Professor Nelson Enonchong read law at the University of Yaounde and Jesus College, Cambridge. He is now the Barber Professor of Law at the University of Birmingham. He has a wide commercial practice in banking and finance and all contractual matters. He has particular expertise in letters of credit and on demand guarantees or bonds. He is the author of a leading text on these instruments (please see the paragraph on “Books” below). He also has particular expertise in asset based finance and claims against banks on the ground of undue influence and other vitiating factors. He is the author of the leading text on duress, undue influence and unconscionable dealing (please see below). He has acted in various cases concerning claims under guarantees and indemnities. His recent work includes:
- Advising in a 2 million claim against a bank for causing the claimants to switch from loan agreements with interest rates benchmarked to Base Rate to agreements with interest rates benchmarked to LIBOR at a time of rising LIBOR, following the credit crisis in 2008. The claims included allegations of intimidation, economic duress, undue influence and illegality (including alleged violations of the FCA’s Disclosure and Transparency Rules made pursuant to Part VI of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the Irish Market Abuse Regulations 2005 and the Securities and Exchange Act 1943 of the United States of America.
- Acting for a company in a claim against a bank for making unauthorised payments of more than US$1.3 million out of a customer’s account into various banks in six different countries, acting on forged payment instructions;
- Advising in relation to a potential claim under an indemnity given by a municipal authority in a foreign country to an English company acting as the arranger in a 16 million bonds issue.
Notable Cases
Recent Cases Include:
Lombard North Central Plc v Flint (regulated conditional sale agreement)
Lloyds TSB Bank Plc v Khan (claim under a guarantee)
Platform Funding Ltd v Clark (asset finance)
GE Money Finance v. Robinson (asset finance)
Romford MC v. JP and Sons (breach of asset finance agreement)
Lucia v. Halifax (Claim of overcharging by a bank)
K v. KFCB Bank (illegality in the sale of repossessed property by a mortgagee bank).
Memberships
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Honourable Society of the Inner Temple
Society of Legal Scholars
The Cameroon Bar Association
Member of Editorial Board, Business Law International
Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of African Law
Member of Editorial Board, African Journal of International and Comparative Law
Qualifications
LLM, PhD (Cantab)
Barber Professor of Law, University of Birmingham
Press
Publications
He has written books for leading publishers such as Oxford University Press and Sweet and Maxwell and has been widely published across legal and scholarly journals including Law Quarterly Review, Modern Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Restitution Law Review, and International and Comparative Law Quarterly.
Books
First Supplement to Duress, Undue Influence and Unconscionable Dealing, 2021, Sweet & Maxwell
Duress, Undue Influence and Unconscionable Dealing, 3rd edition, 2019, Sweet and Maxwell
Duress, Undue Influence and Unconscionable Dealing 2nd Edition – 2012, Sweet and Maxwell
The Independence Principle of Letters of Credit and Demand Guarantees - 2011, Oxford University Press
Duress, Undue Influence and Unconscionable Dealing – 2005, Sweet and Maxwell
Illegal Transactions – 1998, Lloyd’s of London Press
Articles
Articles in the field of Banking and Finance include:
“Letters of Credit Payable Overseas and Third Party Debt Orders” (2015) Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 674
“The law applicable to demand guarantees and counter-guarantees” [2015] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 194-215.
“Recovery of Overpayments made under Performance Bonds” [2010] Restitution Law Review 14.
“Demand Guarantees under OHADA Uniform Act on Securities” [2009] Journal of Business Law 568-591
“The Problem of Abusive Calls on Demand Guarantees” [2007] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 83-106.
“The Autonomy Principle of Letters of Credit: An Illegality Exception?” [2006] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 404 – 425
“Damages for Wrongful Dishonour of a Cheque” (1997) 60 Modern Law Review 412 – 419.
“The Undue Influence of a Co-Surety” [2003] Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly 307 – 311
