Stephen Atherton KC > Twenty Essex > London, England > Barrister Profile
Twenty Essex Offices
20 ESSEX STREET
LONDON
WC2R 3AL
England
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Stephen Atherton KC
Work Department
- Banking
- Civil aspects of international and domestic commercial fraud
- Company law
- Domestic and international commercial litigation;
- International and domestic corporate insolvency and restructuring
- Personal insolvency
Position
Stephen’s practice comprises of international and domestic corporate insolvency and restructuring, company law, civil aspects of international and domestic commercial fraud, personal insolvency, banking, general offshore and international commercial litigation, and international and domestic asset tracing.
He has considerable experience in commercial litigation, civil fraud and contentious insolvency proceedings in the UK, Hong Kong, Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Jersey, Guernsey, Samoa and the Isle of Man.
Stephen is admitted to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean (BVI). He is also called to the Bars of Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man and Samoa for specific cases. Stephen has rights of audience in Brunei Darussalam for specific cases.
He was named as Insolvency/Corporate Restructuring Silk of the year at the Chambers Bar Awards 2014.
Stephen has also provided expert evidence on English, Bermuda, BVI and Cayman Islands law for use in foreign proceedings, including proceedings in Singapore, Hong Kong, New Hampshire and the Netherlands.
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Company
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Stephen Atherton KC – Twenty Essex ‘Technically excellent and perfectly suited for big-ticket work, Stephen is brilliant at explaining very complicated legal concepts to lawyers and clients.’
London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 6Stephen Atherton KC – Twenty Essex ‘Stephen provides a rare combination of hard work, intellect and commerciality. He is a calm and reassuring presence on a file and works extremely well with instructing solicitors. He is the go-to barrister for complex Cayman commercial litigation.’
London Bar > Insolvency
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Stephen Atherton KC –Twenty Essex ‘Stephen is a pre-eminent barrister in this area.’
London Bar > Fraud: civil
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Stephen Atherton KC –Twenty Essex ‘An incredible advocate and a savvy advisor. Stephen is one of the best silks on the market for fraud work.’
The English Bar Offshore > The English Bar Offshore
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Stephen Atherton KC –Twenty Essex ‘Stephen is a captivating advocate. He is also extremely hardworking and great to work with.’
Twenty Essex has a strong track-record in commercial chancery, company, and offshore litigation, with specific expertise regarding contentious trust and probate issues, undue influence, charitable and family company matters, fraud cases and shareholder disputes. Stephen Atherton KC is acting for the petitioner in Evenstar Master Fund SPC v Fang Holdings Limited, a just and equitable winding up petition concerning a company worth approximately $800m. Of the juniors, Joshua Folkard was instructed in Tethyan Copper Company Pty Limited v Pakistan, reportedly the first attempt at enforcing an ICSID award (in this case, $5.9bn) through the BVI courts – the matter settled in April 2023.