Laurence Rabinowitz KC
‘When Laurence speaks everyone listens – very calm, persuasive, holds the room/court. Very strategic and handles very senior clients well.’
‘Market leaders in banking and finance litigation,’ One Essex Court continues to handle complex, high-value domestic and international banking and finance work, being one of the go-to sets for teams of counsel from major bank panel law firms. Members handle the full range of cases involving banking, finance and consumer credit/PPI claims, including cases that intersect with questions of the status of European jurisprudence post-Brexit. Members are routinely instructed on the largest banking and finance cases, including Philipp v Barclays Bank PLC, The Consumers’ Association and UK Finance Limited, which saw Sonia Tolaney KC lead James Ruddell acting for UK Finance in the landmark Supreme Court appeal concerning the duties that banks owe to customers that have fallen victim to authorised push payment fraud. Lord Wolfson KC handles a broad range of banking and finance cases, having been instructed in major banking disputes, and Camilla Bingham KC covers banking litigation and arbitration cases both domestically and internationally. Emma Jones is noted by clients as ‘a future star of the Bar,’ owing to her specialisms in securities litigation for claims under section 90/90A of FSMA.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
- Profile
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Rob Smith is the best clerk in the business bar none. Fabulously responsive, helpful and with an intuitive knack of the right counsel for the case, client and solicitor team.'
- 'Danielle Thripp is a good clerk.'
- 'Top set with top counsel.'
- 'A superb bench of top quality counsel acting on the biggest cases.'
- 'The clerks are brilliant, responsive and commercial.'
Lawyers
Leading silks
KCs at the very top of their field, with a long-established record of market-defining cases, and widespread endorsement from clients and peers. All silks appointed in the last two rounds are listed further below.
Sonia Tolaney KC
‘Sonia is a leading silk in this space. She is very commanding when in court – she has the ear of the judges. Excellent drafting – very good with clients including at C suite level. Fabulous advocate.’
Daniel Toledano KC
‘Polite, persistent and principled in cross-examination. Very strong on gathering multiple multi-faceted issues into digestible form for tribunals. Works well with junior team and instruction counsel. A very pleasant man of great ability and integrity and someone first on every team sheet.’
Lord Wolfson KC
‘David is stupendously clever but he wears it lightly. His advice is always succinct and practical. His lightness of touch makes him hugely popular with clients and solicitors alike. He is the antithesis of the lofty silk and engenders a great team spirit. His advocacy is always to the point and properly understands what the judges are concerned about and need to have answered if the client is to win. Without any trace of facetiousness he can show enough humour to keep the court engaged and rooting for the client.’
Stephen Auld KC
‘Superb understanding of the banking sector and the law and regulation around it. Great advocate.’
Camilla Bingham KC
‘I can’t praise Camilla highly enough. She is an all round superb barrister, adviser and advocate, whom clients love. Her cross-examination is masterful and her advocacy combines erudition and delicious turns of phrase with a perfectly gauged sense of fun.’
Alain Choo Choy KC
Alain is a truly outstanding KC. He is a brilliant lawyer but that is only the first of his talents. He is also an outstanding strategist and an exceptional team player. These qualities together put him head and shoulders above other KCs.’
Rhodri Davies KC
Anthony de Garr Robinson KC
‘Andrew is very user friendly, has a commanding presence in court and is excellent on his feet. He is also pragmatic and someone who clients instinctively warm to.’
Jamie Goldsmith KC
‘Super bright; very responsive and user friendly; excellent with clients; an all round star – the full package.’
Craig Orr KC
‘Excellent. Calm and collected under pressure and secured the client’s confidence and trust early on. Provided pragmatic and commercial advice. Advocacy before the court in terms of breaking down complex points was very good. Would use again in a heartbeat!’
Ben Strong KC
‘Ben is always fully on top of the detail. He gives clear, commercial advice.’
Orlando Gledhill KC
‘Orlando is diligent and considered in his approach, and very user-friendly. He was able to get up to speed with some difficult issues in very short order and slot into the team seamlessly.’
Lord Grabiner KC
Sebastian Isaac KC
‘Seb is a fantastic strategist. He is always thinking ten steps ahead. He is also very comforting in a time of crisis and is always able to find a sensible way through a sticky situation.’
Neil Kitchener KC
Neil is tenacious and robust. He knows which points to focus on and has good fighting spirit to advance them for success.’
James MacDonald KC
James is a class act. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law and great judgement.'
Hannah Brown KC
Hannah is a fantastic advocate - calm, unflappable and can always see the bigger picture when arguing the detail.'
Alexander Polley KC
‘Alex is very user-friendly. He is incredibly responsive, commercial and bright. He’s a very strong and considered advocate both orally and in writing, and a skillful cross-examiner.’
Laurence Emmett KC
Conall Patton KC
Conall is an incredibly impressive silk. He gives the impression that he has many more years under his belt than is the case. He handles clients well, showing that he has understood their priorities. He leaves no stone unturned to ensure all angles are considered.’
2023 Silks
KCs at the very top of their field, with a long-established record of market-defining cases, and widespread endorsement from clients and peers. All silks appointed in the last two rounds are listed further below.
Leading juniors
Leading juniors are those with significant experience of key cases, strong market recognition from both peers and clients, and are seen as future candidates for silk.
Hannah Glover
‘Well organised and clear when relaying her views. Nice to work with. Collegiate.’
Emma Jones
Sandy Phipps
‘Sandy has the remarkable talent of being able to recall the details of every case whenever needed – he is all over the details, and an unflappable advocate.’
Nehali Shah
‘Very clear thinking. Always straight to the heart of the point. Beautiful drafting: concise, sharp, clear. Very hard working. Quick to see the point.’
Daniel Benedyk
Daniel is an excellent all round commercial junior. He has a real ability to get to the heart of a problem and to make it simple, and also to keep the court focused upon that heart.’
Nathaniel Bird
Daniel Fletcher
Daniel is a real team player. He rolls his sleeves up and is immersed in the detail. He is a pleasure to work with, practical and down to earth, nothing ruffles him, and has been an invaluable part of the team. He is particularly strong on foreign law issues.’
Benjamin Lewy
Strong advocate, builds excellent rapport with the court.’
Andrew Lodder
Andy is a top-class junior. He is capable and confident on his feet. On paper his pleadings are clear and concise, and his advice is practical and user-friendly.’
Andrew McLeod
Andrew is excellent at swiftly understanding the issue, analysing the possible next steps and making a recommendation. He really is a trusted legal advisor and a safe pair of hands, in addition to being a pleasure to interact with both professionally and personally.’
Richard Mott
Douglas Paine
Adam Rushworth
‘Adam is completely on top of the detail in all respects and considers all possible angles to ensure the best result possible is reached for the client. He instils confidence with his calm manner. He is also incredibly responsive, but will say if he needs more time to consider a point which gives reassurance that the correct balance between speed and quality of response is being struck.’
Veena Srirangam
Veena is a pleasure to work with. She is very responsive, and delivers well beyond her year of call.’
Niranjan Venkatesan
‘Niranjan is as tenacious as he is astute with an unwavering commitment to getting the best outcome for his client. He is strategic and goes above and beyond consistently. He is consistently technically excellent.’
Timothy Goldfarb
Very hard working and technically able barrister.'
Oscar Schonfeld
Alyssa Stansbury
Alyssa is punching well above the expected level for someone of her call. Her attention to detail is exceptional, and is well complemented by her ability to make nuanced judgement calls where appropriate.’