Wilberforce Chambers has ‘good strength in the civil fraud sector with talent across the board’. Alan Gourgey KC, Thomas Grant KC and Jack Watson are appearing for various parties in Bourlakova & Ors v Kazakov & Ors, a $3bn claim arising from allegations of misappropriation of assets. Elsewhere in chambers, Tim Penny KC and Emily McKechnie were instructed by the 39th and 40th defendants in the Al Rajaan litigation. Clare Stanley KC is ‘a market-leading silk in offshore fraud litigation’, with expertise in handling cases involving allegations of unlawful means conspiracy, breach of fiduciary duties and asset tracing. Among the juniors, Tim Matthewson represented the claimant company before the Court of Appeal in Barrowfen Properties Limited v Patel, a £5m claim brought against a former director for dishonest breaches of duty and against the company’s former solicitors for breach of fiduciary duty and negligence.
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Profile
Position
Jack has a busy commercial and chancery practice with significant experience acting in high value and complex disputes often in cases involving an international dimension. In particular Jack’s practice includes civil fraud disputes, company and insolvency, trusts, breach of fiduciary duties, professional liability as well as property-related work. Equally comfortable working on his own or as part of a larger team, he has significant advocacy experience appearing as sole counsel in a wide range of matters in his own right in both the county court, the High Court and appellate Courts and often appears on his own against QCs or senior junior barristers.
Approachable and easy to deal with, Jack specialises in providing clear and structured advice on often complex issues and fighting hard in order to ensure the best outcome for his clients.
Career
Called 2012, Lincoln’s Inn. Publications of note: ‘Clarity and Ambiguity: A New Approach to the Test of Legitimacy in the Law of Expectations’ Legal Studies, Vol 30, No 4, 2010; ’Doubt, Mistake and Risk-Taking in Restructuring Claims’ KLJ 2011, 22(2), 220.
Memberships
Chancery Bar Association.
Education
Emmanuel College Cambridge, BPP (for BPTC); BA; LLM.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Nick Luckman is a charming man.'
- 'Tara Shah is a Rolls-Royce of a clerk.'
- 'First-class clerks.'
- 'The clerks at Wilberforce are always helpful and responsive.'
- 'Wilberforce's depth of talent is excellent.'
- 'A brilliant set.'
- 'Wilberforce Chambers is a formidable set, consistently offering barristers who are at the very top of their game.'
- 'Wilberforce has great depth of expertise.'