At 2TG our people are hard-working, forward-thinking and approachable. We believe our supportive culture is one of our greatest strengths.
With the set comprising around 60 barristers, we know each other well and work effectively together. We often operate in large teams with clients. Our practice management team is modern and commercial, matching barrister experience thoughtfully to clients’ requirements.
At 2TG our barristers are expert in a broad range of complementary practice areas and we enjoy repeat instructions from a variety of loyal clients.
Practised advocates from the start, all our Silks and the vast majority of our Junior barristers are recognised as leaders in their chosen fields. Many of us are at the forefront of shaping the law in our specialist areas and we pride ourselves in having excellent industry knowledge.
At 2TG our barristers have excellent experience acting across a range of industry sectors and we are able to offer advice in an informed and commercial context.
Our combination of practice area excellence and industry expertise means we possess real insight into the commercial realities facing our clients operating in these areas. Secondment plays an important part of our commitment to developing our skills and understanding.
2TG is home to award-winning accredited mediators, arbitrators, adjudicators and experts with considerable experience of alternative dispute resolution.
Our barristers are also skilled as advocates in different alternative dispute resolution procedures and work strategically with clients to understand their commercial objectives, and then to resolve litigation as cost-effectively and expeditiously as possible.
Work with an international dimension forms a significant part of many barristers’ work at 2TG.
We appear in international courts and arbitral tribunals all over the world, frequently acting on complex multi-jurisdictional disputes. We are particularly well-known for managing cross border litigation on matters of jurisdiction and applicable law and appear regularly in the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal.
At 2TG, in addition to our professional advice, we are recognised for our excellent contribution to education and development. We provide regular high-quality training.
Our reputation among the legal profession and other clients for our first-rate webinars and in-person conferences is very important to us. We also contribute frequently at industry events and as editors of leading texts and authors on topics of legal interest.
At 2TG, we have a pre-eminent reputation in the highly specialist niche market of life, critical illness and income replacement (aka permanent health) insurance. Several members of the group are recognised in the directories for their work in this area.
We act for both claimants and defendants across the full range of life and health insurance matters.
On the life/critical illness side we deal with faked deaths, suicides, complex medical conditions, disputes between insolvent policyholders and their trustees in bankruptcy, policies written under trust, forfeiture following death caused by the insured’s criminal act and failure to disclose dangerous lifestyles such as membership of crime rings. We are regularly instructed to attend inquests, in particular where the death has taken place in suspicious or unusual circumstances (including alleged political assassinations, gang murders, suicides and deaths on the railway).
In relation to permanent health we advise on and litigate complex issues such as fraud, non-disclosure, limitation and the construction of group policies and special conditions such as “cherished occupation” clauses. We have particular expertise in the difficult evidential and tactical issues raised by conditions which are dependent on self-reporting for diagnosis (such as depression and chronic fatigue syndrome).
Life and health is in large part taken out by consumers. We are frequently instructed to advise on the complex legislative and regulatory framework applying to consumer insurance (the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, ICOBS, the Financial Ombudsman Service and industry guidance from bodies such as the ABI). The regulatory obligation to treat customers fairly is at the forefront of our minds when advising and acting. More generally we try to keep in mind the human and reputational sensitivities involved in handling these sorts of claims.
Sometimes however the regulatory mechanisms fail to function as they should. It may be necessary to consider judicial review of the FOS or other bodies. At 2TG we litigated what is so far the only judicial review of the Financial Ombudsman by an insurer in the life/health field. The case resulted in an important correction of FOS’s previous approach to the financial cap in the context of directives.
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