Francis Hoar
Called 2001 (Lincoln's
Inn)
LLB. (Bristol): Law (2:1 (Hons))
John Colston Award for international debating,
Bristol University(2000)
Hardwicke Scholar, Lincoln’s
Inn(2000)
Thomas More Bursar, Lincoln’s Inn(2000)
Pupillage Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn(2001)
Main Areas of
Practice
Commercial
Fraud and Asset Recovery
Public Law and Human
Rights
Employment
Personal Injury
Property
Professional
Memberships
South East Circuit
Profile
Francis specialises in commercial law
(including fraud), employment and public
law. Francis’s commercial practice
encompasses the range of contractual and other
disputes and, in particular, the areas of fraud
and asset preservation and forfeiture.
His public law practice includes the areas of
local government, public interest immunity,
prison law, mental health and
immigration. Francis acts for employers
and employees in cases before the Tribunal, the
EAT and the High court and he has a busy
advisory practice.
Francis also acts in the areas of personal
injury and property. Up until 2010,
Francis had a substantial criminal practice and
his extensive advocacy experience (in heavy
weight cases including serious fraud and rape)
is of great benefit in trials involving the
cross-examination of difficult or sensitive
witnesses.
Francis is able to accept instructions
directly from members of the public.
Commercial
General
Commercial: Francis is instructed in
all areas of commercial law, including
construction, the sale and carriage of goods,
credit hire and professional negligence (see
under public law for details of his commercial
immigration practice). Ongoing and recent
cases include:
- A £1.5 million commercial dispute over
the restitution of monies paid ancillary to
rent, involving applications before the
High Court for freezing injunctions.
- A construction dispute involving a
major building project at a
university. Application to strike out
on grounds of abuse successfully resisted
and claim settled for the full amount.
- A substantial claim for damages in
respect of the establishment and running of
a nightclub in central London.
- Three partnership disputes involving
accusations of breach of fiduciary duty and
harassment.
- A professional negligence action by a
business against an accountant on the
grounds of his failure to advise of their
liability for VAT.
- A number of disputes between
recruitment agencies and companies over the
payment of commission charges.
Civil/Criminal
Fraud: Francis is
well placed to act in cases that cross the
civil and criminal divide. In addition to
his commercial experience, he has a background
of criminal advocacy in cases including of
fraud, rape and serious violence. Recent
cases have included:
- Currently instructed in a five day High
Court trial involving fraud by both agents
and employees.
- Acted for an employment agent in a
fraud involving contractors, other agents
and employees.
- R v Manifold & Others:
Leading junior against two Queen’s Counsel
in a five week criminal fraud trial in
which his client was co-accused with a
solicitor.
Asset
Recovery: Regularly instructed to
apply for freezing injunctions and other
interlocutory orders in commercial cases.
Since being seconded to the Asset Forfeiture
Department of the Revenue and Customs
Prosecution Office in 2007, Francis’s asset
recovery practice has developed in both civil
and criminal cases acting both for the
Government and for defendants. His High Court
practice has involved post-conviction
confiscation orders (including in MTIC frauds
and drug conspiracies), pre- and
post-conviction applications, including
restraint, receivership and third party
applications and applications for uplifts and
reductions on the grounds of inadequacy.
He also acts in civil recovery actions under
the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Public Law and Human Rights
Local Authorities and
PII: Francis regularly acts for
and against local authorities, particularly in
housing matters. He has a particular
expertise in applications for injunctions
against council tenants under the Housing Act
1996.
Francis is instructed by local authorities in
the specialist area of public interest immunity
applications in the Crown Court. Francis
is particularly well placed to act in this area
having had an extensive criminal prosecution
practice in the past, in addition to his
specialist public law experience.
Election Law: Francis
provides discreet advice to constituency
parties in a major political party. He
acts for councillors in actions under the
Representation of the People Act and also acts
in internal party disciplinary proceedings,
most recently acting for a constituency party
before the national Board of a major political
party. He is the author of an article in
the Modern Law Review on the
recent Woolas Election Court
decision.
Prison Law: Francis acts
for prisoners in cases before the Parole Board,
in disciplinary proceedings and in civil claims
against the state for miss-treatment in
prison. Recent cases involved a life
prisoner 20 years over his tariff and two
prisoners convicted of rape on indeterminate
sentences. In December 2012, Francis
appeared (led by Jonathan Cowen) in the
judicial review of the refusal of Rampton High
Security Hospital to permit access by patients
to pornographic material.
Commercial
Immigration: Francis is
regularly instructed by companies and
individuals in cases in the Tribunal and in the
High Court and County Court. These
include work permit appeals and County Court
appeals against penalties for the employment of
illegal workers. Francis is currently
instructed by a college at risk of a penalty in
consequence of its alleged failure to abide by
controls on its immigrant entrants; and is
acting for another college at risk of losing
its ability to sponsor Tier 4 students.
Court of
Protection: Francis acts for
individuals, local authorities and other public
bodies.
Other Public Law/Cases involving
public bodies: Francis acts
for defendants in civil actions against the
police, including wrongful arrest,
miss-treatment and malicious prosecution.
He acts in the area of mental
health. With his criminal and human
rights background, he is well placed to advise
in related cases affecting the liberty of the
subject.
Francis is currently acting in a ground
breaking case involving the question of whether
the when limitation starts to run in claims for
damages in cases of wrongfully administered
cautions that have subsequently been
discharged. There is currently no common
law authority on this question.
Employment
Francis acts for both employers
and employees. He regularly advises
employers on proposed redundancy settlements,
redundancy claims, proposed changes of terms
and conditions and associated claims, unfair
dismissal, TUPE transfers and associated claims
and discrimination claims. In addition,
Francis’s commercial expertise is of great
value when he is frequently asked to advise and
act in contractual restraint of trade
claims. Employers and employees need to
act with particular care before issuing and
defending such proceedings, given the high
degree of uncertainty in the enforcement of
such agreements.
With a considerable practice in public law
and human rights, Francis frequently advises
and acts in discrimination claims, from before
potential actions (eg during the internal
disciplinary or grievance process) to the
Employment Appeals Tribunal and beyond.
With his extensive litigation and advocacy
experience, he is well placed to advise
employers and employees before litigation,
including on employment contracts, transfers of
undertakings, redundancy schemes and
disciplinary and grievance procedures, in
addition to potential actions.
Francis acts in cases before the Employment
Tribunal, the EAT, the County Court and the
High Court (in contractual cases). Recent
cases have involved a seven day trial at the
Employment Tribunal involving a claim of
racially aggravated harassment (acting for the
employer) and a five day Employment
Tribunal trial by a senior local authority
executive alleging a flawed redundancy process
and racial discrimination (acting for the
employee).
Francis writes and lectures on employment
law. In 2012, he has lectured at three
seminars for solicitors and an advocacy
training event on redundancy. He recently
produced a webinar on 'Pursuing and Defending
Claims under the Equality Act' and his guide to
facility time for trade unions was published by
the Taxpayers’ Alliance in September 2012.
Personal
Injury and Credit Hire
Francis represents claimants and defendants
in all areas of personal injury. His
cases range from standard fast track road
traffic cases to complex cases involving issues
such as work-place bullying, psycho
physiological illness and carbon monoxide
poisoning. He is well placed to act and
advise from the earliest stages, when issues
such as permission to instruct experts may be
of critical importance.
Property
Francis acts for and advises both sides in
commercial and residential landlord and tenant
matters, including in cases of disrepair and
harassment. He has a particular expertise
in criminal and civil unlawful eviction actions
and recently acted in two substantial trials,
one a criminal trial acting for a local
authority, the other a civil action acting for
a tenant. Francis also acts in probate
cases; he is currently instructed in three
matters, including in a dispute over an estate
worth around £1 million in which the principal
issue is capacity.
Additional Professional
Information
Elected member of the Committee of the
Criminal Bar Association, 2007-2010, in which
position he drafted a large number of CBA
responses to Government consultations relating
to law reform. Francis has also served on
sub-committees of the Bar Council.
Interests include running (Francis ran the
Flora London Marathon in 2008 and raised £2,500
for Cancer Research); skiing, riding, singing
and politics
Publications
&
Media
'Limitations to the right to
time-off for trade union activities', legal
briefing published by the Taxpayers' Alliance
in September, 2012
'How to save your
seat' Local Government
Lawyer, June 2011. Francis Hoar looks
at the implications for election candidates at
all levels of government after the first MP is
ejected from the Commons in 100 years.
‘Public or Personal Character
in Election Campaigns’: A Review of the
Implications of the Judgment
in Watkins v
Woolas’, Modern Law
Review Vol 74, Issue 4, June
2011;
Author of a chapter on a British Bill of Rights
in ‘The State of
Liberties in Modern
Britain’ (Biteback
Publications, 2010)
Regularly appears on Radio Five Live’s Victoria
Derbyshire show, most recently to discuss two
newsworthy immigration decisions;
‘There’s no Justice in
Anonymity’ Counsel, 2008
‘Serving Justice’ (article on the role of the
Lord Chancellor),Counsel, 2007.
If you would like any further information
regarding Francis Hoar's practice, please
contact his clerks or
call +44 (0)20 7405 6114.
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