General News

Paul Newman is a Barrister and Mediator specialising in construction law at 3PB Barristers. He considers the issue of when claims consultants become lawyers, a question which arose at a case management stage in Kenneth Alex Wattret / Laurie Grace Wattret v Thomas Sands Consulting Ltd [2015] EWHC 3455 (TCC). In this case the Court considered the Defendant’s application for permission to rely on expert evidence. However, the case is ongoing and the Court has...

The facts Dr Raj Mattu was employed as a cardiologist at the Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry. In 2001, Dr Mattu made protected disclosures concerning patient safety both on television and in printed press. He was later suspended until 2007 and by 2010 he had been dismissed. In 2013, Jack Mitchell and Joe England represented Dr Mattu in his lengthy fight for justice. The legal papers that made up Dr Mattu’s claim ran to over 20,000...

Jodie Mittell, criminal law barrister at 3PB, prosecuted in the case of the Olympic silver medallist diver, Pete Waterfield, who was hit by a car and suffered head injuries after being pushed into its path. Jamie Campbell was jailed for a year for the unprovoked attack in Southampton. To read the full story, please click here. 3PB’s 36 strong criminal law group enjoys an unrivalled reputation for its expertise. A member of this team, Jodie...

Sunyana Sharma was invited to give a seminar to the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA) to train delegates from around the Country at the Annual IFCA Enforcement Course in Torquay on 3 February 2016.  Sunyana provided a lecture on Understanding Evidence and its impact in Court, which covered the practical aspects of case preparation, presenting evidence and being a good witness.  Delegates included IFCA Officers from the South, Cornwall, Isle of Scilly, Sussex, Devon and Severn, North East...

3PB are delighted to announce that Michelle Marnham, formerly of Tanfield Chambers, has joined chamber’s Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence team. Michelle specialises in Personal Injury, associated Professional Negligence and Fatal Accident Claims, with extensive experience in catastrophic injury, occupational disease and psychological injury.  She is regularly instructed in cases with technical aspects on liability as well as a variety of employers’ liability, Highways Act claims and RTA claims.  Michelle’s Professional Negligence experience includes allegations...

Victoria Jones is recommended as a Junior Counsel in the World Trademark Review 1000 2016 for her expertise in intellectual property matters: “Victoria Jones of 3PB has a great reputation on trademark and passing off matters”. Victoria’s IP practice covers all aspects of trademarks, passing off, copyright, designs, database rights and breach of confidence actions. She has extensive experience in the High Court, Patents County Court/IPEC and the UKIPO, including applications for interim injunctions and...

Continuing breach is an area of law that has suffered from a level of uncertainty. In the context of professional risk, it is often important to limitation arguments, in order to determine when a breach of duty has occurred. Christopher Edwards (Call 2008) analyses the most recent contribution of the Court of Appeal, in Capita (Banstead 2011) Ltd v. RFIB Group Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 310. Christopher is a Commercial Law barrister with a particular...

Christopher Edwards, Business and Commercial barrister, provides a case update in the matter of Capita (Banstead 2011) Ltd v RFIB Group Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 310. In this case, the Court of Appeal reconsidered the issue of continuing liability in the context of breach of contract, an area of law that has suffered from a level of uncertainty following decisions on similar facts leading to differing judgments. The relevance of continuing breach normally relates to...

3PB is delighted to welcome new barristers as members of Chambers, who bring with them many years experience practising in a variety of areas of Law. William Webster (Year of Call: 1975) formerly of 12 College Place, advises on traditional land and planning matters, including highways, as well as general Chancery work involving land, rights over land and development issues. Christopher Edwards (Year of Call: 2008) formerly of Forum Chambers, is welcomed back to 3PB...

Hayley Griffiths acted on behalf of the Local Authority (Swindon Borough Council) in what Sir James Munby, President of the Family Division, described as  “the most difficult care case” he has ever done and further citing the case as being “desperately sad and worrying”. The issue in the Matter of D (A Child) (No 3) involved whether a little boy, D, should live with his parents, or, if they could not adequately look after him,...

The High Court has held (Burgess v. Lejonvarn 2016] EWHC 40 (TCC)) that a construction professional can owe a duty of care in negligence even where they had no expectation of payment for the work performed. Considering recent developments in the law of negligence in the construction sector, the Court also held that a duty of care may arise in respect of any special skill that a construction professional exercises on behalf of his client;...

3PB’s Katie Lee looks at a recent judgment in the Court of Appeal dealing with adjudication.  The case concerned an appeal by Harding, a building contractor, against a judgment of the TCC refusing to grant either an injunction or a declaration to prevent an adjudication from going forward. The central issue was whether an earlier adjudication on related matters shut out a new adjudication.