Financial Services Lawyers Association

We are delighted to announce the winners of our inaugural essay competition which asked 'Bank charges: Are they fair?'.

At our prize-giving event on 13 March prizes were awarded by the judges to:

• Darryl Smith, an undergraduate at Leeds Metropolitan University (first prize, an eight-week paid legal internship at the FSA)
• Joseph Woodworth, an undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge (second prize, £1,000)
• Fraser Campbell, a trainee at Clifford Chance, Paris and Robert Read, an undergraduate at King's College London Law School (joint third prize, £500 each)

Many thanks to all our entrants, to the judges, Professor Eva Lomnicka of King's College, London, Andrew Whittaker, General Counsel to the FSA, and Mr Justice Blair, and to the speakers at the prize-giving event, "Bank Charges: Legal Issues and Industry Implications":

• Laurie Rabinowitz QC of One Essex Court Chambers, who represented RBS in the recent High Court case between the OFT and the banks, and who led for the banks on several submissions, but who will be speaking in his personal capacity on the legal issues rather than on behalf of RBS or the banks in general.
• Tom Brennan, a barrister who was in the press in 2007 for bringing one of the first claims against banks for alleged illegal charges.
• Megan Murphy, Law Courts Correspondent for the Financial Times.

Copies of the winning essays are available to members in the FSLA Library (see links above), as is a full report of the panel discussion.

Update (4 August 2008): The winning article has been published in the August 2008 edition of Butterworth's Journal of International Banking & Financial Law. LexisNexis subscribers can access the article online.

Photos from the event, with thanks to Victoria Cookson.