News

National chambers 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) has seen 75 barristers ranked  - including 24 new rankings - across London, South East, Western and Midlands Circuits and in 16 categories of law across all its practice areas in the latest Legal 500 rankings of UK lawyers. The set was ranked for the first time in Wales and Chester this year. Simon Astill, Chief Executive at 3PB, said: “I am extremely proud. This is an excellent recognition...

New family pupil barrister Sam Pentony joins fellow Second Six pupil Alex Leonhardt “on their feet” and taking instructions for court representation, advocacy and advisory work. Civil pupil Alex Leonhardt’s caseload is focused on education, employment and housing law. Alex graduated top of his year on the GDL, obtaining a distinction on every paper. He was awarded the third highest mark on the BPTC with the top mark in his cohort for cross-examination and opinion...

3PB set to host 70’s-themed virtual charity quiz on Thursday for Birmingham Law Society

29th September 2020

3PB Barristers will be hosting a virtual quiz for Birmingham Law Society this Thursday 1st October 2020. The quiz will be in aid of the charity Child Brain Injury Trust CBIT, which is BLS President Inez Brown and the Birmingham Law Society’s nominated charity for 2020; and coincidentally a longstanding charity supported by the national chambers. To find out more, please click here. CBIT is an exceptional charity giving support for both emotional and practical...

The remote witnessing of wills: a last resort

25th September 2020

Until now, for a will or codicil to be valid, “presence” in the Wills Act 1837 required for the testator to be in the “line of sight”. This did not allow for the remote witnessing of wills. Probate barrister Lydia Pemberton examines The Wills Act 1837 (Electronic Communications) (Amendment) (Coronavirus) Order 2020, which expressly provides that ““presence” includes presence by means of video conference or other visual transmission”, in real-time, for wills made since 31...

Daniel Brown and Grace Nicholls outline upcoming changes to Employment Tribunal rules

24th September 2020

3PB employment and discrimination barristers Daniel Brown and Grace Nicholls sum up the likely implications of the changes to the rules surrounding Employment Tribunals. Last week the government announced a raft of changes to increase flexibility within the Employment Tribunal system with the objectives of hearing more cases, opening up court space, swifter resolution of claims for employees and employers, deployment of a greater range of judicial expertise and greater use of virtual hearings. In...

3PB is delighted to announce that former specialist care solicitor Carol Clelland (Qualified:1994, Call: 2019)  - who transferred to the Bar last year - has become a tenant and full member of the 200-strong national barristers’ chambers. She joined its busy Family team and is based from their expanding Birmingham office. A former Head of the Care Department  at the law firm Cartwright King, Carol has specialised in care and associated proceedings for over 20...

3PB commercial barrister Neil Fawcett has prepared a summary briefing for clients and UK businesses and their lawyers on the test case of Financial Conduct Authority v Arch Insurance (UK) Ltd. and Ors [2020] EWHC 2448 (Comm) which was handed down last week in a 160-page judgement. The briefing outlines some of the interesting features of the decision and how this will affect insurance claims. The judgment will provide significant scope for argument but it...

Family Law Clerking Team of the Year – vote for us here

22nd September 2020

We are delighted that 3PB (3 Paper Buildings) has been shortlisted again for the ‘Clerking Team of the Year’ award at the Family Law Awards 2020. In keeping with tradition, the Clerking Team of the Year award is voted for by the legal community. So please help Rob, Ian and the rest of the 3PB family clerking team to win this coveted award this year and vote for them by clicking here.

Welcome to the second edition of the 3PB Education Team’s newsletter, edited by Matthew Wyard and featuring contributions from Caroline Stone, Katherine Anderson, Emma Waldron, Sarah Bowen, Naomi Webber, Alice de Coverley and news about Emma Waldron, Matthew Wyard and Hannah Bush. The past few months have been packed full with news and changes for the sector, with some of the most interesting changes for years, both from a political and legal perspective. Editing this quarter’s...

3PB are delighted to announce that one of its 70-strong specialist family barristers, Melissa Barlow, has been appointed to the Circuit Bench.  Her Honour Judge Barlow will sit in the Bristol CJC, hearing Family cases. Called to the bar in 1991, Melissa was appointed as Recorder in 2016, authorised to hear Family Law cases on the Western Circuit. With over 20 years’ experience in family law, Melissa had a wide ranging family practice encompassing all...

3PB Barristers specialist employment and discrimination barristers Lachlan Wilson and Daniel Brown have just delivered the webinar, “Preparing for redundancies” to over 200 employment lawyers. Recent figures showed 300,000 redundancies in the UK simply during June and July 2020. Next month -October – sees the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS)  goes down to 60% of wages with employers contributing 20% and finishes at the end of the month.  Many companies face continued drop off in...

In this webinar “Article 2 engagement and effect” our speakers Sunyana Sharma and Susan Jones explore the effect of the recent decision of Maguire v HM Senior Coroner for Blackpool [2020] EWCA Civ 738 and the effect this will have on when Article 2 is and is not likely to be engaged. They also considered the impact of Article 2 on the inquest procedure with a particular focus on the impact it has on the...