Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Dispute Resolution: Commercial - UK
What the Team is Known For
Blackstone Chambers' barristers are au fait with all manner of commercial cases, and are also particularly noted for their acumen in the fraud, financial services, sports law and competition worlds. They regularly get their teeth into the major cases of the day, such as: J.P. Morgan International Finance Ltd v Werealize.com Ltd, a substantial shareholder dispute; Illiquidx Ltd v Altana Wealth Ltd, a trial concerning alleged misuse of confidential information in relation to Venezuelan bonds; Calor Gas v Walsall Gas Cylinders Ltd, claims brought for civil fraud in the liquefied petroleum gas industry. One source says that "Blackstone barristers have excellent strategic minds and are able to provide creative solutions to novel legal issues." Another interviewee notes that "Their advocates are wonderful - sensible and trustworthy."
Derek Sutton and Adam Sloane are the joint senior clerks.
Strengths
It is really easy to deal with clerks. They are good at picking horses for courses or encouraging their barristers at finding availability to help. They are a cut above others.
Blackstone is outstanding in terms of its clerks. It is the best clerking team I have worked with. Senior clerk Adam Sloane in particular is exceptional.
The clerks at Blackstone go above and beyond to help. Deputy Senior Clerk Billy Brian in particular is excellent.
The responsiveness of the clerks is impressive and they are extremely helpful. Responses are always timely and they take a proactive approach in liaising with the Court Office and the other side.
Senior clerk Derek Sutton is just the best.
Notable practitioners
Andrew is a modern barrister, who is very good with the clients. He provides a service to the client, is focused on delivering as a team and is all over the need to provide what the client wants.
Andrew is at the absolute pinnacle of the profession. He is a master of every element of lawyering. His oral and written advocacy are unparalleled in their clarity and rigour.
Andrew Green is phenomenal. He is the best leading counsel I have worked with. He is great at case strategy, good with clients and someone whose cross-examination is the best I've seen.
His cross-examination skills are exemplary. He has a deftness of style that allows him to adapt to his witness in order to extract the evidence needed to prove his client's case.
Andrew Scott is an incisive, natural leader of any litigation team. He acts as a silk more senior than his years. Judges love him. He is one of the most in-demand silks for a reason.
Andrew is up there at the peak of the profession. He has an astonishing ability to assimilate information and methodically construct arguments, and his knowledge of the law is encyclopaedic.
An excellent advocate and a tough cross-examiner. He is a super bright and very nice person, who is a good team player.
Andrew Hunter is a powerhouse.
Andrew is super bright and very creative.
Andrew Hunter is fantastic - a really tenacious advocate with a very calm and measured manner. He presents things so clearly and coherently; everything he utters seems to flow so naturally.
She is a compelling advocate who turns difficult points into winning ones.
Shaheed Fatima KC is a really fantastic advocate. She is incredibly forensic and her written work is laser-focused.
I trust her to do anything, because she has quiet confidence and a brain the size of a planet.
She works so hard and is always accessible and supportive.
A great person for detailed factual disputes. She masters them completely.
Robert Anderson is one of the best advocates I've seen. His cross- examination is excellent; he is almost like a dancer on his feet and keeps the judge with him.
He is great for high-stakes commercial litigation.
He is a go-to silk for things that are complex and tricky.
Robert is a very smooth advocate.
He is unflappable and excellent with both at the paperwork and on his feet.
A very confident advocate. who is particularly strong on European and competition work.
He is really effective and very charismatic.
Tom is an absolutely brilliant advocate.
Tom is sharp-witted, bright and a very good advocate. He reads the room very well.
Tom Weisselberg is a charming assassin in cross-examination. He is a joy to watch.
Tom is practical, commercial, quick on his feet and just great to work with.
Tom Weisselberg KC's wealth of experience and intellect are reflected in the exceptional quality of his advocacy and judgement.
Tom is truly a joy to work with. At the top of his game, he is beloved by solicitors, clients and judges alike, and for good reason.
He is fiercely intelligent, very practical and very resourceful.
Andrew is phenomenal on his feet, great in trial and superb at cross-examination.
He is available, insightful and hugely impactful in court.
Andrew is particularly brilliant at cross-border matters. He has an amazing ability to distil complex thing into a few words that are very clear.
Andrew is unbelievably smooth under pressure and a great advocate. He is nothing but lovable to judges and clients alike.
Andrew is supremely intelligent, highly pragmatic and calm in his advice. He is also extremely personable; it's always a pleasure and a breath of fresh air to join him on a call.
Andrew has a first-class legal mind and excellent judgement.
Andrew is brilliant. He is quite understated but he can just take a judge with him.
Harry is extremely intelligent, diligent and forward-thinking. He handles highly complex litigation and competing commercial objectives with ease, and provides excellent client service.
Harry Adamson is really extremely effective. He is very hard-working and very good at getting to grips with complex facts.
Harry Adamson is a great personality and enjoyable to work with. An intellectual heavyweight, he is highly strategic about how he thinks around cases and how he solves problems.
His strength lies in his cross-examination. He is brutal and effective, but also calm and can see straight through all the noise.
He is very good at distilling complex legal points into a digestible way for clients. He also a has a good way with judges and is quite succinct.
Robert is supremely intelligent and across all the issues.
Robert Howe is a very accomplished barrister and a very astute operator.
Shane Sibbel is phenomenally persuasive and always appears to hold the judge's favour.
Shane Sibbel is a barrister I wish I could instruct more. He is clearly a go-to guy for many solicitors. His powers of persuasion in the court have always been exceptionally good.
Shane continues to provide an excellent level of service. I am particular impressed by his oral submissions at hearings, which are authoritative, direct and delivered in an assured manner.
Tony is a heavy weapon in one's litigation arsenal, and particularly effective at advocacy.
Tony really cares about his clients and will do his absolute best.
Anthony Peto is really superb at injunctions and urgent work.
A tactical genius who has a real understanding of the law. He has seen so much that he is a brilliant person to develop a strategy with.
He has a great manner with the court.
David Lowe is very good. He is all over the detail and a pleasure to deal with.
David's intellectual capabilities are exceptional. He is incredibly hard-working, and someone who delivers fantastic work and provides advice which is both technically sound and commercially focused.
David gets stuck into the detail with his solicitors, produces excellent written work, and always has in mind the wider strategy and how a particular point will play with the court.
He is a real leading light in sports and entertainment law and is able to translate those skills into the commercial arena.
Mark is a great team player, who fights hard to the end. He is dependable and solid.
Mark Vinall is the kind of experienced and technically strong senior junior that you want on every big case.
Andrew Trotter's ability to get on top of the issues quickly and comprehensively is outstanding, and he does so responsively and in a user-friendly manner.
Andrew Trotter is absolutely phenomenal, He has the really rare combination of being phenomenally bright and very user-friendly. He's also a nice guy. It's hard to get all of that in one person.
Andrew is relentless in how hard he works and did a great job at trial. He was very agile on his feet, and the judge took an interest in him.
Daniel Cashman is involved in some very heavy-hitting commercial work. He greatly impressed me with his very strong advocacy.
Daniel is nothing short of exceptional. He is extremely clever but makes things clear and simple, which is no easy feat. He is one step ahead and truly a pleasure to work with.
Daniel Cashman is a rare breed of barrister. He is superb in every way, as well as approachable, friendly and a joy to work with.
Gayatri is really good at integrating herself into our team. She is laser-focused on detail and very responsive. Absolutely brilliant, she gets our client base and their demands.
Gayatri Sarathy was fantastic because her written work was brilliantly clear. Her submissions were very impressive, and she was very clear and persuasive.
She is incredibly bright and very responsive. Her writing is excellent, and she forms a great part of the team. She has a bright future ahead of her.
Michael Bloch is a strong advocate, who finds a way through very difficult points. He is very creative when navigating difficult arguments and finds paths others don't find.
Micheal is very strong, charming and pleasant to work with. He has been here a while and knows what he is doing.
Robert Weekes is a real technician, who has good court craft. His strength lies in the technical side and the expert way in which he pleads points.
If you're in a tricky situation and you want a lawyer who will argue the points with passion and aggression, he's your man. He's very strong on paper and in advocacy,
Robert is hands-on and valued for his expertise in jurisdiction matters.
The full package - he is very cerebral, good at writing and someone whose oral arguments are great. Clients really like him.
A very forceful advocate. He is clever, thoroughly prepared and powerful in his advocacy.
Simon Pritchard is great and very easy to work with.
Simon Pritchard shows great attention to detail. He is very detail-oriented, and he articulates cases very well.
Tom runs our cases and knows them inside out. He goes out of his way to add value.
Tom is very much all over the detail and agile in thinking about different ways of coming at the claim. He is a super intelligent guy and an easy junior to work with.
A really client-friendly and commercial guy. He is super easy to work with and very friendly. I always enjoy working with him and against him.
Alan is an excellent advocate, who is always on top of his brief. He is able to see the case in high-level terms and is unfazed in advocating for the client's position.
He is creative, versatile and adaptable.
For sanctions work he is one of the few at the Bar who is really good and practical. He is a real leader in this area and very pragmatic and considered in how he puts advice together.
Alan has a superb ability to give highly pragmatic, commercially sensitive advice. His advocacy skills are top-notch.
Luka is a very impressive junior who has put in a lot of work. He has done advocacy to a high standard.
Luka Krsljanin is so straightforward to deal with. You can ask him a stupid question and he won't judge you. He's really part of the team and his written work is of an excellent standard.
He did a superb job. He was a real pleasure to work with and his drafting skill were excellent.
A barrister with an excellent legal mind, he was great on his feet and gave helpful advice.
Timothy Lau is excellent. He is a very concise advocate, who doesn't need a lot of air time to make points effectively.
Timothy is an up-and-coming junior, who is very hard-working and efficient in his turnaround. He is a pleasure to work with.
Tom has real technical expertise. He can really crystallise complex cases and put his points across in a very user-friendly way.
An excellent junior and an incredibly good drafter. He's clear, persuasive and someone who has phenomenal recall.
Victoria is commercially astute, client-friendly and responsive. She cuts through the noise and gets straight to the nub of the issue.
Fraser Campbell is top drawer and has a brain the size of a planet. He is a very good and effective advocate, and also very good at the paperwork
Fraser Campbell is a stellar advocate. He will fly in silk.
Fraser has an excellent manner both with clients and judges. His cross-examination and advocacy were integral to our success.
