Lara Hassell-Hart

Lara Hassell-Hart

Call 2014

Overview

Lara has a busy commercial chancery practice specialising in the full range of Chambers’ work, including commercial litigation, company law, insolvency, banking and financial services, regulatory work and civil fraud. She also has particular experience and knowledge of energy-related matters.

Lara is available for instructions at all stages of proceedings, in every level of the civil courts and for arbitration work. She has exceptionally substantial trial experience and of working in big teams of counsel and solicitors. She regularly appears in the High Court as both sole and junior counsel.

She has experience of and welcomes instructions concerning disputes in other jurisdictions, and is a registered Part II practitioner in the DIFC. She has also been appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel of Counsel and regularly accepts instructions on behalf of the UK Government.

Her priority is to give practical advice tailored to suit the client’s individual needs.

Areas of expertise

  • Commercial Dispute Resolution

    Commercial litigation forms a substantial part of Lara’s practice. She has experience in a wide range of commercial litigation matters, both in the Commercial Court and the Chancery Division, and her work frequently features contractual disputes. She recently appeared (led by Richard Hill KC, Sa’ad Hossein KC and Andrew de Mestre KC) for the Claimants in the 7-day expedited trial of Travelport & Ors v WEX [2020] EWHC 2670, which concerned the interpretation of a complex material adverse change clause in the $1.7 billion purchase of two travel payments companies, against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic. Examples of past and ongoing instructions include:

    • Acting for the claimants in Tavira Securities Limited v Re Point Ventures FZCO and Ors, a c. £4 million claim in the DIFC concerning a breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and conspiracy in the context of a securities trade.
    • Advising and acting for the defendant sellers in a High Court claim for breach of warranty in a c. $50 million business purchase agreement.
    • Advising and acting for the claimant in a High Court claim for unpaid debts in a business partnership of London nightclubs.
    • Advising on the interpretation of a MAC clause in the context of a multi-million euro Formula One sponsorship agreement.
    • Advising on and acting for the claimant company in a six-figure High Court claim for (amongst other things) breaches of confidentiality
    • Advising on the merits of a potential breach of contract claim for failure to settle an invoice for a package of software services
    • Advising in respect of a dispute over the interpretation and application of a deferred consideration clause in the context of a business purchase agreement.
  • Insolvency & Restructuring

    Lara has a strong interest in insolvency work. She was a contributor to Lexis Nexis’s Insolvency Rules 2016 forms, replacing the prescribed forms under the 1986 rules, and is a contributor to the well-respected practitioner text Loose & Griffiths on Liquidators (9 ed., 2019). She regularly deals with proceedings under the Insolvency Act 1986, in the context of both company and personal insolvency. Examples of past and recent instructions include:

    • Acting on behalf of OFGEM for urgent Part 8 claims in the Interim Applications Court of the High Court for declarations of insolvency under s. 123 of the Insolvency Act 1986. Lara has appeared in more than 20 such cases, including most notably Gas and Electricity Markets Authority v GB Energy Supply Ltd [2016] EWHC 3341 (Ch) (alongside Nicholas Cox) and Gas and Electricity Markets Authority v Rutherford Energy Supply Limited [2019] EWHC 2760 (Ch). She is presently instructed with Andrew de Mestre KC by OFGEM in an important case concerning the estates of insolvent energy companies, due to be heard in autumn 2022.
    • Acting (with Joseph Wigley) for the debtor in In the matter of Derek Quinlan, a nine-figure bankruptcy petition presently listed for a 15-day trial in summer 2023.
    • Applications for permission to commence and continue proceedings in the context of an interim moratorium imposed under the Insolvency Act 1986.
    • Applications for special administrations, including acting on behalf of the Financial Conduct Authority in In the matter of AFX Markets Limited (an application for a special administration order under the Investment Bank Special Administration (England and Wales) Rules 2011/1301) and (led by Andrew de Mestre KC) on behalf of OFGEM in Re Bulb Energy Limited [2021] EWHC 3735 (Ch) (the UK’s first ever application for an energy supply company administration order).
    • Acting for the debtor on a bankruptcy petition raising issues in respect of the debtor’s Centre of Main Interests.
    • Advising a contingent creditor in respect of the effect of clauses in a CVA and on the potential for challenging the CVA under s. 6 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
    • Advising a national regulator on the effect of administration on regulated entities for which it is responsible.
    • Acting for a creditor in proceedings challenging an administrator’s conduct under Schedule B1 of the Insolvency Act 1986.
  • Banking & Finance

    Lara has strong experience in banking and financial services and regulation and welcomes instructions in this area. As a baby junior, she undertook a secondment to the Financial Conduct Authority, focusing on the regulation of peer-to-peer lending firms, which gave her an excellent understanding of financial services and regulation under FSMA and the Regulated Activities Order. Particular instructions of note include the following:

    • Sharp and Ors v Blank and Ors [2019] EWHC 3096 (Ch), a 12-week trial in the Chancery Division brought by Lloyds’ shareholders against its directors. The claims raised, amongst other things, specific issues of obligations under the Listing Rules in respect of shareholder circulars and the regulation of banks’ capital.
    • Tavira Securities Limited v Re Point Ventures FZCO and Ors, a c. £4 million claim in the DIFC concerning a breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and conspiracy in the context of a securities trade.
    • Advising on and acting in proceedings before the Regulatory Decisions Committee (RDC) of the FCA concerning market abuse.
    • Advising in respect of potential proceedings for failure to settle a c. €25 million securities trade
    • Advising as to the need for authorisation by individual members of a company and possible breaches of the COBS, PRIN, SYSC and COND parts of the FCA Handbook.
    • Advising in respect of proceedings in the Upper Tribunal challenging a Decision Notice issued by the FCA rescinding the recipient’s authorisation.
  • Company Law

    Lara is interested in all areas of company law. She has a particularly strong background in dealing with shareholder disputes and issues concerning directors’ duties. Examples of recent and ongoing instructions include:

    • Acting for the claimant shareholders in Sharp and Ors v Blank and Ors [2019] EWHC 3096 (Ch), a case subject to a rare Group Litigation Order, against Lloyds’ former directors.
    • Advising a major sporting regulator on the interpretation and application of its internal rules regarding directors.
    • Advising on and drafting statements of case in respect of shareholder claims under ss. 994- 996 of the Companies Act 2006.
    • Advising and acting for both claimant companies and defendant directors in High Court claims for breaches of directors’ duties
    • Advising a private company in respect of its obligations under the Companies Act 2006 to provide information to its shareholders.
    • Advising in relation to a proposed partnership structure of a private equity fund.

    Lara was previously a contributor to Tolley’s Company Law Service and wrote the “Investigations by BEIS” chapter for the publication.

  • Fraud: Civil

    Lara’s work frequently raises issues of civil fraud, and she has extensive experience of claims involving allegations of conspiracy and deceit. Most notably she appeared as junior counsel to Robert Miles QC and Richard Hill KC in Autonomy and Ors v Lynch and Anor, a c. $8 million claim by Autonomy against its former CEO, Dr Mike Lynch for alleged fraudulent accounting, which was heard over the course of a 93-day trial between March 2019 and January 2020 in the Chancery Division. Other notable work includes:

    • Tavira Securities Limited v Re Point Ventures FZCO and Ors, a c. £4 million claim in the DIFC concerning a breach of contract, fraudulent misrepresentation and conspiracy in the context of a securities trade.
    • Acting for the claimant company in a six-figure High Court claim against former directors and shareholders for, amongst other things, conspiracy to injure the company.
    • Advising on a potential claim for conspiracy in the context of a pre-pack administration sale.
  • Energy & Natural Resources

    Lara has a great deal of specialist knowledge and expertise relating to energy markets and regulation. As noted above, she is regularly instructed by OFGEM to appear in the High Court in respect of urgent energy-related matters, specifically in cases of insolvent energy supply companies. Lara has appeared in more than 20 such cases, including most notably Gas and Electricity Markets Authority v GB Energy Supply Ltd [2016] EWHC 3341 (Ch) (alongside Nicholas Cox) and Gas and Electricity Markets Authority v Rutherford Energy Supply Limited [2019] EWHC 2760 (Ch). In 2021 alone she was involved in most of the high-profile insolvencies of energy supply companies, including (amongst others) Bulb Energy, Avro Energy, Hub Energy, Green Network Energy, Simplicity Energy, PfP Energy, Moneyplus Energy, People’s Energy, Utility Point and green.energy. She is now instructed by OFGEM with Andrew de Mestre KC in an application for directions by the administrators of a number of these insolvent companies.

  • Offshore Litigation

    Lara has experience of claims in a range of jurisdictions, and is a registered Part II practitioner in the DIFC. Experience includes advising on and drafting a claim for unfair prejudice in Singapore, and being instructed on a c. £4 million claim for breach of contract, deceit and unlawful means conspiracy in relation to a securities trade in the DIFC.

Other information

  • Career & Appointments
    • Member of the Chancery Bar Association, COMBAR and the Insolvency Lawyers’ Association
    • Appointed to the Attorney General’s C Panel of Counsel (2022)
  • Education & Awards
    • BA (Hons) Historical Tripos – Girton College, University of Cambridge
    • Graduate Diploma in Law (Distinction) – City Law School
    • Bar Professional Training Course – City Law School
    • Astbury Scholar of Middle Temple
  • Publications
    • Contributor to Loose & Griffiths on Liquidators (9 ed.) (2019)
    • Commercial Law and Financial Regulation’, United Kingdom Supreme Court Yearbook vol. 7 (2016) (co-authored with Jonathan Crow QC and Emma Horner)
    • Contributor to Lexis Nexis Insolvency Rules 2016 forms

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