Malcolm Birdling > Brick Court Chambers > London, England > Barrister Profile
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Malcolm Birdling
Position
Malcolm is a junior barrister with a litigation practice specialising in all aspects of public, administrative, EU and commercial dispute resolution. Malcolm’s recent public and administrative work includes acting for the claimant in R (Holmcroft Properties Ltd) v KPMG LLP [2016] EWHC 323 (Admin) (one of “The Lawyer’s” top 20 cases of 2016) and for the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs before the Supreme Court in R (Sandiford) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs [2014] 1 WLR 2697. Highlights of Malcolm’s recent commercial work include appearing unled before the Court of Appeal in British Gas Trading Ltd v Oak Cash and Carry Ltd [2016] EWCA Civ 153, and acting as sole junior counsel for the Claimants (led by Jonathan Hirst QC) in a Hong Kong seated international arbitration relating to a dispute arising under a Directors’ and Officers’ liability insurance policy. Malcolm also regularly appears before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, most recently in R v Pora [2015] UKPC 9, Times, April 20, 2015, Bimini Blue Coalition Ltd v Prime Minister of The Bahamas & Ors [2014] UKPC 23, Taylor v R [2013] 1 WLR 1144 and R v Lundy [2013] UKPC 28; (2013) Times, December 10.
Career
Qualified New Zealand Bar; judge’s clerk (judicial assistant) to Sir Grant Hammond at the New Zealand Court of Appeal; research fellow and tutor in law (specialising in constitutional and European Union law) Keble College, University of Oxford 2008-2011; called 2011, Inner Temple. Publications of note: ‘Competition Law: General Principles in Vaughan and Robertson’s Encyclopaedia of EU Law’ (co-author); ‘Delays and Stays’, New Zealand Law Journal (2009), p253 ff (co-author); ‘Self Incrimination comes to Strasbourg’, International Journal of Evidence & Proof (Vol 12, 2008), p58 ff; ‘Filtering and the International System: A Question of Commitment’ in Access Denied: The Practice and Policy of Global Internet Filtering (MIT Press, 2008) (co-author); ‘Healing the Past or Harming the Future? Large Natural Groupings and the Waitangi Settlement Process’ New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law (Vol 2, No 2 2004), p259 ff; ‘Making Sense of the Foreshore and Seabed’ (Wellington, 2004) (co-author).
Memberships
ALBA (Executive Committee Member); COMBAR.
Education
University of Oxford (2007 BCL (Distinction); 2008 MPhil (Law); 2012 DPhil (Law). Victoria University of Wellington (2003 BA Political Science, LLB (1st))
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > International human rights and criminal law
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3London Bar > Aviation and Travel
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 4Malcolm Birdling – Brick Court Chambers ‘Malcolm is a ferociously bright public law barrister. His understanding of public law concepts is outstanding, and his drafting of appeal documentation is absolutely brilliant.’
London Bar > Sanctions
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 2Malcolm Birdling – Brick Court Chambers ‘Malcolm is a go-to junior for this work. His work for both individuals and government in this area means he has an amazing breadth and depth of knowledge of both the law and practice.’
Brick Court Chambers is ‘top tier in relation to sanctions,’ with its members acting for designated individuals, UK government ministries and companies facing sanctions challenges. Maya Lester KC exemplifies this breadth of practice, having appeared for the Foreign Office in Phillips v FCDO, in which a British citizen designated on the grounds of being a pro-Russia propagandist in the Ukrainian War challenged his listing on free speech grounds; she also appeared for Nizar Al-Assaad before the ECJ in his bid to be removed from the Syrian sanctions list. Lester regularly leads Malcolm Birdling, who appeared for the appellant in Shvidler v FCDO, a challenge to the designation of a British-American citizen (who, while, having a track record of business in Russia was never a Russian citizen) whose assets were frozen under the post-Brexit Russia sanctions. Fergus Randolph KC is frequently called upon by companies and regulators looking to navigate the Russian sanctions regime. Commercial disputes where sanctions have prevented the payment of monies owed or halted projects form part of Paul Wright‘s practice, which also includes advising law firms on the limitations sanctions place on their ability to advise certain clients.
London Bar > Administrative law and human rights
(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 2Malcolm Birdling –Brick Court Chambers ‘He enjoys the intellectual challenge of a difficult case, and he easily applies his deep knowledge of the law to the facts of his cases, and the issues in dispute.’
‘Very strong set‘ Brick Court Chambers is home to ‘a full range of highly talented counsel‘ in the public law arena. The ‘tenacious‘ Paul Bowen KC has ‘impressive knowledge of the law of human rights‘, and James McClelland KC‘s ‘tactical advice is spot on‘. Victoria Wakefield KC represented the Church Commissioners for England before the Privy Council in All Saints Spring Park Parochial Church Council v Church Commissioners for England, an appeal concerning the issue of whether the Church could be considered as a public authority for Human Rights Act matters. Malcolm Birdling is ‘a star of the administrative Bar‘; he and Jagoda Klimowicz successfully represented the claimants in R (L J Fairburn & Son and others) v Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, a challenge to the legality of the policy of compensation payable to farmers for the cull of poultry to curb avian influenza, which was alleged to be in violation of Article 1 Protocol 1 rights. Yaaser Vanderman joined the team in July 2024.