3 Hare Court

Pierre Janusz’s practice areas cover all aspects of general common law and commercial litigation, with a strong emphasis on real property, landlord and tenant matters and associated professional negligence claims, but he is also recognised as a leading junior in personal injury claims, where he regularly deals with catastrophic injury and high value fatal accident cases as well as clinical negligence matters.

He has substantial experience of handling cases with an international element, with expertise in matters involving jurisdiction and applicable law issues, both generally and in relation to accidents abroad. Following on from his in-depth knowledge of the Brussels Ia Regulation dealing with jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments, the Rome II Regulation dealing with non-contractual liability and the Rome I Regulation dealing with contractual matters, he continues to be the author of the jurisdiction and applicable law chapters in the APIL Guide to Accidents Abroad published by LexisNexis.

He was instructed in the landmark decision of Homawoo v. GMF Assurances (CJEU Case C412/10) in which the CJEU ruled on the temporal scope of the Rome II Regulation and in relation to the pre-Rome II regime he appeared in Maher v. Groupama [2009] EWCA Civ 1191 where the Court of Appeal ruled on the law applicable to the assessment of damages in direct claims against insurers. More recently, he appeared in Marshall and Pickard v. MIB [2015] EWHC 3421 (QB), where the High Court discussed how the Article 4(3) “escape clause” of Rome II affected the common habitual residence exception for choice of law in the context of multi-vehicle road traffic accidents, and also in AMT Futures Ltd v. Marzillier, Dr Meier & Dr Guntner Rechtsanwaltgesellschaft mbH [2017] UKSC 13, where the Supreme Court gave valuable new guidance on identifying the place where damage occurs for the purpose of establishing the special jurisdiction under Article 5(3) of the Brussels I Regulation (now Article 7(2) of the Brussels Ia Regulation).

He has experience of acting as a legal assessor to professional bodies.

Called Middle Temple 1979; published in ‘Solicitors Journal’.

German, Dutch.

London Common Law & Commercial Bar Association (LCLCBA) Personal Injury Bar Association (PIBA) Pan-European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers British German Jurists Association

St Paul’s School, London (1968-72); Bedford College, London (1977 BA Hons Dutch and German first); City University (1978 Diploma in Law).