Richard Handyside KC
‘Richard is an excellent lawyer, well regarded in the banking area and in dealing with group claims and their particular dynamics. He is a superb advocate, well prepared, with a calm, assured demeanour.'
As 'a top class chambers in commercial litigation', Fountain Court Chambers continues to impress with its routine involvement in prominent commercial disputes. The team regularly appears before the Commercial Court, the Chancery Division, and in international commercial arbitration cases. Notably, multiple members of the set represented various parties in the longrunning Russian Aircraft litigation, regarding whether aircraft expropriated by the Russian Federation, following its invasion of Ukraine and subsequent imposition of sanctions on the country, are considered permanently lost, and whether the loss is attributable to a war risk or an all-risk insured policy. The case included David Railton KC, Simon Atrill KC, Adam Sher, Ian Bergson and others appeared for Lloyds Insurance Company, and Akhil Shah KC leading the advice to Tokio Marine and HDI. The Commercial Court ruled that the aircraft were lost on 10 March 2022, and the proximate cause of the loss was Russian Government Resolution 311, which banned the return from Russia of leased aircraft and engines to Western lessors. The ban qualified as 'restraint' and/or 'detention' within the meaning of war risks perils, meaning the loss is covered under the war risk insurance and excluded under the all-risk insurance. In March 2025, Alex Barden KC and Rupert Allen KC were appointed to silk.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Alex Taylor is a legend; he is sublime in his handling of complex and urgent issues.'
- 'First class. Alex Taylor is everything you look for in a senior clerk.'
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.
Jeffrey Chapman KC
'Highly intelligent, commercial and pragmatic.'
Anneliese Day KC
‘Anneliese is utterly brilliant: she is client-friendly, easy to work with, a great leader of the team.'
Richard Lissack KC
‘Richard is without equal in terms of his gravitas.’
Andrew Mitchell KC
‘He is a market leader in this field having acted in most of the key cases. He quickly earns the trust of the client with his relaxed but assured style and wins the trust of the bench with his superb written and oral advocacy.'
Stephen Moriarty KC
Extremely hands on and gets stuck into the detail. Very tactical and guided by overall case strategy.'
Rosalind Phelps KC
‘Rosalind is superb – she is decisive and cuts straight to the key points. A pleasure to work with.’
Stephen Rubin KC
Richard Coleman KC
'Implacable, with excellent attention to detail and client-handling skills.'
Derrick Dale KC
'Very knowledgeable, fun to work with and thoroughly, thoroughly charming. A delight of a barrister.'
Michael McLaren KC
'Michael is has amazing advocacy skills. He is always extremely prepared and thinks through every possible issue that may arise.'
Tamara Oppenheimer KC
‘Tamara is one of the best advocates at the Bar – she has both intelligence and judgement in spades.’
Patricia Robertson KC
‘Legally brilliant, with superb judgement.'
Simon Atrill KC
'Simon is very bright. An excellent advocate and a joy to work with.'
Laura John KC
‘Laura is an excellent leader who quickly obtains and holds the confidence of the court. She is clever and engaging in equal measure.’
Edward Levey KC
'Very good on detail, a strong advocate with an unassuming style.'
Akhil Shah KC
‘Commands total respect from judges and arbitrators for his encyclopedic knowledge and experience.'
Paul Sinclair KC
Ben Valentin KC
‘Ben is phenomenal. His combination of fierce intelligence and commercial common sense make him unstoppable.'
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.
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.
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.
Ian Bergson
‘Ian is wise beyond his years and call. He has a forensic mind and an unbelievable attention to detail. He is a true star.'
Richard Power
Samuel Rabinowitz
‘Highly effective drafter. Grasps points and factual detail very quickly and is able to distil into superb quality work with apparent ease.'
Samuel Ritchie
‘Sam is an excellent junior of the first rank. Extremely good on paper and a polished highly effective advocate.’
Leonora Sagan
‘Very hard working; forensically astute and a fluent and compelling advocate with an ability well beyond her years.'
Nik Yeo
Nik has very strong technical and analytical ability. He is a strong advocate and can present complex arguments clearly and concisely.’
Christopher Langley
'Chris is incredibly intelligent. His advice is measured and strategic, and he is very easy to work with. '
Jacob Turner
'Jacob is a dynamic junior with an enviable reputation for his work in high value and high stakes commercial litigation. He is extremely bright and hard-working and writes beautifully.'
Rising stars
Rising stars at the Bar are defined as barristers between four and eight years’ call who are seen as up-and-coming members of the Bar in their respective practice areas by clients and peers alike. They will already be instructed in high-profile, complex, and high-value contentious and non-contentious matters, working with and opposite more experienced leading counsel.
