitt and Karen Moss presented employment law webinar on 'Whistleblowing: key concepts, injunctions and updates on procedure' on 12th November. Topics covered include "Key concepts, interim injunctions and recent cases" and “Whistleblowing: latest procedural considerations; and what is a detriment?", including a number of key cases. You can watch the webinar on demand here:  

Sarah Bowen interviewed by Central TV about legal issues and the furlough scheme

11th November 2020

3PB employment barrister Sarah Bowen was interviewed by Bob Warman of Central TV News yesterday about holiday leave during furlough, a scheme that is likely to last until the Spring of 2020. Speaking as a member of the Birmingham Law Society, Sarah has advised that employers should not assume that forced holiday leave is the answer. Specifically, the COVID guidance on holiday entitlement states that it is necessary for an employer requiring an employee to take...

Rachael Goodall highlights the impact of COVID-19 on women at the Bar for Counsel magazine

11th November 2020

Counsel magazine has featured 3PB’s specialist family law barrister - and Chair of the Western Circuit Women’s Forum (WCWF) - Rachael Goodall has set out the WCWF’s proposals to mitigate the threat of significant and disproportionate attrition of women from the Bar due to the Coronavirus pandemic. In Back to the Bar 2019, the Western Circuit’s Women’s Forum (WCWF) published evidence showing that two-thirds of those who left the Bar over a six-year period were women....

Berenice Mulvanny successfully prosecutes in county lines case

11th November 2020

3PB’s specialist criminal law barrister Berenice Mulvanny successfully prosecuted Stephan Gomes and Gary Black for their involvement in a sophisticated and significant county lines class A drugs network from Croydon dealing in the Portsmouth area. Both defendants faced multiple counts of being concerned in the supply of Heroin and Crack Cocaine and Gomes also faced possession with intent to supply Heroin and Crack Cocaine and possession of criminal property. Gomes ran the county lines “Justin”...

Mark Sullivan represents parents at inquest

10th November 2020

Mark Sullivan represented the parents of Arietta-Grace Barnett (d.o.b. 6th June 2017) at the Inquest into her death on 9th July 2019. In the course of the two day hearing in Winchester Coroner’s Court on 4/5th November 2020, the Coroner, Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp, heard evidence into the tragic circumstances of Arietta’s death. She had been taken to hospital on 28th June 2019 following the suspected accidental ingestion of a toilet cleaning product. She was detained in...