Adil Mohamedbhai > Serle Court > London, England > Barrister Profile

Serle Court
6 NEW SQUARE, LINCOLN'S INN
LONDON
WC2A 3QS
England

Position

Adil has a broad commercial chancery practice. He has particular expertise in high-value, multi-jurisdictional commercial, civil fraud, offshore and trust disputes. He is recognised by the main directories (Legal 500, Chambers UK Bar, Chambers Global, Who’s Who Legal and Private Client Global Elite) as a leading junior in civil fraud, commercial, commercial chancery, offshore, trust and private client work. He has been described as “very strategic, commercially minded and pragmatic.” “Adil is phenomenally smart and extremely astute on very complex court matters. He is excellent at cutting to the heart of issues and superb on black-letter law”. Adil has also been recognised as “easy to work with and very responsive, he’s commercially minded and very strategic and pragmatic in his approach. Great with clients, he uses commercial language with them rather than legal jargon. He’s very good on his feet, very persuasive, and a barrister who fights really hard for his client.” Adil was selected by Legal 500 as one of the top ten commercial barristers under eight years’ call in both 2016 and 2017 and has since been ranked by Who’s Who Legal as one of the three most highly regarded juniors at the English Bar for civil fraud work.

Adil acts both as sole counsel and junior counsel as part of a team of barristers. In addition to regular appearances in both the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court, Adil has appeared in the Court of Appeal, the UK Supreme Court and the Privy Council. He also has substantial experience appearing in, or assisting with, arbitrations and cases in other jurisdictions, including Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Guernsey, the Bahamas, Singapore, the DIFC, Mauritius and Malta. He has developed a particular expertise in private international law issues. He is also one of the few juniors at the English Bar with experience in shareholder appraisal actions in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.

In 2021, he was the lead junior for the defendant Trustees in Wong v Grand View PTC & others, believed to be one of the largest ever civil claims brought in a common law court. The trial lasted six months.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Adil qualified as a solicitor at Freshfields, where he was involved in a broad range of transactional and contentious work (including public and private M&A deals, IPOs, share buybacks, rights issues and corporate restructurings). He is therefore very familiar with “City” work.

During 2009 – 2010, Adil was appointed as one of the first judicial assistants to the Justices of the UK Supreme Court, where he worked for Lords Rodger and Brown.

Career

Called 2010; Lincoln’s Inn; former solicitor at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (2005 – 2009; 2010 – 2011); UK Supreme Court judicial assistant to Lords Rodger and Brown (2009 – 2010).

Languages

French, Creole, Gujrati, Hindi, Urdu

Memberships

COMBAR; Chancery Bar Association; Association of Partnership Practitioners.

Education

Girton College, Cambridge (MA Law, first class; LLM, first class); Oxford Institute of Legal Practice (LPC, distinction).

Lawyer Rankings

London Bar > Private wealth and probate

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3

Adil MohamedbhaiSerle Court ‘Adil is incredibly diligent and hard-working. He is eloquent and insightful. He can explain complex issues clearly and effectively.’

London Bar > Commercial litigation

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 2

Adil MohamedbhaiSerle Court ‘He is outstanding in every respect. His work quality is exceptional, especially his written submissions.’

London Bar > Fraud: civil

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 3

Adil MohamedbhaiSerle Court

With ‘many fantastic barristers’, Serle Court represents both claimants and defendants in high-profile civil fraud cases in English courts and abroad, drawing on its expertise in banking and finance, insolvency, and trusts. In Magdeev v Tsvetkov and others, Jonathan Adkin KC, leading Adil Mohamedbhai, represented the second defendant in a multi-million-pound Commercial Court dispute between Russian businessmen, where each party claimed to have been defrauded by the other concerning the operation of a jewellery business. Hugh Norbury KC and Tim Benham-Mirando represent the fifth and seventh defendants in Jinxin v Aser Media and others, a $661m claim for deceit and unlawful means conspiracy, involving alleged fraud and misrepresentations related to the acquisition of media rights for Italian Serie A and FIFA World Cup matches. Wright, Rowley, BHS and others v Chappell and others sees Daniel Lightman KC  and Charlotte Beynon representing a former BHS director in High Court claims by the BHS Group liquidators for alleged wrongful trading, misfeasance, breach of duties, and misapplication of funds before the companies went into administration.

The English Bar Offshore > Commercial disputes

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1

Adil Mohamedbhai Serle Court ‘Adil is an incredibly well-rounded junior. He turns difficult work around very quickly and has an excellent client manner.’

The members at Serle Court have wide ranging expertise across chancery commercial litigation; this offering includes representation in international fraud, asset tracing, insolvency, company and shareholder, professional negligence, and financial services disputes. Among the silks at the set, Elizabeth Jones KC boasts a thriving commercial and private client practice, while Philip Marshall KC has substantial experience appearing before the courts of the BVI and Bermuda in civil fraud proceedings and cases surrounding the freezing and disclosure of assets. He is acting for the claimant liquidators of an international construction company in a claim for $1bn concerning fraudulent trading and conspiracy to defraud (Joannou Paraskavides Overseas Limited v Joannou). John Machell KC frequently handles offshore company and partnership disputes, and Jonathan Adkin KC is a highly sought after silk for large minority shareholder disputes, as well as share appraisal actions, in the BVI, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands. Ruth Jordan and Emma Hargreaves are both notable juniors; Jordan has expertise in challenging large development and infrastructure projects, while Hargreaves is acting for the claimant in Wong v Grand View Private Trust Company Ltd, who is seeking to recover company shares worth $22bn. Adil Mohamedbhai is representing various dissenting shareholders in a case involving compulsorily acquired shares after the merger of numerous companies that form part of the Hong Kong-headquartered Jardine Matheson conglomerate.

The English Bar Offshore > Trusts and private wealth

(Leading Juniors)Ranked: Tier 1

Adil Mohamedbhai – Serle Court ‘Adil is an incredibly well-rounded junior. He turns difficult work around very quickly.’