Elizabeth Ovey

Elizabeth has a general Chancery practice with particular emphasis on pensions (developing from the trust side of her practice) and on retail financial services (developing from an early specialisation in building society law). She also does a considerable amount of professional negligence work in these areas and other areas in which a Chancery background is of assistance.

Her first substantial involvement in pensions law came when she was instructed in relation to a small miners’ pension scheme during the days of the miners’ strikes in the 1980s and she has done an increasing amount of pensions work since those days. She is a contributing editor of Halsbury’s Laws vol. 80 (Personal and Occupational Pensions) (2020). She is now on the Lexis PSL pensions section editorial board and is a contributor to Lexis PSL through a series of practice notes on various aspects of discrimination and occasional case analysis. 

Her financial services work involves in particular constitutional matters relating to mutual societies, regulatory issues and drafting standard terms and conditions to comply with the developing requirements relating to unfair contract terms. She is a joint editor of Wurtzburg and Mills on Building Society Law (looseleaf edition) and a co-author of Retail Mortgages: Law, Regulation and Procedure (2013).
 
A particular highlight of her professional negligence practice was a trip to the House of Lords in Johnson v Gore Wood [2002] 2 AC 1. 

She continues to deal with other Chancery matters.

She sits as a fee-paid judge of the Upper Tribunal.

Practice Areas

Panels

  • Case Analysis Panel
  • Consulting Editorial Board
  • Contributing Author
  • Other Publications
  • Q&A Panel

Qualified Year

  • 1978

Membership

  • Chancery Bar Association
  • Association of Pension Lawyers
  • Charity Law Association
  • Professional Negligence Bar Association

Education

  • University of Oxford (1974-1977)

21 Contributions by Elizabeth Ovey

Non-discrimination and objective justification in occupational pension schemes: a practical checklist for trustees and employers, covering PCP reviews, Equality Act 2010 compliance and age discrimination evidence
CHECKLISTS
Non-discrimination and objective justification in occupational pension schemes: a practical checklist for trustees and employers, covering PCP reviews, Equality Act 2010 compliance and age discrimination evidence
For trustees and managers of occupational pension schemes: Confirm that the scheme’s provisions, criteria and practices (PCPs) have been examined and reviewed to verify compliance with the non-discrimination rule. Where a PCP seems prima facie discriminatory and appears not to fit an exemption, raise with employer the question of whether an objective justification can be demonstrated. Understand how both courts and tribunals typically assess the objective justification defence in general. Do not treat generalisations or stereotyped assumptions as an adequate answer or satisfactory explanation...
Pensions
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