Shane Sibbel

Prior to joining Chambers, Shane interned as a caseworker with the AIRE (“Advice on Individual Rights in Europe”) Centre, drafting written submissions in a range of applications before the European Court of Human Rights, interviewing clients and also producing numerous advices on the rights of EU citizens under EU law.

Shane is also the author of an article on “Universal Jurisdiction and the Terrorism Acts 2000 & 2006” (3(1) (2007) Cambridge Student Law Review 13), and previously acted as a research assistant for the chapter on “Equality and Non-Discrimination” (Prof. C. McCrudden) in D. Feldman, English Public Law (OUP, 2nd Ed, 2009).

• Defendant Costs Orders (2012)
  Advising pro bono on potential challenges to the new costs regime established by Schedule 7 to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and the Costs in Criminal Cases (General Amendment) Regulations 2012, which caps (and sometimes prevents altogether) the recovery by successful defendants in criminal proceedings of their legal costs from the Government. 
• Justice and Security Bill (2012)
  Advising the All Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition in relation to the Justice and Security Bill, which proposes to make closed material procedures available for use in any civil proceeding, and which also seeks to remove the court’s jurisdiction to order Norwich Pharmacal disclosure over information held by or relating to the Intelligence Services (junior counsel to Anthony Peto QC).  
• Mary George Ltd v (1) Care Quality Commission and (2) Wirral Borough Council (2011)
  A challenge to the promulgation and maintenance of a Review of Compliance report by the First Defendant and a decision of the Second Defendant to suspend referrals to a care home owned by the Claimant (junior counsel to Michael Fordham QC).
• Advised on the merits of a constitutional challenge to an Act of Parliament or an exercise of the Royal Prerogative to alter the name of a University (junior counsel to Michael Beloff QC).
• R (BT & TalkTalk) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2011] EWHC 1021 (Admin)
  A high-profile case concerning an application for judicial review of the Digital Economy Act 2010 on EU law grounds (assisting Kieron Beal).
• The Chagos Islanders v United Kingdom [pending case before the ECtHR]
  A challenge to the dismissal by the Court of Appeal of the Chagos Islanders’ claims for civil compensation (assisting Kieron Beal).
• Ford v FSA (2011) (Claim CO/12389/2010)
  A judicial review of an FSA warning notice concerning the status and permitted use of documents allegedly subject to joint privilege in the hands of, amongst others, Stewart Ford, the former Chief Executive of the financial services firm, Keydata (assisting Andrew George).
• R (Totel Ltd) v HMRC [2011] EWHC 652 (Admin)
  A judicial review hearing on the lawfulness of the Transfer of Tribunal Functions and Revenue and Customs Appeals Order 2009, which abrogated the right to appeal to the Upper Tribunal from a hardship decision in a VAT appeal (assisting Kieron Beal).

Shane has been involved in a wide range of commercial cases and hearings in the General Court, the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, the Upper Tribunal (tax chamber) and county courts. He has appeared as sole counsel on commercial matters in the High Court and in County Courts.

• Madoff Securities International Limited v Kohn & ors (2012)
  Acting for the Claimant in a large and complex dispute in the Commercial Court concerning a number of payments alleged to have occurred in breach of the defendant directors’ contractual, tortious, fiduciary and trustee duties and alleged to have been knowingly received as such by Sonja Kohn and alleged affiliate/sham companies. The case is one of several pieces of litigation to recover the US$50 billion lost as a result of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme (junior counsel in a team of Blackstone Counsel led by Pushpinder Saini QC).
• Rajinder Dugal v Skylord Travel plc (2012)
  Acted for the Defendant in the High Court and County Court in a dispute arising out of a partnership or joint venture over the development of an airline tickets and inclusive tours business. The High Court, following a rolled-up appeal hearing, refused to grant the Claimant permission to appeal a strike out obtained against him by the Defendant.
• Rahimian v Tchenguiz (2012)
  For the Defendant in the High Court (Chancery Division), in a dispute with a former friend over sums claimed in relation to a variety of alleged trusts, partnership agreements, agency commission agreements and indemnities (junior counsel to Tom Croxford).
• CGF No. 9 v Holford (2012)
  Appeared for the Claimant in the Mercantile Court in a dispute concerning the enforceability of a personal guarantee over a number of lease agreements.
• Agile Ltd v Sypol Ltd (2012)
  Successfully appeared for the Defendant in a County Court trial concerning a contractual dispute over several agreements for the provision of internet and IT consultancy services.
• Advised on obtaining a high court injunction in respect of a yacht (junior counsel to Andrew Hunter QC).
• Latin American Investments Ltd and others v Maroil Trading Inc. (2012)
  Acted for the Defendant in the High Court (Commercial Court), concerning a dispute arising out of a large joint venture for the transportation of oil (junior counsel to Stephen Nathan QC).
• Tatton v GE Energy Rentals & Aggreko Generators (2012)
  Acted for the Second Defendant in a claim in the County Court for sums allegedly owed as wages and commission, and involving the TUPE Regulations 2006 and the construction of a global purchase agreement.
• Advised on the validity of a share buyback under section 691 of the Companies Act 2006 and the merits of a potential professional negligence claim (junior counsel to Andrew Green QC).
• Acted and Appeared for Lombard North Central Plc in the High Court and County Court in relation to a number of claims concerning the breach of various hire purchase agreements and personal guarantees (Lombard North Central v Bawden; Chowdhury; Mohsen-Taheri; Glapinski; Hinchcliffe; Qadeer; and Winterburn & Winter respectively). 
• Acted for the Hilton Group in relation to a number of contractual disputes over the recruitment of staff and the organisation of events at Hilton Hotels. 
• BBL Limited v Canouan Resorts Development Limited (2011)
  A case in the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court concerning a contractual dispute in St Vincent and the Grenadines and the granting of a mandatory injunction in favour of residents of the Canoun Resort (assisting Andrew George).
• Interactive Investor v City Index [2011] EWCA Civ 837
  A hearing in the Court of Appeal and a subsequent application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court concerning the use of confidential information and the marketing obligations of parties in the on-line spread betting industry (assisting Andrew George).
• Group Lotus Plc v 1Malaysia Racing Team SDN BHD [2011] EWHC 1366
  A trial in the High Court (Chancery Division) in respect of trade mark infringement, passing off and breach of contract arising from the use of the “Lotus” name and marks in Formula One (assisting Brian Kennelly).

Shane is a member of COMBAR.

Shane is regularly instructed in the Employment Tribunals, including in unfair dismissal, disability, race and sex discrimination, whistleblowing, unlawful deduction of pay and breach of contract cases.

• Marshall v Game Retail Ltd (2012)
  Acting for the Claimant in relation to a claim brought under regulation 4 of TUPE for automatically unfair dismissal contrary to regulation 7(1) of TUPE. The case arises out of the administration of the Game Group in March 2012 and involves issues of assignment, the scope of ETOs following Spaceright Europe ltd v Ballavoine [2012] ICR 520, the scope of regulation 8(5) of TUPE, and Polkey reductions.  
• Advising a large charity in relation to the application of TUPE to the migration of outsourced healthcare contracts between the charity and an NHS trust. 
• Acted for a financial services executive against his firm in relation to a claim alleging disability discrimination, whistleblowing and a sham redundancy exercise.
• Acted for a large charity in relation to several separate claims brought against it by former employees alleging unfair dismissal, disability discrimination and breach of contract.  
• Acted for a large supermarket in a dispute involving allegations of unfair dismissal and race discrimination surrounding the summary dismissal of an employee for gross misconduct. The case was successfully struck out.
• Acting for a number of cabin crew members against a large airline in relation to contractual treatment of “living away from home allowance” and a potential claim for unlawful deduction of wages and/or breach of contract.
• Klempner v Merrill Lynch (2012)
  Acted for the Claimant in a claim worth £700,000 against the Bank for unfair dismissal, whistleblowing and breach of contract.
• Acting for a large supermarket in relation to a claim alleging discrimination on the grounds of disability, race and sex arising out of the events surrounding and following a workplace injury. 
• Shakuwe v Proximo Limited (2012)
  Acted for the Defendant in a case concerning allegations of constructive unfair dismissal and breach of contract. The case was withdrawn and the Defendant successfully obtained a costs order against the Claimant.
• Barnes v Abingdon & Witney College (2011)
  Acted for Claimant in relation to a claim against the college for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.
• An employment tribunal hearing involving allegations of unfair dismissal, detriment and dismissal for whistleblowing and race discrimination brought by an internal auditor in a multi-national corporation (assisting Jane Mulcahy). 
• Assisted on an employment tribunal case involving a harassment and discrimination claim brought against a Lloyd’s managing agency by its former Group Finance Director (assisting Jane Mulcahy).
• Assisted in an employment tribunal case involving allegations of sex and maternity discrimination brought by a solicitor against a large city law firm, in relation to working hours (assisting Jane Mulcahy).
• Assisted during a successful mediation of an employment dispute within a large insurance company (assisting Jane Mulcahy).

Shane is also a qualified FRU employment volunteer and a member of the Employment Lawyers Association.

Shane has been involved in a number of commercial and copyright cases within the sphere of Media and Entertainment and has particular experience of litigation concerning mass online copyright infringement.

• EMI Records & others v British Sky Broadcasting & others (December 2012)
  Acting as second junior counsel (led by Ian Mill QC) for the Claimants, suing on behalf of themselves and as representatives of the members of BPI, in relation to three applications under s97A CDPA 1988 requiring ISPs to block access to the Kat.ph website, the h33t.com website and the fenopy.se website. 
• Advised on copyright law and contractual issues in a dispute relating to the planned publication of an academic treatise.
• Acted for the BPI as second junior counsel in the preparation of an application for an injunction to prevent the Pirate Party UK from providing a proxy service on its website permitting internet users to circumvent the blocking orders over The Pirate Bay website in Dramatico Entertainment & others v British Sky Broadcasting & others [2012] EWHC 268 (Ch). Ultimately the Pirate Party UK took down the proxy service in the face of imminent legal action.

During Shane’s pupillage he assisted his supervisors on several cases involving sports law ranging from highly commercial claims involving large sports clubs to appeals against disciplinary penalties.

• Hala’Ufia v RFU (2012)
  Acted for the Appellant, a London Irish RFC No. 8, in the RFU Disciplinary Appeal Panel and successfully appealed a first instance Panel decision that the Appellant had been guilty of a tip tackle offence contrary to Law 10.4(j). The Appeal Panel held that the first instance Panel had erred in law in failing to construe the elements of “lifting” and “dropping” within Law 10.4(j) offence in a manner consistent with their natural meaning and with the principle against doubtful penalization (junior counsel to Michael Beloff QC).  
• G v UK Sport (2011)
  An appeal to the Independent Appeals Panel of UK Sport concerning a Paralympic funding decision following a positive test for a banned substance on the part of the athlete (assisting Andrew George).
• Galvin v UK Athletics (2011)
  A dispute concerning the regulator’s liability for alleged acts of racial discrimination at a London athletics club (assisting Andrew George).
• An FAPL arbitration between a major football club and its former manager, concerning a claim for wrongful dismissal for alleged gross misconduct (assisting Jane Mulcahy).
• Assisting Jane Mulcahy in her role as an FA Rule K Arbitrator in a case concerning alleged breach of agency agreements by a number of Championship footballers.

Regulation

Shane acted as junior counsel in the first ever case before the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Tribunal. As a pupil Shane also assisted his supervisors in several other cases concerning the regulation of the financial services and telecommunications sectors.

• (1) Kashif Chaudhry and (2) Seifelden Abdelkareem v Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (2012)
  Successfully acted for the Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority (“QFCRA”) in the first challenge before the QFC Regulatory Tribunal by individuals to a decision notice of the QFCRA. The case concerned the respective roles of the claimants in communications between Al Mal Bank LLC and the QFCRA, and the Bank’s subsequent collapse (junior counsel to Ben Jaffey).
• FSA v J (2011)
  A hearing in the FSA’s regulatory decisions committee concerning the actions of a Finance Director accused of market abuse (assisting Andrew George).
• Assisted Brian Kennelly in the preparation of investigation findings on behalf of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of the British Virgin Islands, in relation to alleged anti-competitive behaviour of Digicel in pricing calls and termination services to other Digicel destinations in the Caribbean.

Prior to joining Chambers, Shane interned as a legal policy researcher with the Institute of International and European Affairs, a think tank based in Dublin which focuses on EU level political developments and their likely impact on Ireland.

• Case T-381/10 Sanitec Europe OY & Keramag (2011)
  A large competition case in the General Court concerning, amongst other things, the proper test for finding an “anti-competitive object” and its application in the context of an alleged cartel over bathroom fittings and fixtures (assisting Brian Kennelly).
• Case T-378/10 Masco Corporation v European Commission (2011)
  A dispute in the General Court related to the Sanitec case, concerning the proper legal test for finding a “single and continuous infringement” and its application in the context of an alleged cartel over bathroom fittings and fixtures (assisting Brian Kennelly).
• R (BT & TalkTalk) v Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills [2011] EWHC 1021 (Admin)
  A high-profile case concerning an application for judicial review of the Digital Economy Act 2010 on EU law grounds (assisting Kieron Beal).
• Case C-390/09 Reti Televisive Italiane SpA v Autorita per le Garanzie nelle Communicazioni
  Observations on behalf of the UK in a reference for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio del Stato to the ECJ, concerning whether self-promotion by a television channel constitutes “television advertising” for the purposes of article 1(c) of the “Television without Frontiers” Directive (97/36/EC) (assisting Kieron Beal).
• Truebell v HMRC [2011] UKFTT 370 (TC)
  A case on the binding nature of a European Commission decision on remission of customs duties (assisting Kieron Beal).
• Blair Endersby v HMRC [2011] UKFTT 350 (TC)
  A case on whether individual voluntary arrangements should be treated as exempt under the Sixth VAT Directive (assisting Kieron Beal).

Shane has also acted as a research assistant to Prof S. Talmon (Co-Director, Institute of Public International Law, University of Bonn) in relation to:
i.   a presentation on “The Role of Treaties in Trans-Atlantic Relations” at the December 2008 Conference of the Atlantic Council of the United States; and
ii.  Professor Talmon’s entries on “Membership and Representation”, “The Law of the Sea” and “The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea” in H. Volger (Ed.), A Concise Encyclopedia of the United Nations, (2nd Ed,Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 2009).

Prizes and Scholarships:

• Pupil Advocacy Prize (Inner Temple, 2011)
• Rawlinson Debating Cup: Winner (Inner Temple, 2010)
• Thomas Finlay Intervarsity Moot: Finalist & Best Speaker (UCD Law Society, 2010)
• Princess Royal Scholarship (Inner Temple, 2009 - 2010)
• Freshfields Bruckhouse Deringer Scholarship (Oxford University, 2008)
• Lincoln College Exhibitioner (Oxford University, 2005 – 2007)
• Irish Rotary Youth Leadership Competition: Winner (2004)

Other Interests:

Music, Debating, Rowing, Photography.

Other Information:

VAT registration number: 120943145