Blackstone Chambers’ Breakfast Briefing is back and thrilled to start 2025 by celebrating Blackstone Chambers’ recent sponsorship of the Conflicts of Laws Prize on the University of Oxford’s prestigious BCL course.

Andrew Scott KC surveys recent events with our keynote conflicts address before Blackstone’s barristers run through a series of their recent stand-out cases in the field including Tom de la Mare KC (Kingdom of Spain v London Steam-Ship Owners’ Mutua), Peter Head (Magomedov v TPG Group), Gayatri Sarathy (Kireevav Bedzhamov), Tim Otty KC and Drishti Suri. Andrew George KC smoothes everything over from the Chair.

In this episode, ATLEU’s Jamila Duncan-Bosu talks with Blackstone’s Charlotte Kilroy KC about ground-breaking litigation brought by Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU), on behalf of a young Indonesian man on a seasonal worker visa who was left homeless and in serious debt following exploitation on a UK fruit farm. The case argues that the visa scheme lacks the necessary safeguards to protect people from slavery and exploitation.

Jamila also celebrates ten years of ATLEU’s work as the only UK charity dedicated to providing specialist legal representation to survivors of trafficking and slavery and advocating for their rights and justice.

Featured on the podcast:

• Charlotte Kilroy KC is expert in a wide range of areas of public law, civil law and human rights law. She has extensive expertise in bringing judicial review challenges to systems and policies, and has been involved in many of the leading cases on procedural fairness, natural justice and access to court.
• Jamila Duncan-Bosu is a founding solicitor of Anti Trafficking and Labour Exploitation Unit (ATLEU). Jamila leads ATLEU’s compensation legal team and specialises in employment and discrimination law and representing survivors of trafficking and slavery in compensation claims against their trafficker or those who have benefitted from their exploitation.

Listen in to this episode of The Litigation Podcast Shorts, as Michael Beloff KC recounts his final case: the McCloud Appeal. In this significant case, the Employment Appeal Tribunal dismissed the Lord Chancellor’s appeal against the Tribunal’s decision which found that the new judicial pension scheme unlawfully discriminated against younger judges. Michael represented six of the judges who successfully challenged this discrimination. He concludes this episode by sharing invaluable insights and practical advice, drawing on decades of experience in the field.

More about Michael’s life and career can be found in his memoir, MJBQC: A Life Within and Without the Law.

Join Michael Beloff KC, widely regarded as the ‘The Godfather of Sports Law’, in this episode of The Litigation Podcast Shorts. Michael shares fascinating insights and anecdotes from his remarkable career as a barrister specialising in sports disputes.

Look out for the fourth and final instalment in Michael’s Litigation Podcast Shorts series, where he discusses his final case and offers invaluable insights and practical advice on life and practice as a barrister.

More about Michael’s life and career can be found in his memoir, MJBQC: A Life Within and Without the Law.

Welcome to this episode of The Litigation Podcast Shorts, as Michael Beloff KC discusses his experiences in defamation law. Drawing on a quintet of high-profile libel cases, Michael offers a rare perspective on this fascinating area.

Join us next time, when Michael, widely regarded as the ‘Godfather of Sports Law’, delivers his unique insight into sports law.

More about Michael’s life and career can be found in his memoir, MJBQC: A Life Within and Without the Law.

Blackstone Chambers’ Commercial Breakfast Briefing returns with an in-depth look at Commercial Remedies, beginning with some ground-breaking recent developments in the law and practice relating to freezing injunctions.

After some icebreakers from Andrew George KC in the Chair, Luka Krsljanin analyses the important guidance on showing a real-risk of dissipation provided in Canada Inc v Sovereign Holdings. Carmine Conte provides reflections on “full and frank” disclosures, while Leona Powell reviews “on-notice” freezing injunctions and other less common scenarios. The “Case of the Quarter” slot is back by popular demand, as Robert Weekes KC and Daniel Cashman provide summaries of recent cases.

Join Michael Beloff KC in the first episode of The Litigation Podcast Shorts, as he delves into one of his most memorable legal experiences: the Marshall cases. Michael successfully argued before the European Court of Justice, leading to a significant ruling upholding a complaint of discrimination and sparking a secondary case. 

Stay tuned for the next episode in this series, where Michael will share his insights into the world of defamation law. 

More about Michael’s life and career can be found in his memoir, MJBQC: A Life Within and Without the Law. 

In this special episode of the Litigation Podcast we hear from Abass Dodoo, master Ghanaian drummer and founder of One-Drum Foundation, in conversation with Ajay Ratan, Blackstone barrister and saxophonist in Abass’ band.  

Their wide-ranging discussion covers the creative process behind our new podcast music, the fascinating oral tradition by which Abass learned the drums growing up in Ghana, his pioneering work with One-Drum Foundation, and the many benefits of playing the drums (including Ajay’s experience of its peculiar benefits for lawyers!). You can see Abass and Ajay performing live on stage together in a recent video here.  

One-Drum Foundation is a UK-registered charity made up of a collective of London-based African master drummers, dancers, musicians and performers emanating from the diversity of Africa’s rich traditions. Its charitable purpose is to advance the education of the public in the arts, history and culture of African music, in particular, but not exclusively, through the provision of educational workshops and performances.  

For more information on the work of the One Drum Foundation, and links to donate, please see here. 

Today also marks the band’s release of ‘Kpanlogo’, recorded on board a floating studio on the Thames in the circumstances Abass and Ajay describe on the podcast. You can see the newly-released video for that here. 

Tune in to the most recent episode of The Litigation Podcast, in which Ivan Hare KC

presents recorded highlights from the 2024 Public Law Conference. The panel

discussions address the latest developments in recent public law cases.

Ivan Hare KC explores proportionality under the HRA: is it in the Act or on the facts?

Stephanie Palmer discusses the recent climate change cases in the European Court of

Human Rights.

Isabel Buchanan gives a brief reflection on the European Convention as it nears its 75th birthday.

If you haven’t already, listen to Part 1 with Tom Hickman KC, James Segan KC and Hanif Mussa KC and Part 2 with Sir Jeffrey Jowell KC, Tom Leary, George Molyneaux and Warren Fitt!

Tune in to the most recent episode of The Litigation Podcast, in which Ivan Hare KC presents recorded highlights from the 2024 Public Law Conference. The panel discussions address the latest developments in recent public law cases.

Tom Leary explores interim remedies in Judicial Review.

George Molyneaux examines the duty of candour, with particular focus on recent cases.

Sir Jeffrey Jowell KC and Warren Fitt discuss the UK’s relationship with the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.

Stay tuned for the third and final instalment in this series, with Ivan Hare KC, Stephanie

Palmer & Isabel Buchanan! If you haven’t already, listen to Part 1 with Tom Hickman KC, James

Segan KC and Hanif Mussa KC.