SIGN UP NOW
buy one get one free
Podcasts:
  • Course
  • Aims and Outcomes
  • Speaker
  • Resources
For the many not the few: Ross Cranston QC on multi-party actions

This episode of the Law Report focuses on multi-party claims. This is an intermediate level course.



For some years, UK lawyers and judges have struggled with various options for multi-party actions. The growth of shareholder action, in particular, has focused attention on this area and the EU is looking at how it might harmonise member states' approach. It is unlikely this will follow the US’s approach.

The government in the UK is also taking an interest, with the Office of Fair Trading and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (formerly DTI) holding consultations and some similar actions have already taken place. Various consumer bodies are exercising their powers under the Enterprise Act 2002, launching “super-complaints” and legal action regarding overcharging of replica football kits.

The information in this podcast represented the legal position when it was recorded on 06/09/2007

This podcast is only available for registered users, you need to or Login or Sign up to be able to listen to it.

Your Account
Aims and Outcomes

This podcast explores the current options for multi-party actions in the UK and how these are likely to develop in future.

It will be useful for any lawyer interested in this emerging area of the law, whether in relation to small or large claims.

The interview lasts for 28 minutes. It will take you a further 20 minutes to complete the questionnaire. You will need to get 50 per cent of the questions right to gain your CPD.

The interviewer for this podcast is Fraser Whitehead, who also sets the questions.

Learning outcomes

After listening to the interview, you will understand:

  • The differences between class actions, test cases, representative actions and Group Litigation Orders
  • The issues with the current rules in the UK
  • The UK vs the European and international experience
  • How class actions might develop in the UK
  • The role of lawyers in class actions
  • Funding issues around class actions
Professor Ross Cranston QC
Ross Cranston

Ross Cranston QC is Centennial Professor of Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science (2005-7). He was the MP for Dudley North from 1997 to 2005 and Solicitor-General from 1998 to 2001. Previously he was Cassel Professor of Commercial Law at LSE. Before that he was Lubbock Professor of Banking Law and Director of the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary & Westfield College.

He was educated in Australia and at Harvard Law School and Oxford. He has held consultancies with UNCTAD, the World Bank, the IMF and the Commonwealth Secretariat to advise different countries on commercial, banking and securities laws. He has also undertaken peer reviews of the legal system of the European Commission in Bulgaria and Turkey. He was a long-time member of the legal advisory panel of the National Consumer Council in Britain until 1997 and chair of trustees of the whistleblower’s charity, Public Concern at Work. In 2007 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.

He was called to the Bar in 1976 and practices at Three Verulam Buildings. His practice includes commercial work, particularly domestic and international banking law, sale of goods, financial services and international financial law. He is also a member of the bars of Northern Ireland, New South Wales and Queensland.

His notable cases include:

  • Barclays Bank v. O'Brien [1994] 1 AC 180
  • Sirdar v. The Army Board, Secretary of State for Defence [1999] C273-97 [1999] ECR I-7403
  • Hamilton v. Al Fayed [1999] 1 WLR 1569; [1999] 3 All ER 317
  • R v. Secretary of State for Transport, exp. Factortame Ltd (No. 5) [2000] 1 AC 524
  • Rowe and Davis v. United Kingdom [2000] 30 ECHR 1
  • R v. Secreatry of State for Health exp. Imperial Tobacco Ltd C-74/99 [2000] ECR I-8599
  • Federal Republic of Germany v. European Parliament and Council of the European Union C-376/98 [2000] ECR I-8419
  • Southwood v. Attorney General, Times LR 18 July, 2000
  • Director General of Fair Trading v. First National Bank Plc [2000] QB 672; [2000] 1 WLR 98; [2000] 1 All ER 240
  • Director General of Fair Trading v. First National Bank Plc [2000] QB 672; [2000] 2 WLR 1353; [2000] 2 All ER 759
  • Hamilton v. Al Fayed [2001] 1 AC 395; [2000] 2 WLR 609; [2000] 2 All ER 224
  • R v. Governor of Brockhill Prison exp Evans (No. 2) [2001] 2 AC 19
  • Attorney-General v. Blake [2001] 1 AC 268
  • Vela Fishing Ltd v Commissioner of Inland Revenue (New Zealand) [2003] UKPC 32
  • Ali v. Hudson (Trading as Hudson Freeman Berg) [2003] EWCA Civ 1793

His publications and articles include:

  • How Law Works, 2006
  • Principles of Banking Law, 2nd edition, 2002
  • Cranston's Consumers and the Law, 3rd edition, 2000
  • Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility, 1995
  • Law, Government and Public Policy, 1987
  • Legal Foundations of the Welfare State, 1985