Commercial Contracts Conference 2023

About this conference

This conference will bring together academics and legal practitioners to discuss recent developments relating to commercial contracts. Papers will be distributed before the conference, and the discussion will be started by an expert commentator.

The conference is organised by Professor Paul S Davies and Dr Magda Raczynska on behalf of the UCL Centre for Commercial Law and Private Law Group, with the support of Norton Rose Fulbright LLP.

Contributors include:

• Jo Braithwaite (LSE)
• Michael Bridge KC (Hon)
• Richard Calnan (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP/UCL)
• Lady Justice Carr
• Susanna Charlwood (Allen & Overy)
• Mrs Justice Cockerill
• Paul S Davies (UCL)
• Jasbir Dhillon KC (Brick Court Chambers)
• Mr Justice Foxton
• Philippa Hopkins KC (Essex Court Chambers)
• Peter MacDonald Eggers KC (7 King’s Bench Walk/UCL)
• Ali Malek KC (3 Verulam Buildings)
• Catherine Mitchell (Birmingham)
• Rebecca Oliver (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP)
• Janet O’Sullivan (Cambridge)
• Graham Penn (UCL)
• Rosalind Phelps KC (Fountain Court Chambers)
• Magda Raczynska (UCL)
• Lord Sales
• Robert Stevens (Oxford)

The full programme (subject to change)

09:30	Registration and refreshments
10:00	Session 1: Chaired by Foxton J Robert Stevens (Oxford) – Statutory and Common Law Illegality Commentator: Susanna Charlwood (Allen & Overy) Magda Raczynska (UCL) – Contractual Creation of Equitable Interests and the Role of Specific Performance Commentator: Rebecca Oliver (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP)
11:15	Break
11:45	Session 2: Chaired by Cockerill J Graham Penn (UCL) – Privity of Contract in an Age of Derivative Interests Commentator: Ali Malek KC (3 Verulam Buildings) Jo Braithwaite (LSE) – ‘Authorised Push Payment’ Fraud:  What Does the Legal Response Tell Us about Banking Law? Commentator: Jasbir Dhillon KC (Brick Court Chambers)
13:00	Lunch
14:00	Session 3: Chaired by Lord Sales Michael Bridge KC (Hon) - Force Majeure Clauses: Character, Scope and Protection Commentator: Peter MacDonald Eggers KC (7 King’s Bench Walk/UCL) Paul S Davies (UCL) – Compromise Agreements Commentator: Rosalind Phelps KC (Fountain Court Chambers)
15:15	Break
15:45	Session 4: Chaired by Carr LJ Janet O’Sullivan (Cambridge) – Implied Terms in Fact and Evidence of Prior Negotiations: an Exploration Commentator: Philippa Hopkins KC (Essex Court Chambers) Richard Calnan (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP/UCL) – Interpretation and Implication in Supreme Court Commentator: Catherine Mitchell (Birmingham)
17:00	Reception
18:15	Dinner (optional)

About the speakers, chairs and commentators

Jo Braithwaite (LSE)
Jo Braithwaite is a Professor of International Commercial Finance Law at LSE Law School. Her research interests relate to the use of private law in the international markets, with a focus on the derivatives markets, the use of standard form contracts and the resilience of financial market infrastructure. Recent projects have included a book published by Cambridge University Press on the role of the courts in the global financial markets (The Financial Courts), which was co-winner of the 2022 Inner Temple Book Prize. Jo has a PhD from the University of London, a LLM degree from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Thouron scholar, and a BA(Hons) from the University of Oxford. Before undertaking her PhD, she qualified as a solicitor and practised in a City law firm. At LSE Law School, Jo teaches financial, banking and commercial law subjects and is a PhD supervisor.

Michael Bridge KC (Hon)
Michael Bridge is a an emeritus Cassel Professor of Commercial Law at the London School of Economics Law, a Visiting Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore, and a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford. He has previously held full professorships at McGill University Montreal, the University of Nottingham and UCL (where he also served as Dean of the Faculty). He is a Fellow of the British Academy, an honorary King’s Counsel, a Bencher of the Middle Temple and a door tenant of 20 Essex Street chambers. His outside activities include acting as an advisor to the Fourth American Restatement on Property Law; membership of the CISG Advisory Council (where for a time he was also the Chair); membership of the Lando Commission on European Contract Law; and participation in the Trento Project on the Common Core of Private Law and in the European Civil Code Study Group. He is the author of over 150 papers and chapters dealing with contract, tort, conflict of laws, personal property law, domestic sale, international sale, comparative law and uniform law. In addition, his books for OUP consist of: The Sale of Goods (4th edn); The International Sale of Goods (4th edn); Personal Property Law (4th edn); and (with others) The Law of Security and Title-Based Transactions (3rd edn). For Sweet and Maxwell, he is both general editor and contributing author for Benjamin’s Sale of Goods (11th edn) and (with others) The Law of Personal Property (3rd edn).

Richard Calnan (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP/UCL)
Richard Calnan is a partner in Norton Rose Fulbright LLP in London and a Visiting Professor at University College London. His practice has involved a broad range of corporate and financial transactions, restructurings and insolvencies. He has written a number of articles and chapters in books on commercial law. He is the author of Taking Security (LexisNexis, 4th ed 2018), Proprietary Rights and Insolvency (OUP, 2nd ed 2016), Principles of Contractual Interpretation (OUP, 2nd ed 2017) and Principles of Statutory Interpretation  (OUP, in 2023)

Lady Justice Carr
Sue Carr was appointed to the Court of Appeal in April 2020, having been a High Court Judge of the King’s Bench Division since 2013.  This followed a distinguished career at the Bar where she practised at 4 New Square for 25 years, 10 of them in silk. Her principal areas of practice lay in the field of general commercial and professional liability law.  Once on the High Court Bench, she became a nominated Judge of the Commercial Court and the Technology and Construction Court and was appointed as a member of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. She was a Presider of the Midland Circuit between 2016 and 2020 and Vice Chair of the Judicial Appointments Commission between August 2020 and January 2023.

Susanna Charlwood (Allen & Overy)
Susanna Charlwood is a partner in the litigation department at Allen & Overy LLP.  She has a broad commercial practice representing clients in complex and high value cases in the English Court and acting as strategic advisor in multi-jurisdictional situations.  For example, she acted for the successful parties in Enka v Chubb [2020] UKSC 38 and Etihad Airways v Flöther [2020] EWCA Civ 1707.  Susanna is recognised as a leading litigator in the major UK directories, described as an “excellent partner who can manage the heaviest litigation with calm and aplomb” (Chambers UK 2023).

Mrs Justice Cockerill
Mrs Justice Cockerill  was called to the Bar by Lincoln’s Inn in 1990, and practised from Essex Court Chambers between 1991 and 2017, specialising in commercial cases and in compelled evidence. She was appointed a QC in 2011. She was appointed as a Deputy High Court Judge in 2015, sitting in in the Administrative Court and the Commercial Court. She became a High Court Judge in 2017, assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division (now King’s Bench Division). She was Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court from 1 August 2020 until 31 July 2022. She is authorised to sit in cases in the Commercial Court, the Financial List, the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Technology and Construction Court as well as in the Administrative Court and other King’s Bench work, including crime.

Paul S Davies (UCL)
Paul S Davies is Professor of Commercial Law at UCL. He was previously a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge and St Catherine's College, Oxford. Paul has also worked at the Law Commission. Paul is interested in all areas of commercial law, and has written widely on private law more generally. He is the author of Accessory Liability (Hart Publishing, 2015; revised paperback edition, 2017), which won the main Inner Temple Book Prize in 2018, JC Smith’s The Law of Contract (3rd ed, OUP, 2021), and a co-author of Equity and Trusts: Text, Cases and Materials (3rd ed, OUP, 2019 (with Graham Virgo)). Paul is an editor of both Chitty on Contracts and Snell's Equity. In 2020 Paul was awarded a Philip Leverhulme Prize in Law. He is also a Barrister of Lincoln’s Inn and member of Essex Court Chambers.

Jasbir Dhillon KC (Brick Court Chambers)
Jasbir Dhillon KC is an advocate with over 25 years’ experience specialising in complex and high value commercial disputes. After graduating with law degrees from Oxford University and Harvard Law School, Jasbir spent three years at the New York Bar - with Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Since 1997 he has been a member of Brick Court Chambers and has been involved in many of the leading English commercial cases. Jasbir has taught law at the University of Oxford. Also, Jasbir is a Bencher of the Honourable Society of Gray's Inn and Deputy Chairman of the Bar Mutual Indemnity Fund Ltd.

Mr Justice Foxton
David Foxton became one of the judges of the Commercial Court in 2020. Mr Justice Foxton studied law at Oxford University and King’s College, London. He was called to the Bar by Gray’s Inn in 1989. He practised as a barrister at Essex Court Chambers from 1989 to 2020, acting in a broad range of commercial disputes, and also accepted appointments as an arbitrator. He was appointed a Recorder in 2009, and a Deputy High Court Judge in the Commercial Court and the Chancery Division in 2017. In 2020, he was appointed as a High Court Judge assigned to the Queen’s Bench Division (now King’s Bench Division) and nominated to sit as a Judge of the Commercial Court. In July 2022, Mr Justice Foxton was appointed Judge in Charge of the Commercial Court. The appointment is from 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2024. Mr Justice Foxton is one of the editors of Scrutton on Charterparties and Bills of Lading.

Philippa Hopkins KC (Essex Court Chambers)
Philippa Hopkins KC is a barrister at Essex Court Chambers.  Her practice encompasses a wide range of commercial disputes, including shipping, insurance, energy, aviation and general commercial work, in both court and arbitration.  The legal directories describe Philippa as having “an excellent legal brain and an academic approach”, as “exceptionally quick and intellectually strong” and “an absolutely superb tactician and advocate.”  Philippa was educated at Merton College, Oxford (BA, BCL, Eldon Scholar), called to the Bar in 1994, and took silk in 2018.  She also sits regularly as an arbitrator, and is Chancellor of the Diocese of Chelmsford.  She is an editor of Arnould’s Law of Marine Insurance and Average and is on the editorial team of the White Book (responsible for Parts 58 and 62). As a mother of three, Philippa is especially keen to encourage and promote women who wish to come to the commercial Bar.

Peter MacDonald Eggers KC (7 King’s Bench Walk/UCL)
Peter MacDonald Eggers KC 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 (Routledge 4th ed 2018) and Carver on Charterparties (Sweet & Maxwell 2nd ed 2020), author of Deceit: The Lie of the Law and The Vitiation of Contractual Consent (Informa Law from Routledge 2016), and a Contributing Editor of Chitty on Contracts. He teaches at University College London and King’s College London. Peter was a Deputy Judge of the High Court (2017-2023) and sits as an arbitrator. Peter is immediate past Chair of the British Insurance Law Association.

Ali Malek KC (3 Verulam Buildings)
Ali Malek KC is a leading barrister in England and Wales specialising in all aspects of commercial law. He has substantial experience in international arbitration both as counsel and as an arbitrator.  He has been appointed as arbitrator in disputes under many institutional rules including HKIAC, ICC, ICSID, LCIA and SIAC. He obtained his MA and BCL at Keble College, Oxford University and was called to the Bar in 1980 and appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1996. He is a bencher of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, a Recorder of the Crown Court and is authorised to sit as a Deputy High Court Judge in the Commercial Court.   He is a past Treasurer of Gray’s Inn, a former Chairman of the Commercial Bar Association and a former Head of Chambers at 3 Verulam Buildings. Mr Malek was appointed as Chairman of the Lloyd's of London Enforcement Board in October 2021. He is also a member of the Panel of Advisers to the Attorney General of Singapore, a Judge of the Qatar International Court and a member of the Dubai Financial Markets Tribunal.

Catherine Mitchell (Birmingham)
Catherine Mitchell is Professor of Contract Law at Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham. She has published widely on contract, most notably in the areas of contract interpretation and the connection between contract law and contracting practice. Her work has been cited by the House of Lords, the Singapore Court of Appeal and by the Law Commissions of England and Scotland.

Rebecca Oliver (Norton Rose Fulbright LLP)
Rebecca Oliver is Head of Banking Knowledge at Norton Rose Fulbright LLP. A banking lawyer with Norton Rose Fulbright LLP since 1998, Rebecca has acted on a variety of international and domestic banking transactions for both borrowers and lenders particularly in the areas of general corporate lending, real estate finance, insolvency, restructuring and general security issues. Rebecca moved from fee-earning to the London banking and finance knowledge team in 2010. Her role now includes leading the firm’s internal legal training for banking and finance lawyers, providing bespoke banking and finance legal training to clients, keeping lawyers across their banking and finance practice updated on current legal and commercial issues and consulting on queries from transaction lawyers across the global practice.

Janet O’Sullivan (Cambridge)
Dr Janet O'Sullivan is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge, and is Vice-Master and Director of Studies in Law at Selwyn College, Cambridge. She gained a triple first in Law as an undergraduate in Cambridge, practised as a commercial solicitor with Slaughter and May after graduating, before returning to Cambridge to take up a Fellowship at Selwyn in 1994. She specialises in the Law of Contract and the Law of Tort, and has published extensively in these areas, in particular the field of professional negligence, as well as being the author of a successful textbook on the Law of Contract, now in its tenth edition. In 2005 she was awarded the Pilkington Teaching Prize for excellence in university teaching.  She has three adult children, one of whom has Down syndrome, and lives in North Essex.

Graham Penn (UCL)
Graham Penn is Professor of International Finance Law at UCL and co-editor of The Journal of International Banking Law and Regulation, Until recently (December 2022) Graham was also a partner at Sidley Austin where he co-lead the International Finance practice for over 25 years. His reputation as one of the worlds leading international finance lawyers has been consistently recognised in many ‘expert legal guides’, most recently in Best Lawyers 2023 for Finance and Securitisation Law. He was included in the inaugural Chambers Top 100 which ranked him as one of the top five Capital Markets lawyers in the UK and praised him for his "superior legal knowledge" and "his ability to understand and document complex financing structures" and Euromoney's Expert Guide for Banking and Finance Transactions 2021 which included him as "a world leading practitioner in Capital Markets, Structured Finance and Securitisation". More recently he was included as one of the "top 10 European Legal Innovators of the Year" by the Financial Times whose report credited Graham as "a pioneer in structured finance and securitisation" noting that he "has been involved in some of the most ground breaking transactions of the post two decades".

Rosalind Phelps KC (Fountain Court Chambers)
Rosalind Phelps KC is a commercial barrister and arbitrator practising from Fountain Court Chambers in London. She specialises in banking, financial services, aviation, arbitration and professional negligence. Recent cases include Nigeria v JP Morgan [2022] EWHC 1447 (Comm) (Quincecare duty on bankers), Qatar Airways v Airbus [2022] EWHC 1248 (TCC) (interim injunction in aviation dispute) and FSHC Group Holdings v GLAS [2020] 2 WLR 429 (leading case on rectification). She is also a co-author of Thanki on Privilege (OUP 3rd ed 2018).

Magda Raczynska (UCL)
Magda Raczynska is Associate Professor of Law at UCL. She has written on personal property, obligations, and other aspects of commercial law. She is a Co-Director of the Secured Transactions Law Reform Project, and contributed to the Secured Transactions Code developed by the City of London Law Society Financial Law Committee. She is a contributing author to McKnight, Paterson and Zakrzewski on The Law of International Finance (OUP 2nd ed 2017), the author of The Law of Tracing in Commercial Transactions (OUP 2018) and co-editor of Contents of Commercial Contracts: Terms Affecting Freedoms (Hart 2020). She is also one the editors of Snell’s Equity.

Lord Sales
Lord Sales was called to the Bar in 1985 and practised in the fields of Chancery and commercial law until being appointed First Treasury Junior Counsel (Common Law) (the ‘Treasury Devil’) in 1997. He was appointed as a High Court Judge in the Chancery Division in 2008. He was a judge of the Patents Court and of the Competition Appeals Tribunal and was Vice-President of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. Between 2009-2014 he was the head of the Boundary Commission for England. In 2014 he was appointed to the Court of Appeal and in January 2019 to the UK Supreme Court.

Robert Stevens (Oxford)
Robert Stevens is the Professor of English Private Law at the University of Oxford. His latest book is The Laws of Restitution (OUP 2023) which, he says, anyone interested in law should read.

Fees and Booking

IN-PESON TICKETS
Standard Ticket = £100
Public Sector workers = £50
Full time academics = £40
Full time students = £30
Optional Dinner = £55 (numbers are limited)

ONLINE TICKETS
Standard Ticket = £75
Public Sector workers = £30
Full time academics = £20
Full time students = Free

UCL students:
Please check your email for details of how to apply for one of the complimentary places.

Book your place at: https://commercial-contracts-2023.eventbrite.co.uk

To make corporate bookings for this course and be invoiced, please email lisa.penfold@ucl.ac.uk

Queries

If you have any queries about this conference, please contact lisa.penfold@ucl.ac.uk