Meg Cochrane

Call: 2019

Meg Cochrane has a multi-disciplinary practice and welcomes instructions across a range of Chambers’ areas of expertise.

Meg enjoys a busy and wide-ranging advisory, drafting and advocacy practice.

Meg has successfully represented clients, ranging from individuals to foreign entities to FTSE 100 companies, at interim application hearings, trials, first appeals and second appeals in the Court of Appeal, High Court, County Court and various Tribunals.

Alongside working as a full-time barrister, Meg works as Junior Counsel for the UK Covid-19 Inquiry and as a Junior Research Fellow for the UCL Centre of Law, Economics and Society.

In July 2022, Meg completed a 9-month secondment at the Financial Conduct Authority. She worked as a secondee barrister and case investigator on a portfolio of unsuitable pension transfer advice cases.

Banking & financial services

Meg accepts instructions in all areas of banking and financial law.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

  • Acting (as sole counsel) for major UK banks in trials of claims concerning the purported non-disclosure of commission related to payment protection insurance.
  • Ms Shah v Sainsbury’s Bank plc, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Defendant in the trial of a claim concerning a purportedly unauthorised transaction.
  • Mr Jones v PayPal (UK) Ltd, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Defendant in its application to set aside default judgment.
  • Ms O’Neill v Home Retail Group Card Services Ltd, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Defendant in opposing an application for relief from sanctions and the Claimant’s reinstatement of her claim.

From October 2021 to July 2022, Meg undertook a 9-month secondment at the Financial Conduct Authority. She worked on a portfolio of unsuitable pension transfer advice cases as part of a multi-disciplinary team within the Retail & Regulatory Investigations Directorate of the Enforcement & Market Oversight Division. In her role as a secondee barrister and case investigator, Meg:

  • Analysed complex and voluminous evidence to determine appropriate and non-time-barred potential courses of action in cases. This included drafting a thorough limitation analysis concerning Section 66 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, (‘FSMA’), and the prospective imposition of any formal disciplinary sanctions and protective or remedial measures.
  • Conducted the compelled interviews of individuals under Sections 171 and 172 of FSMA, having previously drafted detailed plans and relevant chronologies and compiled the evidentiary bundles for these interviews.

Civil fraud & asset recovery

Meg undertakes a range of civil fraud and asset recovery work.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

  • Ms Shah v Sainsbury’s Bank plc, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Defendant in the trial of a claim concerning a purportedly unauthorised transaction.

Alongside her practice, Meg has recently given in-person and remote seminars to various law firms on the topic of ‘How to Deal with Crypto-Asset Fraud’. In addition, in her role as a Junior Research Fellow, Meg has been involved in various publications on the topic of ‘blockchain’.

Featured cases

  • Kazakhstan Kagazy Plc & Others v Zhunus & Others [2019] EWHC 2630 (Comm) – Advising on the merits, prospects of success and procedural issues regarding an application for permission to appeal (assisting Jonathan Miller).

Commercial

Meg accepts instructions in all areas of commercial law. She is particularly interested in private international law in the context of international commercial litigation.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

  • (1) Ms Dore & (2) Ms Pistidda v easyJet Airline Company Ltd, Court of Appeal (Civil Division) – See Meg’s featured cases.
  • Linkked B.V. v Mr Wright, High Court, Queen’s Bench Division – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Dutch Claimant company in opposing an application to set aside the registration of a Dutch judgment and refuse its recognition and enforcement in England & Wales. Prior to this, Meg advised on the merits of said application along with various evidential and procedural aspects and drafted the witness statement of the Dutch lawyer in support of the Claimant’s case.
  • Tritech Distribution Ltd v Daf-Trans Spolka Z Organiczona Odpowiedzialnoscia & Others, High Court, Commercial Division – Acting (as sole counsel) drafting the application by, and supporting witness evidence of the director of, a Polish company to set aside a judgment entered in default by the High Court in England & Wales based on CPR r.13.2 (with the claim form not having been served in line with Regulation (EC) No. 1393/2007) and/or CPR r.13.3.
  • British Gas Trading Limited v The Harp Inn, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Claimant in the trial of its claim concerning a contractual debt linked to unpaid invoices for the supply of gas and electricity to business premises.
  • British Gas Trading Limited v Chorcliffe Mews Guest House, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Claimant in its application for summary judgment or strike out of the Defendant’s defence.
  • Tetcom Network Services Ltd v Clarke & Lloyds Property Consulting Ltd, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) drafting the reply to defence and defence to counterclaim in a telecommunications dispute.
  • Mr Hart & (2) Mr Gordeski (as Joint Liquidators of M. A. Shephard (Builders) Limited v Mr Voaden, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) drafting the particulars of claim for an outstanding debt in respect of building services.
  • Zamco Foods Limited v (1) Armada Investments Ltd & (2) HTG Trading Ltd, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) drafting the First Defendant’s defence, counterclaim and Part 20 additional claim for breach of contract.

Featured cases

  • (1) Ms Dore & (2) Ms Pistidda v easyJet Airline Company Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1553 (23 November 2022) – Successfully acted (as sole counsel) against a KC and junior and before 3 Lord Justices in a dispute regarding the submission of air passenger online compensation forms and documentary evidence. Prior to this, Meg obtained permission to appeal from Lord Justice Nugee with Meg having drafted the Grounds of Appeal, skeleton argument for permission to appeal (second appeal) and the witness statement in support of the Claimants’/ Appellants’ application to adduce ‘fresh’ evidence.

Insolvency & restructuring

Meg has gained experience of a broad range of insolvency work.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

  • In the Matter of Revere Riverside Limited, High Court, Business & Property Courts – Drafting an application to amend a just and equitable winding up petition (led by Duncan Macpherson).
  • Advising (as sole counsel) on opposing an application to set aside a statutory demand and the prospects of success of proceeding to issue a bankruptcy petition.
  • Acting (as sole counsel) in the hearing of various bankruptcy and winding up petitions.

Intellectual property

Meg undertakes a range of intellectual property work. She is particularly interested in copyright, trademarks and image rights.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

  • MPAA, UK Intellectual Property Office – Acting (as sole counsel) in obtaining the registration of the ‘MPAA’ word mark and 2 figurative marks as trademarks in the UK (UK00003601680), having previously advised on the prospects of registering and using these marks and drafting a TM8 and Counterstatement when opposition was filed.
  • North East Truck & Van Limited, Company Names Tribunal – Acting (as sole counsel) at a CMC.

In her role as a Junior Research Fellow, Meg has gained an understanding of relevant policy issues in the fields of intellectual property law, competition law and the development of the digital economy.

Professional negligence

Meg has gained experience of a range of professional negligence work.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

  • Acting (as sole counsel) drafting particulars of claim against a firm of solicitors for professional negligence.

Property

Meg undertakes a range of commercial and residential property work. She has appeared before courts and specialist property tribunals.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

Commercial

  • Willow Powder Coating Limited v Petchey Industrial Properties (No. 1) Limited, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) in drafting the claim form and particulars of claim for wrongful forfeiture or, in the alternative, relief from forfeiture, in addition to drafting an application for an injunction and its supporting witness evidence.
  • Advising (as sole counsel) on the construction of a commercial lease and authorised guarantee agreement in the context of defending a prospective claim for terminal dilapidations.

Residential

  • Manolete Partners plc v Mrs Fletcher, High Court, Queen’s Bench Division – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Defendant in her application for a 3-month stay of execution of a warrant for possession.
  • (1) Mr Leach, (2) Mrs Leach & (3) MJF Pension Trustees Limited v Zuker Property Limited, County Court – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Claimants in the appeal hearing, having previously drafted the amended Grounds of Appeal, amended N164 and final skeleton argument for the appeal following the permission to appeal hearing that dealt with issues regarding non-verified statements of case (CPR r.22.2(2) and r.3.10(1)(b)) and the Walsh v Lonsdale
  • (1) Mr Osman, (2) Mr Thompson, (3) Mr Atie & (4) 117C Waddon New Road (Freehold) Company Limited v Mr Ellis, First-Tier Property Tribunal – Acting (as sole counsel) for the Respondent in opposing applications for a determination of liability to pay and reasonableness of service charges under Section 27A of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985, and a determination of liability to pay an administration charge under Schedule 11 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.
  • (1) Mrs Kulikauskiene & (2) Mr Kulikauskiene v Mr Singh, First-Tier Property Tribunal –Acting (as sole counsel) for the Respondent in a 2-day hearing opposing an application under Section 41 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 for a rent repayment order based on a purported selective licensing offence.
  • Acting (as sole counsel) in possession hearings based on Section 8 and/or 21 Notices.

Sport

Meg is developing her practice in this area.

Recent matters on which Meg has been instructed include:

  • Advising on whether a decision rendered by the International Cricket Council’s Anti-Corruption Tribunal could be judicially reviewed (assisting Lisa Hatch).

Education

  • LLB in Law & French Law (UCL)
  • LLM in Law & Economics (UCL)

Languages

  • French & Spanish (High Proficiency)
  • (Brazilian) Portuguese, Italian, Hindi and Punjabi (Elementary Proficiency)

Publications

Since July 2018, Meg has worked as a Junior Research Fellow for the UCL Centre of Law, Economics and Society. Also, from February 2019 to May 2022, she worked as an Editor for the National Research University, Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Through her work with senior professors in multiple diverse jurisdictions, Meg has furthered her understanding of relevant policy and legal issues in the fields of competition law, intellectual property law and the development of the digital economy. Examples of Meg’s work include the following:

Books

Law Journal Articles

Reports/ Research Papers

Forthcoming Papers

  • Author of “Should There Be Global Substantive Convergence of Competition Law?”, UCL Centre for Law, Economics and Society Policy Paper.
  • Editor of “Prolegomena to Competition Law and Policy in the Digital Era”, UCL CLES Policy Paper.
  • Editor of “Digital Era Competition: A BRICS View”, Report by the BRICS Competition Law and Policy Centre and HSE Skolkovo Institute for Law and Development.

Awards & certifications

This is the Privacy Policy for:

Barrister: Meg Cochrane

Address: 1EC, 3 King’s Bench Walk North, Inner Temple, London, EC4Y 7HR

The Purposes for which Personal Data is Processed:

Personal data will be processed in order to enable the provision of legal services, ie:

  1. advice;
  2. representation in court;
  3. the drafting of legal documents.

It may also be necessary to retain personal data for conflict-checking purposes or for use in the defense of potential complaints, legal proceedings or fee disputes.

The Lawful Basis for Processing Personal Data

In some cases the subject of the personal data will have given consent to the processing of his or her personal data. Where explicit consent has not been given, personal data will be processed only when:

  1. it is necessary for the performance of a contract with the person whose personal data is processed (or prior to entering such contract, in order to take steps at the request of the person whose personal data is processed); or when
  2. it is necessary for the purposes of providing legal services.

Special Categories of Personal Data

It may be necessary to process personal data which constitute particularly sensitive special categories, ie personal data revealing racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, or trade union membership, and the processing of genetic data, biometric data for the purpose of uniquely identifying a natural person, data concerning health or data concerning a natural person’s sex life or sexual orientation.

Such data will only be processed where processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

Who will receive Personal Data

The recipients of the personal data processed will be:

  1. instructing solicitors and clients;
  2. courts and other tribunals to which documents are presented;
  3. witnesses and potential witnesses, including expert witnesses;
  4. other barristers, pupil barristers and other legal representatives;
  5. regulatory authorities.

Retention Periods for Personal Data

Personal data in case files will generally be kept at least the end of one year after the maximum relevant limitation period has expired. The limitation period will be measured from the latest date it is possible to bring any appeal.

The retention period will be reviewed when the work has been completed. The retention period may be adjusted at that time.

International Data Transfers

In cases involving international disputes, it may be necessary to transfer personal data to countries outside the European Economic Area which have different data protection standards to those which apply in the European Economic Area. This will only be done for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. In the event this is necessary, appropriate safeguards will be in place to protect personal data, such as European Commission approved standard contractual clauses or the EU-US Privacy Shield. You have a right to ask for a copy of the relevant safeguard.

Individual’s Rights

If your personal data has been processed or held, you have a right to request access to (and rectification or erasure of) personal data; or to request restriction of processing concerning the data subject; or to object to processing; as well as the right to data portability. These rights may be limited where there is a legal requirement, or other legitimate grounds, to process your data.

If you wish to exercise these rights, please use the contact details above.

If you have unresolved concerns you also have the right to complain to data protection authorities.