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Matthew Slater

e-mail mslater@3sb.law.co.uk

Matthew's practice covers a wide range of Chancery, commercial and, as Treasury Counsel, public law work.

Matthew's Chancery work covers trusts (onshore and offshore, including Isle of Man, Cayman and BVI), tax (direct and indirect, both for HMRC and the taxpayer) and probate.  Matthew is a member of the editorial board of the Wills and Trusts Law Reports.
 
On the commercial side, Matthew's work includes company and partnership matters, arbitrations, corporate insolvency and disputes arising out of the supply of goods and services.

As one of the Junior Counsel to the Crown, he is regularly instructed, both at first instance and on appeal, for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Home Office, the Parole Board and the Ministry of Justice.

In 2008, led by the current Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, Matthew acted for the successful appellants in Rudolph Date & Ors v The Queen (PC Appeal No. 10 of 2006), ten conjoined Privy Council appeals compromised by the Grenadian State on the grounds that the penalties imposed were unconstitutional.

  • Recent Cases

    Chancery and Tax:

    • Julian Frost v Commissioners for HMRC [2010] UKFTT 344 (TC) (VAT Act 1994, section 35, DIY Builders scheme; estoppel against the Crown; legitimate expectation)
    • Contrast Graphics v Commissioners for HMRC [2010] UKFTT 289 (TC) (interrelationship between flat-rate schemes under s. 23B, VATA 1994 and claims for repayment under s. 73 (2), VATA 1994)
    • Peter Lyon v Commissioners for HMRC [2009] UKFTT 267 (TC) (compatibility of VAT (Cars) Order 1992 with EC Council Directive 2006/1123/EC)
    • Baynes v Hedger & Ors [2008] EWHC 1587 (Ch) (7 day 1975 Act claim; rectification; and incidence of administration expenses and IHT)
    • Freeguard v Martlet Homes Ltd [2008] All ER (D) 55 (Dec), CA, The Times, 15 January 2009 (landlord and tenant)

    Commercial:

    • Lane v Robinson Court of Appeal, [2010] EWCA Civ 384, Lawtel 3/3/10 (pre-contract deposit; compliance with s 2 (1) LP (MP) A 1989; lock out agreements) 
    • Automobile World Ltd v Lombard [2009] EWCA Civ 379 (implied terms in hire purchase agreement)
    • HBI Playtex Bath v DBA Lux (LCIA arbitration (No. 8154): an ongoing international trademark ownership dispute arising out of a leveraged buy-out)


    Public Law:

    • R (oao Mackay) v Secretary of State for Justice [2010] EWHC 2014 (Admin) (circumstances in which common law fairness requires an oral hearing in front of the Category A Review Team)
    • R (oao Fairhurst) v Governor of HMP Moorland [2010] EWHC 1718 (Admin) (scope of common law duties of prison authorities during the process of recategorising prisoners)  
    • AR (Pakistan) v Secretary of State for Home Department [2010] EWCA Civ 816;  [2010] All ER (D) 181 (Jul) (whether deportation conducive to the public good compatible with deportee's Article 8, ECHR rights)
    • R (Ahmed) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] EWHC 519 (Admin) (Foreign Office disclosure obligations; allegations of unlawful detention).
    • Gray v Secretary of State for Justice [2010] EWHC 2 (Admin) (delay in Parole Board hearings; compatibility with Article 5 (4), ECHR)
    • KB v Home Secretary [2010] EWCA 11; [2010] All ER (D) 138 (Jan) (appropriate Article 8-compatible test for immigration removals)
    • Salter v Secretary of State for Justice [2009] EWHC 1497 (Admin) (application of Article 5 (4), ECHR, to Parole Board reviews)
    • Osborn v Parole Board [2009] EWHC 2711 (Admin) (when ECHR requires oral hearing in front of Parole Board)

    In addition, Matthew is instructed in Sookram v The Queen (JCPC/2009/0051), which is set down for hearing before the Privy Council in autumn 2010 and in MW v United Kingdom (ECtHR, application No. 39622/09).

  • Education and Previous Professional Experience

    Matthew won the Middle Temple's top scholarship, the Queen Mother's Major Scholarship, along with the Astbury Scholarship and was awarded a Distinction on the CPE/PgDL by City University.

    For the year 2006-7, Matthew was the Judicial Assistant to the Senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham of Cornhill.

    For the year 2003-4 Matthew was appointed a Fellow at Yale Law School where he undertook research into the offshore trusts used by the Milosevic regime.

    After Oxford, he worked initially in investment banking before, in 2002-3, being appointed a Consultant to the United Nations to investigate how the Balkan wars of the 1990s had been funded.

  • Seminars and Lectures

    Matthew lectures on all aspects of his practice both in chambers and at venues around England and Wales (including his solicitors' offices) and is available to provide talks and seminars upon request on areas within his expertise.

    Matthew has recently given seminars for Withers, Baker McKenzie and CLT and is participating in a series of seminars at Oxford University about changes to the EU regulation of alternative investment funds .