Christian is the Litigation Editor at The Lawyer, where he covers domestic and global disputes, as well as writing The Hearing and Disputes Signal. He also co-hosts and produces The Lawyer Podcast. Prior to joining The Lawyer, he worked at Times Radio. Christian was a commercial and sports disputes solicitor for several years in London and New Zealand before becoming a journalist.
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Hearing, your weekly insider’s guide to the UK’s litigation market. It is the May 1 and hundreds of lawyers are stepping into their first day as new partners. Litigation promotions were a mixed bag across US firms. Several major players, namely Quinn Emanuel and Hogan Lovells, did not […]
The wait is finally over. In just under a week, the transformational merger between Allen & Overy and Shearman & Sterling will go live. But while the deal is done, the job is only just beginning. On this episode of The Lawyer Podcast, editor Catrin Griffiths and litigation editor Christian Smith look at how the […]
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Hearing, your insider’s guide to the UK litigation market. As the Lords and the Commons finally settled on the new Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill in the early hours of Tuesday morning, attention began to shift to how the Government planned, both practically and legally, to […]
Sports law is increasingly competitive in the UK. As big money flows into many sports, more and more firms are seeking to take the field. But at the Bar, one chambers continues to lead the pack. So for this week’s Spotlight, we explore the history, structure and success of Blackstone Chambers’ sports law group. The […]
Welcome to this week’s edition of The Hearing, your weekly insider’s guide to the UK litigation market. This week, the UK Government wants more people to say they’re sorry, while we consider Monckton Chambers’ strange collection of celebrity tenants. But first, Monday saw the opening day of another Russian oligarch mega-battle in London’s Commercial Court. […]
The Lawyer‘s Christian Smith, Catrin Griffiths, Richard Simmons, Katy Dowell and Charlotte Lear are joined by College of Legal Practice CEO Giles Proctor for this emergency episode of The Lawyer Podcast as they discuss the latest Solicitors Qualification Exam debacle: marking errors that led to 175 students being incorrectly told they had failed. What went […]
The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has refused to grant Sports Direct an injunction that would force Newcastle United Football Club to supply it with replica kit, following a hearing on Tuesday. Newcastle United, defended by Northridge partner James Eighteen, granted exclusive retail rights for its kit to competitor JD Sports from next season. However, Sports […]
Apple has failed to have a nearly £800m class action brought against it thrown out, following a hearing before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) in January. The opt-out claim is brought by class representative Dr Sean Ennis on behalf of around 1,500 app developers in the UK. He has instructed Geradin Partners’ partners David Gallagher […]
Regional offices have long been critical to some of the UK’s biggest law firms. The essential components of today’s DLA Piper came from across the country, legacy Eversheds was formed of four firms from outside London, and Pinsent Masons has Birmingham and Leeds heritage. But in recent years, some of those firms’ regional offerings have […]
Welcome to The Hearing, your weekly insider’s guide to the UK litigation market, now brought to you on Wednesdays. Two days in to the Easter Term and there’s a definite green feel around London. Much of that has blown over from Strasbourg, which got the legal world all in a flutter yesterday. A big moment?: The […]
Dentons’ client Stagecoach South Western Trains has agreed to settle part of consumer champion Justin Gutmann’s boundary fares class action, which concerns train passengers paying higher fees when travelling between zones. Gutmann, represented by Charles Lyndon and Hausfeld, filed a joint application for a collective settlement approval in the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) with Stagecoach […]
More than 600 former judges, KCs, partners, legal academics and other lawyers have demanded that the UK Government stop arms sales to Israel and consider placing sanctions on the country. In a letter to the Prime Minister yesterday, signatories including former Supreme Court justices Baroness Hale, Lord Sumption and Lord Wilson, and nearly 70 KCs, […]