Dispute Resolution: Commercial

Essex Court Chambers is regularly involved in some of the highest-value domestic and international commercial disputes. Recent highlights include: Suppipat & Ors v Nop Narongdej & Ors; the Dieselgate Emissions Litigation and The Public Institution for Social Security v Al Rajaan & Others, amongst numerous other high profile cases. The set has a deep pool of experts capable of handling commercial cases arising from many different legal areas, such as banking, civil fraud, energy and shipping, to name but a few. An interviewee praises the set for having barristers who have  "an extremely strong grasp of new and complex issues."

"The clerks are very good."

"The clerks are responsive, efficient and professional."

"The clerks are well aware that it they are the face of  chambers and are unfailingly helpful and proactive in ensuring matters run as efficiently as possible."

"The clerks are very responsive and anticipate the needs of their members to such a degree that interactions with the barristers themselves are only ever  about the work. That's because all of the administrative aspects of the collaboration have already been handled and actioned by the clerks."

"Joe Ferrigno, senior clerk, is one of the best clerks at the Bar. He has a magic touch when it comes to managing relationships and making things work. He is very straightforward, transparent and collaborative."

Joe Smouha KC "Joe Smouha is a very impressive leading silk. He has an excellent client manner and shows strategic nuance right from the outset." "A fantastic advocate and a great cross-examiner." "Joe Smouha lives up to his reputation - he is exceptional on all levels." "Joe Smouha is a class apart. He is an incredible advocate." "Joe is strategically brilliant."

Ciaran Keller "Ciaran Keller is assertive in a charming and diplomatic way. He is also enormously intelligent." "Ciaran shows great judgement and self-possession." "Ciaran Keller is absolutely phenomenal and has excellent judgement."

Graham Dunning KC "Graham Dunning is reasonable and pragmatic." "Graham is a very good and very effective cross-examiner. He is also very straightforward and good with clients."

James Sheehan "James Sheehan is extremely intelligent as well as being very diplomatic and great with people." "James is a very impressive barrister who is completely on top of the law and facts." "Great, especially for jurisdiction challenges. He is very friendly and displays excellent attention to detail."

James Willan KC "James Willan is an outstanding intellect. He is a very impressive and thoughtful individual, which is important when you're dealing with complex cases." "James Willan has an incredible legal mind. He's also a fantastic writer and is unbelievably effective in court."

Nathan Pillow KC "Nathan Pillow is very smooth and unflappable." "Nathan has all the knowledge related to fraud that you'd need, but is also really approachable and easy to work with." "Nathan has an extraordinary ability to get on top of the facts."

Paul McGrath KC "Paul McGrath is extremely user-friendly and charming. He has a very fine, strategic mind."

Paul Stanley KC "Paul Stanley is a very good courtroom advocate." "Paul Stanley can drive through a vast quantity of material quickly and get to the heart of the case." "Paul is very impressive on his feet. He is straight to the point, analytical and almost always right." "A real leader on commercial litigation." "He is engaging and has the perfect manner when dealing with judges."

Tom Ford "An absolutely formidable barrister and strategist."

James Collins KC "James Collins is a very good advocate, who is very clever and good on any matters involving numbers." "James Collins is very calm and very cool. He masters the papers and his advocacy is understated in a very effective way." "James is tactically brilliant and explains matters very simply but with a lot of force."

Richard Millett KC "Richard Millett doesn't take himself too seriously, and is a very engaging and persuasive advocate." "He has great technical ability and is a supreme advocate on his feet." "Richard is very smart and diligent. In our case he came up with new arguments no one had thought of."

Steven Berry KC "Steven Berry is adept at focusing on the key strategic issues." "He is unflappable and always understands which arguments will work best."

Anton Dudnikov "A bright guy, who gives sensible, practical advice." "A conscientious, diligent practitioner, who is going places."

David Peters "David's written advocacy is superb - his submissions are extremely punchy and well written. He is also robust and prepared to make difficult arguments."

Huw Davies KC "Huw Davies is always effective in court and a great advocate." "Huw is very direct and clear, and has the ability to stand up to judges." "Huw's cross-examination was extraordinarily effective."

Stephen Houseman KC "Stephen Houseman is very calm and very good at dealing with unexpected curveballs." "A very clear-minded and powerful advocate." "A truly excellent advocate. Stephen is truly one of the best for injunction work; he cuts through the issues and is excellent at preparing concise skeletons which judges love." "An excellent courtroom advocate who is really impressive on his feet." "Wonderfully accessible, easy to talk to and collegiate in his approach."

Andrew Hochhauser KC "Andrew's cross-examination skills are phenomenal."

Anna Dilnot KC "Anna Dilnot is fantastic - her brain works at a million miles an hour. She is incredibly quick to pick up and explain points." "A really top quality advocate."

Daniel Oudkerk KC "Dan Oudkerk is one of the most effective cross-examiners I have seen. He knows how to draw information from a witness, without being bullying or intimidating."

David Davies KC "David Davies is crisp and to the point. He's always direct and unflustered."

Felix Wardle "Felix Wardle is a highly capable junior with excellent written and oral advocacy skills. He delivers technically excellent and pragmatic work that is commercially astute." "A superb junior - he's technically excellent, a good team player and excellent with clients." "Felix Wardle is really impressive. He can take a huge workload on his shoulders and deliver well."

Stuart Cribb "Stuart Cribb is incredibly hard working, very thorough and someone who plays a material role in the team." "Stuart Cribb is a detail-driven and responsive barrister, who always thinks ahead." "Incredibly bright, he thinks things through and has a great tactical brain."

Tim Akkouh KC "A good, forceful advocate." "Tim Akkouh is very impressive, polished, measured and calm." "A decisive advocate, who is good on paper too."

Edward Brown KC "Edward Brown has the ear of the court." "He is pragmatic and sensible and provides good solutions." "An extremely cerebral and thoughtful barrister."

Emily Wood KC "Emily Wood is fantastic. She really knows it all, is very easy to get along with and is a good advocate." "She is consistently phenomenal. Her advocacy is as good as it gets."

Jeremy Brier KC "Jeremy Brier always provides conclusive advice and is very responsive." "A pleasure to work with, he's pragmatic and on top of the detail." "Jeremy is incredibly sharp-witted, very charming and very easy to work with. He is always a great team player."

Wei Jian Chan "Wei Jian is an invaluable member of the team." "He is super communicative, highly responsive and very, very efficient. Wei Jian Chan is clear on what he is doing and what he needs from the client." "Exceptionally bright and someone whose written work is excellent."

Ruth den Besten KC "A great advocate and a real asset to any team. She is incisive, user friendly and good on her feet." "Ruth is a tremendous all rounder. She is good on both the law and the facts and is great with clients and solicitors." "Ruth den Besten is very good at being quietly persuasive." "Extremely reliable and hard working."