Commercial
Hamish welcomes instructions across a broad range of commercial disputes. Examples of Hamish’s work include:
Civil Fraud
- Drafting the defence and advising in respect of an international fraud claim against a banker alleged to have misappropriated £170m from his client’s accounts (led by Ben Quiney KC).
- Sole counsel drafting particulars and advising on a claim for unjust enrichment and restitution in respect of c£0.5m transferred to a consultant under contracts which were alleged to have been procured under duress.
- Advising on potential causes of actions in company, contract and tort law, including for fraudulent misrepresentation and fraudulent trading, directly against the directors of a well-known construction firm which had unexpectedly entered into liquidation after its directors had made misleading market statements.
General contractual disputes
- Representing a well-known shoe manufacturing brand to successfully bring a debt claim against a retailer.
- Advising and drafting particulars of claim to enforce a without prejudice settlement agreement made in relation to a defamation claim.
- Representing a fertility clinic against a contractual claim brought by a staffing agency alleging they had employed a nurse directly in order to avoid contractual fees.
- Successfully representing a firm of estate agents against a contractual claim that they had failed to repay a commitment fee to a prospective tenant.
- Preparing an advice on the contractual interpretation of a major infrastructure contract awarded by the City of Westminster council in relation to a dispute over the value of work completed (as a pupil)
- Drafting the defence in a contractual claim relating to the installation of a security system which failed during a criminal heist, allowing circa £1m of stock to be stolen (as a pupil)
Share purchase agreements/warranty and indemnity claims
- Finsbury Food Group PLC v. Axis Corporate Capital UK Ltd [2023] (awaiting judgment): Commercial Court trial representing a group of insurers who underwrote a buyer-side W&I policy in respect of a share purchase agreement of a food manufacturing business by a publicly listed company. The buyer claimed under the policy alleging that the seller had breached a number of warranties in the share purchase agreement meaning the company was less valuable than it had understood (led by Daniel Shapiro KC).
- Advice in relation to an alleged breach of a share purchase agreement in relation to a private equity backed acquisition of a pharmaceutical company. Valued at supra £10 million (as a pupil)
Sale of goods
- Preparing defence and advice in a sale of goods dispute concerning allegedly defective steel rolls which were manufactured in Germany, including advising on difficult jurisdictional issues (as a pupil).
- Advice in relation to an £2m sale of goods claim by the purchasers of allegedly defective articulated trailer movers after an operator was killed by a crushing injury (as a pupil).
Company and Insolvency
- Representing a holiday park company in an insolvency dispute resisting an application by creditors to place the company into administration.
- Advising on potential causes of actions in company, contract and tort law directly against the directors of a well-known construction firm which had unexpectedly entered into liquidation after its directors had made misleading market statements.
- Advisory work pertaining to the presentation of a winding up petition by a creditor to a construction firm.
Professional services
- Representing a firm of solicitors retained in relation to the acquisition of £6.5m of commercial debt. It was alleged that the solicitors had negligently failed to advise about certain title issues which rendered some of the debt valueless (led by Daniel Shapiro KC).
- Representing a firm of solicitors alleged to have caused the claimant to lose the opportunity of bringing successful litigation against a well-known delivery company by missing a contractual limitation period. The underlying matter concerned a breach of contract and negligent/fraudulent misrepresentation claim.
- Preparing a defence on behalf of a firm of solicitors who were alleged to have negligently prepared and advised on an option agreement in relation to commercial property.
Insurance
- Finsbury Food Group Plc v Axis Corporate Capital UK Ltd [2023] EWHC 1559 (Comm). Commercial Court trial representing the defendant W&I insurers who underwrote a £20m acquisition of a food manufacturing business. The buyer of the business claimed under the W&I policy on the basis of alleged breaches of a number of warranties under the share purchase agreement. The defendant insurers succeeded on every issue after a two-week trial (led by Daniel Shapiro KC).
- Hamsard One Thousand And Forty-Three Limited v AE Insurance Brokers Limited [2023] (awaiting judgment). Commercial Court trial representing a firm of insurance brokers alleged to have negligently failed to arrange an appropriate scope of cover and to disclose material facts such that the insurer avoided the policy for non-disclosure and misrepresentation (led by Daniel Shapiro KC).
- Drafting particulars in relation to a coverage dispute after insurers declined to provide an indemnity for fire damage at a commercial premises due to an alleged breach of occupancy conditions.
- Successfully striking out a claim brought against an insurance company for a failure to provide cover to a taxi driver which he alleged had caused him £100k of losses.
- Drafting skeleton argument and assisting preparations for the Court of Appeal proceedings in Spire Healthcare Ltd v Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 17. The matter concerned the interpretation of aggregation clauses in insurance contracts and arose from multiple claims brought against a private hospital by patients injured by the disgraced breast surgeon, Ian Paterson (as a pupil).
- Preparing written points of claim on behalf of a Lloyd’s syndicate for an arbitration against a managing agent for breach of the binding authority agreement (as a pupil).
Selected Cases
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- Daniel Shapiro KC and Hamish Fraser act for the successful Defendant in a Commercial Court trial brought against a firm of insurance brokers.
- Daniel Shapiro KC, Caroline McColgan and Hamish Fraser acted for the successful Insurers in the first warranty & indemnity insurance claim to be decided by the Commercial Court
Articles
- Defending W&I claims: strategic themes illustrated in Finsbury Foods v Axis & Ors
- ClientEarth v Shell: High Court refuses permission for novel climate change action to be brought by ClientEarth against the directors of Shell Plc
Qualifications
- BPTC (Outstanding), BPP
- GDL (Distinction), City University
- English Language & Literature (First Class), University of Oxford,
Awards
- Buchanan Prize for outstanding performance on the BPTC (Lincoln’s Inn, 2020)
- Advocacy Scholarship (BPP, 2019)
- Tancred Scholarship (Lincoln’s Inn, 2019)
- Winner, the Crowther Shield for public speaking (Lincoln’s Inn, 2019)
- Winner, the Crown Office Mooting Competition (2018)
- The Janet Quigley Prize for Middle English studies (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, 2016)