Paul Downes KC > Chambers of Poonam Melwani KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
Quadrant Chambers Offices
Quadrant Chambers
QUADRANT HOUSE, 10 FLEET STREET
LONDON
EC4Y 1AU
England
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Paul Downes KC
Position
Commercial Barrister specialising in banking and finance, shareholder/joint venture disputes, commercial fraud, insurance, and international arbitration.
Career
After taking Silk in 2010, his reputation as a tough, commercially-minded barrister has continued to grow.
Before coming to the Bar, Paul worked for Barclays Bank and was an assistant examiner for the Chartered Institute of Bankers. A direct understanding of the commercial and financial worlds means clients benefit from a practical and user-friendly approach. Paul has also acted as an expert witness overseas in relation to banking regulation in the UK, and is lead contributor to Butterworths LexisNexis Encyclopedia on Forms and Precedents.
Paul also handles general commercial litigation, international trade, media and entertainment, and professional negligence. He acts as an arbitrator in LMAA shipping disputes, commercial disputes and insurance disputes
Education
BA Oxon (First Class)
Associate Chartered Institute of Bankers
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Financial services regulation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Paul Downes KC –Quadrant Chambers ‘Tenacious advocacy, highly polished client skills, and a barrister to go to for the most challenging of cases. Excellent on his feet and very tough when required.’
‘Increasingly considered one of the top all-round commercial litigation sets‘, Quadrant Chambers‘ members were recently particularly active in disputes involving banking, international trade, IT, telecoms, media, LNG, energy, retail and insurance, as well as contractual and joint venture-related claims. In one of the first post-Brexit case concerning the interface between arbitration law and consumer protection law, Simon Rainey KC represented the appellant, art collector Amir Soleymani, in a NFT auction-related claim against Nifty’s crypto trading platform, successfully seeking permission to argue the case before the Court of Appeal; and in SEGRO v Roxhill, Paul Downes KC and Emily Saunderson are both acting in relation to various disputes between property development companies over alleged breaches of warranty and the right to develop sites for logistics centres.
London Bar > Banking and finance (including consumer credit)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Paul Downes KC –Quadrant Chambers ‘Superb advocacy, tenacious in his approach and extremely good with clients. He is the silk for the most challenging of cases and is always up for the fight.’
Quadrant Chambers are ‘well-regarded and respected for banking litigation‘, in work both related and unrelated to the set’s well-known expertise in international trade and shipping. Paul Downes KC and Nicola Allsop acting for Liberty Steel entities in various proceedings against lenders in Anns Middle East FZE v LIQS PTE Ltd. Turlough Stone advises and acts for a wide range of domestic and international institutions and individuals, while Emily Saunderson is noted for her work in a range of financial markets claims relating to breach of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 and broker’s duties to their clients.