|
 |
Practice Profile
Chancery, Business and Consumer Law
This is Nick’s principal area of practice.
CHANCERY: Nick receives instructions in inheritance matters, including challenges to wills, and claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. He deals with a wide range of property law, including disputes of title and boundaries. He regularly appears before both the courts and the Adjudicator to H.M. Land Registry. Nick often receives instructions for the Lands Tribunal, dealing in particular with residential property.
COMMERCIAL: Nick regularly deals with contractual claims, and is particularly interested in building disputes. He appears in both commercial mediations and arbitrations, and his current instructions include a long-running construction case with a value in dispute of over £600,000. He regularly receives instructions in cases of property damage, and has recently settled pleadings in a case worth over £1 million. He deals with Landlord and Tenant disputes, especially lease renewals under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. He often appears in insolvency cases, for both debtors and creditors.
'Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds is impressing in chancery and commercial work early in his call, and is already noted as ‘a great asset’ as a junior in the Court of Appeal.'
Legal 500, 2011.
PROFESSIONAL NEGLIGENCE: Nick is regularly instructed in professional negligence matters for both Claimants and Defendants.
Civil Actions Against Police
Nick is regularly instructed in civil actions against the police. He is involved in a number of ongoing false imprisonment claims, a number of which include complex issues regarding the quantum of damages, including effects on business and reputation. In December 2009, he was awarded a "Red Bag" by Leading Counsel for his work on a case involving an allegation of false imprisonment.
Personal Injury
Nick retains a practice in personal injury work. He advises in and appears for both Claimants and Defendants in fast-track and multi-track cases. He has experience in a wide variety of personal injury actions, including highway tripping claims, road traffic accidents, occupiers’ and employers’ liability, and clinical negligence. Nick is happy to undertake appropriate cases on a CFA basis. He has recently settled a significant post-traumatic stress disorder case in respect of a secondary victim in a fatal accident case.
NOTABLE CASES
• Roberts v Welsh Water (2007): Property damage case involving interpretation of Water Industry Act 1991;
• James v Jones (2007): Case involving interpretation of the Allotments Act 1922 (as amended);
• Barclays Nominees (George Yard Limited) v HSBC Bank Plc (2007): Lease renewal under Landlord and Tenant Act 1954;
• R v Tudor (2007): Part of prosecution team relating to second-largest outbreak of E-Coli in the United Kingdom;
• Smith v Ministry of Defence (2008): Case involving the appropriate level of supervision of Sea Cadets;
• Briddon v Briddon (2008): Inheritance matter: effect of Larke v Nugus letter on award of costs;
• Recently appeared in a construction arbitration with a value in dispute of over £600,000;
• Rohit Kulkarni - and - Manor Credit (Davenham) Ltd [2010] EWCA Civ 69: Interpretation of section 27 of the Hire Purchase Act 1964.
EDUCATION
2004: University of Cardiff Centre for Professional Legal Studies, Bar Vocational Course
2003: University of Glamorgan School of Law, Law Conversion
2001: St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, MA and BA (Politics, Philosophy and Economics)
1998: St Alban’s RC Comprehensive, Pontypool
AWARDS AND APPOINTMENTS
• Oxford University: Became a college tutor at the age of 21 and is currently Lecturer in Politics at St. Edmund Hall, teaching British Politics and Government since 1900; Modern British Government and Politics; Government and Politics of Western Europe; and Government and Politics of the United States.
• Secretary of Blaenavon Branch of the Labour Party, and Secretary of the Torfaen Constituency Labour Party.
• Chair of Selection Panel for Torfaen Labour’s Local Government Candidates for 2008 Elections.
• Nominated to Board of Trustees of Local Citizens’ Advice Bureau.
• School Governor at St. Alban’s R. C. Comprehensive, Pontypool.
• St. Edmund Hall, Oxford: College Scholarships 1999, 2000.
• University of Glamorgan/Barclays Bank Award for Best Performance on Law Conversion Course;
• Buchanan Prize Winner for Outstanding Grade Achieved on Bar Vocational Course.
• Lord Bowen and Hardwicke Scholarships and a Thomas More Bursary from Lincoln’s Inn.
• Elected as Call Night Speaker to reply to Lord Millett on behalf of newly called barristers at Lincoln’s Inn in October 2004.
PUBLICATIONS
• Michael Foot’s Handling of the Militant Tendency: A Reinterpretation.
Contemporary British History Volume 19, No 1, Spring 2005.
• Oratory, Rhetoric and Politics: Neil Kinnock’s Thousand Generations Speech of 1987
Llafur: Journal of the Welsh People's History Society, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2006.
• Attlee: A Life in Politics
(London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd, published 30 June 2010), ISBN-10: 1845117794 ISBN-13: 978-1845117795
INTERESTS
• Football (Member, Liverpool FC)
• Squash
• Rugby
• Golf (Member of Dewstow Golf Club, Caerwent)
• Walking
• Politics
