Mr Jimmy Barber > Chambers of Lawrence Power > London, England > Barrister Profile

Mr Jimmy Barber

Position

Barrister

Career

Practice

Jimmy joined Whitestone in November 2011. His practice is specialist civil law, which includes:

• Commercial and chancery,
• Aviation and travel,
• Insolvency.

Jimmy spent two terms at the Court of Appeal as judicial assistant to the previous Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, whilst he was President of the Queen’s Bench Division.

Commercial

Jimmy is building an aviation and travel law practice, with particular experience of cases involving Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004, the Montreal Convention, and misrepresentation of package holidays.

During pupillage at Crown Office Chambers, he worked on Dhanani v Crasnianski [2011] EWHC 926 (Comm), a two-week case in the High Court regarding the formation of a private equity fund, and the landmark case of Jones v Kaney [2011] UKSC 13 in the Supreme Court, in which witnesses lost their immunity from suit. He also advised on commercial guarantees, the interpretation of insurance contracts, product liability claims, solicitors’ negligence and executors’ breaches of trust.

Before coming to the Bar, Jimmy spent six months working at a commercial solicitors’ firm on disclosure and drafting in the case of SITA UK v Serruys [2010] EWHC 698 (QB), a £91 million dispute involving allegations of commercial fraud.

Aviation

Jimmy undertakes court, advisory and drafting work in matters relating to aviation and travel law, including:

• Carriage by air disputes involving EU regulations, the Warsaw and Montreal Conventions and associated passenger, cargo, baggage and delay claims.
• Denied boarding claims.
• Negligence claims (including personal injury) in an aviation context.

Notable Cases:

• Acting for airlines in defending claims brought under Regulation 261/2004, where delays were caused by extraordinary circumstances.
• Successfully resisting various claims brought by passengers complaining of e.g. offensive treatment at the hands of airline staff, and of distress and loss of enjoyment as a consequence of erroneous denial of boarding.
• Representing tour operators in various claims for breach of contract and misrepresentation relating to package holiday.

Other Experience

During Jimmy’s appointment as a judicial assistant at the Court of Appeal, he drafted bench memoranda for the Lord and Lady Justices of Appeal on permission to appeal applications in commercial, employment, immigration and family dispute. He assisted Sir John Thomas PQBD (as he then was) in the Divisional Court, by carrying out legal research and preparing bench memos on criminal appeals, extradition cases and several high profile judicial reviews.

He assisted on Tchenguiz v Serious Fraud Office [2012] EWHC 2254 (Admin), in which search warrants obtained by the SFO to investigate the claimants’ alleged involvement in a collapsed Icelandic bank were held to be unlawful. Jimmy also assisted on R (Chong Nyok Keyu & ors) v (1) Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs (2) Secretary of State for Defence) [2012] EWHC 2445 Admin, an unsuccessful application to judicially review the Secretary of State’s decision not to hold a public inquest into British soldiers’ involvement in the Batang Kali massacre in 1948.

Scholarships, Awards, and Prizes

Cavendish Prize, DLA European Law Prize and Markus Zalewski Prize.

Lord Denning Scholar & Hardwicke Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn.

Memberships

Call to the Bar, Lincoln’s Inn, 2008.

Education

L.L.B. European Law, University of Exeter.

L.L.M., Universitat des Sarlaandes.

B.C.L. (Bachelor of Civil Law), University of Oxford.