Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Dispute Resolution: Commercial Chancery - UK
What the Team is Known For
3 Verulam Buildings is particularly well regarded for its handling of commercial chancery litigation involving complex elements of banking and financial services law. Members are also well versed in civil fraud and insolvency disputes, and are regularly called upon to appear in major litigation arising in several international and offshore jurisdictions. Cases of note include: Various Investors v Standard Chartered plc, a £1.5 billion banking and financial services dispute; FDIC-R v Barclays Bank, a high-value breach of competition law and breach of fraudulent misrepresentation matter; and Liverpool Football Club v Manchester City Football Club, a widely reported claim arising from alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial fair play rules.
Stuart Pullum is the director of clerking.
Strengths
The clerks understand the needs of solicitors, see the big picture and add value to the relationship.
The clerking team is commercial and willing to be flexible when the need arises and when the client demands it.
The clerking team are very joined up and always prompt and helpful.
The clerks are very responsive and prepared to have a good open dialogue, especially around availability and fees.
Notable practitioners
A man for the biggest cases.
Adrian is very good on his feet; he generates a lot of trust and respect from courts and judges pay much attention to what he says. He is the go-to silk in restructuring and finance disputes.
Adrian is one of the leading advocates at the Bar for banking and more general commercial disputes. He is absolutely fantastic.
Ewan has a lot of gravitas and is a very powerful advocate. If you want to intimidate the other side, he is the silk you think of because of the way he commands the courtroom.
Ewan is absolutely brilliant and truly eminent.
Adam is very technically excellent, but also has the ability to simplify everything for the client, even complex strategy. He is great in court.
Adam is very responsive and good to work with.
Peter is a true, trusted adviser who relates very well to clients.
Peter is an excellent KC who is very bright and thorough. He gets to the nub of the issues and gives clear, commercial advice.
Peter is incredibly client-friendly and commercial, but without losing that quiet force of direction and clear strategy that is needed in a complex and fast-paced dispute.
Peter is very robust, highly objective and a good team player.
Philip Hinks produces outstanding advocacy.
User-friendly, sharp and smart, he spotted a lot of things that everyone else missed. He was very realistic in terms of looking at the case and realising its weaknesses.
Philip has excellent experience and is a fine, powerful advocate who doesn't sit on the fence. His advice is delivered promptly and always has an eye on the commercial side of the case.
Ali is the guy you wheel out for your biggest and most testing matters. He's an incredibly well-measured lawyer who understands the issues at play and metes out superior advice accordingly.
Farhaz Khan KC is an absolute dream and a go-to silk for a huge range of clients. He displays good time management, responsiveness and intellectual ability.
Farhaz's knowledge is superb – he has really dived into his subject. When you deal with him, what comes across is his quiet confidence and his willingness to listen.
Farhaz has a tremendous personality and enormous ability.
Farhaz is incredibly user-friendly and pragmatic.
A really nice guy to work with, Farhaz is open, collaborative and someone with good judgement. He is fluent when on his feet and very good with the commercial issues that can crop up.
Jamie has been fantastic for us throughout. He's really good to work with, very collaborative and someone who feels like an extension of our team.
Great to work with, Jamie has excellent analytical ability and a fine legal brain. He really gets the to heart of the case and presents his arguments in simple terms.
Nicholas is extremely user-friendly and charming. He has a fine strategic mind and is an outstanding advocate, and he builds up an excellent rapport with the judge.
Nicholas has a great grasp of the big picture in a case and an impressive ability to pick up details quickly and translate them into strong written and oral pleadings.