Barrister Profiles Stephen Butler
Contents Stephen Butler... 1 Commercial & Chancery... 2 Alternative Dispute Resolution... 3 Employment & Discrimination... 4 Financial Services... 5 Pensions & Trusts... 6 Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury... 7 Health, Safety & Environment... 8 Appointments & Memberships... 9 Awards... 10 Languages... 11 Recommendations... 12 II
Stephen Butler Year of call Email 2014 stephen.butler@outertemple.com Stephen has a broad civil practice with emphases on commercial, employment and international disputes. He accepts instructions in all areas of Chambers work and has particular experience of group litigation. Stephen represents a wide variety of clients from individuals to government bodies and regulators. As well as regularly appearing in County Courts and Tribunals across the country, Stephen has acted in proceedings in the Court of Appeal, High Court and Employment Appeal Tribunal. In 2017, Stephen was seconded to a leading law firm in to provide advice and pleadings in claims arising from incomplete large-scale construction, infrastructure and development projects in the Middle East. Stephen is one of the three co-authors of the Employment Law Handbook, published by the Law Society of England and Wales. Stephen studied law at Jesus College, Cambridge. He has won several advocacy competitions, including whilst representing Lincoln s Inn in the Supreme Court. Prior to joining Chambers, Stephen worked at an English law firm where he worked on a variety of cases, from group financial litigation to personal injury arising out of mental injuries sustained during detention in a foreign jail. In a recent appeal judgment in which Stephen acted for the successful appellant, the High Court Judge observed that Stephen had produced first-class written arguments which were matched also by the quality of his oral submissions. Whatever the outcome of this appeal, the Appellant could not have been better represented. 1
Commercial & Chancery Stephen is regularly instructed to advise and represent clients in a wide range of commercial and civil disputes. As well as acting under sole instructions, he has significant experience of working within a team of lawyers in complex and sensitive disputes. Stephen s recent Commercial & Chancery experience includes: Representing a corporate claimant in a consolidated claim against over 100 defendants in a claim involving an alleged unregistered collective investment scheme Working as part of a team of counsel reviewing the case file of a government regulator in a claim for multi-million pound losses arising out of an allegedly malicious prosecution Acting for a UAE-registered multi-national company and drafting pleadings in civil proceedings before the Courts arising out of an aborted large-scale development project Advising on the enforceability of a disputed guarantee Assisting in advising and drafting proceedings in a claim arising out of allegedly fraudulent misselling in an investment scheme Acting for an online retailer in potential civil and regulatory proceedings in the UK and abroad arising out of online selling 2
Alternative Dispute Resolution Stephen has experience of litigation and ADR in both civil and common law jurisdictions. He has been involved in advising European firms on the resolution of disputes governed by foreign substantive or procedural rules outside the traditional court system in England and Wales and abroad, especially in the Middle East. In 2017, Stephen spent four months at the office of a leading UAE law firm, Horizons & Co. He drafted pleadings and provided advice in a number of complex commercial cases involving multimillion pound claims arising from incomplete large-scale construction and development projects. Stephen s recent Alternative Dispute Resolution experience includes: Representing a -based company in arbitrations at the International Arbitration Centre (DIAC) arising out of incomplete construction projects in the UAE Representing a Qatari engineering company in an Internal Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration in Doha Advising a UAE corporation on a claim before the Courts arising out of a failed infrastructure development in Representation in Judicial Mediations in the Employment Tribunal Assisting in advising a prominent UK law firm on the duty of good faith in UAE law in a large DIAC arbitration 3
Employment & Discrimination Stephen is one of the three co-authors of the Employment Law Handbook, published by the Law Society of England and Wales. He is regularly instructed to advise and to appear in the Employment Tribunal and courts on a range of workplace claims on behalf of both employers and employees. He has particular experience of discrimination claims. Stephen s recent Employment & Discrimination experience includes: Acting for the successful appellant in the High Court in claim arising out of the suspension of a teacher following allegations of abuse (Agoreyo v Borough of Lambeth [2017] EWHC 2019 (QB)) Representing the successful appellant in the Employment Appeal Tribunal in a successful appeal to the in a pregnancy discrimination claim (Nicholson v Hazel House Nursing Home Limited (2016)) Acting for the claimants in a group equal pay claim against a major supermarket Acting for an employee in a successful whistleblowing claim arising out of the reporting of abuse in a care home Representing a police employee in multi-day disability discrimination proceedings in the Employment Tribunal 4
Financial Services Stephen advises individuals, companies and regulators in England and abroad. He has particular experience of misselling and misrepresentation claims. Stephen s recent Financial Services experience includes: Advising on the implications of the regulation of land-based collective investment schemes Consumer Credit Act claims against lenders arising out of inadequacies in the FCA-approved PPI redress scheme Representing a management company in claims arising out of significant amendments to various timeshare clubs Advising and drafting proceedings for the Claimant in a misrepresentation claim against a financial advisor Being part of the team managing a judicial review claim by a group of Claimants seeking review of the regulator s determination in a joint investment scheme Advising foreign entities on compliance with domestic regulations and the jurisdictional scope of the English regulations Advising a foreign regulator on enforcement proceedings in relation to unregulated collective investment schemes Advising on Consumer Credit Act claims arising out of failed timeshare agreements 5
Pensions & Trusts Stephen acts for litigants and government bodies on a variety of disputes relating to pensions and trusts. He is one of the contributors to the Pensions chapter of Atkins Court Forms (forthcoming ed.). Stephen s recent Pensions and Trusts experience includes: Representing a claimant in a misrepresentation claim against an employer Assisting in reviewing the decision of the Pensions Regulator following an alleged pension liberation fraud Advice on the jurisdiction of the Pensions Ombudsman Acting for a claimant in a maladministration claim arising out of misinformation provided during a TUPE transfer Assisting the Pensions Ombudsman on a variety of matters 6
Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury Stephen has experience of a wide range of hearings including multi-track, fast track and small claims proceedings and he appears regularly in the Coroner s Court. He is often instructed to advise and draft proceedings on behalf of claimants, defendants and insurers. In addition to purely domestic claims, Stephen is regularly instructed to advise on cases with an international element or where injuries are sustained abroad. Stephen s recent Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury experience includes: Representing the Claimant in a multi-track claim arising out of mental injuries sustained during detention in a foreign jail Representing an NHS Trust in an Inquest into the death of a patient in the community who died following repeated admissions to, and discharge from, hospital Representing a claimant in proceedings following an negligent avoidable leg amputation Representing the family of the deceased patient in an inquest arising out of a death in hospital where the Coroner found that there had been a number of significant failings by the NHS Trust Assisting Eliot Woolf QC, working on a number of lengthy High Court clinical negligence trials and settlements, including claims against the Ministry of Defence 7
Health, Safety & Environment As part of his personal injury and claims arising out of the workplace, Stephen is often instructed in Health and Safety matters to provide advice and representation in a variety of different courts. Stephen s recent Health, Safety & Environment experience includes: Working with James Leonard on the defence of a multi-billion pound company in an Health and Safety Executive prosecution arising out of deaths whilst working on the electricity network Acting for a multi-million pound company in criminal proceedings arising from a fall from height Representing a distribution network operator in Coronial proceedings Representing the family of a patient who died in hospital in circumstances where hospital records were alleged to have been dishonestly fabricated Assisting in advising a large hotel chain following a significant explosion on its premises 8
Appointments & Memberships The Commercial Bar Association (COMBAR) Young International Arbitration Group (YIAG) Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) Personal Injuries Bar Association (PIBA) Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers (PEOPIL) Health and Safety Lawyers Association (HSLA) Free Representation Unit (FRU) Bar Pro Bono Unit (BPBU) 9
Awards Bar Professional Training Course, Outstanding Walter Wigglesworth Scholar, Lincoln s Inn Buchanan Prize, Lincoln s Inn Lord Denning Scholar, Lincoln s Inn Hardwicke Scholar, Lincoln s Inn Glanville Williams Prize for Law, Jesus College, Cambridge Ng Prize, Jesus College, Cambridge Hogan Lovells Prize, Jesus College, Cambridge 10
Languages French (intermediate) Spanish (basic) 11
Recommendations 12