Maitland Chambers

23 Jul 21

Maitland team successfully defend US$50 million claim for collapse of renewable energy company

Following a 4-week trial in March 2021, Mrs Justice Joanna Smith DBE has handed down judgment dismissing the claims in TMO Renewables Limited (in liquidation) v Yeo and others [2021] EWHC 2033 (Ch) against four former directors and a former adviser to the Board....

16 Jul 21

Maitland Chambers Members Represent Both Sides of Sex Pistols Dispute

One of the largest entertainment cases has begun in the High Court today with both sides being represented by members of Maitland Chambers. The case concerns a dispute between two former Sex Pistols band members and frontman Johnny Rotten (real name John Lydon) over the use of their songs in a television series which is due to air next year....

14 Jul 21

Maitland Chambers Welcomes New Tenants

Maitland Chambers is delighted to announce that Edlyn Livesey and Rory Forsyth have both accepted invitations to join Chambers as tenants from Tuesday 14 September, having both exceeded the high standard of excellence demanded of pupils at Maitland....

28 Jun 21

Danish Tax Agency Pays £46 Million Of Legal Costs in UK Case

Michael Gibbon QC was asked to comment on the recent SKAT decision in the Commercial Court by a specialist tax publication in the US....

21 Jun 21

Privy Council Appeal in ITG v Fort Trustees

Thomas Fletcher appeared with Simon Taube QC of 10 Old Square and James Brightwell of Serle Court in the Privy Council appeal in ITG v Fort Trustees. The appeal from the Court of Appeal of Guernsey was heard together with the appeal from the Court of Appeal of Jersey in Equity Trust (Jersey) Ltd v Halabi over 3 days on 15 to 17 June 2021 before a 7-member panel of the Judicial Committee. The appeal raises fundamental issues regarding the nature of the trustee’s right of indemnity and the order of priority where a trust is “insolvent”. A summary of the issues and facts can be read here....

20 Jun 21

Pickering v Hughes & Ors [2021] EWHC 1672 (Ch)

Amanda Hadkiss (led by Richard Wormald QC of 3 Raymond Buildings) represented the executor of an estate in the trial of various claims between members of a family relating to a portfolio of residential and commercial properties and certain chattels. The case was heard in a seven-day trial before the Chancery Division of the High Court in Leeds. Judgment was handed down on 18 June 2021 and is available on Bailii here. ...

20 Jun 21

New authority from the Patents Court on unlawful distributions by companies

A new judgment of the Patents Court in London contains an important discussion of the circumstances in which a transaction by a company will be treated as ultra vires and void as an unlawful distribution to a shareholder at common law. Meade J gave judgment on 17 June 2021 in Add2 Research & Development Ltd v dSpace Ltd and another [2021] EWHC 1630 (Pat), following a six-day remote trial in the Patents Court in London. The claimant sought damages for patent infringement....

11 Jun 21

‘Rights, Powers and Remedies in Commercial Law’

Our members have a long history of contributing to scholarship about the law, particularly with Sweet & Maxwell. In recent years this has included the publication of 'Civil Fraud: Law, Practice & Procedure' (1st edn 2018; supplement forthcoming), edited by Thomas Grant QC and David Mumford QC with contributions from several members of Chambers; 'Snell’s Equity' (34th edn 2019), edited by John McGhee QC and Steven Elliott QC (of One Essex Court); 'Foskett on Compromise' (9th edn 2019), to which Rosanna Foskett is a contributor; and three works on trusts and wills to which Thomas Fletcheris a contributor. We are delighted that a new book to be published by Sweet & Maxwell has gone off to the printer today. In 'Rights, Powers and Remedies in Commercial Law', Ryan Turner looks principally at the ways in which legal powers encountered in different areas of commercial and chancery practice are reined in by the law and the entitlements of shareholders, creditors, and others to participate in collective decision-making processes that lead to the exercise (or not) of a contractual or statutory “majority” power. The book is available for pre-order here....

10 Jun 21

Maitland Chambers Invites Applications for Tenancy

Maitland Chambers is the leading set for commercial chancery barristers. Our members are consistently recognised for their excellence in commercial and all aspects of chancery practice, for the multi-specialist nature of their expertise, and for their commitment to the highest standards of advocacy....