The Legal 500

Within Administrative and public law (including local government) Administrative and public law – Leading Juniors

Within Banking and finance (including consumer credit), One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a first tier firm,

One Essex Court is ‘right at the top of the tree; the in-depth quality it has is probably unmatched’. The ‘absolutely phenomenal’ Laurence Rabinowitz QC is ‘a formidable legal talent who continues to be at the top of his game’. Lord Grabiner QC is ‘an obvious heavyweight’ and ‘a first-rate advocate’. Rhodri Davies QC ‘is incredibly commercial and has a gift for anticipating how judges will think and how they will react’. Stephen Auld QC is ‘a confidence-inspiring leader who is a fantastic trial advocate’. Anthony de Garr Robinson QC is ‘an energetic leader with acute commercial and tactical awareness’. Alain Choo Choy QC is ‘excellent on complicated financial instrument and derivative cases’. David Wolfson QC ‘has a profound knowledge of banking and finance law’. Hannah Brown is ‘excellent on the banking side of commercial company disputes’. Sa’ad Hossain is ‘an excellent junior, bright, hardworking and very personable’. Ben Strong is praised for his ‘excellent written work and ability to think around complex problems’.

Within Commercial litigation, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a first tier firm,

One Essex Court is ‘a seriously classy outfit, with extremely talented practitioners at every level’. Lord Grabiner QC is valued for ‘his fabulous rapport with clients, particularly those needing a reassuring presence’. A recent highlight for Grabiner was representing Christian Candy’s company, CPC, in its successful action against Qatari Diar over the development of the Chelsea Barracks site. Ian Glick QC is ‘one of the giants of the Bar, however there is not a trace of pretension’. Jeffery Onions QC is ‘a forceful and first-class advocate and cross-examiner who can change his style so that he always connects with the judge’. Stephen Auld QC is ‘every solicitor’s ideal combination: extremely personable with the cutting edge and legal excellence that stands him apart as one of the best of the best’. The ‘truly superb’ Laurence Rabinowitz QC has been involved in some of the largest disputes on the market, not least his representation of Boris Berezovsky in his litigation against Roman Abramovich. Among the juniors, Clare Reffin ‘effortlessly gets on top of all the detail’ and ‘inspires great confidence’.

Within Company and partnership, tier 4

One Essex Court has two highly rated barristers and company law specialists. ‘Exceptional litigator’ Anthony de Garr Robinson QC is ‘bright and very quick. He has an excellent manner with clients and is a team player. His ability in court is equally excellent’. Alan Griffiths also has a very good track record.

Within EU and competition, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a third tier firm,

One Essex Court ‘delivers quality every time’. Thomas Sharpe QC is ‘first choice for competition issues’ and is ‘great on strategy and fantastic to work with’; he represented John Sisk and Son in an appeal to the CAT on the OFT’s general analysis of cover pricing. Leading junior and ‘excellent advocate’ Matthew Cook is ‘very clever, demonstrates great promise’ and is ‘very user friendly’, with an ‘impressive grasp of the economics of competition law’; and ‘outstanding young barrister’ Conall Patton is also recommended.

Within Energy, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a first tier firm,

‘One of the best, most efficient sets in London’, One Essex Court is ‘the first port of call for all energy-related disputes’. The ‘extremely effective’ Lord Grabiner QC and the ‘exceptional’ Laurence Rabinowitz QC were both involved in the Buncefield litigation, as was Ian Glick QC, who has the ‘unbeatable combination of a fabulous brain and huge amounts of experience’. John McCaughran QC is ‘an excellent advocate’. Jeffery Onions QC is a ‘heavyweight leader and a very good cross-examiner’. Alain Choo Choy QC is ‘very clever and reliable’. Among the juniors, Michael Fealy ‘distils complex problems into simple questions’, and Alan Griffiths is ‘very knowledgeable on regulatory issues’. Clients also speak highly of Conall Patton, who is a ‘star of the future’.

Within Fraud: civil, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a second tier firm,

One Essex Court is ‘a powerhouse in civil litigation’. Laurence Rabinowitz QC and Neil Kitchener QC continue to be ranked ‘among the best’ for civil fraud matters. Anthony de Garr Robinson QC is ‘an energetic leader, with acute commercial and tactical awareness’. Steven Elliott is recommended for his ‘ability to review massive amounts of documentation and drill in to the fundamental issues’. The ‘assiduous and exceptionally hardworking’ Henry Forbes Smith and Alexander Polley are also recommended.

Within Information technology,

Also recommended are Alan Gourgey QC of 11 Stone Buildings (‘very user-friendly’); Graham Read QC at Devereux (‘tenacious in driving a strategy forward’); Simon Croall QC of Quadrant Chambers; and Derek Sweeting QC of 7 Bedford Row. Brick Court Chambers attracted ‘top junior’ Nicholas Saunders from Hogarth Chambers in 2010, who has an excellent reputation in the field – his ‘technical knowledge is unsurpassed’. The ‘very strong’ Lawrence Akka at 20 Essex Street and the ‘bright and client-friendly’ Philip Roberts of One Essex Court are also well-respected juniors.

Within Insolvency Insolvency – Leading Silks

Within Insurance and reinsurance, tier 4

One Essex Court has recently been joined by Craig Orr QC, formerly of Fountain Court Chambers. Cases for Jeffery Onions QC included acting for European Mutual Association for Nuclear Insurance in respect of a potential claim arising from the leakage of nitric acid containing dissolved nuclear material.

Within Intellectual property, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a third tier firm,

One Essex Court’s Geoffrey Hobbs QC has ‘the best gut feel for trade marks cases in the UK, bar none’; ‘he couples photographic recall of the case law with acute commercial sense’. Emma Himsworth is ‘the young pretender to the title of trade marks guru’, who acted for Marks & Spencer in a trade mark infringement case relating to adwords in online advertising. Philip Roberts is a ‘highly technical lawyer and accomplished advocate’, and Guy Hollingworth is ‘down-to-earth and a pleasure to work with’.

Within International arbitration, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a second tier firm,

One Essex Court ‘strives to make itself an integral part of the team’ and is ‘simply the best for energy sector work’. The ‘bright, commercial, responsive’ John McCaughran QC ‘distils cases into core themes that come to the heart of proceedings before tribunals’. The ‘meticulous and intellectually faultless’ Charles Graham QC is ‘always enthusiastic’. The ‘very impressive’ David Wolfson QC ‘always gives solicitors and clients robust commercial judgement’. Among the juniors, Michael Fealy has a ‘real strength of conviction, which he supports with wonderfully considered legal argument’. Orlando Gledhill is ‘a very strong all-rounder and one of the best at the junior Bar’. Michelle Menashy is ‘an excellent lawyer but even more critically she is a fantastic team player’.

Within Licensing, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a second tier firm,

One Essex Court’s Susanna FitzGerald QC is ‘a leading light’, and has ‘an appreciation of the mood and attitude of the regulators as well as in-depth understanding of the black letter law’. The clerking is ‘excellent’.

Within Media, entertainment and sport, One Essex Court (Chambers of Lord Grabiner QC) is a second tier firm,

At One Essex Court, Geoffrey Hobbs QC and Emma Himsworth act for a range of clients (including broadcasters, producers and other media companies) on copyright issues relating to media and entertainment matters. In sports work, David Wolfson QC acted for Chelsea FC in the well-publicised dispute over the signing of John Obi Mikel. Also recommended for major sports disputes are Anthony de Garr Robinson QC and Daniel Toledano QC.

Within Professional negligence, tier 5

Fountain Court Chambers is a ‘top commercial set’ with barristers who ‘are always of excellent quality’, including the ‘exceptionally talented’ Mark Simpson QC; the ‘responsive’ Stephen Moriarty QC, who is ‘a delight to work with’; Bankim Thanki QC, who has ‘impressive attention to detail’; Michael Brindle QC, who is ‘an accomplished performer’; and the ‘very able and intelligent’ Guy Philipps QC. Juniors singled out by clients include Deepak Nambisan, James Cutress, Rosalind Phelps and David Murray. Craig Orr QC recently joined One Essex Court.

Within Tax: corporate and VAT,

Also recommended are the ‘very thorough, professional and concise’ Timothy Brennan QC at Devereux; tax avoidance and transfer pricing expert Michael Green QC (an ‘excellent advocate, with a clear and authoritative delivery’) at Fountain Court Chambers; Philippa Whipple QC of One Crown Office Row; Laurence Rabinowitz QC (‘intellectually outstanding with a calm, reassuring demeanour’) at One Essex Court; the ‘brilliant, smooth, polished, accessible’ Philip Jones QC at Serle Court; and ‘top-level’ silk Timothy Lyons QC, an authority on EU customs and trade duties at 4-5 Gray’s Inn Square.

Within Treasury Panel Lists Junior Counsel to the Crown – B Panel