Tom Hickman

Tom’s practice encompasses all areas of administrative law, human rights and civil liberties, including commercial judicial review and procurement. In addition, he regularly acts in civil damages claims against Government and represented former detainees at Guantanamo Bay detention facility in a substantial claim against a number of Government agencies.

Tom is the author of Public Law After the Human Rights Act (Hart 2010) and a co-author of Human Rights: Judicial Protection in the United Kingdom, J. Beatson, et al (Sweet & Maxwell 2008). He has published articles on public and constitutional law issues in the UK and overseas.

In 2011 Tom was appointed as a Fellow of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.

General Public Law

Tom regularly advises clients in general public law matters either as junior or sole counsel for both claimants and defendants. Tom is currently acting in a dispute over the award of the first large-casino licence as well as a challenge to the budget of a major City Council. Past cases include:

• Evans v Ministry of Defence (Div Ct) [2011] EWHC 1146 (Admin)
  The Divisional Court quashed a change to the Legal Services Commission funding code relating to public interest challenges after the Ministry of Defence was found to have made representations that improperly influenced the rule change. Tom acted for the claimant.  
• Crosbie v Secretary of State for Defence [2011] EWHC 879 (Admin)
  Judicial review of a decision of the Army Board and determination of whether the Army Complaints procedures are compatible with Article 6 of the ECHR. The claim was heard over 3 days in February 2011 before Nicol J. Tom acted as sole counsel.
• Global Knafaim Leasing v BAA & CAA [2010] EWHC 1348 (Admin), [2011] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 324
  Commercial judicial review relating to the recovery of airport and air navigation charges by means of detaining aircraft. Tom represented the claimant, an aircraft leasing company whose aircraft had been detained to recover the debts of its lessee.
• Evans v SSD (Div Ct) [2010] EWHC 1445 (Admin) [2011] ACD 11
  In 2010 the Divisional Court ruled that added protections were needed to ensure that the transfer of detainees captured in Afghanistan by British forces to Afghan authorities complied with international standards. Tom represented the claimant.
• Bradley & Ors v Secretary of State for Pensions [2009] QB 114 3 (CA)
  Tom represented the claimants in this successful challenge to the Government’s rejection of the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s report into the collapse of tens of thousands of occupational pension schemes and is the leading case on the Parliamentary Ombudsman.
• R (O’Callaghan) v Charity Commission and Alexandra Palace Trustees [2007] EWHC 2491 (Admin), [2008] WTLR 117
  Tom acted as sole counsel for the Trustees of Alexandra Palace, resisting a challenge to the lease of Alexandra Palace to a commercial developer.

Human Rights & National-Security

• Al-Rawi & Ors v Security Service & ors (2008-10)
  Tom represented a number of victims of extraordinary rendition and torture, all former detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, in damages claims against the Intelligence Services and other Government agencies for complicity with US authorities. The case was unique in scale and involved numerous complex hearings relating to document retention, disclosure and PII (including Al-Rawi [2009] EWHC 2959 (QB)). He represented the claimants from the inception of the claims to their conclusion by mediation in Autumn 2010. The case was the subject of a statement to Parliament by the Prime Minister (Hansard, HC 6/07/10 col. 175) and subsequently by the Lord Chancellor (Hansard, HC 16/11/10 col.752).
• Binyam Mohamed v SSFCA [2010] EWCA Civ 65 & 158, [2010] QB 218
  Tom represented Binyam Mohamed in the Court of Appeal where Mr Mohamed successfully obtained disclosure of information relating to his mistreatment and torture over which public interest immunity was claimed on national security grounds.
• AF (No 3) v SSHD [2009] UKHL 28, [2010] 2 AC 269
  Tom represented AF in the leading case on control orders and Article 6 of the ECHR which led to the quashing of the control order imposed on AF. The case has given rise to other important judgments on the control order regime in which Tom acted ([2008] EWCA Civ 117 (CA) (status of s.3(10) hearings); [2010] EWCA Civ 869 (CA) (effective remedy)).
• SSHD v AM [2009] EWHC 3053 (Admin), [2010] ACD 29
  Tom represented AM as junior counsel in one the few control order proceedings to have proceeded to a full hearing under s.3(10) of the 2005 PTA, concerning allegations of involvement in the transatlantic airlines plot.
• G & Y v Home Office (Security Vetting Appeals Panel), 29/11/09
  Tom represented Y as sole counsel in the leading case on the jurisdiction of the Security Vetting Appeals Panel (before Silber and Burnett JJ and Sir George Newman).
• A v B (Investigatory Powers Tribunal: Jurisdiction) [2009] UKSC 12 (SC), [2010] 2 AC 1
  Tom acted for JUSTICE in the Supreme Court as junior counsel to David Pannick QC in the leading case on the jurisdiction of the Investigatory Powers Tribunal.
• JJ & Ors v SSHD [2007] QB 446 (CA), [2008] 1 AC 385 (HL) and MB v SSHD [2007] QB 415 (CA), [2008] 1 AC 440 (HL)
  Tom acted for JUSTICE in several connected cases in which the House of Lords quashed a number of control orders imposed for breaching individual rights to liberty.

Immigration, Asylum & Citizenship

Tom regularly acts in asylum and human rights cases in the immigration context and is a member of the UNHCR pro bono panel. 

• Lumba (sub nom WL) (Congo) v SSHD [2011] 2 WLR 671
  Tom represented WL as junior counsel before the Supreme Court in October 2010 in this test case on immigration detention and the law of false imprisonment. The Supreme Court overturned the judgments of the courts below and held that the claimant had been falsely imprisoned, restating the applicable law.
• Kambadzi (sub nom SK) (Zimbabwe) v SSHD [2011] 1 WLR 1299
  Tom represented the claimant in the Supreme Court in a second immigration detention case in which the failure to provide detention reviews was held to invalidate the legality of the detention.
• M & Ors (Somalia) v SSHD [2011] Judgment awaited
  Tom acted for UNHCR in this country guidance case on Somalia, heard in July 2011. He previously acted for UNHCR in AH (Iraq). 
• RB & U (Algeria) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and OO (Jordan) v SSHD [2010] 2 AC 110
  Heard by the House of Lords in October 2008 (acting pro bono for Human Rights Watch and JUSTICE), concerning deportation pursuant to diplomatic assurances to Algeria and Jordan. Tom  also acted for Liberty in AS (Libya) v SSHD [2008] EWCA Civ 289 (CA).
• QD (Iraq) v SSHD [2011] 1 WLR 689, [2010] Imm AR 132
  Tom intervened on behalf of the UNHCR in the Court of Appeal in a case setting out guidance on the EC Qualification Directive.
• Al-Jedda v Home Secretary [2009] UKSIAC 66/2008, also [2010] EWCA Civ 212 and [2010] UKSIAC 66/2008. (SIAC and CA)
  Tom represented the appellant in these complex proceedings in SIAC and the Court of Appeal relating to the deprivation of the appellant’s British citizenship.
• Hicks v Home Secretary (Amin Ct. and SIAC)
  Tom represented David Hicks, a former detainee at Guantanamo Bay, in an appeal before SIAC from a decision to deprive Mr Hicks of his British citizenship. Tom also represented David Hicks in an application in the Administrative Court to enforce the decision in R (Hicks) v SSHD [2006] EWCA Civ 400 and compel Mr Hicks’ registration as a British citizen.

International / Foreign Law

Tom has represented clients in a range of cases involving foreign law and international law in UK courts and foreign courts. He has recently advised the Government of Jersey on the interpretation of international agreements relating to information exchange in tax matters. He is currently acting for clients in Moldova in an application to the European Court of Human Rights concerning the Moldovan judicial system. Other notable cases include:

• Guerrero & 30 Ors v Monterrico Metals Plc [2010] EWHC 3228 (QB)
  Tom represented thirty one Peruvian campesinas who claimed to have been unlawfully detained and abused during a protest against one of the world’s largest mining concessions in Peru owned by a UK multinational. Tom represented the claimants over two years and in a number of pre-trial hearings (including one reported judgment on amendments to particulars of claim). The claim, brought under Peruvian law, was settled in 2011.
• Carey Group Plc v AIB Group (UK) & NAMA [2011] EWHC 594 & [2011] EWHC 567 (Ch)
  Tom represented a UK property company in proceedings to restrain the compulsory acquisition of UK banking facilities by the Irish statutory authority, NAMA. The case raised novel questions on the enforcement of foreign public laws in the UK.
• Al-Jedda v Ministry of Defence [2010] EWCACiv 758, [2011] 2 WLR 225
  Tom represented a British citizen detained by British forces in Iraq for three years in this damages claim brought under Iraqi law which raised issues of international law and conflicts of laws as well as the Act of State doctrine.
• Mohamed v Jeppesen Dataplan Inc, US Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, 8 Sept 2010 (No. 08/15693)
  Tom acted as junior Counsel (to Tim Otty QC) in submitting an amicus curiae brief on behalf of the Commonwealth Lawyers Association and JUSTICE in the leading US case on the State Secrets Doctrine.
• Cayman Islands Constitution
  Tom was instructed with Jeffrey Jowell QC to advise the Government of the Cayman Islands in relation to the Islands’ new constitutional settlement and assist with drafting the bill of rights.
• Tom has also acted in a number of applications to the European Court of Human Rights, for example in Courten v United Kingdom, App. No. 4478/06 (Art 14 claim brought by same-sex partners) and Hassan v United Kingdom (Art 2 investigatory obligation); AF v United Kingdom (Article 6, control orders).

Freedom of Information

• All Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition v MOD [2011] UKUT 153 (AAC)
  Tom represented the APGER in FOIA proceedings before the Upper Tribunal concerning the disclosure of Memorandums of Understanding with the US, the late reliance on exemptions and the relationship between FOIA and the DPA.
• Campaign Against the Arms Trade v Ministry of Defence [2008] UKIT EA 2006 0040
  Tom represented the CAAT in this Information Tribunal case seeking the disclosure of memorandums of understanding between the UK and Saudi Arabia relating to the Al Yamamah arms deal. The hearing involved cross-examination of senior Government officials including the former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia.

Tom’s practice encompasses a full range of EU and competition law issues, including environmental law and procurement. Tom was seconded to the OFT in 2005/6 to work on the OFT’s price fixing action against certain independent schools. Since then, Tom has advised as sole and junior counsel on a wide range of EU and competition law questions, including the legality of certain EU and domestic takeover legislation (as junior Counsel to David Anderson QC) as well as advising regulators such as the Bar Standards Board (with Nicholas Green QC) and Ofcom and Ofgem. In 2011 Tom was instructed to advise on medicinal products licensing under the applicable EU Directive.

• QD (Iraq) v SSHD [2011] 1 WLR 689, [2010] Imm AR 132
  Tom intervened on behalf of the UNHCR in the Court of Appeal in a case setting out guidance on the meaning of the Qualification Directive.  
• Global Knafaim Leasing v BAA & CAA [2010] EWHC 1348 (Admin)
  Tom represented an aircraft leasing company in a challenge brought partly under EU law (Competition and fundamental rights) to the detention and threatened sale of its aircraft.
• Revenue and Customs Commissioners v Epsom Telford Ltd [2007] EWHC 1045 (Ch)
  Tom represented Epsom Telford Ltd as sole Counsel in an appeal before the Chancery Division from a tariff classification of Epsom printer cartridges (acting as sole counsel). The case turned on the relationship between a number of judgments of the ECJ, in particular Turbon International [2006] E.C.R. IA-10531 (ECJ).

Tom represents clients across the range of media and entertainment disputes, including royalty and copyright disputes and has represented clients in a number of successful mediations in this field. In 2011 he advised on a dispute relating to Beatles footage and is currently acting in a dispute between a well-known DJ and his management company. Former clients include Status Quo, Mark Morrison, Channel 4 and MTV.

• Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends™ (Campbell v Hit Plc)
  Tom represented the composers of the title music in this major royalties claim (as junior Counsel to Barbara Dohmann QC and Andrew Hunter).
• Fermata do Brazil & ors v Essex Music Ltd. (Ch)
  Tom represented a major Latin American music publisher in this case concerning the construction of music sub-publishing agreements and the relationship between sub-publishers and collection societies (as junior Counsel to Robert Englehart QC). The case was heard over five days in the Chancery Division before settling.
• Wainman v Arista Records
  Tom acted for the producer of the Bay City Rollers (as junior Counsel to Barbara Dohmann QC) in this royalties claim against a major US record company.
• Reed v Saatchi and Ors
  Tom acted for a US photographic artist in proceedings for breach of copyright and paternity rights (junior Counsel to Robert Anderson QC).

Tom’s sports law practice complements his work in the media and entertainment field. In 2010 Tom acted as sole counsel for a claimant in a significant sports arbitration under the FA rules which was heard over 3 days (details are confidential). He also represented Brentford FC in 2010 in a transfer fee dispute and for production company in a dispute over the rights to a motorcycle endurance race. Tom is currently acting for a football club in arbitration proceedings under Rule K of the FA rules relating to another transfer dispute.

Former clients include Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC, the RFU and the LTA.

 Noatable public cases: 

• Chelsea FC v FIFA (2009 – 2010)
  Tom represented Chelsea Football Club in its appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport from the decision to ban the Club from signing players for two transfer windows. The ban was lifted. Tom was junior Counsel to David Pannick QC and Adam Lewis QC. He has subsequently advised Chelsea FC on associated matters.
• Liverpool Football Club v Reebok UK (Com Ct)
  Tom represented Liverpool Football Club in this major sponsorship dispute as second junior Counsel to Barbara Dohmann QC and Robert Anderson QC. The case settled shortly before trial.
• RFU v Bristol Rugby (decision published on the RFU website) (RFU Tribunal)
  Prosecuted Bristol Rugby in the first tapping-up case to be decided under the RFU rules. The case raised novel issues as to the penalties that can be imposed in sport disciplinary hearings.

Tom has broad experience of general commercial litigation, embracing areas such civil fraud, financial services, telecommunications and advertising. He has particular experience in media and entertainment disputes. Notable reported cases include:

• Carey Group v AIB UK Ltd and NAMA [2011] EWHC 567 (Ch) and [2011] EWHC 594 (Ch)
  Tom acted for a property company in a claim to restrain the transfer of a banking facility to an Irish statutory authority, NAMA. The claim raised issues on contractual interpretation of bank facility agreements and the enforcement of foreign public laws in the UK. 
• Jivraj v Hashwani [2009] EWHC 1364 (Comm), [2010] 1 ALL ER 302
  Challenge to the enforceability of an arbitration clause that required the arbitrators to be from a certain Muslim community.  
• euNetworks Fiber UK Ltd v Abovenet Communications UK Ltd [2007] EWHC 3099 (Ch)
  Tom successfully represented euNetworks Fiber UK Ltd in a 12 day trial in the Chancery Division (as junior Counsel to Stephen Rubin QC). The case concerned a fibre optic network in London and raised issues of general importance on the construction of commercial contracts and rectification. Aspects of the dispute were subsequently submitted to arbitration in which Tom also acted.
• Fermata do Brazil & ors v Essex Music Ltd. (Ch)
  Tom represented a major Latin American music publisher in this case concerning the construction of music sub-publishing agreements and the relationship between sub-publishers and collection societies (as junior Counsel to Robert Englehart QC). The case was heard over five days in the Chancery Division before settling.
• Liverpool Football Club v Reebok UK (Com Ct)
  Tom represented Liverpool Football Club in this major sponsorship dispute as second junior Counsel to Barbara Dohmann QC and Robert Anderson QC. The case settled shortly before trial.

Memberships

Tom is on the Committee of the Administrative and Constitutional Law Bar Association (ALBA). He is a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners’ Association (ILPA), the Bar European Group and the Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR). Tom is also a member of LIBERTY, JUSTICE and Amnesty International.

Prizes & Scholarships

Tom was awarded the Cambridge University prizes for Contract law, for Equity and for Jurisprudence and the University of Toronto Prize for overall Outstanding Performance in the LLM. Tom has been awarded a number of other prizes and scholarships including a Fulbright Scholarship and a Faculty of Fellowship at the University of Toronto.

Research and Lecturing

From 1999 to 2003 Tom was a college tutor at Cambridge University, where he taught administrative law and tort law. From 2002 to 2004 Tom was a Research Fellow of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. In 2009 Tom was a visiting research fellow at the University of Toronto.

Tom often gives lectures and seminars at conferences and on university courses. Recent talks include "Secret Justice" University of Toronto (Sept. 2009); "Key Public Law Developments" Scottish Public Law Group (Edinburgh, June 2010); workshop on UK national security law at University College London (Feb. 2010); Frieburg Proceedings on Contemporary Security Agendas Against Terrorism (Max Planck Institute, June 2010); "Public Law After the Human Rights Act" (LSE Seminar, February 2011).

Tom regularly acts as peer reviewer for law journals and legal publishers. In July 2011 he was appointed Fellow of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law.  

Books

Tom is the author of Public Law After the Human Rights Act which was published by Hart in 2010. He is also co-author of one of the practitioner books on UK human rights law, Human Rights: Judicial Protection in the United Kingdom (Sweet & Maxwell 2008, with Sir Jack Beatson, Stephen Grosz and Rabinder Singh QC).  

Law Journal Publications

• ‘Beano no more: The EU Charter of Rights after Lisbon’ [2011] Judicial Review (forthcoming with K. Beal)
• ‘Problems for Proportionality’ [2011] New Zealand Law Journal 303
• ‘The Substance and Structure of Proportionality’ [2008] Public Law 694
• ‘Judges and Politicians after the Human Rights Act 1998: A Comment’ [2008] Public Law 84
• ‘Proportionality: Comparative Law Lessons” [2007] JR 31
• ‘In Defence of the Legal Constitution’ (2005) 55 University of Toronto Law Journal 981
• ‘Between Human Rights and the Rule of Law: Indefinite Detention and the Derogation Model of Constitutionalism’ (2005) 68 Modern Law Review 655
• ‘Constitutional Dialogue, Constitutional Theories and the Human Rights Act 1998’ [2005] Public Law 306
• ‘The “Uncertain Shadow”: Throwing Light on the Right to a Court under Article 6(1) ECHR’ [2004] Public Law 122
• ‘The Reasonableness Principle: Reassessing its place in the Public Sphere’ (2004) 63 Cambridge Law Journal 166
• ‘Cases on the presumption of innocence and acquittals’ [2003] EHRLR 539 (with Faisal Saifee)
• ‘Tort Law, Public Authorities and the Human Rights Act 1998’ in Fairgrieve, Andenas and Bell (eds.), The Liability of Public Authorities in Comparative Perspective (BIICL: London, 2002), Ch.2
• ‘Watching Britain burn: can we demand protection from fire?’ [2002] New Law Journal 1863
• ‘Negligence and Article 6: The Great Escape?’ (2002) 61 Cambridge Law Journal 13
• ‘Clark: The Demise of O’Reilly Completed?’ [2000] Judicial Review 178.
• ‘And That’s Magic!: Making Public Bodies Liable for Failure to Confer Benefits’ (2000) 59 Cambridge Law Journal 432.

Other Publications & Book Reviews

• ‘The EU Charter of Rights’ Lawyer 2B, Autumn 2010
• ‘Stop your racist land grab, tribunal tells Robert Mugabe’ The Times, 5 March 2009
• Essays in Honour of Michael Taggart; Essays in Honour of Mark Aronson [2010] Judicial Review 393
• O. Gross & F. Aoláin, Law in Times of Crisis [2009] Public Law 175
• B. Ackerman, Before the Next Attack [2007] Public Law 178
• C. Harlow, State Liability – Tort Law and Beyond [2006] Public Law 418
• C. Gearty, Human Rights Adjudication [2005] Public Law 210
• D. Fairgrieve, State Liability in Tort (2004) 63 Cambridge Law Journal 510
• J. Wright, Tort Law and Human Rights (2002) 13 King’s College Law Journal 253

Other Information:

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