Wilberforce Chambers features twice in The Lawyer’s Top 10 Appeals of 2024

Annington Property v The Secretary of State for Defence

Following its inclusion in The Lawyer’s top 20 cases of 2023, when it was heard in the High Court, this case is singled out once again, this time in the top 10 appeals list, now that it is heading for the Court of Appeal in July. The case arises from the Ministry of Defence’s attempts to exercise enfranchisement rights to acquire the freehold of over 57,000 properties from the Claimant. It is a hugely consequential case, with property worth billions of pounds potentially at stake.

Joanne Wicks KC and Daniel Petrides are appearing on behalf of the Secretary of State for Defence in the real estate proceedings, alongside Tanfield Chambers’ Philip Rainey KC and Ceri Edmonds and Falcon Chambers’ Adam Rosenthal KC, instructed by Forsters.

Virgin Media v NTL Pension Trustees II and others

This case is an industry-wide, significant appeal relating to the operation of s.37 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993, seeking to overturn the much-talked-about decision that under s.37 a failure to have contemporaneous confirmation in writing from an actuary for certain changes made to a pension scheme renders those changes void. The Court of Appeal hearing is listed to take place in June.

To read The Lawyer’s full write-up and to see the other top 10 appeals of 2024, click here.