Commercial
A seat with Carlo Taczalski during pupillage exposed Benedict to a range of general commercial work involving—among other things—agency, civil fraud, and sale of goods contracts. His academic background gives him particular familiarity with commercial law. He studied Commercial Remedies and Restitution of Unjust Enrichment on the BCL (the latter of which he was taught by Lord Burrows of the Supreme Court), and as a Trusts tutor at Oxford he had a particular interest in remedies for breaches of fiduciary duties.
His work includes:
- Drafting a Defence, an Additional Claim, and advising in a contractual dispute between a recruitment agency and a construction company. The recruitment agency had purportedly assigned its rights to payment under the contract to an factoring company, who brought the main claim for unpaid invoices against the construction company. The construction company sought a refund for commission fees it had paid to the recruitment agency. Issues concerned assignment, contractual interpretation, and incorporation of terms.
- Drafting a Defence on behalf of a life coach in a dispute concerning the terms of a contract to provide life coaching. Issues included the interaction of certainty of terms and the implication of terms under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
- (During pupillage) assisted Carlo Taczalski in a PD 51U disclosure guidance hearing. Researched the scope and nature of an agent’s duty to disclose documents to the principal following termination of the agency.
- (During pupillage) assisted Carlo Taczalski in a claim brought by an insured against its broker for fraudulently representing that the insurer had agreed to an indemnity which involved the falsification of various documents. Issues concerned the broker’s vicarious liability for a rogue employee and attribution of the rogue employee’s dishonesty to the brokering firm.
- (During pupillage) assisted Jason Evans-Tovey with an interim application for an injunction to prevent a business’ bank accounts from being closed by its bank.
- (During pupillage) drafting a Particulars of Claim and Reply and Defence to Counterclaim in a case involving a packaging and logistics company’s claim for the value of reusable storage containers which the Defendant client had hired and seemingly lost.
- (During pupillage) drafted a Defence in a claim involving the Defendant adhesive manufacturer’s supply of an allegedly defective adhesive. Involved complex scientific expert evidence regarding the chemical makeup and material properties of the adhesive.
Selected Cases
View full profile »Awards
- Academic Scholarship, Oriel College (2017-2019)
- Oriel College Prize for Finals results (2019)
- Finalist (top 12 of over 100 essays), Times Law Awards (2020)
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Qualifications
- BA Jurisprudence (Double First, 9/250 in cohort); Oriel College, University of Oxford
- Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction); Oriel College, University of Oxford
- Bar Vocational Studies (Distinction); City, University of London
