Michael McLaren QC
Call Date
1981
Silk date
2002
Practice Areas
Michael McLaren has a broad commercial / common law practice, with seven main specialities:
- Commercial Litigation
- Aviation
- Professional Negligence
- Regulatory
- Insurance/Reinsurance
- Banking
- Shipping
Recommendations (Practitioners' Guides)
Michael is recommended for his work in Aviation by both Legal Experts 2006 and Legal 500 2007 which describes him as being "highly respected" in this area. He is again recommended in this field in the 2008 edition. He is also recommended by Legal 500 in both the 2007 and again in the 2008 editions in commercial litigation with peers describing him as "unfailingly courteous.... an iron fist in a velvet glove."
Education
Eton College (scholar)
Christ's College, Cambridge:
- Part 1A Natural Sciences
- Part 2 Law: MA (Law) Cantab, First Class
Professional Experience
Michael McLaren has wide and in-depth experience of a wide variety of areas of commercial and civil law.
Recent Practice
Administrative & Public Law
See under Professional Discipline, below.
Arbitration
Michael McLaren has appeared in various shipping arbitrations concerning unsage berth / unsafe port issues, including passage planning issues. He has also appeared in commodity / international trade arbitrations. On the domestic front, amongst other arbitrations he was instructed in a high profile arbitration concerning the defective computer systems used by the London Ambulance Service.
Aviation
Michael McLaren has extensive experience of a wide range of aviation disputes. These range from aircraft crashes, product liability issues, passenger claims and cargo claims, through aircraft sales and financing agreements, to technical problems with aircraft and claims concerning technical work undertaken to aircraft. With his science background, he particularly relishes the technical aspects of aircraft litigation.
On the regulatory front, he has acted in route-licensing applications before the CAA, in disputes about air routes, and in a dispute as to the duties owed by air traffic control organisations seizing aircraft. He has also acted for airports, e.g. advising in connection with protests concerning aircraft noise and activities.
His past clients have included Airbus, Eurocopter, various airports and various major airlines.
He has also lectured on air law on air industry courses in the Far East.
Significant reported cases include:
Fujitsu Computer Products Corp. v. Bax Global Inc. [2005] EWHC 2298 (Clarke J.):
The effect of an in-house air waybill lacking the IATA recommended Warsaw notice.
Quantum Corporation Ltd v Plane Trucking [2002] 1 WLR 2678 (CA), [2001] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 133: Whether the trucking of air cargo between airports was subject to the Warsaw Convention, the CMR Convention or neither.
Irish Aerospace (Belgium) NV v. European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation [1992] 1 Ll. Rep. 383. The extent of duties owed by governmental / quasi-governmental organisations when seizing aircraft to secure debts due; whether an abuse of dominant position
Banking & Finance
Michael McLaren has wide experience in acting for and against banks in banking and international trade disputes.
Chancery
Michael McLaren has wide experience of Chancery actions, including in the areas of company and insolvency (see those headings below).
Civil Fraud
Michael McLaren has wide experience of substantial commercial litigation involving alleged civil fraud, including the Polly Peck litigation (a claim for 3350m arising out of the collapse of Polly Peck due to alleged fraud) and the Grupo Torras ligitation (a very substantial claim for complex frauds on the Kuwait Investment Office). He has extensive experience of freezing orders and search / seizure orders. Within the last year he has acted for a pharmaceutical company sued by a pharmaceutical major for substantial sums allegedly defrauded by means of false returns under a rebate scheme. He also recently appeared in the CA and the House of Lords in the high profile case of President of Equatorial Guinea v Logo Limited and others [2005] EWHC 2034 (QB); [2006] EWCA Civ. 1370 (CA), a case relating to an alleged coup in Equatorial Guina concerning allegations of an unlawful means conspiracy illegally to seize the nation's energy and other resources.
Civil Liberties & Human Rights
See under Human Rights, below.
Commercial Litigation
Michael McLaren has wide experience of banking, international trade, computer disputes, construction disputes and financial regulation including:
- various share sale agreements, including successfully resisting an appeal to CA on an issue of construction of a share sale agreement
- various substantial commercial fraud cases (Polly Peck, Grupo Torras and others)
- both domestic banking (acting for and against the major clearing banks) and international banking (including wide experience of letters of credit and other financial instruments)
- a variety of computer cases, including acting for the London Ambulance Service in a widely publicised dispute over its computer controlled 999-system
- a variety of construction cases, ranging from a defective concrete factory to the supply of water from a combined heat and power plant
- insurance / reinsurance work, including acting for P&I Clubs, mortgagee banks in hull policy cases, hire purchase protection policies and other commercial insurance policies
- employment work
Reported cases in the commercial field include the following:
- Mbasago & ors v. Logo Ltd & ors [2005] EWHC 2034 (David J.), [2006] EWCA Civ 1370): concerning a review of the elements of unlawful means conspiracy in the context of the notorious and well publicised coup in Equatorial Guinea, including in particular whether there needs to be an actionable tort alleged against one of the alleged conspirators.
- Investment Invoice Financing Ltd. v. Limehouse Board Mills Ltd. [2006] EWCA Civ. 9 (Court of Appeal): the jurisdiction of and principles to be applied by a court when requiring assignees of claims to provide security for the payment of costs ordered to be paid by the assignor.
- British Credit Trust Holdings v. UK Insurance Ltd. [2004] 1 All ER (Comm) 444 (Morison J., Comm. Ct.): issues of whether a claim for declaratory relief in the context of an ongoing insurance policy satisfied the policy's requirement that claims be brought within one year; the doctrine of abandonment and the circumstances in which a claim could be said to be abandoned; and the court's discretion to permit amendment of the claim in such circumstances.
- City of London v. Reeve & Co. Ltd. [2000] BLR 211 (HHJ Hicks, TCC): in the context of an agreement to indemnify against liability to third parties, whether the date of accrual of the claim or the cause of action was the date of realisation or the date of inception of the relevant liability.
- Kler Knitwear Ltd. v. Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. [2000] Lloyd's IR Reports 47. Analysis of the distinction between a warranty and a suspensive condition in an insurance policy, in the context of damage to commercial property.
- Dixons Group Plc v. Murray-Obodynski [2000] 1 BCLC 1 (CA). Construction of complex share sale agreement on issue of whether the vendors could be relieved from liability for an established breach of warranty.
- Dixons Group Plc v Murray-Obodynski [1997] 86 BLR 16. The extent to which an expert’s determination of the assets/liabilities of a company was capable of challenge.
- Alexander v. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars [1996] RTR 95 (CA). Scope of damages for disappointment / distress in commercial contracts.
- Morgan Crucible Co Plc v. Hill Samuel [1991] 1 Ch 295 (CA). Extent of duties of directors and others in takeover situations.
- Phibro Energy AG v. Nissho Iwai Corp [1991] 1 Ll. Rep. 38 (CA). Oil trading: nomination of vessel to load; whether sellers had to obtain acceptance from terminal operator before accepting buyer's nomination.
Commodities
Michael McLaren has experience of commodities arbitrations and oil trading cases, such as Phibro Energy AG v. Nissho Iwai Corp [1991] 1 Ll. Rep. 38 (CA) (oil trading: nomination of vessel to load; whether sellers had to obtain acceptance from terminal operator before accepting buyer's nomination).
Company Law
Michael McLaren has experience of company law, including being involved in section 459 petitions (the details of which are confidential) and advising in relation to the detailed voting rights and obligations of preference shareholders arising under a Shareholder Agreement.
Competition Law
Michael McLaren has experience of Article 85 / 86 disputes, having acted for Rover / BMW and Unipart in relation to substantial multi-party litigation in which a wide-ranging challenge was brought to the motor industry’s systems for distribution of spare parts.
Competition & European Law
See under Competition Law, above.
Construction
Michael McLaren has experience of a variety of construction disputes, ranging from a defective concrete factory to the supply of water from a combined heat and power plant; see (e.g.) City of London v. Reeve & Co. Ltd. [2000] BLR 211 (HHJ Hicks, TCC) (summarised under the heading Commercial, above).
Costs
Michael McLaren has experience of costs disputes, including having appeared in the Court of Appeal in Insolvency Invoice Financing Ltd v Limehouse Board Mills Ltd, 23.1.06 TLR (raising the issue of the Court’s power to order a stay of proceedings against a Claimant, as assignee of a debt alleged to be owed by the Defendant, where the trade creditor’s previous winding up petition had been struck out as an abuse of the process, but the costs of those proceedings had not yet been paid).
Employment
Michael McLaren has had experience as a junior in employment cases.
Energy & Natural Resources
Michael McLaren has experience of this field, including having acted in connection with a dispute concerning a combined heat and power plant.
Financial Services
Michael McLaren has experience of Financial Services, both from the regulatory aspect (qv) and the professional negligence aspects (qv).
Human Rights
Michael McLaren has acted for the General Council of the Bar in an action concerning Human Rights issues in relation to the Bar’s disciplinary procedure and a challenge to the composition of a Visitors Panel hearing a disciplinary appeal: In re P (a barrister) [2005] 1 WLR 3019.
Information Technology
Michael McLaren has wide experience of disputes in relation to computer systems, including being instructed on behalf of the London Ambulance Service in an arbitration concerning the failures of their computer-controlled A&E response system.
Insolvency
Michael McLaren has experience of insolvency work. In particular, he has acted in an application for an injunction to prevent advertisement of a petition for the winding up of a substantial entity where the petition was alleged to be an abuse of the process. He also appeared in the Court of Appeal in Insolvency Invoice Financing Ltd v Limehouse Board Mills Ltd, 23.1.06 TLR (raising the issue of the Court’s power to order a stay of proceedings against a Claimant, as assignee of a debt alleged to be owed by the Defendant, where the trade creditor’s a previous winding up petition had been struck out as an abuse of the process, but the costs not yet paid). His experience of insolvency matters extends also to disciplinary matters, and he has recently represented the Insolvency Practitioners Association in connection with their own internal disciplinary proceedings.
Insurance & Reinsurance
Michael McLaren has experience of various insurance and reinsurance cases, including acting for P&I Clubs, mortgagee banks in hull policy cases, hire purchase protection policies and other commercial insurance policies. Reported cases in this field include:
- British Credit Trust Holdings v. UK Insurance Ltd. [2004] 1 All ER (Comm) 444 (Morison J., Comm. Ct.): issues of whether a claim for declaratory relief in the context of an ongoing insurance policy satisfied the policy's requirement that claims be brought within one year; the doctrine of abandonment and the circumstances in which a claim could be said to be abandoned; and the court's discretion to permit amendment of the claim in such circumstances.
- Kler Knitwear Ltd. v. Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. [2000] Lloyd's IR Reports 47: analysis of the distinction between a warranty and a suspensive condition in an insurance policy, in the context of damage to commercial property.
Professional Discipline
Michael McLaren has extensive experience of regulatory work in the professional discipline field, including:
- acting for a committee of the Insolvency Practitioners Association on an appeal
- acting for the Bar Council in connection with a challenge to the composition of a Visitors Panel hearing a disciplinary appeal: In re P (a barrister)
- acting for the Law Society in various cases relating to intervention in the practices of solicitors and the regulation of the profession
- acting for solicitors in their relations with the Law Society, including in connection with actual or threatened interventions and disciplinary proceedings
- acting for accountants before disciplinary tribunals (e.g. the Joint Disciplinary Scheme and the ACCA disciplinary tribunal), including the high profile Resort Hotels and Queen’s Moat Houses cases
- acting for accountants engaged in the sale of financial plans / investments to the public resulting in complaints to the relevant regulatory body
- acting for a stockbroker challenging a disciplinary finding
- acting as Counsel to a regulatory body
Professional Negligence:
Michael McLaren has particular experience of accountants' negligence, including:
- acting for accountants in the substantial litigation resulting from the collapse of Polly Peck International
- acting for accountants in various other claims based on the negligent audit of accounts or negligent approval of financial statements prepared in the context of bids / share-purchase agreements
- acting against accountants in claims for negligent tax advice
- acting for accountants engaged by regulatory authority to carry out various spot-checks on licensed conveyancers
He also has experience of professional negligence in relation to other professions, including solicitors, architects and insolvency practitioners.
Search & Seizure and Freezing Orders:
Michael McLaren has wide experience of search & seizure and freezing orders. For instance:
- In 2007, he was instructed by a pharmaceutical company faced with search & seizure orders obtained by a pharmaceutical major, alleging fraud and secret profits.
- In the high profile Grupe Torras case, he was instructed by one of the key defendants facing extensive worldwide freezing orders.
He has also acted for clients seeking such orders.
Shipping:
Michael McLaren has wide experience of shipping cases and arbitrations, ranging from cargo claims, unsafe ports / berths, corrosion of vessel by cargo, total loss claims to jurisdictional and procedural issues, etc. He has particular experience in the grounding of vessels and issues relating to passage planning.
Reported cases include:
Melvin International v. Poseidon [1999] 2 Ll. Rep.374: the extent to which a charterparty guarantee is valid where the charterparty is subsequently varied
The Polessk [1996] 2 Ll. Rep. 40: the extent of undertakings extracted by the court from defendants on jurisdictional challenges
The Stolt Loyalty [1993] 2 Ll. Rep. 381, [1995] 1 Ll. Rep. 598 (CA): the applicability of principles of estoppel as between solicitors in connection with time limits for commencing action.
Shipping & Commodities
See the entries under Shipping above.
Notable Cases
Michael McLaren recently (2.08 and 6.08) appeared in the House of Lords in Mbasago & ors. v. Logo Ltd. & ors. [2005] EWHC 2034 (Davis J.), [2006] EWCA Civ 1370, billed by The Lawyer as one of the top 10 cases for 2008. The case involved a review of the elements of unlawful means conspiracy in the context of the notorious and well publicised attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea, including in particular whether there needs to be an actionable tort alleged against at least one of the alleged conspirators.
Languages
French (rudimentary)