Daniel Lightman KC > Serle Court > London, England > Barrister Profile
Serle Court Offices
6 NEW SQUARE, LINCOLN'S INN
LONDON
WC2A 3QS
England
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Daniel Lightman KC
Position
As part of a broad Chancery-Commercial practice, Daniel Lightman KC often engages with challenging and novel issues of law and civil procedure, in particular concerning shareholder disputes, company law (including in matrimonial proceedings), insolvency, civil fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and professional negligence.
Recent significant cases include: Re Klimvest plc [2023] 1 BCLC 388; In re BHS Group Ltd (in liquidation) [2022] Bus LR 1510; Taylor Goodchild Ltd v Taylor [2022] 2 BCLC 27; Re Prospect Place (Wimbledon) Management Co Ltd [2022] BCC 1176; King v Stiefel [2022] 1 All ER (Comm) 990; and Re Dinglis Properties Ltd [2021] 1 All ER 685.
Career
Called to the Bar 1995. Queen’s Counsel 2016.
Languages
Hebrew.
Memberships
ACTAPS, Chancery Bar Association, COMBAR, Family Law Bar Association, Insolvency Lawyers’ Association and PNBA.
Education
BA Lit. Hum. (First Class), Magdalen College, Oxford; Dip. Law (Distinction), City University, London. Hardwicke, Mansfield and Denning Scholar of Lincoln’s Inn. Co-author of Cricket Grounds from the Air (2nd Ed. 2010).
Leisure
Publications:
Author of two chapters (on derivative claims and unfair prejudice petitions) of Joffe, Minority Shareholders: Law, Practice & Procedure (6th Ed, 2018) and of chapters 12 (duties & liabilities of administrators), 13 (duties & liabilities of receivers) & 29 (court-appointed receivers) of Lightman & Moss, The Law of Receivers and Administrators of Companies (6th Ed, 2017). Recent publications include: ‘Unparalleled Circumstances’ (NLJ, 31 July 2020) and ‘One Way Bets and Straining at Gnats: Fixing a Fair Valuation Date in Unfair Prejudice Petitions’ (BJIBFL, Dec 2018, pp 678 – 681).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Company
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Daniel Lightman KC – Serle Court ‘Daniel has exceptional experience in shareholder disputes and is incredibly creative, thinking outside the box and coming up with innovative solutions no one else thinks about.’
Serle Court is highly-respected for its work on company law litigation, particularly offshore matters, and it has a deep bench of talent at both junior and silk levels. It is ‘one of the most comprehensive commercial Chancery sets in the UK’, and clients remark that it is ‘exceptionally strong, flexible and collaborative, and consistently brilliant’. Philip Marshall KC recently worked with Guernsey advocates for the claimant liquidators of an international construction company in a claim exceeding $1bn for fraudulent trading and conspiracy to defraud. Daniel Lightman KC, who is frequently instructed on many leading and cutting-edge company law and minority shareholder cases, is another standout silk. Tom Braithwaite, who is acting for the defendant in a shareholder dispute concerning the ownership of a hospital, and David Drake are among the vastly experienced senior juniors.
London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Daniel Lightman KC –Serle Court ‘Daniel is a master of litigation strategy. His attention to detail and strategic nous are excellent, and clients inevitably benefit from an early stage of the litigation as a result. He is well-known as a superb black-letter lawyer and that reputation is more than justified.’
London Bar > Fraud: civil
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Daniel Lightman KC –Serle Court ‘Daniel is a master of litigation strategy. His attention to detail and strategic nous are excellent, he is tenacious as an advocate, and judges instantly respect him for his obvious legal and analytical strength in depth.’
London Bar > Family: divorce and financial remedy
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4London Bar > Professional negligence
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Daniel Lightman KC –Serle Court ‘Daniel is a true pleasure to work with. He has an extremely able mind and is often able to see the wood for the trees when others cannot. He is a skilled black-letter lawyer with an incisive intellect.’
Serle Court undertakes professional negligence across the financial and legal sectors for both claimants and defendants. Daniel Lightman KC is instructed to defend a former director of BHS in a professional negligence and wrongful trading claim brought by the company’s liquidator for a value of £160 million. Additionally, Philip Jones KC is acting in a professional negligence claim against solicitors which alleges that negligent drafting of a subcontract for the provision of asylum seeker accommodation resulted in losses of over £100 million.
London Bar > Insolvency
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Daniel Lightman KC –Serle Court ‘Daniel is an excellent advocate who undoubtedly has the ear of the court. His ability to develop arguments on technical points of law and procedure stand him apart from the rest, which he can deliver owing to the quality and diligence of his analysis and preparation.’
The ‘highly capable‘ set in insolvency and restructuring law, Serle Court find themselves representing clients in cases ranging from high-profile claims linked to fraud and the offshore work, alongside energy insolvencies where Lance Ashworth KC and Matthew Morrison have represented two applicants in Croxen v Gas and Electric Markets Authority in which concerning a number of market-wide issues arising from the failure of a large number of smaller and medium-sized energy suppliers. Philip Marshall KC is a leading international insolvency silk who appears in complex commercial disputes in the UK courts while also being a Deputy High Court Judge. Daniel Lightman KC advises on insolvency issues and represents litigants in claims by and against insolvency office holders. Dan McCourt Fritz KC was appointed silk in March 2023 while Paul Johnson joined from Exchange Chambers in December 2022.