Duncan Matthews KC > Twenty Essex > London, England > Barrister Profile

Twenty Essex is ‘a very strong set in the international arbitration arena with many outstanding arbitrators’ such as Sir Bernard Rix, Sara Masters KC, and Duncan Matthews KC. Appointments span all major arbitral institutions including ad-hoc arbitrations under the UNCITRAL rules across many sectors including energy, insurance, mining, IP, pharmaceuticals and a wide range of commercial disputes. While the set continues to be globally recognised and respected for its strong commercial expertise, its reputation for investor-state work grows with regular investor-state arbitration appointments. Notable additions boosting the set’s bench strength include Baiju Vasani, Wendy Miles KC, both also acting as counsel, and Philippa Charles, who joined from Stewarts Law LLP. Clare Ambrose is particularly sought-after as a full member of the LMAA and Sir Peter Gross attracts appointments in maritime as well as commercial disputes. Kate Parlett is building a strong practice of high-value international commercial arbitration appointments.

Twenty Essex is ‘an excellent chambers for international commercial disputes‘. For major Court of Appeal and Supreme Court cases, the set particularly benefits from its members’ private and public international law expertise, including specialisms in jurisdiction, conflicts and enforcement work. In Process & Industrial Developments v Federal Republic of Nigeria, an extremely high-profile $11bn dispute, Philip Riches KC is representing Nigeria, which seeks to set aside the mega-value award made against it on grounds of fraud; and in Republic of Mozambique v Credit Suisse, Privinvest & others, a high-stakes $2bn Commercial Court claim arising out of the “tuna bond scandal”, involving fraud, bribery, corruption and conspiracy allegations, former head of chambers Duncan Matthews KC is leading Riches and others in the representation of Privinvest in this case.

Twenty Essex‘s civil fraud members are able to leverage the chambers’ complementary expertise in financial services and terminology. Paul Lowenstein KC is a go-to silk for injunction and jurisdiction work, both in England and offshore Caribbean jurisdictions. In the long-running PJSC National Bank Trust v Mints case, Philip Edey KC, leading Sarah Tresman and Richard Greenberg, is defending businessman Boris Mints against claims by two Russian banks for alleged fraudulent conspiracy involving loan restructuring. In the same matter, former chambers head Duncan Matthews KC and represents fourth defendant Igor Mints, his son. In a novel cryptocurrency case, unled Josephine Davies KC acted for Fetch.Ai in obtaining worldwide freezing orders against the hackers of its Binance.com trading account, along with information orders against Binance entities.

Twenty Essex is ‘one of the best chambers for handling complex disputes involving construction law‘. Its Asia practice is focused on Singapore, where the set has an office, with members active in cases involving LNG supply contracts, oil export contractual litigation, force majeure issues and sale and purchase agreements, to name a few. Michael Ashcroft KC has been kept busy handling a wide spectrum of construction contractual disputes, and Duncan Matthews KC has expertise in upstream and downstream disputes in the energy sector. Timothy Hill KC‘s workload includes advising on disputes arising from the construction of oil and gas facilities, among other matters.

Twenty Essex ‘has the biggest stable of commodities counsel‘ and maintains a close relationship with the Singaporean legal market, with members bringing their expertise to complex litigation in the shipping space. High-value arbitration matters have also been prominent in the group’s caseload, an area in which the ‘strong and dynamic‘ Timothy Hill KC excels. Timothy Young KC has ‘a fearsome legal mind, and he is very creative on legal argument and strategy‘. The ‘sharp‘ Duncan Matthews KC advises on a range of shipping issues, including bills of lading, cargo claims and contracts of affreightments. At the junior end of chambers, Oliver Caplin specialises in handling dry shipping and commodities disputes.