General News

3PB is pleased to welcome Matthew Wyard, a public law barrister specialising in the fields of education, health and social care. He joined chambers having spent his first few years of practice as an employed barrister in the public law and commercial litigation departments of a well-known specialist public law firm. Matthew brings significant experience of court-based and advisory work for claimants and local authorities in education matters, individuals and institutions in Court of Protection disputes...

The Birmingham Law Society has shortlisted Birmingham-based barrister and 3PB’s Head of Family, Vanessa Meachin QC for Barrister of the Year in 2020, alongside four other barristers in the City for this prestigious award. She is being interviewed by a panel of judges from the professional and academic legal sectors, before the winner is announced at the annual awards ceremony being held on Friday 27 March this year at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham....

3PB is sponsoring an exciting new initiative  - Women in Family Law - which aims to bring together women working in all areas of family law in order to provide support and encouragement to tackle the multitude of issues and challenges that face women working in this field. Hannah Markham QC is leading the Association as Chair of the founding board with 3PB's Vanessa Meachin QC serving on the committee. Membership to the Association is...

FIDIC today has strengthened its influential contracts committee with the arrival of a new chair Vincent Leloup and the appointment of barrister Peter Collie, 3pB's Head of Construction & Engineering, alongside Kiri Parr, regional legal counsel at Arup in Australia and Husni Madi, chief executive of Shura Construction Management in Jordan. The new chair Vincent Leloup is founder and managing partner at French construction contract consultancy Exequatur. FIDIC’s contracts committee recommends to the FIDIC board...

Stephen Wyeth has edited 3PB's latest Employment & Discrimination newsletter, including contributions from Sarah Clarke, Katherine Anderson, Naomi Webber, Grace Nicholls. Cases reviewed are: Q v Secretary of State for Justice UKEAT/0120/19/JOJ - When are Article 8 rights engaged in the context of an unfair dismissal claim and how should the engagement of such rights be approached by the tribunal? Duncan Lewis Solicitors v Puar UKEAT/0175/19/RN - Strike Out: seriousness of default and possibility of...

3PB’s Family Group has announced the recruitment of former solicitor Samantha Moore to the national chambers. Samantha brings a wealth of experience to the Bar having practised as a solicitor in family law for 19 years, including within a specialist family law firm in London, before returning to the South Coast of England in January 2011. Samantha specialises in all areas of family law including divorce proceedings, dissolution of civil partnerships, resolving disputes over children;...

Reasonable adjustments: is it relevant that the employee did not mention them? Katherine Anderson analyses Shah v TIAA Ltd UKEAT/0180/19/BA, following her successful representation of the respondent employer in this appeal before the EAT. Click here to read Katherine's analysis for the case. Click here to view the full judgment. Katherine is an experienced employment law specialist who has acted for and advised claimant and respondent employers in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. She...

Has the test for whether or not an appeal should be allowed in respect of a case management decision, as laid down in O’Cathail v Transport for London, been impliedly overruled by R (Osborn) v Parole Board? No, says the EAT in Chowdhury v Marsh Farm Futures UKEAT/0473/18/DA, siding with specialist employment barrister Sarah Clarke. Click here to read Sarah's analysis of the case. Sarah Clarke is an experienced advocate, specialising in Employment law.  Typical...

After the successful launch of Today’s Family Lawyer in 2019 and extremely positive response received from legal professionals across the family law industry, we are excited to announce the first family law Round table will take place at 3PB Birmingham on Wednesday 12th February. This event is offered on a complimentary basis, however, places are limited so please do confirm your attendance to events manager, Grace Beech ([email protected] or contact her on 01829 307 798),...

Vanessa Meachin QC, head of 3PB’s family team, attended a New Year's party on Saturday 25th January 2020 for The Birmingham Roaring Lions! The Birmingham Roaring Lions is Birmingham Children's Trust’s forum for children and young people with disabilities. It was formed to give children and young people with physical and learning disabilities a voice and a platform to champion their rights. They celebrated the completion of a highly successful year with a New Year's...

Max Schofield analyses Premier Family Martial Arts LLP (“PFMA”) v HMRC [2020] UKFTT 1 (TC), in which the First Tier Tribunal was tasked with assessing kickboxing classes and the education exemption for private tuition. Click here to read the full analysis. A shorter version was also published in the Tax Journal and is available here. Max Schofield is a commercial chancery barrister with an interest in VAT liability and rates as well as contractual disputes...

3PB Barrister Sunyana Sharma secures a conviction and sentence for the Maritime Coastguard Agency against the Master, Daniel Wakefield and the Company, London Party Boats Ltd following a collision of the vessel ‘Jewel of London’, a passenger class V vessel on the River Thames. On 13 December 2018 the ‘Jewel of London’ collided with the Marine Policing Unit pontoon in Wapping when the Master of the vessel fell asleep at the wheel after passengers had...