Ajay practises across all the main areas of Chambers' work. He has appeared as an advocate in the Commercial Court, Administrative Court, Upper Tribunal, FCA Regulatory Decisions Committee and a variety of First-Tier Tribunals (employment, immigration, social security, special educational needs, war pensions) and disciplinary panels (NCTL, EBU).

Ajay is a member of the Attorney General's C Panel of Junior Counsel. He has worked as a Specialist Adviser to the Treasury Select Committee (2016-17) and a secondee to the Enforcement Division of the Financial Conduct Authority  (seven months in 2015-16).

Ajay is recognised by Legal 500 as a leading junior. Recent quotes include:

  • "Ajay Ratan is responsive, hard-working and user-friendly. He has an interest and knowledge of regulatory enforcement and is a strong strategic thinker too."- Chambers UK, 2023
  • "User friendly. Hard working. Responsive. The best at his level of call for contentious regulatory work."- Legal 500, 2023
  • "Ajay is highly intelligent and hard working. He gets to grips with the case quickly and offers clear and pragmatic advice. A great team player. "- Legal 500, 2022

Before coming to the Bar, Ajay taught the law of trusts at University College London. Ajay is a published writer on the law of unjust enrichment and has spoken at conferences in London, Melbourne and All Souls College, Oxford.  

Experience

Shortlist

Commercial

Ajay accepts instructions in all areas of commercial litigation and has particular experience of high-value multi-jurisdictional disputes.  Current major instructions include a substantial offshore dispute in which the sum claimed is approximately US$1 billion. 

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Financial Services & Banking

In 2015-16, Ajay was seconded to the Enforcement Division of the Financial Conduct Authority for seven months. He advised on a wide range of investigative and sanctioning powers and enforcement policy issues. 

Ajay is now frequently instructed for and against regulators in a variety of sectors. To give three recent examples: Ajay acted for the FCA in its successful defence of a judicial review challenge to the deadline for PPI complaints; he appeared in the Regulatory Decisions Committee as sole counsel for the FCA in a recent decision on systems and controls for identifying and reporting potential market abuse; and he acted for the claimants in a judicial review challenge to a warning notice issued by the Pensions Regulator.  

Ajay has also worked as a Specialist Adviser to the Treasury Select Committee in a team led by Andrew Green QC. The team's report on Maxwellisation was published in November 2016 and is available here.

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Public & Regulatory

Ajay has wide experience of public law and judicial review challenges acting for both claimants and defendants.  He is a member of the Attorney General's C Panel of Junior Counsel (and in this role has worked as junior to Sir James Eadie QC, the 'Treasury Devil'). 

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Civil Liberties & Human Rights

Ajay accepts instructions in all areas of civil liberties and human rights litigation. 

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Employment

Ajay accepts instructions in all areas of employment litigation. 

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EU & Competition

Ajay accepts instructions in all areas of EU law.

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Professional Discipline

Ajay accepts instructions in all areas of professional discipline. Ajay has advised various healthcare regulators on points concerning their statutory frameworks and procedural rules. 

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Achievements

Education

BA (Hons) Law (Cantab., Starred First, top of year)

Prizes & Scholarships

  • Peter Taylor Scholarship (Inner Temple, 2014)
  • Vinerian Scholarship for best overall performance on BCL (Oxford University, 2013)
  • John Morris Prize for the Conflict of Laws (Oxford University, 2013)
  • Peter Birks Prize for the Law of Unjust Enrichment (Oxford University, 2013)
  • Michael and Judith Beloff Scholarship (Trinity College, Oxford, 2013)
  • Slaughter and May Prize for top first in the year (Cambridge University, 2012)
  • Clifford Chance David Gottlieb Prize for top first in the year (Cambridge University, 2011)  
  • Sweet and Maxwell Prize for top first in the year (Cambridge University, 2010)
  • George Long Prize for Jurisprudence (Cambridge University, 2011)
  • ECS Wade Prize for Constitutional Law (Cambridge University, 2010)
  • Glanville Williams Prize for Criminal Law (Cambridge University, 2010)
  • George Long Prize for Civil Law (Cambridge University, 2010)

Publications

  • 'The Unity of Pre-Receipt and Post-Receipt Detriment'  in  Andrew Dyson,  James  Goudkamp and Frederick Wilmot-Smith (eds), Defences in Unjust  Enrichment (Hart  Publishing,  December 2015)

Other relevant experience

Treasury Select Committee 

Ajay has worked as a Specialist Adviser to the Treasury Select Committee to produce a report on Maxwellisation in public inquiries and investigations as part of a team led by Andrew Green QC . 

Pro Bono Legal Work

Ajay works with the Free Representation Unit and has undertaken seven cases ranging across social security and employment law. He has represented claimants in social security entitlement appeals and defendants in claims to the repayment of allegedly overpaid benefits.

News

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