Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Dispute Resolution: Commercial - UK
What the Team is Known For
A regular presence in the Commercial Court and Chancery Division, Serle Court is a set noted for its work on extremely high-value commercial disputes, particularly those involving civil fraud. Individuals at the set regularly guide clients through the most stressful and complex cases in the market, many of which are international in scope. Recent cases include: Município de Mariana v BHP Group, a major group action on behalf of victims of the Fundão Dam disaster; Public Institution for Social Security v Al-Rajaan, a high-value fraud claim; and Republic of Mozambique v Credit Suisse AG & Others, a USD3 billion claim arising out of the 'Tuna bonds' scandal. Its members also continue to play a role in the Diesel Emissions group litigation. A source commented that the set's "incredibly intelligent and impressive team is able to unpick and understand complex issues."
Nicholas Hockney and Daniel Wheeler are the practice directors.
Strengths
The clerking is really good. They have the best team at the Commercial Bar.
The Serle Court clerks are a great, friendly team who are very commercial and open to discuss solutions to fee-related queries.
The clerks are responsive and commercial.
Senior practice manager Arron Snipe is the gold standard. He puts the rest of the clerking world to shame. He sorts things incredibly quickly.
The clerks at Serle Court have been professional and considerate in their approaches. I have found them straightforward to deal with.
Notable practitioners
She is the crème de la crème of the Commercial and Chancery Bar. Excellent is too weak a word for her.
Elizabeth Jones is among the best of the best. She is an outstanding member of the Bar in every respect.
A master strategist, who also has complete command of the detail. The foundations of her submissions are always rock solid.
A tactical genius with a prodigious capacity for absorbing and retaining detail. She drives the team to produce their best work, but is also pleasant and fun to work with.
Jonathan is a masterful advocate and an excellent leader.
Always available, extremely clever and someone who goes for the killer point, he's a bulldozer of an advocate. In terms of contactability, he's a dream silk.
Jonathan Adkin is one of the best. He is extremely clever and very good with the law.
A great leader, a great team player and a technically brilliant barrister. He is a brilliant fraud practitioner whose advocacy is very effective.
He has fantastic judgement and clients love him.
James displayed considerable strategic thinking and was not afraid of putting forward his own views even where these differed from those of more senior team members. His written work was very strong.
James is a deep thinker.
James Mather is hugely cerebral and wonderful to work with. He has been a longstanding instruction for me because he is so good.
James Weale is a KC in all but name. He is a fiercely intelligent and incredibly versatile advocate, whose oral advocacy is particularly impressive. His strategic vision is second to none.
James is a great advocate and a very fine cross-examiner.
John is down to earth, super responsive and commercially minded. He has great judgement and balances the risks and benefits of a matter in a concise manner.
He is without peer among silks advising on LLP and partnership law.
John has a way of presenting to the court which judges really respond to. He rolls his sleeves up and gets stuck in to documents and drafting.
A very able advocate with an excellent style, he is very intelligent and presents things in a way clients like.
John is hard-working, and has both razor-sharp intelligence and an incisive eye for detail. He is an excellent all-rounder.
He is a very effective advocate.
Lance Ashworth has the relatively rare combination of being a first-class brain and a high-quality advocate. He is very responsive and very aware of the bigger picture in complex matters.
Marc Delehanty is always a pleasure to work with. His written work is superb, he's excellent on his feet and he understands clients.
Marc is really thriving and has had a lot of victories in the last year. Recently, he was a standout in the Supreme Court in terms of his advocacy.
Marc is incredibly hardworking, and his client-handling skills are superb. He enjoys being part of the team, and he is brilliant fun.
Dan is a genius and a top expert on unfair prejudice.
Daniel Lightman is an extremely intelligent advocate who provides cutting-edge and practical legal analysis of complex corporate disputes.
He is pleasure to work with. accessible, very intelligent and fastidious. He is also good with clients and can break things down into digestible bits of information.
He is very good technically.
He is excellent in his cross-examination.
A problem solver and a polished written advocate, who is very creative, highly responsive and impressively client-friendly.
Justin is very hands-on, prepared to get involved in the detail and very good on strategy.
Justin is accessible, really easy to work with and very good on his feet. He's got that nice balance of being really smart and incredibly eloquent.
Paul Adams is a good person to work with. He is very responsive, and he is a very bright and reflective man.
Paul Adams' written advocacy is fantastic; he is really creative.
Paul has excellent tactical instincts and the acumen to tackle the most complex and knotty legal issues.
Rupert Reed is really the father figure of the DIFC bar. He is an excellent and smooth advocate.
Rupert has a deep knowledge of commercial disputes, particularly those relating to the Middle East. He has got real experience and gravitas, but wears it lightly.
He works extremely well with the client and solicitor team.
Very calm and tremendously experienced, he thinks really strategically and doesn't waste time. He has very good client-handling skills.
Simon Hattan has a wonderfully clear mind and stays calm whatever happens. He is always a very reassuring presence.
Zoe is incredibly bright and tenacious. She isn't scared of anybody and she will tell you straight out when she thinks that there is something wrong with your case.
Zoe has a strong advocacy style and is excellent in cross-examination. Hers is a highly forensic approach.
Zoe is firm but charming. Her written work is very impressive and she produces it quickly.
Dan goes toe to toe with far more senior KCs and excels. His advocacy is superb, and he is the kind of guy you want on your team.
Dan has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law and a memory that puts us all to shame. He memorised everything presented in court. With clients, he adapts his style to gain their confidence.
Dan is very good on his feet.
David Blayney is a very clever and forensically brilliant barrister. He did one of the finest cross-examinations of an expert I've ever heard.
Extremely able, highly technical and cerebral in his approach, David is the person to go to for a monstrous case. Unflappable and dignified, he really holds the attention of the court.
Emma Hargreaves is an incredibly careful barrister who is terrifyingly good.
Emma Hargreaves is amazing and great to work with. She is a very clear oral advocate who has excellent drafting skills.
Emma Hargreaves drove the drafting of the defence under tight time pressures. She was good at managing dense amounts of data and being flexible as needed.
Stephen Doherty is very easy to work with and very commercial. I find him to be excellent - he matches and often surpasses the KCs he works with.
In every aspect, Stephen has provided us with an advantage over our opponent, from availability and comprehension of the key legal turning points to case preparation and delivery at trial.
Stephen Doherty is an excellent advocate who has committed to the DIFC region. His cross-examination is something to behold - he dominates.
Matthew is technically excellent, has a brilliantly sharp mind and shows amazing attention to detail. He can identify and think of solutions to problems before they have even occurred to the opponent.
Matthew Morrison has a very calm, reassuring manner. He is unflappable.
Matthew Morrison is excellent; he's the best counsel we use. His content is excellent and his client work is superb, as is his cross-examination in the courtroom.