Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Chancery: Traditional - London (Bar)
What the Team is Known For
Serle Court has an impressive reputation in the market for its handling of high-value chancery work. Multiple barristers at the chambers have been involved in the largest ever Bermudian trust dispute, Wong v Grand View PTC & Ors, which relates to five Bermudian purpose trusts containing assets worth over USD15 billion. “Serle Court is the go-to set for heavyweight trust litigation. Its barristers are at the top of the tree in this area, and are supported by stand-out juniors,” remarks an interviewee. Another source particularly appreciates the international expertise at the set: “They really lead on the offshore work. If you need a big offshore trust dispute counsel, they have to be from Serle Court. They do so much of it and have a real insight into all the different jurisdictions.”
Strengths
The clerks at Serle Court are second-to-none, brilliant to work with and really get it. They are responsive and pleasant to deal with. They are going from strength to strength.
Serle Court's clerks are really responsive and helpful and they are by far my favourite to go to in London.
The clerks at Serle Court are incredibly quick and efficient. I would highlight them for that.
I would say they are my go-to set for trust dispute matters. Pretty much everyone there is excellent. The clerks are great in finding you the right barrister. I have enjoyed working with everyone.
Notable practitioners
She is extremely impressive in her grasp of issues and opportunities, her written work and her client manner. She's an invaluable asset in any team.
Constance McDonnell is the best probate silk. She knows the probate world inside-out and can run arguments.
She is exceptional, absolutely brilliant with clients but also has a brilliant way of winning an argument without the other party even realising they are conceding. She is razor sharp.
Dakis is phenomenally hard-working, remarkably thorough and enthusiastic about the area. He is a very skilled advocate.
Dakis Hagen is probably one of the best, strongest all-rounders you will find. Such a charming and effective advocate but with unbelievable intellectual power.
He is pre-eminent, his reputation precedes him. He is phenomenally bright but so pragmatic. He is really nice to work with and responsive as well.
Elizabeth Jones KC is a distinguished silk whose traditional chancery practice includes a substantial amount of international work. Due to her experience in commercial chancery, she is highly sought after for trust matters with commercial aspects.
Elizabeth Jones is brilliant in how she can unravel really knotty situations. She is direct and clear and has the ear of the court. She's just fantastic.
Elizabeth is phenomenal, she is one of the greats at the chancery commercial Bar, She is unflappable. She is a great team player, everyone looks up to her.
Emma is really excellent. She gets up to speed quickly and has a natural instinct for arguments that will work.
Emma Hargreaves is absolutely at silk level and is the best chancery junior out there. She is brilliant to work with, gets on top of client objectives and thinks laterally to achieve their aims.
Emma is all over the detail in complicated cases and can distil the tricky issues. She is very responsive and keeps us up to date. She is client-focused and they really like her.
Richard has been involved in big cases. One of the things that I picked up working with him is his invaluable ability to approach cases from a novel angle and come up with effective solutions.
He is excellent, what you want a leader to be in a case. He works well with his junior and has a real gravitas with clients. He knows what he is doing.
Richard Wilson is an elite barrister: experienced, incisive and with a fantastic client-side manner.
He is outstanding silk. He is super bright and a complete master of all the details. He has a strategic nose and is also super collaborative.
Giles Richardson is brilliant to work with, incredibly strategic and focused. He is great fun to work with, too.
He blends excellent insight and understanding of the law with a ready commercial and tactical vision.
James Weale is at the top of his game as a junior lawyer. He is incredibly busy, with a phenomenal work product.
James works tirelessly for his clients and is very robust. What is good about him is that he has a lot of commercial experience which helps for trusts.
He is very, very good, and crosses the domestic and international probate divide. He is extremely hardworking and has an inexhaustible supply of enthusiasm.
He definitely knows his way around this area and is great to work with. If I have issues with probate and succession, he is definitely someone I would go to.
Thomas Fletcher's drafting is reliable and sensible, and everyone is pleased working with him.
Thomas Fletcher is very, very good technically. He also has a good manner with clients, is responsive and aware of all twists and turns in a case.
He is robust and responsive - someone you want in your corner. A tremendous asset to instructing solicitors.
He is brilliant, totally on top of the material and the law, and works really hard. He is highly effective in court and is reassuring for clients.
Harry Martin is just extremely bright, a wonderful draftsman and wonderful with clients.
John can advise on the full spectrum on offshore trusts work. He is just so user-friendly, incredibly responsive and clients like him. He is straightforward and efficient.
He is an absolute pleasure to work with. He is extremely capable and also well liked by clients. A go-to KC for trust disputes.
John has a way of presenting to the court which the judges really respond to well across chancery and commercial matters.
Jonathan Adkin KC has expertise both domestically and offshore, particularly on commercial and traditional chancery crossover matters.
He is extremely industrious and has the valuable ability to sort out good points from bad ones. His oral arguments in court are well presented, structured and pithy.
He is extremely impressive. He gives a clear view, he's approachable, contactable, he is interested in your view. His advocacy is exceptional.
Jonathan Harries KC specialises in cross-border disputes and offshore litigation. He is also a part-time professor at King's College London and a senior research fellow at Oxford.
Jonathan Harris has that total encyclopaedic knowledge when it comes to trust matters and conflict of laws. He is a genuinely brilliant communicator and is hugely authoritative.
Oliver Jones represents clients in contentious probate, trusts and estate administration matters.
Oliver Jones is an excellent strategist, he rolls up his sleeves and gets into it. He has also got a great rapport with clients.
Oliver is so impressive, he is a silk in the making. He is really amazing on difficult international litigation. He is quick on his feet, too, a great advocate.
Stephanie Thompson is a sought-after junior who has made an impression in the market, particularly for her work in offshore and cross-border trusts litigation.
Stephanie Thompson is very skilful, diplomatic and utterly reliable. If you have got really difficult judgement call to make, she will be the right person to go to.
Her written advice and submissions are the most clear and approachable. She is highly commercial and sophisticated.
I definitely would instruct her again. She is really everything you need in a barrister, a star of the future.
Zahler Bryan excels in the most complex of disputes, providing succinct advice. She is extremely approachable and her advice is always geared to the nub of the issue.
Zahler Bryan is a real rising star of the future.
Gregor Hogan has expertise both domestically and offshore. He is an experienced junior, acting unled on high-value trust and estates disputes.
Gregor Hogan is an outstanding junior. He works incredibly hard and really knows his stuff. He just gets on with things and is able to work through the knottiest problems.
Jamie Randall is instructed on a wide range of trust and estate disputes. He has expertise acting on high-value Inheritance Act claims and tax-related disputes.
Jamie is exceptionally bright and has a background in financial services, which is great for cases with complex equity aspects.
He is a really good junior. He has a great financial background so he gets the numbers really well. He will give you practical, sensible advice.
Sparsh Garg has significant expertise in trust and estate disputes in England as well as various offshore jurisdictions.
Sparsh Garg is incredibly clever and a brilliant communicator.
He has been very proactive and comes up with ideas. He is very team-focused.