Mr Steven Thompson KC > Chambers of Elspeth Talbot Rice KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
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Mr Steven Thompson KC
Position
Steven has a commercial chancery practice with a particular emphasis on civil fraud actions, company/joint venture disputes, insolvency issues and aviation disputes.
He has been instructed in some of the largest civil fraud cases of recent years, both in London and overseas and is always working on a steady stream of aviation and aviation insolvency disputes.
Steven regularly appears in the Business and Property Courts in the Rolls Building (primarily in the Chancery lists and the Commercial Court) as well as overseas.
He has particular experience in the British Virgin Islands where he lived for a period in 2000 whilst on secondment to a local law firm. He was called to the Bar of Supreme Court of the Eastern Caribbean that year and has since appeared in both the BVI High Court, the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal as well as the Privy Council on BVI disputes.
He regularly appears in the courts of the Cayman Islands on large shareholder and fraud disputes often involving Chinese / Hong Kong businesses, and has advised and assisted in cases in Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Turks & Caicos Islands and Hong Kong.
He is also registered (under Part II) to appear in the Dubai International Financial Centre, with full rights of advocacy. He was involved in many of the leading cases on jurisdiction in the DIFC, including the conduit jurisdiction cases both at first instance and on appeal. He is one of a very few English barristers who has conducted a full trial in the Court of First Instance.
Steven is also regularly instructed on international arbitrations and associated Court hearings, in the Far East and in Dubai as well as in London. He has been nominated, appointed and sat as an arbitrator in an LCIA arbitration which ran to full hearing and final award.
For many years Steven has served on the International Committee of the Bar Council, of which he is currently Chair. He is also chair of the Bar’s China Interest Group. He is regularly instructed in China-related disputes by Chinese and other firms.
Career
Call: 1996 | Silk: 2015
Memberships
- Chancery Bar Association
- Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
- Bar of the Dubai International Financial Centre
- Chair of the International Committee of The Bar Council
Education
- BA (Hons) St. John’s College, Cambridge University (Natural Science)
- Dip. Law City University, London
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Aviation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Steven Thompson KC – XXIV Old Buildings ‘Steven has superb judgement and there is no one better at the Bar for aviation work. He is also great to work with and is willing to stick his neck out to predict outcomes.’
‘A go-to set for aviation disputes,’ XXIV Old Buildings‘ barristers act for airlines and lessors on the spectrum of aviation issues, including leasing matters, fatal and hull damage incidents in addition to insolvency proceedings and cargo claims. Steven Thompson KC has a broad practice that encompasses maintenance disputes, sale and purchase and leasing disputes, while Edward Cumming KC specialises in aircraft maintenance cases, with further experience in aviation regulation. Bajul Shah acted for the Qatar Airlines in its dispute with Airbus concerning peeling paint of A350 aircraft, with the airline grounding several of the type and alleging that this constituted a safety issue, a claim which Airbus denied. He also handles insolvency matters and ownership disputes. Erin Hitchens was also instructed by Qatar Airlines in their dispute with Airbus and often appears in the Commercial Court regarding summary judgements and interim applications, with Tom Stewart Coats handling a growing commercial caseload in addition to acting for airlines facing EC261 claims.
London Bar > Fraud: civil
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Steven Thompson KC –XXIV Old Buildings ‘Steven is an exceptional advocate who argues the most difficult cases very persuasively, pitching his submissions at exactly the right level for the judge and delivering excellent results every time. He has proved himself in highly complex cases at both first instance and appellate level.’
London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Steven Thompson KC –XXIV Old Buildings ‘Steven has superb judgement and there is no one better at the Bar for aviation work. He is also great to work with, and is willing to stick his neck out to predict outcomes.’
London Bar > Insolvency
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 5The English Bar Offshore > The English Bar Offshore
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Steven Thompson KC –XXIV Old Buildings ‘Steven is exceptionally bright and a brilliant advocate who can always be relied on to get great results, even with a difficult case. He has encyclopaedic knowledge of the law ad so it particularly suited for appellate work, but he is equally good at interlocutory skirmishes.’
‘Pre-eminent Chancery set’ XXIV Old Buildings offers clients a ‘deep bench with consistently high quality’ and demonstrable expertise in offshore jurisdictions including Gibraltar, Bermuda, BVI, Cayman Islands and the Crown Dependencies. Corporate and commercial matters, trust related work and financial based cases are among the core pillars of the set’s offshore offering. Steven Thompson KC was retained for an appeal heard in December 2022 in Ivanishvili v Credit Suisse (Bermuda) Ltd. The case involves a claim by the ex-prime minister of Georgia against a subsidiary of the Swiss bank arising out of the allegedly fraudulent actions of a rogue employee; the bank was ordered to pay over US$600m in damages by the Bermudian court. Head of chambers and in-demand silk Elspeth Talbot Rice KC is very well-known for her broad commercial Chancery practice, appearing in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, among others. Elsewhere within chambers, offshore commercial cases are a core specialism of Stephen Moverley Smith KC with his practice emphasising restructuring, fraud, corruption and insolvency.
Middle East: The English Bar > Commercial
(Leading silks)Ranked: Tier 1Steven Thompson KC – XXIV Old Buildings ‘Steven is one of the leading authorities on DIFC litigation at the English Bar. Incredibly hard-working, a brilliant advocate and highly intelligent.’
With particularly strong connections to Dubai, XXIV Old Buildings has an established reputation in the Middle East for its members acting in litigation and arbitration within the commercial, construction, and banking and finance areas. In Nest Investments Holding Lebanon v Deloitte and Touche, Steven Thompson KC acted on an application to the DIFC Court of Appeal regarding a preliminary trial related to recoverability of loss and the status of foreign law in the DIFC. Arshad Ghaffar acted on behalf of a defendant in IDBI v Barghouthi & Others, a DIFC claim filed by an Indian development finance institution against a Kuwaiti telecoms provider. Edward Knight’s practice continues to focus on international commercial contract disputes, as well as significant activity in ICC, DIAC and other institutional arbitrations.