The Legal 500

Within Banking and finance (including consumer credit) Banking and finance – Leading Juniors

Within Commercial litigation, 4 Pump Court (Chambers of Jeremy Storey QC and Nigel Tozzi QC) is a third tier firm,

4 Pump Court’s clerks ‘are very responsive, and the set offers a range of QCs and juniors who are clearly leaders in their field’. Nigel Tozzi QC, who has been representing the claimants in Various v Dresdner Kleinwort, is ‘very easy to deal with and responsive’. Aidan Christie QC ‘has it all, he is clever but pragmatic, a good advocate and has a very good client manner’. Sean O’Sullivan is ‘one of the leading commercial juniors of his generation’. Alexander Hickey ‘is very good at focusing on the real heart of a matter and doesn ’t get distracted by side issues’.

Within Commodities,

Shipping and commodities expert Sean O’Sullivan at 4 Pump Court is ‘an exceptional barrister and a rising star – his advice is first class and he sees all the commercial angles, responds quickly and is extremely user friendly’.

Within Construction, 4 Pump Court (Chambers of Jeremy Storey QC and Nigel Tozzi QC) is a second tier firm,

4 Pump Court is adept at handling construction-related professional negligence and insurance cases. ‘The chambers is down-to-earth, friendly and extremely able; you cannot ask for much more than that.’ Of the silks, David Friedman QC has an ‘excellent analytical brain’, and Jeremy Nicholson QC is highly recommended. Nicholas Vineall QC is well versed in the areas of engineering, offshore construction, shipbuilding and process plants; he is ‘easy to work with and organised, and an excellent advocate’. Also recommended are Rachel Ansell (‘very hardworking’); Simon Henderson (‘technically very strong and quick to get to grips with a case’); and Alexander Hickey (‘proactive and very good on his feet’).

Within Energy, tier 4

Nigel Tozzi QC of 4 Pump Court is ‘extremely hands-on and proactive’, and Sean Brannigan QC is ‘a top-drawer advocate’. Alexander Gunning is ‘one of the best juniors a solicitor could work with’; Sean O’Sullivan is ‘absolutely first class’; and Kate Livesey is ‘highly intelligent and driven’.

Within Information technology, 4 Pump Court (Chambers of Jeremy Storey QC and Nigel Tozzi QC) is a first tier firm,

4 Pump Court is the ‘go-to set for IT disputes’, and its clerking is ‘unfailingly excellent’. Jeremy Storey QC is ‘unquestionably the number-one IT silk in the country’, and was instructed by Logica in a dispute over a global outsourcing contract termination. The ‘utterly reliable’ Alex Charlton QC is ‘a prodigiously hard worker’, and Nigel Tozzi QC is ‘an excellent advocate’. The ‘impressive’ Duncan McCall QC is one of the 11 individuals acting in a groundbreaking case for a health sector client; also involved are Terence Bergin, who has a ‘a fighting spirit’, and Simon Henderson, whose previous experience in the IT industry is ‘a real plus’. Michael Taylor is ‘hardworking and has a fantastic capacity to absorb information’. Matthew Lavy is an up-and-coming junior, who is ‘exceptionally bright’ and ‘very knowledgeable on large software development issues’.

Within Insolvency Insolvency – Leading Juniors

Within Insurance and reinsurance, 4 Pump Court (Chambers of Jeremy Storey QC and Nigel Tozzi QC) is a third tier firm,

Comprised of ‘a very fine group of barristers’, 4 Pump Court ‘delivers a great product’. ‘It has good clerking and a modern, positive attitude’. Despite the loss of John Rowland QC, who left the Bar to set up in-house advocacy at Clayton Utz (Australia), a plethora of recommended names remain, including Nigel Tozzi QC (‘intelligent, astute and thorough’); Aidan Christie QC (who ‘has it all’); and Andrew Neish QC (‘a lethal advocate’). Among standout juniors are the ‘bright and very able’ Rachel Ansell, who ‘is formidable in court’, and Sean O’Sullivan, ‘who is blessed with unusual clarity of thought and expression, matched by excellent instincts’.

Within International arbitration, 4 Pump Court (Chambers of Jeremy Storey QC and Nigel Tozzi QC) is a third tier firm,

The ‘very strong’ 4 Pump Court is praised as ‘operating in a very modern, business-like manner’. The ‘very impressive’ Nigel Tozzi QC is ‘a very good communicator’, and ‘easy to work with’. Christopher Moger QC is ‘an outstanding advocate whose calm and measured style appeals to and captures the attention of arbitral tribunals’. Sean O’Sullivan is ‘one of the leading commercial juniors of his generation’, and is ‘the sort of advocate that a tribunal will instinctively trust’. Alexander Hickey ‘focuses on the key issues and does not get sidetracked by irrelevant points’.

Within Licensing, 4 Pump Court (Chambers of Jeremy Storey QC and Nigel Tozzi QC) is a third tier firm,

4 Pump Court’s Christopher Moger QC is recommended for gaming and lotteries work.

Within Personal injury Personal injury – Leading Juniors

Within Professional negligence, 4 Pump Court (Chambers of Jeremy Storey QC and Nigel Tozzi QC) is a first tier firm,

4 Pump Court is commended for ‘excellent attention to detail’ and has ‘a very professional team of clerks’. Recent work for the ‘excellent’ Christopher Moger QC includes acting for Barclays in a claim for over £100m against the administrators of a Guernsey-based company. Aidan Christie QC has ‘very strong analytical skills’; James Cross QC’s ‘ability to understand complex matters and plead them in an intelligible fashion is first rate’; Andrew Neish QC is ‘a fighter in the courtroom’; and Jeremy Nicholson QC’s ‘attention to detail and sound advice is first class’. Standout juniors include the ‘very hardworking’ Rachel Ansell, Simon Henderson, who is an ‘excellent advocate’, and Kate Livesey, who has ‘impressive attention to detail’.

Within Shipping,

Also recommended are: ‘dependable and thorough advocate’ Andrew Popplewell QC and dry shipping expert Richard Lord QC at Brick Court Chambers; Sean O’Sullivan, who ‘gives very good, sensible advice’, at 4 Pump Court; the ‘responsive, approachable and accurate’ Nicholas Craig at 3 Verulam Buildings; James Watthey, who is noted in particular for yacht-related work, at Hardwicke; and Stephen Dennison QC at Atkin Chambers, for ship construction disputes.

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