Graham Reid acts for lawyers, their insurers, and those who wish to use lawyers. He defends claims against larger firms; advises on legal services regulatory issues; sets up novel kinds of law firms; defends SRA investigations and disciplinary proceedings; drafts SLAs, policies, terms of business and similar; and advises firms on risk management issues, self-reporting and internal investigations.
This talk looks at the role of the panel lawyer acting for an insurer, especially one that is jointly instructed by the insurer and insured. It considers the legal limits of a joint defence retainer; how conflicts of interest can be avoided and managed; how TCF obligations interact with a panel lawyer’s duties; how subrogation retainers can be safely constructed; and related matters. The focus is very much from the insurers’ perspective, and with a view to getting the best out of panel law firms.
BILA YP is excited to announce its Speed Mentoring event, which will provide the opportunity for fantastic career insight from a host of senior names across insurance law private practice and the Market.
This event will offer the chance for many one-on-one discussions, in order to provide a helpful insight into career paths, development and advice on “dos” and “don’ts” in the profession.
Full mentor information will be provided to attendees nearer to the event to allow you to come with your questions at the ready!
The Speed Mentoring Event will be followed by our Summer Social Drinks nearby, with precise location details to be confirmed shortly. All BILA YP members are welcome to the Summer Social Drinks, not just those attending the Speed Mentoring Event.
Timings:
5.45pm: Arrival and Registration
6pm: Speed Mentoring begins
7pm: Speed Mentoring ends
7.30pm: Summer Social Drinks
Speed Networking Location: AIG, The AIG Building, 58 Fenchurch Street, London EC3M 4AB
Summer Social Drinks Location: Brewdog Outpost Tower Hill, 21 Great Tower St, London EC3R
Peter MacDonald Eggers QC is a barrister practising at 7 King’s Bench Walk in London specialising in all aspects of commercial law, with a particular emphasis on insurance and reinsurance. Peter practised as a solicitor before being called to the Bar by the Middle Temple in 1999. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in 2011. He is co-author of Good Faith and Insurance Contracts and Carver on Charterparties, author of Deceit: The Lie of the Law and The Vitiation of Contractual Consent, and a Contributing Editor of Chitty on Contracts. He teaches at University College London and King’s College London. Peter is a Deputy Judge of the High Court and sits as an arbitrator. Peter has most recently appeared as counsel in Enemalta v Standard Club Asia, Axis Corporate Capital v ABSA Group, Aegean Baltic Bank v Renzlor Shipping, Generali Italia v Pelagic Fisheries and Aspen Underwriting v Credit Europe. Peter is currently Chair of BILA.
This talk will review the remedies available under the Insurance Act 2015, the continuing influence of the principle of the utmost good faith, and how the law might be developed by the Courts in dealing with a variety of issues untouched by the Insurance Act 2015.
This session will provide an overview of the professional indemnity insurance market and legal issues arising from the recently introduced Building Safety Bill, the legislative response to the Grenfell tragedy and ongoing concerns around fire safety and cladding risk.
Roger, Helen and Ben will analyse important decisions in the professional liability sphere from the past year, concerning illegality, scope of duty and abuse of process including MBS v Grant Thornton, Khan v Meadows, Hart v Large, Lawrence v Inter-Commercial Bank, Allsop v Banner Jones, Pricewaterhouse Coopers v BTI. They will also pay tribute to the late Mark Cannon Q.C who very sadly died early this year.
Roger Stewart QC
Call: 1986 Silk: 2001
Roger has almost 30 years of experience working for every type of client in relation to disputes all over the world. Recognised as one of Chambers & Partners ‘Stars at the Bar’ and winner of the 2020 ‘Professional Negligence Silk of the Year’ award, Roger has received numerous plaudits being described in the Directories as “a great cross-examiner who is absolutely razor sharp and has an amazing facility in court”; “he is phenomenal and has cross-examination skills beyond compare”; “if something looks like it might turn into a fight he’s your man”; “Every word he says counts”; “a modern silk: he’s straightforward, courteous and clever” whose “top reputation has led to him being instructed on some of the highest-profile cases that have been fought”. Roger is one of the three general editors of Jackson & Powell on Professional Liability (Sweet & Maxwell, 8th Edition 2017) and has been an editor since the 3rd Edition (1992). He has won “Professional Negligence Silk of the Year” four times. He is a Recorder and appointed to sit in the Technology and Construction Court.
Click here to view Roger’s website profile.
Helen Evans
Call: 2001
Helen is a leading barrister practising in professional negligence, fraud, disciplinary and insurance work. She is due to be appointed QC in March 2022. Helen is ranked by the legal directories as a leading junior in the fields of professional liability, insurance and professional discipline. In 2021 she was named Junior of the Year in the Professional Negligence category by Chambers and Partners. The Legal Directories describe her as “one of the most highly regarded barristers in the field”, “highly sought after for her professional negligence expertise” and “considered a go-to by solicitors.” Helen has been listed as a recommended junior for professional liability work for some years by Legal 500, Chambers and Partners, Who’s Who Legal and Legal Experts.
Click here to view Helen’s website profile.
Ben Smiley
Call: 2009
Ben has a broad commercial practice, with a particular focus on international disputes, insurance, professional liability work, costs and sport. Ben is named a “Leading Junior” in Chambers & Partners and Legal 500. He is described as “an extremely effective advocate who often out-performs his more senior opposing counsel. He is incredibly well prepared and has a sharp focus on the detail”; “highly adept at dealing with complex issues and difficult clients under extreme time pressure”; “an emotionally intelligent advocate who can adapt his style when necessary”; “a formidable advocate in court and has achieved some remarkable victories.” Ben edits the chapter of Jackson & Powell on Professional Liability on accountants and auditors. In 2021, he was shortlisted for Professional Negligence Junior of the Year by Chambers & Partners.
Click here to view Ben’s website profile.
Hannah Farber of Columbia University will talk on how in the 18th and 19th centuries American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation. Hannah is the author of Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding.
The international information they gathered and the capital they generated enabled them to play central roles in state building and economic development. During the Revolution, they helped the U.S. negotiate foreign loans, sell state debts, and establish a national bank. Afterward, they increased their influence by lending money to the federal government and to its citizens. Even as federal and state governments began to encroach on their domain, maritime insurers adapted, preserving their autonomy and authority through extensive involvement in the formation of commercial law. Leveraging their claims to unmatched expertise, they operated free from government interference while simultaneously embedding themselves into the nation’s institutional fabric. By the early nineteenth century, insurers were no longer just risk assessors. They were nation builders and market makers.
Nathalie’s talk will cover developments in aggregation law and recent cases in this area.
Nathalie Koh, joined Fountain Court Chambers in October 2020 following the successful completion of her pupillage under the supervision of Ben Lynch QC and James Duffy. She is developing a broad commercial practice in line with chambers’ profile.
Nathalie graduated with a First Class degree in Law from the University of Oxford. She was awarded the Slaughter and May Prize, the Rajah & Tann LLP Prize, the Mander Law Prize, and the Michael Junior Scholarship. She later read for the BCL at Oxford, where she received the Princess Royal and Fountain Court Scholarships, as well as the Ralph Chiles Prize.
Prior to joining chambers, Nathalie was a teaching fellow at The Queen’s College (Oxford) in Trusts Law, and worked as a research assistant for the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Law on Chitty on Contracts, and Studies in the Contract Laws of Asia. She was also a legal adviser at Hackney Migrant Centre, working pro bono. Having grown up in Singapore, she is a native speaker of Mandarin Chinese and has a good understanding of the Asian markets.
In this talk Professor Ozlem Gurses will discuss the meaning of ‘proximate’ under the MIA 1906 s 55(1) (which is not confined to marine insurance). The talk will explore the adoption of the word ‘proximate’ by the pre-MIA 1906 cases which then led to the codification of the term under s 55(1) of the Act. It will discuss if the proximate cause rule has ever been the ‘last cause in time’ or whether its determination has always been a matter of construction of the way the loss has occurred and the policy terms. The talk will also question if there are any- differences between the words ‘attributable to’ and ‘caused by’ and it will explore the meaning of ‘concurrent independent and concurrent interdependent causes’. The talk will conclude on the two matters: is the word proximate misleading and if the so-called ‘concurrent causes’ rule is a theoretical analysis which finds little practical application in the authorities.
Özlem Gürses is Professor of Commercial Law at King’s College London. She specialises in insurance and reinsurance law. Özlem is the author of Reinsuring Clauses (Informa), Marine Insurance Law (Routledge), Insurance of Commercial Risks (Sweet and Maxwell), and The Compulsory Motor Vehicle Insurance (Informa) as well as numerous articles published on insurance and reinsurance related topics. Özlem sits in the British Insurance Law Association Committee and the Presidential Council of the International Insurance Law Association (AIDA). She is Vice-Chair of the Reinsurance Working Party of AIDA. Özlem teaches insurance and reinsurance law at King’s College London and abroad, including National University of Singapore, University of Hamburg and World Maritime University, Malmö.
In this webinar David McIlwaine and Stuart Davey, partners at Pinsent Masons, will look at recent case-law which may impact on data subject claims, particularly those following a cyber incident.
David McIlwaine
David heads Pinsent Masons’ international cyber practice. He is by pedigree a litigator and has over 25 years’ experience of advising clients in relation to contentious technology and data issues. He assists clients with all stages of the cyber life-cycle, including cyber readiness, incident response, regulatory investigation and challenge, and subsequent litigation. The team have advised on a multitude of cross-border cyber incidents. David completed a secondment to the legal department of the National Cyber Security Centre (part of the UK’s intelligence service), where he advised on regulatory issues, including in relation to the implementation of the Networks and Information Systems Regulations (NIS), which affects organisations that provide critical national infrastructure.
Stuart Davey
Stuart Davey is a partner in the cyber team at Pinsent Masons. He advises on cyber readiness, breach response, and litigation arising out of data breaches. Stuart advises corporate and insurer clients in responding to cyber incidents by instructing IT forensics teams, working with criminal authorities and extortion experts, and engaging credit monitoring service providers. As part of this he has assisted numerous clients with the notification of personal data breaches to regulators (the ICO, FCA and otherwise), and with the management of the resulting investigation. Post-incident, Stuart advises on data controller/processor disputes and the risks relating to data subject claims (and dealing with these claims when they arise). Stuart also advises both suppliers and customers of distressed technology projects. He is experienced in litigation, arbitration, mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.
Liverpool in 1862 closely resembled Beriln in 1962, both cities replete with spies. In 1862 Confederate agent James Bulloch, by a combination of deviousness and good luck, persuaded Birkenhead shipyards to construct and release two vessels, later to become The Florida and The Alabama, for Confederate use. As it turned out, that use was to lay waste to a significant proportion of the Union merchant fleet. The events brought Britain and the US close to war, averted largely by the efforts of Lord Selborne in his successive capactites as law officer of the Crown, advocate in international arbitration and Lord of Appeal in the famous case of Burnand v Rodocanachi. (1882) 7 App Cas 333. The Alabama saga has been superbly described by two lawyers whose loss we all lament, Lord Bingham and Johnny Veeder QC. This lecture takes the Alabama a step further, to discuss its implications for claims for property damage in the New Zealand earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 and for the measure of indemnity under business interruption policies for COVID-19 losses. The lecture draws heavily on the speaker’s Marine Insurance: A Legal History, published in November 2021.
Rob Merkin QC, whose attempted retirement three years ago has proved an abject failure, is Professor of Law at the University of Reading, Emeritus Professor at the University of Exeter, Honorary Professor at Auckland University and China University of Politics and Law and Special Counsel to Duncan Cotterill. Rob is past President of BILA, honorary life President of AIDA and author of a number of works on insurance law and arbitration. He sits as an arbitrator when someone is kind enough to offer an appointment.