David Lowe

David has been involved in a wide range of commercial disputes and advisory work during his time in Chambers, both as a tenant and as a pupil. He has acted in the High Court and County Courts and arbitral tribunals on a variety of commercial claims, and in particular has acted in a considerable number of matters involving hire purchase and conditional purchase agreements, both regulated and unregulated.

• Harbour Castle Limited v David Wilson Homes Ltd [2011] EWHC 2571 (QB)
  Led by Robert Howe QC, successfully striking out multi-million pound proceedings in a commercial case.
• Re Dunstans Publishing Ltd [2010 EWHC 3850 (Ch)
  Led by Andrew George, acting for Dunstans in claim relating to section 125 of the Companies Act 2006.
• Drafting a statement of claim and advising in an international commercial dispute involving arbitration (summer 2011).
• Assisting Ian Mill QC in providing advice in contractual disputes with substantial intellectual property elements (summer 2011)
• Led by Tom Weisselberg, obtaining a freezing injunction against multiple defendants in an international fraud case.
• Further, during pupillage, whilst assisting Andrew Hunter, David was involved in numerous insurance disputes including an arbitration remedies hearing, along with a number of large conflict of laws disputes. He also assisted Andrew Hunter with a trespass claim, claims for breaches of fiduciary duty by company directors and a range of contractual disagreements. In addition, whilst with Tom Weisselberg, David gained experience of civil fraud work, including a seven-figure Proceeds of Crime Act asset recovery action.

David undertakes a broad range of employment related litigation and advisory work, and has experience of judicial mediation. In particular, he recently advised a Claimant who obtained a substantial settlement in a discrimination claim against a FTSE 100 company.

• NCS London Ltd v Coughlan and anor, High Court, November 2011
  David acted for the successful Claimant in a 4½ day High Court trial, obtaining injunctions enforcing non-solicit and non deal restrictive covenants against the First Defendant.
• Craig v Pharmexx and anor, ET, April and July 2011
  Following a 3 ½ day hearing, David successfully defending a company at which the Claimant had been engaged as a contract worker against allegations of sex discrimination.
• Porter v EDF Trading, ET, September 2010
  Successfully acting for the Claimant in a 3 day unfair redundancy dismissal case.
• Howell v Ann Summers Ltd, ET, May 2010
  David successfully represented Ann Summers Ltd in its application to strike out the Claimant’s case at a pre hearing review.
• Plumbly v Beatthatquote.Com Ltd [2009] EWHC 321
  As a pupil, David assisted Tom Croxford in the High Court in successfully recovering damages for a man whose former employer had denied him shares promised under an option agreement. As part of the wider contractual dispute, this case involved substantial issues of law relating to employee competition.
• In addition, as Tom Croxford’s pupil, David was involved in a wide variety of cases,  including a number of substantial restrictive covenant disputes, whistleblowing, bonus entitlement and discrimination claims, and in particular a high value disability, sex and age discrimination claim.

David has been involved in a wide range of public law matters during pupillage and in practice. He has recently assisted Michael Beloff QC in providing a number of pieces of advice to a foreign government in relation to extradition and statutory interpretation, and in relation to other constitutional law issues. He has also been involved in providing advice to a mobile network operator regarding proposed action by OFCOM. With Tom de la Mare, as a pupil, David was involved with a number of cases involving the Advertising Standards Authority, and also with a many handed nuisance claim with substantial public law elements.

Shortly after starting practice, David undertook a five month secondment at Ofgem, where he was involved in a number of substantial enforcement actions raising public law issues in a regulatory context.

• Interfact Limited v Liverpool City Council [2010] EWHC 1604 (Admin)
  As a junior to Lord Pannick QC, David represented Interfact Limited in its application to have its convictions under the Video Recordings Act 1984 set aside following the government’s announcement in August 2009 that the Act was no longer enforceable due to its failure to notify the European Commission of the Act’s intended enactment in 1984. The case raised significant constitutional, human rights and European law issues.
• R (Amro International SA & Anor) v The Financial Services Authority & Ors [2009] EWHC 2242 (Admin)
  With pupil master Andrew Hunter, David assisted with the preparation for the successful first instance judicial review in this case.

• In practice, David has recently been involved in providing advice to a company in respect of state aid implications of a government proposal. He has also assisted James Eadie QC in advising as to the interpretation of EU legislation.
• With Tom de la Mare, David has provided advice on the Package Travel Regulations 1992.
• David saw a variety of Community law cases during his seat with pupil master Tom de la Mare. David also assisted Tom de la Mare in giving advice concerning representative actions, protective costs orders and cost capping orders to potential claimants in a substantial competition action against a cartel.
• As a pupil of and latterly junior to Tom de la Mare, and whilst on secondment to Ofgem, David has gained experience of advising on various aspects of the law on consumer protection. He has particular experience in relation to the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (and legislation now repealed by these Regulations including the Consumer Protection Act 1987) and the Package Travel, Package Holidays and Package Tours Regulations 1992.

• Interfact Limited v Liverpool City Council [2010] EWHC 1604 (Admin)
  As a junior to Lord Pannick QC, David represented Interfact Limited in its application to have its convictions under the Video Recordings Act 1984 set aside following the government’s announcement in August 2009 that the Act was no longer enforceable due to its failure to notify the European Commission of the Act’s intended enactment in 1984. The case raised significant constitutional, human rights and European law issues.
• Pannon GSM Zrt. v Erzsébet Sustikné Győrfi, Case C-243/08 (ECJ)
  As Tom de la Mare’s pupil, David travelled to Luxembourg for the hearing before the ECJ in this case, which raised the issue of whether national courts are obliged to examine of their own motion the unfairness of terms in contracts between sellers and consumers.

David is currently involved in a number of media and entertainment cases, drafting pleadings and advising.

In addition, as a pupil of Tom Weisselberg and Andrew Hunter, David was involved in a number of media and entertainment cases, including a dispute over the value of a band’s name as an asset following a partnership dissolution and a royalty accounting claim.

As a pupil of both Tom Weisselberg and Andrew Hunter, and in practice as a junior to Barbara Dohmann QC, David has gained experience of work in the sphere of financial services regulation.

During his Bar Vocational Course, David supervised in contract law at the University of Cambridge.

Membership

COMBAR, LCLCBA, ELA

Scholarships and Prizes:

• Reid Scholarship, Gray’s Inn (Senior Scholarship)
• Prince of Wales Scholarship, Gray’s Inn (BVC year)
• College Scholarship, Christ’s College, Cambridge (for achieving a first in the law tripos examinations)
• De Hart prize for law, Christ’s College, Cambridge
• College Book prize, Christ’s College, Cambridge
• Rebecca Flower Squire Scholarship, University of Cambridge
• Winner, WLR national mooting competition
• Winner of Varsity, de Smith, Team and Fledglings mooting competitions, University of Cambridge

Other Information:

VAT registration number:  980566782