Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Offshore (Bar) - UK
What the Team is Known For
Essex Court Chambers offers substantial expertise in a variety of offshore commercial disputes including fraud, shareholder actions, contentious liquidations and complex civil fraud matters. Its barristers continue to act in some of the most high profile and high value offshore disputes, including such matters as PJSC National Bank Trust v Shishkhanov & Ors. Members have experience in several key offshore jurisdictions, including the Caribbean, the Channel Islands, Singapore and Dubai, and further jurisdictions such as Belize. An interviewee comments: "Essex Court Chambers is known for the strength of its chancery practice as well as being consistently high quality across the set."
Strengths
They are a really professional outfit and takes time to get to know what we do, They understand our particular needs and it never feels like dealing with a cookie-cutter approach to clerking.
Joe Ferrigno, senior clerk, is a cut above the rest. He's really commercial.
Notable practitioners
Paul McGrath KC often appears in, or advises on, high-value commercial claims and is also highly adept at international arbitration. His instructions frequently include substantial fraud cases with cross-border regulatory implications. His offshore practice includes work in the Cayman Islands and the BVI.
Paul McGrath is excellent and a team player.
Richard Millett KC boasts an excellent track record in commercial litigation and arbitration matters, and specialises in financial services and banking work. He is admitted to the Bars of the BVI and Anguilla, and is also called ad hoc to the Bars of the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Nevis, the Isle of Man and the Bahamas. Millett has significant experience acting in breach of trust proceedings and shareholder disputes.
Richard Millett has been very accessible.
Richard is a pleasure to work with, he is a very smooth advocate and has a team approach which I appreciate.
James Willan KC has been called to the Bar of the BVI, and is also admitted in the DIFC, the Isle of Man and the Cayman Islands. Willan is particularly adept at unfair prejudice claims. He is frequently involved in other commercial disputes such as fraud matters and regularly acts for financial institutions.
James is extremely cerebral and strategic.
Joe Smouha KC has a wealth of experience in international commercial litigation. His offshore portfolio includes cases in the BVI, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. Smouha is an expert in fraud, money laundering and joint venture ownership disputes, to name but a few.
Joe Smouha has a huge amount of offshore experience.
He is a very smooth advocate and unflappable.
Stephen Houseman KC's offshore practice sees him acting on commercial law matters arising from shareholder disputes to winding-up proceedings. He is also held in high regard for his ability to handle large-scale asset tracing and fraud cases. He operates across several jurisdictions, including Singapore, Dubai, the Isle of Man and the Caribbean.
He is unbelievably clever which enables him to distil and home in on the flaws in the other side's case. He is a charming but robust advocate.
Stephen Houseman is a very mature and trusted barrister.
James Collins KC is fast becoming a silk of choice for offshore matters in such jurisdictions as the Cayman Islands and BVI. He is particularly knowledgeable on litigation related to winding up proceedings. He is adept at handling matters at first instance as well as at the appeal stage.
James Collins is a real pleasure to work with and is a really impressive advocate, he is someone who oozes credibility and the judge found him reliable.
James is a very smooth advocate.
Sophia Hurst has a wealth of knowledge acting in large scale offshore litigation mandates in a wide range of jurisdictions including the BVI, Cayman Islands and Isle of Man. She is adept at handling matters involving such issues as fraud, insolvency and share issues.
Sophia Hurst is very impressive.
Ciaran Keller KC has been called to the Bar of the BVI and is a noted presence in other offshore jurisdictions, such as the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man and Jersey. He is an expert in cases involving breach of trust, insolvency and freezing order proceedings, and has a strong client roster that includes a number of international financial corporations.
Ciaran is user-friendly and court-respected. He is a pleasure to work with and on top of his game.
Ciaran Keller's written work is always first rate and he is super thorough.