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Gerard McMeel

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Areas of interest

  • Contract law
  • Commercial law
  • Unjust enrichment
  • Banking and financial services law

Background

Professor Gerard McMeel KC has held Chairs at three leading UK universities. From July 2020 he will be the Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Reading.

He lectures and supervises in contract law, commercial law, unjust enrichment and banking and financial services law. Gerard was previously the Professor of Commercial Law at the University of Manchester, and a Professor of Law at the University of Bristol. He has held visiting positions at Duke University, Tel-Aviv University, the University of South Carolina, Hong Kong University and Singapore Management University.

Gerard is a prolific legal writer. He is the author of the leading text on the interpretation of commercial contracts, McMeel on the Construction of Contracts – Interpretation, Implication and Rectification (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2017), which has been cited by courts in England, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore and Jersey.

He is a co-author of McMeel and Virgo on Financial Advice and Financial Products (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 2014) and The Law of Personal Property (Sweet & Maxwell, 2nd edn, 2017; 1st supplement 2019).

Gerard also practises at the English Bar. He is a Door Tenant at Quadrant Chambers, a leading commercial chambers in London. He has over 20 years of experience of legal practice, including appellate work in the UK Supreme Court and Court of Appeal. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in the 2019 competition, and was sworn in on 16 March 2020.

His reported cases include: 

  • Anderson and others v Sense Network Ltd [2020] Bus LR 1, and [2019] Bus LR 1601; 
  • Swynson Ltd v Lowick Rose LLP [2017] AC 313 in the Supreme Court; 
  • TFL Management Services Ltd v Lloyds TSB Bank plc [2014] 1 WLR 2006; 
  • AXA Sun Life Services plc v Campbell Martin Ltd [2011] 2 Lloyd's Rep 1; 
  • Seymour v Caroline Ockwell & Co [2005] PNLR 758; 
  • 21st Century Logistic Solutions v Madysen [2004] 2 Lloyd's Rep 92.

Most famously, he was counsel for former professional footballer and TV pundit, Alan Shearer in his multi-million pound claim against investment and pension companies in a trial in July 2017 before Mr Justice Leggatt in the Commercial Court, which settled before judgment. Gerard also acts as an expert witness on English law issues in overseas jurisdiction.

Publications

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