Beatrice is developing a broad practice across the range of Chambers’ specialisms and welcomes instructions as both sole and junior counsel. Beatrice has gained advisory and litigation experience in the County and High Court with a specific focus on product liability, group litigation, commercial, consumer and health & safety law. She is currently instructed as junior counsel for the Claimants in the Volkswagen NOx Litigation which has the largest Claimant cohort currently under GLO management in England & Wales. As sole counsel Beatrice has built significant experience of consumer credit work and is regularly instructed by well-known banks and financial providers in unfair relationship claims made on various grounds (from alleged undisclosed commission claims arising out of PPI Policies covering credit card, mortgage and loan agreements to allegations of fiduciary breach in loan broker commission contexts).
Beatrice graduated from Trinity College, Oxford with a First Class degree in English Language & Literature. She went on to complete her professional qualifications at the University of Law and BPP Law School, joining Chambers in 2019. Prior to being called to the Bar in 2016, Beatrice worked in the litigation departments of both Bird & Bird LLP and Mishcon de Reya LLP.
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Expertise
Group Litigation
Beatrice is currently instructed as junior counsel (led by Oliver Campbell QC and Adam Heppinstall QC) for the Claimants in the Volkswagen NOx Emissions Group Litigation. The GLO made in this case manages the claims of one of the largest Claimant cohorts ever to proceed through group litigation in England & Wales. The case arises out of the factual context of the 2015 emissions scandal.
Between 2019 and 2021 Beatrice was on a part-time secondment with one of the Claimant firms in the Volkswagen NOx Emissions Group Litigation where she assisted with a wide range of case management tasks and was able to gain experience of the running of group litigation of very significant size from the perspective of the managing solicitors. She is now instructed as part of a substantial counsel team in which she assists across all workstreams in the case from Lead Claimant selection and management, to disclosure, the making of interim applications, inter partes correspondence and the ongoing management of the case.
During pupillage, Beatrice assisted her supervisors in the Post Office Group Litigation which followed the now well-publicised Horizon Accounting scandal. In this action, over 500 Subpostmasters claimed against the Post Office in relation to its point of sale and IT accounting system. Beatrice attended the 4 week Common Issues Trial in the High Court and was involved in resisting the Post Office’s, ultimately unsuccessful, recusal application which attempted the removal of the managing judge, Fraser J.
Representative cases
grid list-
The Volkswagen NOx Emissions Litigation: Preliminary Issues Judgment (Crossley & Ors v Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft) [2019] EWHC 783 (QB)
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The Post Office Litigation: Preliminary Issues Judgment (Bates & Ors v Post Office Limited) [2019] EWHC 606 (QB)
Consumer Credit
Beatrice is regularly instructed as sole counsel for well-known banks, building societies, finance providers and lenders in consumer credit cases from pleadings to trial stage.
Beatrice has gained extensive experience of claims brought under sections 140A and 140B of the Consumer Credit Act 1974. These are very often cases involving allegations of unfairness arising out of an alleged failure to disclose commission on PPI Policies paid to the Defendant. She is very familiar with judge led early neutral evaluations and dispute resolution hearings and also deals with all manner of procedural matters in these cases to include preliminary hearings, allocation hearings, direction hearings, strike out application hearings, relief from sanctions hearings, final hearings and costs and case management hearings.
Beatrice is working with client banks and finance providers to develop flexible but considered tactics for dealing with the very large numbers of similar cases. By providing clear feedback following hearings, with particular emphasis on judicial comment, Beatrice is helping her instructing solicitors and their clients develop a strategic approach to particular types of claims. By applying her knowledge, rather than treating each case in isolation, Beatrice helps Defendants deal with these matters efficiently to ensure positive outcomes at the various different stages of proceedings.
Commercial and Company
Beatrice has a broad experience of commercial matters and is instructed both as sole and junior counsel in complex commercial litigation.
Beatrice is currently instructed as junior counsel on behalf of a pharmaceutical company in a multi-million-pound Arbitration arising out of a contractual dispute linked to allegations of contamination.
Other recent examples include:
- Advising with senior counsel in settlement negotiations relating to an economic tort claim.
- Advising an internet provider in various interim and final hearings in proceedings issued by a vexatious litigation in person.
- Business disputes over unpaid invoices.
- Business disputes over disputed contractual interpretation.
Prior to joining Chambers, Beatrice had particular experience of commercial claims in the context of complex corporate trust structures and corporate insolvencies. She appeared on her own account in applications in the Central London County Court for extensions of time to register legal charges and debentures.
Health & Safety
Beatrice has advised and assisted in a range of health and safety matters both in her own right and as part of a larger team.
Recent examples include:
- Representing an individual in a claim issued against two co-Defendants as a result of a work-place injury.
- Attending a criminal trial of corporate co-Defendants accused of breaches of the Health and Safety etc. at Work Act 1974.
- Attending a mention in preparation for sentencing on the behalf of a corporate co-Defendant who had pleaded guilty to a breach of the Health and Safety etc. at Work Act 1974.
- Advising (in conjunction with leading counsel) a potential corporate Defendant in relation to an oil spill at a train depot.
- Advising (in conjunction with leading counsel) in relation to a potential water polluting discharge claim against a corporate Defendant under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016.
- Drafting of an application on behalf of a corporate Defendant to determine an issue of jurisdiction relating to whether the Office of Rail and Road was the appropriate prosecuting authority.
- Preparation (in conjunction with leading counsel) of the statement of case in a claim relating to a hospital death as a result of suicide representing the hospital and advising as the possibility of joining medical staff as Part 20 Defendants.
EU Law
As a pupil, Beatrice assisted in the preparation of the respondent’s written submissions for the Supreme Court in R (on the application of the Association of Independent Meat Suppliers and another) v the Food Standards Agency, led by Sir Alan Dashwood QC and Adam Heppinstall. The case has recently been the subject of a reference to the CJEU.
Personal Injury
Beatrice appears regularly in the county court in trials arising out of road traffic accidents. She is also instructed as sole counsel in a variety of multi-track cases.
Recent instructions include:
- A pedestrian/vehicle collision claim with a potential long-term brain injury and increased risk of epilepsy.
- A workplace injury claim involving the long-term hospitalisation of a painter working on a construction site. In this claim the co-defendants each sought to avoid liability by claiming that the other was responsible for the particular events on the day of the accident.
Property
Beatrice is regularly instructed on her own account in property disputes and has particular experience of representing Housing Associations. Her experience includes injunction applications, possession claims, and procedural matters in Landlord/Tenant claims. She is currently heavily involved in an ongoing multi-track dispute on behalf of a small business seeking a lease extension.
Other recent instructions include:
- Advising in the settlement of a landlord tenant dispute where the landlord had become abusive.
- Advising a freeholder on a potential property tribunal case against the self-appointed directors of the building’s RTM.
- Advising in a frustration of lease contract case arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Managing proceedings on an ongoing basis in a boatyard possession case against a litigation in person claimant who made allegations of damage to property in the context of significant rental arrears.
- Drafting statements of case and advising in an ongoing nuisance case between a freeholder and leaseholder.
- Drafting statements of case and attending a successful strike out hearing on a Defendant landlord’s behalf where a litigant in person tenant had pre-emptively issued a claim in order to deal with significant rental arrears.
Employment
Beatrice is developing experience in a range of employment matters acting for both employers and employees. Past experience includes representing clients in claims arising out of unfair dismissal, disability, and a working knowledge of race and sex discrimination cases.
News and articles
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- Government Legal Department, Junior Junior Scheme (Oct 2018 to Oct 2022)
- COMBAR
- BA in English Language & Literature, Trinity College, Oxford (First Class)
- BPTC Major Scholarship from Inner Temple
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For more information about the way barristers at Henderson Chambers work, including our fee transparency statement and our complaints process, please click here.
Bar Council Number: 67829
VAT Registration Number: 319108123
Legal Status: Barrister
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Regulated by the Bar Standards Board.
