Derek Sweeting KC > Chambers of Rachel Langdale KC > London, England > Barrister Profile

Derek Sweeting KC

020 7242 3555 dsweeting@7br.co.uk View profile

Position

Barrister whose practice is focused on contentious civil litigation and advisory work in the High Court and the Court of Appeal, as well as arbitration. It includes cases relating to commercial contracts, insurance, construction, information technology, professional negligence and civil fraud. He also retains a keen interest in maximum severity personal injury and clinical negligence work. He is regularly instructed by the Attorney General in this field. A regular and popular lecturer on his areas of practice, he is co-author of the chapter dealing with the overlap between civil and criminal claims in ‘Fraud; Law, Practice and Procedure’. He also deals with financial services and product liability.

Career

Qualified Middle Temple 1983; recorder 2001; QC 2001; deputy high court judge 2008. His recent reported cases include: Greene Wood & McClean v Templeton Insurance [2009] EWCA Civ 65; service out of the jurisdiction of a claim ‘in respect of a contract’ and the meaning of ‘same damage’: Bailey v Ministry of Defence [2008] EWCA Civ 883; material contribution as the basis of causation in clinical negligence: Alan Auld Associates Ltd v Rick Pollard Associates [2008] EWCA Civ 655; repudiatory breach of contract in quasi-employment; John McCarthy v McCarthy & Stone Plc [2007] EWCA Civ 664; [2008] 1 All ER 221: construction of share option agreements; approach to the exercise of directors’ discretion when a claim in restitution is possible to recover tax paid on behalf of an employee; (1) E H Humphries (Norton) Ltd (2) Thistle Hotels Plc v Fire Alarm Fabrication Services Ltd [2006] EWCA Civ 1496: (2007) ICR 247: circumstances in which a duty of care arises from a contractor’s right to supervise the work of a subcontractor; Proforce Recruit Ltd v Rugby Group Ltd (2006) EWCA Civ 69: when it is permissible to rely on negotiations in the construction of commercial contracts; David Philip Hawley v Luminar Leisure Plc & Ors [2006] ECA Civ 30; ‘The Times’, February 14, 2006: the application of the ‘control’ test in transferred vicarious liability; the meaning of ‘accidental bodily injury’ in public liability; West Sussex County Council v Russell [2010] EWCA Civ 71 ambit of the obligation of a highway authority to maintain verge and carriageway; Uren v Corporate Leisure [2010] EWHC 46 (QB) balance to be struck between the level of risk involved and the benefits of the activity in personal injury claims; Sec of State for Defence v Duncan [2009] EWCA Civ 1043 Court of Appeal guidance on the interpretation of the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.

Memberships

Professional Negligence Bar Association; TecBar; Society of Construction Law; Personal Injury Bar Association.

Education

Clare College, Cambridge (1982 MA Cantab).