General News

Gareth Graham reports on two important appeals which took place this month. Both were live-streamed from the Supreme Court, and the judgments will be promulgated later in the year. The first, Uber v Aslam and others, concerns the well-known private hire vehicle booking service. Journeys are booked through a smartphone app, which connects passengers to drivers. The drivers contend that, during the periods covered by their claims, they were “workers” for the purposes of the...

The Judicial College Equal Treatment Bench Book has issued guidance for judges on the conduct of remote hearings. Employment Barrister Gareth Graham outlines its key findings. The guidance states that remote hearings are “by no means the new normal”, but that they will continue to have a place in the future. It acknowledges that the pandemic has left many cases languishing, and that the natural inclination is to get them heard as soon as possible....

Following the publication of an independent evaluation of HMCTS video hearings, Employment Barrister Gareth Graham briefly compares the 3PB team's experiences with the research's key findings. The research reports on a process evaluation of the user experience of video hearings in the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber). The pool of data is limited, and the pilot used an early technical product to test the concept of video hearings, so it is perhaps of limited direct relevance...

It has now been a full month since tribunals reopened their doors to in-person hearings on 29 June 2020. Employment barrister Gareth Graham provides an update of what has changed since the reopening. During the past month, guidance as to how those in-person hearings should operate has not changed to any significant degree. On a practical level, hearing venues have taken steps to allow for social distancing. For example, at Reading, two of the four hearing rooms...

3PB’s specialist family and education law barrister, Aimee Fox has had an article published in the Family Law Journal. Aimee has provided her insight into how a child's additional needs may have an impact on private law and financial remedy proceedings. She also gives tips on where evidence can be found and what to look for. To read the full article, which was first published in June 2020 in the Family Law Journal, please click here. To discuss...

Part 2 of 3PB's pupillage series 'To Pupillage and Beyond' is available to watch now! Find out more about the life of a barrister and about options through your career – such as achieving a judicial appointment, becoming an author or taking silk – from the people who’ve done it. In this video you’ll ‘meet’ a selection of 3PB barristers from the very junior to the most top ranking silks and hear about how their...

3PB Barrister, arbitrator, adjudicator (construction industry) & civil / commercial mediator Paul Newman will take part on 31 July at 12:00 in a Webinar looking at different ADR/ NCDR (non-court dispute resolution) models such as mediation, arbitration and early neutral evaluation. This free one-hour online event will give tips for those considering to use ADR to help the resolution of cases, with a focus on using ADR to navigate the backlog caused by the current...

3PB Commercial Barrister Marc Brittain and Pupil Barrister Mariya Peykova consider complex commercial arrangements and the difficulties they can create for parties where their obligations are set out in a multitude of related contracts of a single contract containing inconsistent dispute resolution clauses. Marc and Mariya explore the most common scenarios in which courts are asked to interpret inconsistent dispute resolution clauses, with particular focus on the ‘centre of gravity’ approach, adopted by courts. Click...

3PB specialist intellectual property (IP) barrister Victoria Jones has successfully represented British Gymnastics in its action against UK Gymnastics. Following a 2 day hearing in March, on Friday 26 June 2020, HHJ Melissa Clarke sitting as an Enterprise Judge in the IPEC, handed down a 66 page judgment finding in British Gymnastics’ favour on every count of registered trade mark infringement and passing off. A copy of the judgment can be found here. Specialist IP barrister...

Rebecca Farrell analyses Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd v Lufthansa Technik AG, in which the High Court found that there was no duty of good faith or duty to act reasonably in respect of an option to withdraw engines from a maintenance agreement. The judgment provides a helpful discussion of the case law concerning the principles of contractual interpretation and implied terms. It also serves as a reminder to practitioners that evidence of statements made in...

In the first of a short series of bite size articles, Jonathan Underhill takes a deeper look into the enforcement of the Novel Food regime and seeks to identify and breakdown the powers made available to those agencies, who are tasked with securing compliance. In this article Jonathan gives an introductory overview of ·   The imported Section 9 FSA 1990 regime ·   Civil sanctions under Section 5 ·   Criminal sanctions under Section 4 ·   The Brexit transition and its...

Members of 3PB's family team presented “You be The Judge of That” - an interactive virtual FDR last week. You can now watch the event back via the video below! The unique interactive FDR format put our delegates in the Judge’s Chair, asked them to solve contemporary legal problems and participate in live online polling. Our specialist panel of DDJs and Recorders including Hamish Dunlop Michael George Elizabeth McGrath QC Vanessa Meachin QC Simon Lillington Tonia Clark and Rachael Goodall shared their...