Interview with Andrew Eaton, Public Law and Policy Team at Hogan Lovells

Andrew Eaton, Public Law and Policy Counsel, Hogan Lovells

Matthew Wang, LLB Law with French Law, UCL, Assas, Founder of LawTalkToday

Full Interview

Matthew: I had the pleasure of interviewing Andrew Eaton, a Hot 100 Lawyer and counsel at Hogan Lovells in London. Eaton discussed his work in the Public Law and Policy team, where he helps businesses navigate government decision-making. A key case he was involved in was the London Metal Exchange (LME) during the 2022 nickel crisis, where his team successfully defended the LME against claims totaling almost half a billion dollars. Eaton shares insights on his legal career journey, including major events like Brexit and Covid-19, and kindly offers advice for aspiring lawyers, emphasising the importance of initiative and holistic thinking in legal practice.

Public Law Practice in a Top Commercial Law Firm

Eaton works in the public law and policy team where he helps clients, generally big businesses, to understand, engage with, and sometimes challenge government decision-making, largely in the UK, but collaborating with colleagues from various jurisdictions. For UK-regulated businesses in the energy, financial services, or life sciences sector, for example, government decision-making impacts their day-to-day operations as they need a license to operate. The public law team at Hogan helps clients engage with the government to shape legislation to achieve the government’s political and policy objectives whilst allowing businesses to thrive. If a business disagrees with a government decision, lawyers may challenge it in court through judicial review.

Judicial review is a form of litigation in which courts assess the lawfulness of public bodies' actions or decisions.

Key Case: London Metal Exchange

A key case that earned Eaton recognition in the Hot 100 involved the London Metal Exchange (LME) in March 2022. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the price of various commodities spiked due to uncertainty in global supply chains. One such commodity was nickel. On March 8, 2022, the LME, the world’s leading metals trading market, suspended trading due to a drastic escalation in nickel prices. Importantly, the LME decided to cancel trades that morning before deciding to suspend, upsetting many traders as it was an unexpected step. As such, Jane Street and Elliott Associates brought judicial reviews against the LME, which could be sued as a quasi-government body since it was an important part of market infrastructure treated as exercising a public function. The claimants sought damages for breach of human rights, since Article 1, Protocol 1 of the European Convention of Human Rights protects the right to the peaceful enjoyment of possessions. The claimants argued that the LME interfered with their possessions in an unlawful way, claiming almost half a billion dollars worth of damages since the trades were huge. Eaton and his team at Hogan successfully defended the LME’s decision to cancel the trades, which was a significant win as it meant no damages were due. 

Road to Hot 100 Lawyer

Eaton qualified into the public law team 10 years ago when the field was still niche. This quickly changed with Brexit, which started as an interesting constitutional question on the UK’s changing relationship with the EU. Eaton was involved in writing articles and advising clients on the consequences if the UK was to leave which seemed unlikely. When the UK voted to leave, this constitutional issue became a salient issue for many businesses, who were concerned about implications in the regulatory and business environment. Eaton helped explain the UK’s relationship with the EU and the Brexit process to both domestic and international clients.

COVID-19 caused another important government intervention in citizens’ daily lives and business operations. Eaton explained how, during these crises, businesses became increasingly attentive to the government's actions and decisions compared to pre-Brexit, when it was a less prioritised issue. Today, geopolitical risk is also a major concern, and the public law team helps clients navigate uncertainty and political turbulence. 

Lawyers must help clients stay ahead of the curve while translating the government’s concerns. Conversely, they must communicate the client’s commercial objectives to the government and find common ground through the courts and sometimes negotiation.

Advice for Aspiring Lawyers and Trainees

To Eaton, trainees who take initiative stand out the most. Trainees should not only tackle the task given but also understand how this fits into the bigger case, anticipate future steps, and help out other team members. Lawyers fundamentally help translate the client’s issues or opportunities into legal advice, which requires thinking creatively, anticipating problems, and understanding the full picture, especially since the client may not know how to ask the right questions.