Joe Smouha KC
Joe’s oral advocacy is very strong. He has a relaxed manner but is precise and persuasive in his presentation.’
Essex Court Chambers handle high-profile and high-value international banking and finance litigation, with members regularly for blue-chip city and US firms, offshore and in domestic litigation. Joe Smouha KC is noted for his ‘strong advocacy, and precise and persuasive presentation,’ and alongside Louise Hutton KC represented the Prime Minister of Georgia against Credit Suisse’s Bermuda life insurance subsidiary for losses incurred to the assets held by two life insurance policy wrappers as a result of fraud of the relationship manager in Bidzina Ivanishvilli v Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd. Stephen Houseman KC is focused on disputes within banking, finance and investment, acting for both major banks and financial institutions. Sophia Hurst acts for major banks and funds as well as regulators, and has experience on the consumer credit aspects of the Consumer Rights Act 2015. James Sheehan KC took silk in 2024.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
- Profile
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Joe Ferrigno is very smooth and is a real operator - very responsive and commercially savvy.'
- 'Very responsive and client friendly.'
- 'Great set, full of first class minds with deep commercial experience.'
- 'The clerks are responsive and helpful.'
- 'Excellent service at every level.'
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.
David Davies KC
Louise Hutton KC
Nathan Pillow KC
Nathan is exceptional – a go-to silk for me. Fabulous in writing, and a particularly effective advocacy style which puts judges at ease. Always calm and collected even under the most immense pressure. And tops it all off by being a real pleasure to work with, and very good with clients.’
Iain Quirk KC
Iain is very user-friendly and collaborative. Iain’s advocacy style is very calm and conversational. He is not a grandstander.’
James Willan KC
James has a razor sharp mind. He is one of the brightest minds at the Bar of his or any generation. His advocacy and cross-examination is both brutal and deft. He has a great future ahead of him having made silk at an unusually early stage in his career.’
2025 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.
2024 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.
Tom Ford
‘He is very intelligent and tenacious.’
Sophia Hurst
Sophia is incredibly bright and is able to quickly digest huge volumes of information and complex law, and then distill this all down into a compelling and precisely drafted skeleton argument. Sophia is also a pleasure to work with and incredibly user-friendly from a client care perspective.’
Owen Lloyd
Owen has incredible attention to detail and very strong written advocacy. He is instrumental in developing litigation strategies and is very responsive and dedicated. It is also a pleasure to work with Owen.’
Stephen Donnelly
Stephen is the exact kind of barrister that you want to work with as a solicitor. Stephen takes a collaborative approach to everything he does and strives to work with the solicitor team to the greatest extent possible.’
Richard Hoyle
Excellent barrister. Very strong written and oral advocacy. Good on strategy. Client and user-friendly.’
John Robb
‘His intellect, ability to focus on the essential and to draft submissions with clarity. John is also a pleasure to work with.’