Lauded as a ‘a leading commercial set’, Fountain Court Chambers’s members are highly adept at handling a wide range of commercial and corporate disputes, banking and finance matters, civil fraud cases, and professional negligence mandates. Anneliese Day KC has been recently active in the Cayman Islands and Trinidad, and both she and Nico Leslie are representing the defendants in a case surrounding a $440m conspiracy claim in the Cayman Islands (Equis Special LP, Equis Special GP v George Allen Cowan). Ben Valentin KC has a focus on the Western hemisphere's offshore jurisdictions, and is acting for the defendants in a case that is challenging the jurisdiction of the Bermuda Court to hear a claim that relates to a Sierra Leone-based mine (AML v Madison Pacific and Others). Stephen Rubin KC is another key name at the set specialising in offshore commercial fraud.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Mentions
International arbitration: arbitrators
Leading arbitratorsInsurance and reinsurance
Leading SilksConstruction
Leading SilksGroup litigation
Leading SilksProfessional negligence
Leading SilksCommercial litigation
Leading SilksInternational arbitration: counsel
Leading SilksConstruction, energy and infrastructure
Leading SilksCommercial
Leading SilksArbitrators
Leading arbitratorsThe English Bar: Commercial
Leading silksProfile
Position
Anneliese Day KC is a “leading lawyer of her generation” and a “standout genius” whose skill as a “ruthlessly brilliant advocate” is deployed in cases spanning all areas of commercial law.
Anneliese works on significant and complex cases both as Lead Counsel and Arbitrator dealing with courts and tribunals not only in the UK but also in Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and the Caribbean (including the DIFC and the SICC). She also regularly appears at appellate level.
She is recognised by the legal directories as a Leading Silk in nine practice areas and four separate jurisdictions. She has been described as “an absolute rockstar at the top of her game” who has “laid waste to a number of witnesses”.
In 2022, Anneliese was named ’Silk of the Year’ at The Legal 500’s UK Bar Awards and was recognised as a ‘Star at the Bar’ by Chambers & Partners.
She has previously won a number of other coveted awards, including The Lawyer’s ‘Barrister of the Year’, together with various individual Silk of the Year Awards. Described as a “good leader for the 21st century”, she was also identified as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK by Debretts.
A firm believer in seeking to bring added value to any case whatever her role. Thrives on the cut and thrust of advocacy but also brings commerciality to the issues she deals with.
Career
Called to Bar (Inner Temple) 1996 (Princess Royal Scholarship). Joined 4 New Square in 1997. Appointed to Treasury B Panel in 2005. Took silk in 2012. Non Executive Director of Legal Services Board from April 2013 to March 2014. Became “Barrister of the Year” in The Lawyer 2014 Awards. Listed as one of the 500 most influential people in the UK by Debretts in 2015. Joined Fountain Court in December 2016. Appointed a Bencher of Inner Temple in 2016. Appointed to the LCIA Court in 2019. Appointed Head of International Committee of Combar in 2023.
Former editor of ‘Jackson and Powell on Professional Negligence’ and contributor to ’Civil Practice and Human Rights’.
Languages
Speaks conversational French and Spanish.
Memberships
COMBAR, SCL, TECBAR, PNBA, ChBA.
Education
Edinburgh Academy; Clare College, Cambridge (MA Hons Law 1st Class); Harvard University (Kennedy Scholar).
Content supplied by Fountain Court Chambers
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Very responsive. Alex Taylor and Katie Szewczyk are first-rate senior clerks.'
- 'Alex Taylor is a superb senior clerk who delivers exactly what instructing solicitors want. Trustworthy, loyal and easy to deal with.'
- 'The clerks are responsive, accommodating and approachable. Adam Collins and Alfie Sweeney were particularly helpful.'
- 'A go-to set. Fountain Court covers nearly every base you would want.'
- 'Fountain Court is a leading commercial set in London, with several barristers who practice regularly in the Caribbean, notably in BVI and the Cayman Islands.'