Richard Roberts

Richard has a wide range of experience in consumer and regulatory work. His recent practice has included: acting for Wren Kitchens Limited, led by Jonathan Kirk KC, in an ongoing claim by B&Q in relation to alleged trade mark infringement and misleading advertising; advising a national law enforcement authority in relation to the seizure of cryptocurrency; advising a local authority on the regulatory requirements involved in shared equity mortgages; and advising a national charity on compliance with the Payment Services Regulations 2017 and Money Laundering Regulation 2017. He has done trial and advisory work in relation to financial regulation and consumer credit, acting in a large number of mis-selling and secret commission claims involving mortgages and other financial products. Richard has experience in various areas of intellectual property, including passing-off, trade marks and unregistered design rights, and has appeared in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court and the Chancery Division. He regularly advises local authorities and other public bodies and has provided advice to industry ombudsmen, the Trading Standards Institute and the National Trading Standards Scams Team. Richard has particular experience of the law relating to valuation and auctions, having acted in several cases in this area, and is co-author of the chapter on Auctioneers, Estate Agents and Valuers in the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents (LexisNexis). He is also a contributor to Consumer and Trading Standards Law and Practice (LexisNexis) and the Encyclopaedia of Financial Services Law (Sweet & Maxwell)

Notable Cases

• B&Q Limited v Wren Kitchens Ltd: led by Jonathan Kirk KC in ongoing High Court litigation concerning alleged trade mark infringement and misleading advertising
• Andrew Milne v Open Access Finance Ltd t/a Unbolted: acting for the claimant in ongoing High Court litigation involving the regulation of peer-to-peer lending.
• Advising a major UK utility on the application of the application of the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 to new products which it was developing;
• Advising a leading European motor vehicle manufacturer in relation to a dispute with a third-party supplier over the safety of aftermarket products;
• Pricewatch Ltd v Andrew Gausden: instructed by a local authority in an appeal against improvement notices served under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which included successfully resisting a costs application heard in the High Court;
• Advising a financial services provider in relation to the powers of the Financial Conduct Authority under Part 4A of FSMA 2000;
• Raft Limited v Freestyle of Newhaven & othersIP-2015-000030 – representing the Defendants in a claim involving allegations design right infringement;
• Cheshire East Council v Aldi Stores Limited: instructed with Jonathan Kirk QC in relation to a food labelling prosecution
• Advising a local authority in relation to procurement under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015;
• Advising the Trading Standards Institute on UK public bodies’ interaction with the tobacco industry;
• Jones v Link Financial Ltd[2013] 1 All ER (Comm) 572; [2012] EWHC 2402 (QB) – Whether assignees are entitled to sue for debts as ‘creditors’ under the Consumer Credit Act 1974, s 189

Richard has experience of a broad range of commercial and civil work, including contractual disputes, economic torts including unlawful means conspiracy, fraud, insolvency and bankruptcy. He has acted in mediations and arbitrations. He also has experience of group litigation, acting on behalf of the Claimants in proceedings in the High Court relating to trade union blacklisting. He has been instructed in various injunction applications in the High Court, including in cases relating to alleged copyright infringement, inducing breach of contract, and breach of covenants in contracts of employment.

Notable Cases

• Instructed on behalf of a Premier League footballer to act in a confidential FA arbitration
• Siddiqui v NHS Commissioning Board [2018] EWHC 1257 (QB): an application to strike out an action brought by a dentist against the NHS under the rule in Henderson v Henderson(1843) 3 Hare 100 and applying the rule in Aldi Stores Ltd v WSP Group PLC [2008] 1 WLR 748 as there was a pre-existing action brought by the NHS against the dentist, which is due to be tried in December 2018 in the Queen’s Bench Division. Led by Julian Gun Cuninghame against a silk and junior team from 30 Park Place, Cardiff;
• Business Energy Solutions Ltd & Anr. -v- Scrivener & Anr.: High Court claim in the tort of unlawful means conspiracy;
• Steven Acheson & others -v- Sir Robert McAlpine Limited & others: instructed as junior counsel on behalf of 150 claimants in a High Court claim related to trade union blacklisting, which involved aspects of employment and privacy law and alleged breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 (one of the top 20 cases of 2016 in The Lawyer magazine);
• National Crime Agency v Al-Massari[2015] HQ15X02988: acting for the Defendant in relation to freezing order and tax recovery proceedings

Richard undertakes professional disciplinary work and has regularly appeared on behalf of both employers and employees in Tribunal proceedings. He is particularly familiar with the education and social work sectors. He has experience of a wide range of employment law, including discrimination, whistleblowing, TUPE transfers and redundancy situations. He is regularly instructed by local authorities and by trade union clients.

Notable Cases

• Acting for a Church minister who is the subject of internal misconduct proceedings
• Instructed by the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation in his claim for unfair dismissal from the organisation.
• Instructed by a trade union to advise on agency workers’ rights under the Conduct of Employment Agencies Regulations 2003;
• V -v- Hertfordshire County Council and Another(2015) UKEAT/0427/14, [2015] All ER (D) 260 (Apr) – Decision by Langstaff J in the Employment Appeal Tribunal on the correct approach to Polkey reduction;
• Advising a county council on the pension entitlement of fire fighters in relation to a long-running industrial dispute;
• Defending a complex discrimination claim against a local authority brought by six claimants who had been working in local schools;
• Acting for the claimant in an unfair dismissal claim in the East London Employment Tribunal where the Tribunal imposed one of the first financial penalties under the new section 12A of the Employment Tribunals Act 1996

Richard has experience of various aspects of travel law, including claims involving the Package Travel Regulations, flight delays and cancellations, and timeshares (in particular claims under ss.75 and 140A of the CCA 1974).

SAFE 2023

October 5, 2023

Gough Square Live, Episode 36: Secret Commission – errors in valuation of rescission claims after Wood v Commercial First

• One of the authors of the chapter on product liability in ‘Consumer and Trading Standards: Law and Practice‘ (‘the Pink Book’), Lexis Nexis (2017)
• Co-author of the chapter on Auctioneers, Estate Agents and Valuers in the Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents (LexisNexis).
• Contributor to Consumer and Trading Standards Law and Practice (LexisNexis) and the Encyclopaedia of Financial Services Law (Sweet & Maxwell)

• Called Lincoln’s Inn 2006
• Lord Denning Scholarship
• M.A., University of Oxford (1st class)
• M.Phil, University of Cambridge

Who I am

I am a barrister that provides legal services. You can contact me at richard.roberts@goughsq.co.uk , on 0207 353 0924 or at Gough Square Chambers, 6-7 Gough Square, London EC4A 3DE.

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