The Legal 500

A commercial and business law set with a pre-eminent reputation in insolvency and reconstruction law and specialist expertise in banking, financial services, company law, trust law, professional negligence, insurance law, domestic and international arbitration, mediation, European Union law, and general commercial litigation.

The set: South Square has 40 practising barristers, including 19 Queen’s Counsel. Chambers aims to provide the most effective professional services to clients and has developed a modern administration system which is supported by advanced information technology.

Members of chambers adopt a business-like and commercial approach to their practice and are capable of reacting swiftly (individually or as members of a team) to urgent problems as the need may arise. South Square is accustomed to dealing with matters at all levels of complexity, often at very short notice. In the course of their work, members see similar problems from many different angles and keep abreast of recent developments in business, financial and commercial law.

Types of work undertaken: South Square is well-known for its insolvency work. Work undertaken includes contentious and non-contentious problems arising out of domestic and international corporate and personal insolvencies. This work is not just limited to the technical issues that arise in receiverships, administrations, liquidations and personal bankruptcies. It also includes analysis and problem-solving in the diverse areas that arise in the rescue and reconstruction of failed and failing businesses.

Many important issues of banking and business law only ever arise for determination in the context of an insolvency. It follows that members of South Square have considerable expertise in those issues. They arise in the many different types of litigation in which office holders are seeking to recover assets on behalf of an insolvent estate.

Since 2008 and the onset of the credit crunch, the members of South Square have consolidated their involvement in the leading banking and finance cases. Members of chambers are frequently instructed in both domestic and international banking, insurance and other commercial disputes, dealing with every kind of contentious problem, such as the civil aspects of commercial fraud and the obtaining of evidence for foreign proceedings. These problems can arise in many different situations in which a good general understanding of commercial law is required. Members of chambers also have much experience of professional negligence proceedings (primarily in cases against accountants and solicitors) and in disciplinary proceedings, including those before sports tribunals.

The barristers at South Square are regularly instructed to appear in courts and tribunals overseas. These jurisdictions include Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Singapore, Hong Kong and the USA. They are also retained as expert witnesses to appear before both arbitrators and courts in these and other overseas jurisdictions. Several members sit as both arbitrators and mediators in domestic and international disputes.

The members of South Square have written, edited and contributed to numerous books and articles on corporate and personal insolvency, company law and banking. Several members of chambers are fluent in or have a good working knowledge of foreign languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish and Hungarian.

The practice managers are available 24 hours per day, seven days a week to deal with all enquiries.