Tristan Jones

Tristan has a wide-ranging public law practice.  Following pupillage, he spent three months on secondment to the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), giving wide-ranging advice to the industry regulator on topics including freedom of information, regulatory investigations, the Renewables Obligation and other matters relating to the regulation of energy markets.  He is currently junior counsel for Ofgem in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the case of National Grid Plc v The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority.
Tristan is also a qualified volunteer representative for the Independent Panel for Special Educational Advice, and has advised and represented around 40 parents in appeals to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

Ofcom v Floe Telecom Limited and T-Mobile v Floe Telecom Limited
Junior counsel for Floe in these appeals in the Court of Appeal from the Competition Appeal Tribunal, raising the compatibility of the domestic telecommunications licensing regime with European law (with Brian Kennelly and Monica Carss-Frisk QC).

Teesside Power Limited v Gas and Electricity Markets Authority
Currently junior counsel for the Authority in a judicial review challenging its powers (with Dinah Rose QC).

Ratcliffe v Secretary of State for Defence
Currently junior counsel for the claimant in Court of Appeal case concerning the reach of the ECHR and the entitlement to state benefits (with Monica Carss-Frisk QC).

As a pupil, Tristan gained a broad range of experience in public law. This included:

The Office of Communications v The Information Commissioner and T-Mobile (UK) EA/2006/0078
An appeal under the Environment Information Regulations 2004 in respect of a request to OFCOM that it provide detailed information about mobile phone bases given to it by mobile network operators. (Assisting Pupil Supervisor Jane Collier)

KR (Iraq) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2007] EWCA (Civ) 514
An asylum case involving the risk of suicide on return to Iraq and possible interference with Article 8 ECHR. (Assisting Pupil Supervisor Jane Collier)

R (Legal Remedy UK Ltd) v Secretary of State for Health [2007] EWHC (Admin) 1252
A high-profile judicial review of a decision to modify the way in which junior doctors are recruited to postgraduate medical training. (Assisting Pupil Supervisor Tom de la Mare)

Tristan also assisted on matters including electoral law, a local government contract dispute, and the human rights of persons in British custody in Iraq.

Economics and Human Rights:

Tristan’s two-year graduate degree at Harvard University focussed on Economics and Human Rights. Tristan has taught human rights policy with Professor Michael Ignatieff, and whilst training for the Bar he wrote for the European Human Rights Reports. He has a strong grounding in micro and macroeconomic principles, and is the winner of an international prize for an essay on WTO law. He has attended, by invitation, the Summer Course on WTO Dispute Settlement at the World Trade Institute in Berne. Prior to training as a barrister he worked as a financial journalist for an international news agency.

Following pupillage, Tristan spent three months on secondment to the Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem), giving wide-ranging advice to the industry regulator on topics including freedom of information, regulatory investigations, the Renewables Obligation and other matters relating to the regulation of energy markets. He is currently junior counsel for Ofgem in the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the case of National Grid Plc v The Gas and Electricity Markets Authority.

R (Revenue and Customs Commissioners) v Teeside Crown Court [2007] EWHC (Admin) 1183 (Assisting Pupil Supervisor Tom de la Mare)
A claim involving a boat which was selling non-EC goods just outside of UK territorial waters in the North Sea, but which was forced ashore by bad weather. The question related to the storage of those goods under the Community Customs Code.

R v O’Neill and Others (Assisting Pupil Supervisor Tom de la Mare)
A criminal case involving price fixing allegations against 14 defendants, 4 of them corporate, and raising the question of whether such allegations, if proven, could satisfy the requirements of the common law offence of conspiracy to defraud given the context of the European anti-cartelist regulations.

Tristan has advised and appeared in a range of commercial matters.  He has advised on and drafted particulars for claims involving breach of contract claims, partnership disputes and claims involving allegations of breach of rules under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.  He has appeared in numerous county court proceedings, and in interim applications in the High Court.

As a pupil, Tristan was involved in a wide range of commercial cases.  He assisted his Pupil Supervisor Tom Weisselberg in, among others, the following cases: 

The British Phonographic Industry Ltd and Others v the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society Ltd and Others CT84-90/05
The first Copyright Tribunal reference concerning online material, and raising general questions about revenues generated from the consumption of music in complex online settings.

McPhail and Doyle v Bourne and Others
A partnership dispute in which two individuals assert that they were among the original members of the boy band ‘Busted’.

Customs and Excise Commissioners v Total Network SL [2007] EWCA (Civ) 39
The Commissioners alleged the Defendant was involved in a carousel fraud. The case concerned whether unlawful means conspiracy requires that the Defendant has committed an unlawful act actionable at the suit of the Claimant.

Tristan acts for Claimants and Respondents in employment disputes.  He has represented clients in employment cases including unfair and constructive dismissal, discrimination, TUPE and protected disclosure.  He also appears in disciplinary proceedings of professional regulatory bodies.

Preuss v Oxfam
Representing the Respondent in a three day claim for unfair dismissal.

Brine v General Teaching Council
Representing the registrant in professional disciplinary proceedings concerning allegations of unacceptable professional conduct.

During pupillage Tristan gained wide experience of employment cases. High Court cases in which Tristan assisted his Pupil Supervisor Tom Croxford include:

RDF Media v Clements
A case involving the high-profile departure of a senior figure within, and former owner of, a television production company. In particular, the case raises questions relating to constructive dismissal, and the duty of trust and confidence.

Whitney v Monster Worldwide Ltd
A case concerning contractual liability to give pension benefits, and whether that liability passed under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations.

Tristan also assisted his Pupil Supervisor Tom Croxford in many ongoing Employment Tribunal disputes. These included claims for race and religious discrimination, unfair dismissal, a large sex discrimination claim relating to a failure to promote an employee to Partner, matters raising questions of protected disclosure, wrongful dismissal claims raising complex contractual issues under related sale and purchase agreements, cases involving fiduciary duties, and covenants in restraint of trade. He also assisted in a matter in which a former partner of a firm of solicitors alleged that a clause in a partnership deed imposing a mandatory retirement age is in breach of the new age discrimination regulations.

Tristan is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University, where he teaches an intensive Legal Negotiation Seminar. As a graduate student, he was a Teaching Assistant on Harvard Law School’s flagship negotiation course, and he has taught and consulted on negotiations for organisations including the Norwegian Bar Association, CocaCola, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and Merrill Lynch.

Scholarships and Prizes:

SJ Berwin Junior Counsel Essay Prize (2008)

James Hunt Advocacy Trophy (Gray’s Inn, 2007)

Atkin Scholarship (Gray’s Inn, 2006)

Young ADR Professional of the Year (ADR Group, 2006)

Stephen Rayner Legal Essay Prize (Interleges solicitors’ network, 2006)

Winner, International WTO Moot (European Law Students’ Association, 2005)

Beddingfield Scholarship (Gray’s Inn, 2005)

David Karmel Entrance Award (Gray’s Inn, 2004)

Kennedy Scholarship (Memorial to JFK for study at Harvard, 2001 and 2002)

William Vaughan Lewis Prize (for undergraduate dissertation, Emmanuel College, 2001)

Senior Scholarship (Emmanuel College, 1998-2001)