Tom Richards

Tom has experience of a wide variety of commercial disputes, both as junior and as sole counsel, and has appeared as advocate in the High Court and County Court for trials and interlocutory matters. 

For Tom’s particular experience in the Entertainment & Media, Sport and Telecommunications sectors, please see below under those headings. 

• Madoff litigation 
  Tom is part of a team of Blackstone counsel led by Pushpinder Saini QC, acting for the Trustee in Bankruptcy of Bernard Madoff’s former company in relation to various pieces of litigation to recover the US$50 billion lost under Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.  The retainer has involved multi-jurisdictional disputes covering issues of EU law, cross-border insolvency, US bankruptcy law, tracing claims and trusts law.
• Inducon (Nigeria) Ltd v Statoil (Nigeria) Ltd 
  Tom settled pleadings in a substantial claim relating to the exploitation of the Agbami oil field in the Niger Delta. 
• Aesir Capital Ltd v Sao Nam International
  Tom acted as sole counsel for the claimant in a US$800,000 High Court claim, which involved issues of breach of trust, breach of contract, and enforcement overseas. 
• MB Appleton and another v Appleton
  Tom is acting for the Defendant in an ongoing claim brought against a director by his former companies, involving allegations of breach of fiduciary duty, secret profits, and conspiracy.  
• No Added Sugar Ltd v Longratex
  Tom appeared for the Claimant in a dispute concerning the High Court’s jurisdiction under the Judgments Regulation. 
• Crane v Upakweship Ltd FJ 142/08
  Tom appeared for the Claimant in a contested action to enforce a foreign judgment in the High Court under the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933.
• Berezovsky v Abramovich [2008] EWHC 1138 (Comm); OJSC Oil Co Yugraneft v Abramovich and Berezovsky [2008] EWHC 2613
  Tom, as junior to Barbara Dohmann QC, James Eadie QC and Andrew George, acted for Boris Berezovsky in relation to a substantial dispute with Roman Abramovich involving trusts, the tort of intimidation and the conflict of laws. 
• Led by Anthony Peto QC, Tom acted for the claimant in a breach of fiduciary duty claim relating to the fraud in Daraydan v Solland [2005] Ch 119 and its consequences.  The claim was settled shortly before trial. 
  

Tom frequently appears in the Employment Tribunals, and his practice includes a wide variety of claimant and respondent work, including whistleblowing and discrimination. 

Tom has a particular interest in age discrimination law, and has written and given talks on the subject.

• Maskell v Lancashire County Council (March 2010)
  Tom acted on behalf of a head teacher who had been dismissed for alleged dishonest conduct. 
• Annodata v Jones UKEAT/0378/09/JOJ (1 March 2010)
  Tom appeared for the respondent (the claimant below) in an appeal concerning adequacy of reasons, Polkey reductions and contributory fault.  Tom also appeared at the six-day whistleblowing and unfair dismissal hearing below.    
• Tom, with Paul Goulding QC, has advised a substantial corporate client on age discrimination issues concerning its redundancy scheme.

Tom has a broad public law and human rights practice.  Among his clients have been individuals, particularly in the fields of asylum and social security, corporations (including O2 and National Express plc), and public bodies (including the General Medical Council, Ministry of Defence, Department of Work and Pensions and Department for Communities and Local Government).

• Sturt v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2010] UKUT 200 (AAC)
  Tom appeared pro bono for the appellant, arguing that her disentitlement from bereavement benefit on the grounds that she had not been married to her deceased partner infringed Article 14 ECHR. 
• Mahmoud v SSHD, Ahmed v SSHD (June 2010)
  Tom assisted two unsuccessful asylum claimants in obtaining High Court stays against their removal by charter flight to Iraq. 
• Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad & Tobago v Commission of Inquiry into the Construction Sector (January 2010)
  Tom, led by Michael Beloff QC, acted for the Commission of Inquiry in resisting a high-profile judicial review claim in the Trinidad High Court alleging apparent bias on the part of several of the Commission’s members. 
• Demopoulos and others v Turkey (2010) 50 EHRR SE14
  Tom, led by Lord Lester QC, Pushpinder Saini QC and Professor Vaughan Lowe QC, acted for the Republic of Cyprus in its intervention in these proceedings before the European Human Court of Human Rights, which concerned the displacement of Greek Cypriots by the Turkish occupation of northern Cyprus.  The central issue in the case was whether Article 35 ECHR required the applicants to exhaust the remedies of the de facto Turkish government of northern Cyprus notwithstanding the non-recognition of that government under public international law.
• R (Friends of the Earth) v Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform [2009] EWCA Civ 810, [2010] PTSR 635
  Tom acted for Friends of the Earth in their challenge to the government’s implementation of its Fuel Poverty Strategy.
• Cotton v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2009] EWCA Civ 1333
  Tom acted pro bono as sole counsel for the appellant in this appeal involving the proper construction of social security regulations.  
• AF and others v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2009] UKHL 28
  Tom acted pro bono for JUSTICE, as part of a team of counsel led by Mike Fordham QC, in its interventions in the Court of Appeal and House of Lords in proceedings concerning the compatibility of control orders with the right to a fair trial. 
• R (Telefónica O2 UK Limited) v Office of Communications
  Tom acted as junior counsel for O2 in its challenge to Ofcom’s proposed auction of 2.6GHz spectrum. 
• Animal Defenders International v United Kingdom
  Tom, led by Mike Fordham QC and Shaheed Fatima, is acting for Animal Defenders International in an application to the European Court of Human Rights that concerns the UK’s ban on political advertising on television. 

Tom has acted for sports regulators including The Football Association, The Football League, the Rugby Football League, the Welsh Rugby Union, UK Athletics, as well as acting for individuals and corporate clients. 

He has experience of a variety of sport-related disputes, including appeals over penalty, broadcasting rights, and player disputes, and has appeared as an advocate in sports disciplinary and arbitral tribunals. 

Examples of Tom’s sports cases in the public domain include:

• Calzaghe v Warren [2010] EWHC 71
  Tom, led by Ian Mill QC, is acting for retired World Champion boxer Joe Calzaghe in a claim against his former promoter, Frank Warren.  The claim involves issues of dishonest assistance, causing loss by unlawful means and conspiracy, and follows on from previous proceedings brought against Joe Calzaghe by Frank Warren’s company.
• Cardiff Blues & others v The Welsh Rugby Union Ltd
  Tom, led by Adam Lewis QC, acted for the WRU in a substantial dispute with the four Welsh Regional Clubs concerning player release: the Regions threatened to withhold players for an International Match against New Zealand, due to be played in November 2009.  The matter settled the day before trial.  

Tom’s clients in the media and entertainment sector have included the BBC, BPI and Motion Picture Association of America.  He has a particular interest in copyright law. 

• Lions Gate UK Ltd v Powercorp International Ltd
  Tom is acting as junior counsel for Lionsgate in ongoing Commercial Court proceedings concerning a distribution agreement for the defendant’s TV productions. 
• Gumball 3000 Ltd v Revolver Film Ltd [2010] EWHC 1190 (Ch)
  Tom, led by Pushpinder Saini QC, acted for the claimant, Gumball, in a dispute concerning the termination of a film distribution contract.
• Tom has given advice on copyright matters including digital streaming, peer-to-peer file-sharing, literary adaption and EU copyright law.

• Telefónica O2 UK Limited v Office of Communications (900 MHz Band)
  Tom, led by Michael Beloff QC and Tom de la Mare, is acting for O2 in its appeal against Ofcom’s failure to vary its wireless telegraphy licence to allow it to deploy 3G technology in the 900MHz Spectrum Band. 
• T-Mobile (UK) Ltd and O2 v Office of Communications [2008] EWCA Civ 1373, [2009] 1 WLR 1565
  Tom, led by Lord Pannick QC and Tom de la Mare, acted for O2 in this leading case on the scope of judicial review and the jurisdiction of the Competition Appeal Tribunal.  
• R (Telefónica O2 UK Limited) v Office of Communications
  Tom also acted as junior counsel in O2’s substantive challenge to Ofcom’s proposed auction of 2.6GHz spectrum. 
• Tom has also advised a number of clients on a variety of legal issues relating to internet communications, including the regulation of ISPs under the Authorisation Directive and the “mere conduit” defence under the E-Commerce Directive.

• Case C-503/09 Lucy Stewart v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
  Tom, led by Tom de la Mare, is acting for the Secretary of State in a reference to the ECJ in this social security appeal, which concerns the exportability of Incapacity Benefit (Youth). 
• Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Tolley
  Tom, led by Tom de la Mare, is acting for the Secretary of State in this social security appeal concerning the meaning of “employee” under EC Regulation 1408/71. 
• Moy Park Ltd and others v Degussa Ltd
  Tom, led by Tom de la Mare, is acting for Sanofi-Aventis in a contribution claim brought against it by the Defendant in these follow-on damages proceedings in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. 
• Sita UK Ltd v Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority [2010] EWHC 680 (Ch)
  Led by Dinah Rose QC and Brian Kennelly, Tom acted for the Defendant in its successful striking-out of Sita’s £90m claim for breach of EU and domestic public procurement law.  The case is on appeal to the Court of Appeal. 
• Tom, as junior to James Eadie QC, has advised a number of government departments on matters of EU competition, state aid, and public procurement law.

Scholarships and Prizes:

2007 Phoenicia Scholarship (Bar European Group)
2005 The Uthwatt Award (Gray’s Inn)
2004 David Karmel Entrance Award (Gray’s Inn)
2003 Passmore-Edwards Prize (Oxford University prize for best performance in Classics & English Finals)
Magdalen College Selig Poetry Prize
2002 Magdalen College Tutorial Prize in English
2001 Passmore-Edwards Prize (Oxford University prize for best performance in Classics & English Honour Moderations);  Magdalen College Scholarship; Magdalen College Lawlor Prize in English

Publications:

Tolley’s Discrimination in Employment Handbook, London, 2008 (contributor).