Melody Ihuoma

Melody benefits from substantial legal research experience and exceptionally strong analytical skills, both of which equip her for tackling particularly complex commercial matters. Her experience in this area includes:

• acting, as a junior, in the defence of an $800 million civil fraud claim involving allegations of bribery and breach of fiduciary duty spanning across decades;
• advising on the proper interpretation of limitation and exclusion clauses in a sale and purchase agreement;
• during pupillage, contributing to closing submissions for conjoined ICC and LCIA arbitrations for claims for breach of fiduciary duty and dishonest assistance;
• assisting, during pupillage,  with the preparation of an appeal against a High Court judgment a dispute over a shareholder agreement which concerns the interaction between principles of contractual interpretation, the law of agency and the parole evidence rule; and
• drafting the skeleton argument (during pupillage) for a supermarket’s successful application for security for costs in a claim by its supplier.

Melody particularly enjoys commercial work with an international dimension. She has produced notes and advices on jurisdiction and, in particular, on the location in which financial loss is suffered for the purposes of the tort gateway. She also assisted, during pupillage, with an  advice on a question of BVI’s law of fraudulent conveyances.

Melody has has a special interest in disputes about remedies and she regularly appears as sole counsel in claims for the recovery of credit hire charges.

Professional negligence is another area of special interest for Melody, and she has experience with claims against a wide range of professionals. Examples include:

• settling the defence in a solicitors’ negligence loss of a chance claim;
• during pupillage, assisting with an advice on limitation for a claim against a pension scheme advisor for the loss of a chance to bring loss of a chance claims against that advisor and other advisors; and an advice, during pupillage, on evidence, liability and mitigation in a dispute about negligently drafted mirror wills.

Her experience extends to claims against construction professionals and includes:

• instructions in a claim by heritage planning consultants for unpaid fees (where it was alleged that the services had been negligently carried out);
• assisting her supervisor in the identification and formulation of potential claims against an architect for negligent advice on planning permission and for a failure to properly supervise building works; and
• assisting with closing submissions for a dispute over a waste facility which raises issues in relation to declaratory judgments, waiver by election and expert determination.

Melody has experience in a variety of sports disputes, including:

• assisting in the preparation of written submissions and expert evidence for a preliminary investigation by UK Anti-Doping into the alleged presence of dorzolamide in an athlete’s urine sample;
• during pupillage, producing the skeleton argument for an EFL arbitration involving a dispute over the proper interpretation of a transfer agreement; and
• assisting, during pupillage, in the preparation of a CAS appeal in a case in which furosemide was found in a gymnast’s urine sample.

Melody has worked on a variety of insurance disputes; her experience includes:

• acting for insurers in the defence of a claim under an “all risks on portable property” insurance policy;
• during pupillage, drafting pleadings for claims against insurers and insurance brokers; and
• an advice, during pupillage, on the application of the terms “claim” and “single claim” in a directors and officers liability insurance policy. ​