The members of XXIV Old Buildings are well-equipped to handle corporate, commercial, and finance-based disputes, including fraud and insolvency matters, before the courts of Gibraltar, Bermuda, BVI, the Cayman Islands, and the Crown Dependencies, including Jersey and Guernsey. Stephen Moverley Smith KC specialises in restructuring, fraud, and insolvency work, as well as cases surrounding allegations of corruption. He represented the successful respondent in the Cayman Court of Appeal in a case which saw, for the first time, an appellant decision confirming the jurisdictional power and scope of the Grand Court when considering injunctions in support of foreign arbitrations (Minsheng Vocational Education Company Limited v Lead Education Holding Limited and Others). Francis Tregear KC has recently been active in major liquidation cases in Cayman, and David Brownbill KC is skilled in fraud and asset recovery claims. He is representing the defendant in the Gibraltar-based case of Ambra and Others v Fiman Limited and Others, which concerns allegations of breaches of statutory, fiduciary, and tortious duties which are said to have caused substantial losses to several offshore companies. International disputes specialist Steven Thompson KC is active in the BVI, where he has appeared before the Court of Appeal and Privy Council. A key junior, Bajul Shah boasts company, commercial, and insolvency expertise.
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Profile
Position
Steven is an experienced commercial barrister who specialises in civil fraud, company/joint venture, insolvency and aviation disputes. He has notable expertise in handling technically complex, high-value matters.
Steven regularly appears in the Business and Property Courts in the Rolls Building (primarily in the Chancery lists and the Commercial Court) as well as overseas and on appeals in this jurisdiction and offshore.
Steven has extensive international and offshore experience. He is called to the BVI and is Part II DIFC Registered. Steven has particular experience in the first instance and appellate courts of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and the Dubai International Financial Centre.
He appears in and advises on disputes in the courts of many other common law jurisdictions particularly on large shareholder, company and fraud disputes, including Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, the Turks & Caicos Islands, Hong Kong and Northern Ireland.
Steven is also regularly instructed on international arbitrations and associated Court hearings, in the Far East and in Dubai as well as in London. He has been nominated, appointed and sat as an arbitrator in LCIA arbitrations.
For over a decade Steven served on the International Committee of the Bar Council, including as its Chair in 2019-21. He was also formerly Chair of the Bar’s China Interest Group.
Career
Call: 1996 | Silk: 2015
Memberships
- Chancery Bar Association
- Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
- Bar of the Dubai International Financial Centre
- Chair of the International Committee of The Bar Council
Education
- BA (Hons) St. John’s College, Cambridge University (Natural Science)
- Dip. Law City University, London
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Very good. Paul Horsfield, Perry Brown, and Tommie Drury are excellent.'
- 'The clerks room are always professional and responsive. Paul Horsfield and Perry Brown stand out.'
- 'Very responsive and flexible. Paul Horsfield in particular often goes the extra mile to build and maintain relationships with instructing counsel.'
- 'Paul Horsfield, Perry Brown and James Ladbrook are a formidable team. They are organised and responsive and make for a seamless experience when instructing members.'
- 'Paul Horsfield, head of clerking, is excellent. Very approachable, always prepared to be commercial on fees, has an in-depth understanding of the work of chambers and looks to build relationships and make introductions wherever possible.'