Left: Sir Colin Birss presents the Pro Bono award to Raghav Trivedi.

Centre: Alex Pritchard Jones (MCCBA), DJ Philip Mantle (Birmingham BPC), Raghav Trivedi, Michelle Caney (MCCBA).

Right: The event reception kindly hosted by St Philips Chambers.

A message from our Chair regarding Mr Stephen Whitaker:

I just want to take a moment, with sadness, to mark the death of Stephen Whitaker, a member of the Association, who passed away on the 16th of January.

Stephen was a well-respected and deeply valued member of No5 Chamber’s Business & Property Group and the MCCBA. I know many of you who had the privilege of knowing him, will agree that he will be deeply missed. 

Stephen joined No5 as an associate tenant in 1982. He was the first Chancery lawyer to do so. He joined No5 full time in 1996 and was instrumental in helping develop Chancery specialism in No5 and in Birmingham. He was the joint editor of Mithani: Directors’ Disqualification and several other books, including the title “Corporate Insolvency” in the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents (2004). He was also a pupil supervisor to current members of the association. 

St Philips Chambers, 55 Temple Row, Birmingham B2 5LS

Registration from 4.45, Panel at 5.00, drinks and networking at 6.00.

Please register via secretary@mccba.co.uk

MCCBA – 16 October Event Flyer

Mr Justice Foxton’s talk on ‘Courtroom Ringcraft’ from the Birmingham BPC Forum event in September 2024.

Prof Graham Virgo: Disgorging Profits for Breach of Fiduciary Duty (Powerpoint)

Prof Graham Virgo: Disgorging Profits for Breach of Fiduciary Duty (PDF)

Future Trends in Insolvency Litigation & Directors’ Liability

HHJ Rawlings: “Too Much Foss Harbottle Nothing?”

Brid Holden (Gowling WLG): “Directors Disqualification: Emerging Trends”

Chris Umfreville (Aston University): “Compensation orders and Undertakings: Emerging Opportunities”

5.30pm for 6.00pm start – networking and nibbles to follow

Attendance is free but please register via secretary@mccba.co.uk

Dear all,  

Details of the Scheme are available here and you can download an application form (MS Word) here.

The MCCBA and Birmingham Law Society, as part of the Birmingham Business and Property Courts Forum, are delighted to present the latest in our series of events. The former Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court, Mr Justice Foxton,  will speak on “Ten Great Courtroom Dramas and What We Can Learn From Them”. This event will also be an opportunity to introduce Mr Justice Michael Green as the incoming Business and Property Courts Supervising Judge for the Midland, Western and Wales Circuits and Mr Justice Henshaw as the new Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. Drinks will follow the presentation, to provide a networking forum for the whole dispute resolution community.

Please click here for event and booking details

Our recent talk and discussion panel on Financial Dispute Resolution hearings in the Birmingham Business and Property Courts, featuring HHJ Williams.

We are thrilled to see His Lordship’s well-deserved promotion and hugely grateful for everything he has done for those on Circuit whilst he has been our supervising judge. We wish him well in his new appointment.

Appointment of Lord Justices of Appeal: 12 June 2024

An invitation has been sent to all MCCBA members – if you have not received this, please contact secretary@mccba.co.uk

Open to MCCBA members and to pupil barristers interested in Chancery and Commercial law.

Want to boost your career development and improve your current trajectory? 

Aimed at Business and Property barristers who are in their first 10 years of practice, this panel discussion will be hosted by Ali Tabari (St Phillips Chambers) with contributions from DDJ Simon Bradshaw and DDJ Rebecca Keeves (both of Cornwall St Chambers) and Louise Corfield (No5 Chambers). This discussion will observe The Chatham House Rule, to allow for honest questions and frank answers and will cover topics including:

• How to promote yourself and build your profile inc social media
• Professional and internal Networking
• Getting into the directories and progressing within them
• Building relationships with the judiciary
• Part time judicial appointments
• Having the right relationship with your clerks
• Developing your CV within and outside of the bar

RSVP to secretary@mccba.co.uk

Part 81 of the Civil Procedure Rules was comprehensively overhauled in October 2020, simplifying and streamlining the procedure for committal for contempt. In this MCCBA online seminar Simon Bradshaw (Cornwall Street Barristers) will describe the new rules and review the key elements of committal applications, and His Honour Judge Rawlings will give a judicial perspective of committal hearings.

Please join by following this link and entering your details on the booking page together with any advance questions for the panellists.  This event is open to non-members so do please forward the link to any colleagues who you think may be interested.

Notice for Court Users – Birmingham QB and County Court (revised 18 May 2020) v3

At present, the plan is to re-arrange the dinner for a date in the late Summer/early Autumn.  The committee will be in touch with further details when they are decided.

Lord Justice Newey will be familiar to members through his role as our previous presider in the Business and Property Courts in Birmingham.

Please RSVP to the Secretary to confirm attendance and provide details of any dietary requirements.

UPDATE 16th MARCH: Regrettably, owing to the COVID-19 situation, this event has been cancelled. The MCCBA Committee plans to re-arrange the dinner for later in the year. 

Further information is available here.

Judicial Appointments Commission: Appointment as High Court Judge

Courts and Tribunals Judiciary: High Court Judge Appointments 

Ed will be very much missed both by the Association and the Midlands Bar, but we all wish him the very best in his new appointment.

www.justgiving.com/HHCharlesPurle

A view from the bench – a specialist judge in a general court

Tuesday 17 July, 5.30pm at St Philips Chambers.

Please RSVP to Imogen Halstead via secretary@mccba.co.uk

His Honour Charles Purle QC recently retired as a Senior Circuit Judge and Specialist Chancery Judge, having been appointed in 2007. Called to the Bar in 1970, he took silk in 1989, was Head of New Square Chambers from 2003 to 2007 and was Chairman of the Chancery Bar Association from 2004 to 2007. Although due to have retired in early 2017, he extended his service to assist with ensuring local judicial cover for Chancery matters, and was thus able to complete his career as one of the first judges to sit in the newly-established Business and Property Courts at Birmingham.

District Judge Debora O’Regan was admitted to the roll in 1985 and was appointed a Deputy District Judge in May 1993 and a District Judge in June 1998, and served on the International Committee of the Judicial College.

HH Charles Purle QC’s funeral will take place at St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham, on Monday 4th June 2018 at 2.30 pm.

RSVP to Imogen Halstead (not necessary if you did so for the original date) via secretary@mccba.co.uk

Tuesday 5 December, 4.15pm — Birmingham Civil Justice Centre, 6^th Floor

Judge Watson is now in post as our new TCC judge. Please join your colleagues to welcome our latest s.9 judge to the fold. No robes required. Followed by:

Business & Property Courts Users’ Meeting

Tuesday 5 December, 4.45pm — Birmingham Civil Justice Centre, 6^th Floor

Please do attend in good numbers to support the local courts and voice any concerns that you have about the service provided.

Valedictory for HHJ Charles Purle QC

Wednesday 10^th January, Time TBC — Birmingham Civil Justice Centre

Details to follow nearer the time.

Please RSVP to Imogen Halstead via secretary@mccba.co.uk

Business and Property Courts in Birmingham (PDF, 3MB)

(Pictures © S Bradshaw,  S Carr and MCCBA, taken with the kind permission of HMCTS.)

• Foreword by Mr Justice Haddon-Cave, Mrs Justice Carr and Mr Justice Newey
• Explanation of the Business and Property Courts by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court, and Sir Brian Leveson, President of the Queen’s Bench Division
• The Significance of the new Business and Property Courts – a view by Ed Pepperall QC
• Judicial Profiles
• Court Contact Details

Business and Property Courts in Birmingham (PDF, 3MB)

Additional, very generous support has been given to this event by the High Sheriffs of the West Midlands, John Hudson OBE DL (2017/8) and Keith Bradshaw DL (2016/7) and by the Property Litigation Association.

Ed Pepperall QC, Chairman of the MCCBA, said: “The Association is delighted to be working with all of our fellow sponsors. We are particularly pleased to see the support so willingly given to regional specialist practice by the national specialist bar associations. Thanks also to Lexis-Nexis for deploying its professional publishing capability to support this event and to our other co-sponsors for their support. I look forward to a successful launch event and to the success of these new courts.”

This is a one day training event focusing on the handling of expert witnesses and costs £40.

The course is suitable for Practitioners over 5 years’ call with either:

• A Chancery/commercial practice
• A medical negligence practice

Places are limited to 24 per specialist area.

Further details about the event, and a link to the booking form, can be found here.

Conference Leaflet (PDF)

These new courts will combine the strengths of the Chancery Division in Birmingham with the specialist courts of the Queen’s Bench Division, Technology and Construction (TCC) and Mercantile, and will introduce flexible listing and modern procedures. . The courts will aim to meet three objectives:

• ensuring that each case is managed to deliver progress to trial without delay;
• trial by the most appropriate judge (whether a member of the resident specialist judiciary or a High Court Judge); and
• the provision of an efficient and effective service utilising modern technology to best advantage.

This innovation has been the result of the combined efforts of the HMCTS Birmingham, Regional and High Court teams and the local specialist judges and the Circuit and District Bench. The Midlands Chancery and Commercial Bar Association is very pleased to have been able to lend it support to the creation of the new Courts.

The Chancellor of the High Court and the President of the Queen’s Bench Division have prepared an explanatory statement regarding the new Business and Property Courts.

Commenting on his appointment, MCCBA Chairman, Ed Pepperall QC, said “Judge Worster regularly practised in Mercantile work at the Bar and will be known to many in Birmingham’s legal community as a very effective commercial barrister. Since his appointment to the bench, he has proved himself to be a fair and user-friendly judge who has earned the trust and respect of the legal community. He is ideally placed to resurrect the fortunes of the Birmingham Mercantile Court.”

MCCBA Chairman, Ed Pepperall QC, said “The Association is delighted to welcome Judge Patrick McCahill QC back to Birmingham. He was a very successful Chancery & Commercial barrister in the city before his appointment as Chancery judge in Bristol. He returns to us after 10 years’ exile with an excellent reputation as a popular and respected judge. Birmingham can now boast an exceptionally strong Chancery bench as Patrick joins Judges Charles Purle QC, Simon Barker QC and David Cooke.”

More details of James and his appointment are available here.

(photo: St Philips Stone)

If users of the website have any comments  as to its layout, content or operation then please do let us know by contacting the Association at jmorgan@st-philips.com