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It has been another busy and successful year for our firm.
In 2022, we settled two large group actions on behalf of our clients (against Ticketmaster and Uber). And we progressed several other multi-party actions against the likes of Equifax, EasyJet, Tesco, the Volkswagen Group and Mercedes. We further strengthened our commitment to achieving group redress when we became a founding member of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association (CORLA).
We also launched a new Investment Fraud & Mis-selling (IFM) website to help individuals who have fallen victim to financial scams get their money back. And our IFM team began working alongside MPs to support the Investment Fraud All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).
Our firm has enjoyed some fantastic recognition over the past few months. At the start of 2022, we were shortlisted in three categories at the Modern Law Awards. We were also shortlisted for Law Firm of the Year at the LexisNexis Legal Awards, and in September, we were shortlisted for ‘Boutique Law Firm of the Year’ at The British Legal Awards. Just a month later, we were ranked in Band 1 in the Group Litigation category in the Chambers and Partners UK Guide 2023.
In our 2022 year-in-review report, we take a look at some of the key cases and developments that occurred in the world of consumer law over the last 12 months. We hope you find it an interesting read.
Andrew Nugent Smith
MANAGING DIRECTOR
In January 2022, we were extremely pleased to announce that our firm was shortlisted for Law Firm of the Year at the 2022 LexisNexis Legal Awards.
The Awards recognise and celebrate excellence and innovation across the legal sector.
At KP Law, we help individuals who have fallen victim to financial scams get their money back. In January 2022 (operating as Keller Lenkner UK), we launched a dedicated website to help people about the risk.
We were delighted to announce that claimants represented by our firm had settled their High Court action against Ticketmaster.
The claims for compensation were brought by in excess of 1,000 customers who claimed their data was compromised as a result of a cyberattack perpetrated on software supplied to Ticketmaster by a third party and operated on that third party’s systems and servers. Ticketmaster denied liability for the claims and the settlement was made on a no admission basis.
The terms of the settlement are otherwise confidential.
Keller Lenker UK (now KP Law) participated in the virtual Modern Law roundtable on the Role of Technology alongside senior representatives from Cripps Pemberton Greenish, Nexa Law, Spencer West, Ring Rose Law, Loch Associates and Millar & Bryce.
We filed further equal pay claims against Tesco on behalf of a further 2,000 employees. We now represent approximately 30,000 current and former employees of Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons in equal pay claims. News of this was published in Law360’s weekly UK Litigation Roundup, 14 February 2022, and can be found here.
Committed to fostering a culture of equality and diversity, at KP Law we are passionate about supporting women in the workplace. Some of the ways we do this are through career progression, representation, and by celebrating the achievements of the outstanding women in our firm.
To mark International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022, we shone a spotlight on some of the women who make our firm what it is. We were also proud to take part in the Keller Lenkner UK (now KP Law) International Women’s Day Panel Event.
Panellists included:
Tipi Bhogal. Deputy General Counsel – Mazars UK
Heidi Riedel. Woman’s Trust CEO
Jacqueline P. Devonish. Judge and member of the Law Society of England and Wales’ Ethnic Minority Lawyers Division Committee
Tami McGonigal. International Executive Career Coach
We were extremely pleased to announce that Keller Lenkner UK (now KP Law), was shortlisted in three categories at the Modern Law Awards.
The categories were Business Growth Award, Innovation of the Year, and Boutique Law Firm of the Year.
Partner Mark Kenkre examined the common types of cryptocurrency scams and methods to avoid them in the Express.
Mark’s article was also published in FNTalk, SVSINDS and Germanic News.
In December 2021, Greencore began to experience some IT disruption. Following the security failure, Greencore investigated the incident and uncovered that some HR data had been accessed. In February 2022, Greencore warned employees that their personal information might have been exposed. In March 2022, we launched an action to help those involved in the Greencore data security failure claim compensation for any distress or financial losses experienced because of the breach.
As a result of a huge cyberattack, thousands of people had their confidential medical data breached and posted online. In total, 13 organisations were affected, six of which are healthcare related. Following the breach, in March 2022, we launched an action against The Lister Fertility Clinic.
In March 2022, Keller Lenkner UK was delighted to be one of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association’s (CORLA’s) founding members, alongside UK group litigation firms Edwin Coe, Hausfeld & Co, Leigh Day, Milberg London, and PGMBM.
CORLA was established to promote and facilitate reforms and practice that provide effective and ever improving access to justice for claimants by way of collective redress.
In March 2022, we launched three new equal pay cases against leading UK supermarkets. We are now holding Tesco, Asda, Morrisons & Sainsbury’s to account for underpaying its store workers.
Mark Kenkre explored the FCA’s plans to replace its current financial promotions regime with one that is more consumer-friendly and rooted in behavioural science, in Compliance Monitor.
In May 2022, Partner and Head of Data Breach, Kingsley Hayes, highlighted the pitfalls of automated decision making and explained the importance of GDPR compliance when relying on algorithms to make decisions.
Kingsley’s article was published in ITNow and can be found here.
In May, news of our Parasol data breach claim published in Computer Weekly.
You can read what we had to say about the Parasol data breach here.
Technical Director Ben Rees and Associate Alessio Ianiello analysed the British Steel pensions scandal and the FCA’s proposed redress scheme in Law360.
Ben and Alessio’s article was published on 24 May 2022 and can be found here.
In June 2022, associate Nathaniel Barber commented on the ongoing supermarket equal pay claims.
Nathaniel’s comments were published in the Legal Diary and can be found here. He said:
“While many of Sainsbury’s in-store workers are struggling to make ends meet, the CEO, Simon Roberts, received a shocking £3.8 million pay deal last year.
For years, these frontline workers – and similar employees at other supermarket chains – have been fighting for the basic right of equal pay for equal work in comparison with their peers working in Distribution Centres.
Yet, supermarkets remained unmoved by their employees’ plight, instead, forcing them to turn to the justice system and bring claims which have been bogged down in years of prevaricating by the supermarket Defendants.”
Also this month, Eleanor Leedham, Senior Associate, reflected on possible outcomes in the competition group action claim against a cartel of power cable producers.
Eleanor’s article was published in Lawyer Monthly and can be found here.
Eleanor Leedham also examined the UK’s new opt-out class action regime for competition claims, including the various arguments surrounding the domicile date which determines the number of claimants.
Eleanor’s article was published in New Law Journal and can be found here.
On 4 July 2022, we became Keller Postman UK (now KP Law) .
This change came as Warren Postman – one of Lawdragon’s 500 Leading Lawyers in America – stepped into a new role as Managing Partner of KP Law US.
In July 2022, our Investment Fraud & Mis-selling team began raising awareness of whole-of-life insurance policy mis-selling. You might be the victim of whole-of-life insurance mis-selling if a financial advisor (or insurance provider) convinced you to purchase a life insurance policy on a maximum cover basis and:
If this applies to you, you should contact KP Law to discuss a potential mis-selling claim.
In July 2022, we warned people about a data breach at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust. The breach involves ‘special category data’. Special category data is personal data that needs more protection because it is sensitive. As such, victims of this breach are likely to be extremely worried about this data security failure.
In August, we were delighted to announce that we had offered solicitor training contracts to KP Law paralegals Charlotte Last and Kira Vitale. Their progression reflects our strategy to grow our firm organically and promote from within where we can. Charlotte and Kira joined joined last year’s new trainees George Bailey, Elliott McKeown and Lucy Burrows, and we look forward to sharing the next stage of their career journeys with them.
Mark Kenkre, Partner and Head of the Investment Fraud and Mis-Selling Team, and Lesley-Ann Ainsworth, Senior Associate, explored the surge in group actions relating to crypto investments following a crash in the value of cryptoassets.
The article was published in BusinessCloud, 15 August 2022, and can be found here. A different version of Mark and Lesley-Ann’s article was published in PLC Magazine, 25 August 2022, and can be found here.
In September 2022, we were shortlisted for ‘Boutique Law Firm of the Year’ at the prestigious British Legal Awards 2022. The honours are “the premier legal awards in the UK” and represent the best of the best within the UK’s legal community.
Ben Rees, Technical Director of the Investment Fraud & Mis-selling group, argues for a better government response to pensions mis-selling in Law 360. Ben’s article was published on 14 September 2022 and can be found here.
Senior Associate Nathaniel Barber commented on the new Prime Minister’s plans to cast aside UK workers’ rights and protections in International Employment Lawyer. Nathaniel’s comments were published in International Employment Lawyer, 15 September 2022, and can be found here.
Nathaniel also discussed the ongoing equal pay claim against Sainsbury’s in People Management. Nathaniel’s article was published on 16 September 2022 and can be found here.
In October 2022, our firm was ranked Band 1 for its Group Litigation expertise in the Chambers and Partners UK Guide 2023.
The guide noted that: “The team’s priority is getting detailed advice on the merits of a dispute at the outset so that the client can form and pursue a clear strategy.”
‘Group Litigation: Claimant-UK-wide’ is a new category for 2023, with our firm being one of only three firms to be ranked Band 1.
Access our Chambers & Partners UK 2023 profiles, rankings and quotes here.
In October, our data breach team applied for a Group Litigation Order against the Police Federation of England & Wales over a 2019 data breach and ransomware attack which targeted its headquarters.
We currently represent over 12,500 officers across all ranks and service areas of the Police Force in relation to the severe data breach and ransomware attack targeting the Police Federation of England & Wales (PFEW) headquarters in 2019.
News of this has been published in MLex, 25 October 2022, and can be found here.
We recognise that our functions and operations have an impact on the environment. In response, we seek not only to reduce the environmental footprint of our own activities, but also the wider impact of dispute resolution. To help advance this aim, in September 2022, we signed the Greener Litigation Pledge.
The Greener Litigation Pledge is a commitment to action by solicitors’ firms, barristers’ chambers, lawtech companies, and other dispute professionals. In signing the Greener Litigation Pledge, our firm committed to taking active steps to reduce, with a view to minimising, the environmental impact of our practice in England and Wales, and to the reduction of our emissions in line with the objective of restricting global warming to 1.5°C.
Pro Bono Week recognises and supports the voluntary contribution made by the UK’s legal profession. This year, our Pro Bono Committee raised awareness about the voluntary legal work being done by the people in our firm. This included:
Paralegal Nikoleta Fytrou, who participated as a pro bono volunteer in the Amicus Florida Project. The initiative focuses on equal access to justice for individuals facing the death penalty in the United States of America.
Senior associate Nathanial Barber, who has been involved in a number of pro bono matters during his career, including representing clients in cases before the First Tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support). These cases were for people who had been denied welfare benefits to assist them with their disability.
Paralegal Molly Rowe, who has become involved in pro bono work within a few different types of law. She first began pro bono work when she realised the full extent of medical negligence within the disabled community – a community that is much less likely to be able to afford legal advice when the need arises.
Partner and Head of Data and Privacy Litigation, Kingsley Hayes, discussed the Department for Work and Pensions, algorithms, and universal credit in relation to the UK government’s plan to publish a White Paper on regulating Artificial Intelligence. Kingsley’s article was published by the British Computer Society, and can be found here.
Mark Kenkre, Partner and Head of the Investment Mis-selling and Fraud team, spoke on the factors behind bringing a successful claim at the TL4 Disputes Group Litigation and Class Action conference in London.
Mark discussed how the utilisation of technology, After The Event insurance, funding, and the role of a lead lawyer all play an integral role in the success of a group action claim. More information about the conference can be found here.
In October, we were delighted that Legal Director, Eleanor Leedham was nominated for the Rising Star category at the inaugural Women and Diversity in Law Awards 2022. The awards, hosted by The Global Legal Post, celebrate equity and inclusion in the legal profession, and recognise outstanding individuals and teams making the UK legal profession more diverse.
Commenting on the Molly Russell inquest, Eleanor Leedham, explored whether a group action can be built against social media companies for failing to prevent users from viewing harmful content. Eleanor’s comments were published in the Daily Mail print edition, 1 October 2022.
Managing Partner Andrew Nugent Smith recently spoke to The Brief, BCL Legal’s hub of industry knowledge, opinions, and interviews from top legal professionals. Andrew discussed our firm’s inception, its strategy, the market for class actions in the UK, and the role that collective redress plays in providing access to justice.
We launched a group action claim against Suffolk Police
Highly sensitive personal information involving victims of sexual assault has been exposed following a data privacy leak at Suffolk Police. The information exposed in this data breach includes:
According to Suffolk Police, the privacy violation relates to inquiries into sexual offences and offences that occurred in schools which were reported between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2019.
KP Law has launched a group action to help those involved in the Suffolk Police data security failure claim compensation for any distress or harm experienced because of this breach.
If you are involved in the Suffolk Police data breach, or suspect that you might be, contact us immediately. We can help you to make a no-win, no-fee compensation claim for the negligent treatment of your data and the breach of your right to privacy.
n 2017, many workers were advised to swap their secure “final salary” British Steel pensions into SIPPS, QROPS, and other types of personal pensions. But while the British Steel Pension Scheme (BSPS) provided a generous pay-out on retirement and kept pace with inflation, the new pensions often did not deliver comparable remunerations. This left many steelworkers significantly worse off on retirement.
In most cases, the affected steelworkers suffered losses of around £82,000, but for some workers, this rose to £489,000. Almost 8,000 people could be affected by this scandal, with around £2.8 billion transferred from British Steel’s pension scheme.
The financial advisors caught-up in this scandal often received commission or other fees for facilitating the pension transfers. Around 50% of the advice given to BSPS members was unsuitable. Better Retirement Group (BRG) is one of the companies found guilty of British Steel pension mis-selling.
We are currently looking into a group action case against Better Retirement Group and in November 2022 we launched a campaign to raise awareness of BSPS mis-selling.
If you were persuaded to transfer your British Steel pension to a private scheme – either by BRG or another advisor – you might have been mis-sold and we can help you to make a claim.
With the 2022 World Cup underway in Qatar, football gripped the nation. And, at our firm, we also had football fever. But in addition to cheering on England and Wales, we were also keeping a close eye to successes nearer to home, as we became a proud sponsor of Walsall under-13s football club Silverdale Galaxy.
Fake cryptocurrency investments are a growing concern. In 2021, according to Action Fraud, Britons lost more than £150 million to cryptocurrency fraudsters, with 18-25-year-olds the hardest hit. Like traditional money, cryptocurrencies can be used to buy goods and services, and they can be traded for profit. So, it is no surprise that the cryptocurrency is being targeted by criminals. With the equivalent of millions of pounds being stolen from cryptocurrency holdings each year, this is a very lucrative market.
In July 2022, South Staffordshire PLC, the parent company of South Staffordshire Water discovered that it had experienced a cyber-attack. When the water company first announced the cyberattack in August 2022, it was reported that the criminals had accessed the personal data of current and former South Staffordshire Water employees.
In December, we launched a group action to help those involved in the South Staffordshire Water data security failure claim compensation for any distress or losses experienced because of this breach.
Partner and Head of Data and Privacy Litigation, Kingsley Hayes, commented on how a recent children’s data breach has revealed potential enforcement gaps in the UK, in Global Data Review.
Kingsley’s full comments were published in Global Data Review, 11 November 2022, and can be read here.
Experts in a wide range of commercial, employment and consumer litigation, when it comes to getting justice for our clients against big companies, we don’t just even the score, we take the fight to them.
The strength and means of our firm ensure that we never have to back down from a challenge. And with access to whatever resource we need – be that time to go the long-haul or the expertise to delve deep into the evidence – we have everything it takes to win.
With years of experience working in commercial litigation and a genuine understanding of the inner workings of large defendants, our knowledge of the business world sets us apart from the usual group action law firm. In addition, our deep understanding of the litigation system – from the best people to use on any case to the most effective technical approach – means we are perfectly placed to deliver justice.
Find out more about making a no-win, no-fee claim with KP Law.
KP Law has some of the most skilled consumer-rights lawyers in England and Wales. Here are just some of our success stories.
With innovation, resources and expertise, KP Law fights for justice for each and every client.
81 Chancery Lane,
London, WC2A 1DD
020 8057 7480
316 – 319 Cotton Exchange,
Old Hall Street, Liverpool, L3 9LQ
0151 459 5850
Two Snowhill,
Birmingham,
B4 6GA
0203 991 3433
We are a founding member of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association (CORLA). CORLA aims to improve access to justice for claimants by way of collective redress.