7 King’s Bench Walk is particularly known for its work on audit negligence cases, as well as claims against insurance brokers an legal professionals, crossing over with the set’s reputation for pure insurance work. Rebecca Sabben-Clare KC, Josephine Higgs KC and James Brocklebank KC are routinely instructed on high profile audit negligence cases. Brocklebank KC led Ralph Morley in Enterprise Insurance Co. v EY Ltd, a claim centred around the auditors’ role in the company’s failure. James Goudkamp acts for the claimants in URS Corp Ltd v BDW Trading Ltd, which sheds light on issues in the law of torts and concerns whether or not a developer can recover damages on repair costs voluntarily undertaken.
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Profile
Position
Rebecca has a wide-ranging commercial practice, focussing particularly on insurance/reinsurance, accountants’ liability, international arbitration and general commercial disputes.
Rebecca is listed as a leading English silk in the Chambers & Partners UK and Global Directories and the Legal 500 Directory. In 2022, she won Professional Negligence Silk of the Year at the Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 awards. She is shortlisted as Insurance Silk of the Year for this year’s Chambers and Partners awards. The directories describe her as “incredibly bright” and “very talented”, praising her ability as “a fearless advocate…” and recognising that she is “very cool, calm and easy to work with”. She is listed as a leading silk in the fields of commercial dispute resolution, insurance/reinsurance, international arbitration, professional discipline and professional negligence.
Current and recent cases include: instructions in relation to Carillion; ABN Amro v RSA (Comm Ct and Court of Appeal: insurance dispute concerning cocoa fraud); Manchester Building Society v. Grant Thornton (Supreme Court: scope of duty); various insurance and reinsurance disputes arising from the Covid-19 pandemic; aviation insurance disputes.
Career
Called 1993; Silk 2012.
Memberships
COMBAR (former executive committee member).
Education
Winchester College; New College, Oxford (MA).
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The best clerks room to deal with.'
- '7 Kings Bench Walk is one of the leading commercial sets, with a pantheon of highly talented individuals at all levels of seniority.'
- 'Professional negligence forms a significant part of the set's practice, dovetailing with other specialisms such as insurance and reinsurance and financial disputes.'
- 'They have brilliant KCs and senior barristers available across the commercial litigation and arbitration spheres.'
- 'The clerks are very responsive.'
- 'Good strength in depth.'
- 'Good clerking service.'