Emily McKechnie

Practice Overview

Emily practises in a wide range of general commercial and traditional chancery fields. She has particular experience in cases involving pensions, professional liability, contentious trusts, financial services, contractual disputes, company and insolvency, and commercial property.

Emily is frequently instructed as junior to Queen's Counsel within and outside Chambers, as well as on her own account.

Emily regularly appears as advocate in both the High Court and county courts, representing clients in interlocutory and final applications as well as at trial and on appeal.  She also enjoys advising in a range of contentious and non-contentious matters.

Recent significant cases on which Emily has been instructed include:

• The Pilots' National Pension Fund litigation, ranked by The Lawyer as one of the top 10 cases of 2010 (with Michael Furness QC and Timothy Howe QC);
  
  
• A complex multi-million pound professional liability dispute involving allegations of breach of trust and breach of directors' duties against a solicitor;
  
  
• The trial of a claim for breach of the duty of trust and confidence between employer and employee in relation to an alleged departure from non-contractual assurances (with Michael Furness QC);
  
  
• An application for security for costs in a multi-million pound contractual dispute, which Emily successfully resisted;
  
  
• Applications for interim and final injunctions under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997, which Emily was successful in obtaining;
  
  
• A claim for professional negligence relating to the administration of a pension scheme (with John Wardell QC);
  
  
• Entrust Pension Limited v Prospect Hospice Limited - ongoing litigation relating to the construction and effect of the deeds and rules of a pension scheme for members working in the hospice and health care industry (with Jonathan Evans);
  
  
• Nortel Networks UK Ltd - a case involving an application by the Pensions Regulator to impose financial support directions under the Pensions Act 2004 (with Christopher Nugee QC and Jonathan Evans);
  
  
• Lehman Brothers - a case involving the imposition of financial support directions under the Pensions Act 2004 (with Paul Newman QC).

Qualifications

• MA Law (First Class), St John's College, Cambridge
  
• LLM (First Class), St John's College, Cambridge (first class results obtained in all subjects: restitution, insolvency, corporate governance, and international commercial litigation)

Memberships

• Association of Pension Lawyers
• Chancery Bar Association
• COMBAR
• Bar Pro Bono Panel
• Free Representation Unit

Publications

'Pension trustees' duties of care and skill' (October 2009) Practical Law Company (a discussion of the duties of care and skill owed by pension trustees to scheme beneficiaries (with Jonathan Evans).

'Trust to the Future' (December 2007) New Law Journal Vol 157 (an examination of the definition of 'beneficial owner' in the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, with Michael Furness QC).

Scholarships & Appointments

• Emily was judicial assistant to Lord Phillips, the Lord Chief Justice, for the Michaelmas term 2006.
  
• Whytehead scholar, St John's College, Cambridge
  
• Wright prize, St John's College, Cambridge
  
• Hardwicke scholar, Lincoln's Inn
  
• Lord Denning scholar, Lincoln's Inn