Events / Webinars
Wilberforce Fraud, Trusts & Asset Recovery Conference 2022
Tuesday 8 November 2022 | 1pm - 5pm followed by drinks reception
The Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch, London, EC1V 9LL
£120 + VAT | 2.5 CPD
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Practice overview
Sam joined Chambers in September 2022 after successfully completing his pupillage. In his first few months of tenancy he has regularly appeared in court on his own account. Sam also enjoys working as part of a team.
Before joining Wilberforce, Sam practised in New Zealand as a barrister, and as a solicitor in one of New Zealand’s leading litigation firms. He had a broad commercial practice and frequently acted on large cases involving difficult contractual and equitable issues. In one such case Sam acted for PwC as liquidator of Ross Asset Management, New Zealand’s largest Ponzi scheme – a matter which raised novel questions about the intersection between equitable and insolvency principles.
Sam has also lectured in contract law at the University of Otago.
During pupillage Sam developed experience across Chambers’ key practice areas, including trusts, commercial disputes, property, pensions, and insolvency. Sam accepts instructions in all of these areas.
Samuel's expertise
Key cases
Since accepting Chambers’ offer of tenancy, Sam has been frequently instructed in his own right. His cases have included:
- assisting a high net worth individual with the English dimension of foreign proceedings to recover stolen diamonds worth tens of millions of US dollars;
- acting on behalf of an electricity provider, applying for strike out of proceedings alleging misappropriation of subsoil;
- advising executors on potential remedies to recover possession of a property belonging to the Estate which is being unlawfully occupied;
- seeking orders that a claim be dismissed or alternatively for security for costs, in a loan dispute;
- acting in a contractual leasehold dispute concerning responsibility for improvement works and issues of contractual interpretation;
- acting for landlords in proceedings in the Upper Tribunal in a claim by tenants for repayment of rent;
- possession proceedings (on behalf of both claimants and defendants); and
- PPI claims.
Sam has also been instructed as part of a team. He is acting on a proposal to restructure offshore trusts worth approximately £1bn, led by Jonathan Hilliard KC. He is led by Zoë Barton KC on a matter in the Business and Property Courts, seeking to protect the rights of a leaseholder whose investment in the subject property is being threatened by applications made by a liquidator. Sam also assisted a team from Wilberforce Chambers led by Jonathan Seitler KC on Ensign House v Ensign House (FEC) Limited, a development dispute about a property in Canary Wharf which was set down for a month-long trial in the Chancery division in November 2022.
During pupillage, Sam worked on the following cases:
- Assisting Bobby Friedman in representing the successful claimant in one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2022, Manoukian v Societe Generale de Banque au Liban and Bank Audi [2022] EWHC 669 (QB). This is believed to be the first international case in which a Lebanese depositor has obtained an order for payment from Lebanese banks, in the context of the Lebanese financial crisis.
- Assisting James McCreath (led by Jonathan Karas KC) in a high profile case in the Court of Appeal: The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v United Utilities Water Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 852. This appeal concerned discharges from sewers into the canal, and raised complex issues about whether private law causes of action could exist concurrently with the statutory regime.
- Assisting Benjamin Faulkner (led by Jonathan Seitler KC) in the tenant’s appeal to the Court of Appeal in Bank of New York Mellon v Cine-UK Limited & Picturehouse Cinemas Limited v London Trocadero (2015) LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 1021. The tenant argued it was not obliged to pay rent while it was forced to close during the pandemic: the appeal raised novel legal issues about the intersection between contract law, unjust enrichment, and the doctrine of set-off.
Further experience during pupillage
Sam worked on complex trusts, pensions and estates cases. These included applications to vary trusts; claims alleging trustee negligence relating to unforeseen tax liabilities; claims involving trustee mistake under the jurisdiction in Pitt v Holt; and claims for access to trust documents. In the pensions context Sam was involved in cases relating to the validity and effect of forfeiture provisions and the Courage proviso; and whether creditors were able to access a bankrupt’s pension to satisfy their claims. Sam also experienced issues of domicile and conflict of laws in relation to wills.
Sam was exposed to a number of commercial cases during his pupillage, including relating to seed funding of an online startup; alleged dishonest assistance by company directors in breach of fiduciary duty; and alleged failure to issue bond certificates. Sam also assisted Bobby Friedman in a week-long LME arbitration relating to a fraud at a Chinese port.
Sam experienced a range of property issues, including in cases relating to restrictive covenants; break notices; planning; overage and rent review; agricultural tenancies; landlocked land; options; mines and minerals; telecommunications; dilapidations; disclaimer; and the 1954 Act. Sam assisted at a mediation relating to alleged overcharging for wastewater services; and at a site visit and hearing on a claim for adverse possession of unregistered land.
Sam was involved in insolvency and regulatory cases, including regulatory proceedings brought against an auditor; proceedings involving disclaimer and vesting of a lease; and personal insolvency proceedings against an individual.
Samuel's insights & events View all thought leadership View all events
News
Samuel Cathro and John Grocott-Barrett join Wilberforce Chambers as tenants
Wilberforce Chambers is pleased to announce that Samuel Cathro and John Grocott-Barrett will join Chambers as tenants from 26th September 2022, following the successful completion of their pupillages. Their practices will cover all areas of Chambers’ core specialisms, including commercial... Read more
Monday 26 September 2022
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Samuel's Details
Qualifications and Appointments
- LLM (first), University of Cambridge
- LLB (Hons, first class), University of Otago, NZ
- BA in English, University of Otago, NZ
Awards:
- Thomson Reuters Prize for best undergraduate dissertation in law at the University of Otago
- University of Otago Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship
- University of Otago Scholarship in Law
- University of Otago Scholarship in Arts
- Richard Sutton Memorial Prize
- Sir Harold Barrowclough Scholarship
Publications
- Sam Cathro and Simon Connell “New Variations on the Rule Against Penalties: Options for New Zealand” (2017) 27 New Zealand Universities Law Review 1033 at 1087
- Sam Cathro and Simon Connell “Radical Change to the Rule Against Penalties in England” (2016) 7 New Zealand Law Journal 247 at 271
Clerk details
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