Ian S. Forrester KC LLD
Ian Forrester KC is a renowned practitioner in the field of European law, specialising in competition, intellectual property, customs, antidumping, pharmaceutical regulation, football, the precautionary principle, broadcasting, computer software and due process. He was educated and trained in Scotland, Louisiana, New York and Brussels and has been a member of the bars of Scotland, New York, England and Brussels.
Mr Forrester returned to practice in Scotland in 2021. From 2015 until 2020 he sat for the UK on the bench of the General Court of the European Union hearing about 200 cases concerning competition, access to documents, trademarks, plant varieties, public procurement, employment, and other European Union questions. His mandate came to an end with Brexit.
He has been an arbitrator in proceedings under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce, International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, Court of Arbitration for Sport and has argued cases before courts in Scotland, England, Belgium, Serbia and France, as well as the EFTA court, the ECtHR in Strasbourg, and the EU courts in Luxembourg. He has acted for a number of important entities, including BBC, Canon, DuPont, European Commission, Fujitsu, Intel, Liberal Democrat Party, Microsoft, Scottish Football Association, Toyota, UEFA, as well as a number of indigent prisoners.
He has extensive experience in arbitration or mediation matters, either as advocate for a party, or as expert witness on European law, or as arbitrator/ mediator, from 1983 to 2014, and since his departure from the General Court of the European Union in 2021. The arbitrations have mostly been conducted under the auspices of the ICC in Paris, or the CAS in Lausanne; and once before the ICSID in Washington. The ICC cases involved disputes about investment contracts, trade secrets, hotel construction, stolen technology, and a variety of other commercial conflicts. The CAS matters involved player transfers, treatment of injured players, broadcasting rights and the conduct of elections to governing bodies.
His leading competition cases include Magill (compulsory copyright licensing); Bosman (football transfers); Microsoft (computer servers); IMS (compulsory licensing); GlaxoSmithKline (parallel trade in pharmaceuticals); Les Laboratoires Servier (settlement of patent disputes); Chalkor/Halcor (due process and judicial review).
European Court of Human Rights cases concerned forcing a citizen to speak on pain of punishment even if the answer itself reveals punishable conduct (Al Fayed and Harrods: Fayed v The United Kingdom); press sources (Hans Martin Tillack v Belgium); prisoner’s rights (Kalashnikov v Russia); fair trial and right to property (Karic and Djordjevic v Serbia). He helped to achieve the liberation of Louis Henry Burns, an indigent prisoner, on appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeal from a conviction based upon a coerced confession.
During his practice he has been a consistently top ranked counsel by the leading Legal Directories in the UK and European editions of the guides. In the 2023 Chambers and Partners UK Bar Guide he is Band 1 ranked in Public Law matters. Chambers say: “Ian Forrester KC’s return to private practice is a highly significant development for the Scottish Bar. Until 2020 he sat for the UK on the bench of the General Court of the European Union. To the Faculty of Advocates he brings immense experience of legal practice in a host of areas including competition and international trade law.”
Further detail about his practice, visit: ianstewartforrester.com.
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Susanne Tanner KC FCIArb
Susanne Tanner KC took Silk in 2016, having called to the Bar in 2000. She is an experienced court practitioner who is always thoroughly prepared and has superb attention to detail.
She has built up and maintained a quality practice spanning:
- Reparation law, including personal injury and clinical negligence;
- Criminal law, both prosecution and defence, in first instance work and appeals, including appearing in the Supreme Court, as well as a complex private prosecution application;
- An interest in regulatory criminal matters, Health and Safety prosecutions, corporate financial crime and civil recovery proceedings;
- Fatal Accident Inquiries and public inquiries, including an appointment as Counsel on a high profile public inquiry;
- Property law and conveyancing;
- Commercial law; and
- Alternative dispute resolution, in particular arbitration, in which she holds professional qualifications and is working towards Chartered Arbitrator status. She is a Member of the Faculty Dispute Resolution Service and has been appointed as arbitrator for Motor Insurers’ Bureau cases for untraced and uninsured drivers.
She also sits as a tribunal chair in the First-tier Tribunal Housing and Property Chamber as well as the Health and Education Chamber, holds a number of academic appointments and is the Executive Editor of Green’s Scottish Education Manual.
Susanne is also a Door Tenant at Crown Office Chambers, London.
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Laurence Kennedy FCIArb
Laurence Kennedy called to the bar in 2000 having been a court solicitor for the previous five years. Since then he has maintained a busy court practice based on repeat instructions from a discrete group of instructing solicitors.
He was listed in Legal 500 as “outstanding”, “an effective advocate in court”, “excellent in an advisory role” and “noted for his technical competence and good legal and commercial analysis”.
He is described by agents as “professional and client friendly” and “user friendly from a solicitor’s point of view”. Agents also value his “low key, no nonsense approach”. He is “not afraid to give robust advice” and has “excellent client management skills”.
His day to day caseload focuses on property, commercial, partnership and contract disputes along with professional negligence and personal injury cases.
He has particular experience in areas of law affecting the media such as defamation, contempt of court and copyright. He was engaged for a number of years as a shift lawyer for a number of Scottish newspapers where he gave regular pre-publication advice.
He is an accredited arbitrator and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He also sits regularly as a part time Judge of the First-tier tribunal and is a legally qualified Chair for the Scottish Social Services Council.
For further details about his arbitration practice, please visit his website at laurencekennedy.com.
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Vinit Khurana KC
Vinit Khurana KC is the only practising member of the Scottish Bar dually qualified in law and medicine. He has the unique distinction of having practised as a medical General Practitioner for over a decade as well as being an Advocate since 1999. He took silk in 2018.
Vinit has a wide ranging practice involving both appearance and advisory work. He has experience of acting for and against private individuals and corporations. He also has experience of acing for and against public bodies. He regularly acts for and against health boards in professional negligence and personal injury cases.
Vinit specialises in all aspects of Medical Law including clinical negligence, judicial review, professional disciplinary matters, regulatory work and mental health. He is one of the most experienced practitioners at the Scottish Bar in relation to Fatal Accident Inquiries having appeared at over 20 such Inquiries since 2000. Since calling in 1999 his medical knowledge has proven to be a valuable asset in a wide variety of cases. His instructions have encompassed both civil and criminal work. Examples of the breadth of his instructions include: fraud cases brought by Health Boards against Optometrists before the NHS Tribunal; the chairing of the NHS Classification Appeal Committee in respect of disciplinary matters; appearances on behalf of the National Appeal Panel in judicial review petitions for entry to the pharmaceutical list; and advisory work in connection with many other matters related to the provision of healthcare including competition law issues in the provision of dispensing services by pharmacists and GPs, optometric and pharmaceutical services regulation, contractual arrangements between Health Boards and GP primary care providers, mental health matters and ECHR issues in the areas of organ donation and treatment refusal.
Vinit was the Chair of the Faculty of Advocates Sub-Committee which responded to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the reform of mental health legislation. He has also responded on behalf of the Faculty of Advocates to Scottish Government consultations on organ donation and transplant. He is currently a member of the Faculty Committee that oversees all of the Faculty’s responses to Scottish Government consultations.
Throughout his career Vinit has been prepared to work in new areas. He enjoys new challenges. He is a conscientious and hard worker. This has allowed him to gain an understanding of the particular circumstances of and the legal background to the cases in which he has been instructed. As well as appearing in court in complex, high profile and urgent matters, he regularly provides written advice on a wide variety of matters.
Vinit was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2019. He can accept instructions in England and Wales via his clerks at Whitestone Chambers.
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