Christopher newman

Christopher's practice covers a broad range of commercial work but he has particular experience in civil fraud, banking, contractual disputes, company law, professional negligence, and obtaining injunctive relief (especially freezing injunctions). Christopher also has experience of insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings.

He has particular knowledge of the telecommunications sector, having acted for T-Mobile on a number of occasions, and having recently acted for Orange in a High Court dispute relating to the supply of SIM cards to business customers. Christopher’s masters degree in engineering means that he is able to quickly understand the technical side of such disputes.

Christopher also acts regularly in ‘team-move’ litigation. At the end of 2009 Christopher acted (with Stuart Ritchie) for one of the Defendants in a nine-week trial (in which 26 witnesses gave evidence) which arose from an alleged conspiracy in the inter-dealer broker market: Tullett Prebon v BGC and others [2010] EWHC 484 (QB). He is currently acting (with Stuart Ritchie) for the claimants in another case (BGC v Goddard and others) involving inter-dealer brokers where a team-move is alleged. He is also acting (with Stuart Ritchie) for the Defendants in a case where former members of a hedge fund are alleged to have conspired to set up a competing business: Rubicon Fund Management LLP v Attias and Others.

Christopher is a member of the British Russian Law Association and is a member of chambers’ CIS Group. He is currently advising an investment bank in connection with a transaction concerning oil and gas exploration and production assets in the Ukhta and Orenburg regions of Russia. Christopher has experience advising in relation to arbitration proceedings.

Christopher prides himself on the quality of his written and oral advocacy, and is always mindful of the importance to his clients of achieving an outcome to disputes that makes commercial sense. He is happy to receive papers in electronic format and is equally happy to chat through a piece of work on an informal basis prior to instruction.

personal background

MEng. Clare College, University of Cambridge - Double First (1997-2001)
Boxing Blue (1999)
Pressed Steel Prize for Engineering (2000) - placed first in College in finals.
Postgraduate Diploma in Law - City University (2001-2002)
Bar Vocational Course - Inns of Court School of Law (2002-2003)

LECTURES, ARTICLES AND PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

Contributing author to Littleton’s Practice Notes on Commercial Fraud, soon to be available on PLC’s website.

Assisted Stuart Ritchie in writing Fiduciary duties - Directors and Employees.

Christopher is currently offering the following training lectures and would ask firms interested in any of these lectures to contact the clerks:

Freezing orders - practice and procedure.
Fundamentals of banking law.
Litigating guarantees.
Unfair prejudice - when businesses go wrong.
Professional Negligence in the Recession – Claims by Mortgage Lenders.
Disclosure and e-disclosure.
Practical aspects of team-move litigation.

Christopher is a member of the Commercial Bar Association, the Professional Negligence Bar Association, and the British Russian Law Association.

COMMERCIAL EXPERIENCE

Recent work includes:

Acted (with Andrew Stafford QC) in a multi-million pound contractual dispute relating to property development.
Acted (with John Davies QC) on a case concerning a claim arising from defective machinery in an aluminium factory.
Advising in relation to fees payable to an investment bank in connection with a transaction involving investment in oil and gas exploration and production assets in the Ukhta and Orenburg regions of Russia.
Acting for an automotive engineering company in relation to a dispute concerning engines for BTCC racing cars.
Obtained a freezing injunction in a civil fraud matter arising from the misappropriation of commission by an Independent Financial Advisor - listed for a 10 day trial later this year.
Advised in relation to a possible professional negligence claim against solicitors for failing to carry out proper conveyancing enquiries.
Advised a major high-street mortgage lender on potential liability of surveyors for professional negligence in relation to a number of loans it made.
Unfair prejudice claim arising from the breakdown of a small business and an alleged breach of an agreement to transfer shares.
Acting for the claimant in a claim arising from the dissolution of a farming partnership.
Advising in relation to a dispute involving allegations of breach of trust and a possible derivative action against company directors who are alleged to have sold company property at an undervalue.

Call: 2003
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