Chambers Review
Provided by Chambers
Chancery: Traditional - London (Bar)
What the Team is Known For
Wilberforce Chambers has an impressive group of barristers who handle complex disputes involving trusts and estates, and demonstrate multi-jurisdictional knowledge of the law. "It would always be a go-to for trusts and traditional Chancery work as they have got a great offshore reputation and always have a grasp of the latest cases,” comments a source. Another interviewee says: "Wilberforce Chambers is an absolute powerhouse. They do everything and do it well."
Strengths
Wilberforce is by far the best for being consistently good on clerking.
The service is first-rate. The clerking team is fantastic. Nothing is ever too much trouble and their responsiveness is highly impressive.
The Wilberforce clerks are excellent, they are a really excellent set of clerks. The great thing is you can go to any of the clerks and know you will be looked after.
Wilberforce have such a great clerking system which works really well. You can develop good relationships with clerks and they go above and beyond to accommodate requests.
Notable practitioners
Brian Green KC is a respected silk whose depth of experience in both contentious and non-contentious matters is widely recognised. He works on a range of challenging cases both domestically and offshore, and is a particular expert in trusts and pensions matters.
He is obviously fantastic and his reputation speaks for itself. He is a real heavyweight chancery counsel, his views are given enormous respect by overseas judges.
Brian Green is unmatched in his field. He is a genuine powerhouse of a legal thinker and strategist that is a pleasure to work with.
He is absolutely creative and will get amazing results for clients. His knowledge going back is astounding and his seal of approval is worth a lot.
Brian is an oracle on all things trusts. He is a confidante to clients and really knows what will play well in court.
Clare Stanley KC acts in a wide range of private client and trust litigation, regularly handling highly complex disputes. She is frequently instructed on high-value matters both onshore and offshore.
Her attention to detail and trial preparation is undeniable, it was like a work of art and absolutely amazing to witness. She is great to work with and she does a lot of trust and offshore work.
Claire is absolutely fantastic. She is tireless in her dedication to a case and she is a great communicator. A huge amount of work and energy goes into every aspect of her advocacy.
Clare is an academically brilliant lawyer, excellent on her feet and does a really good job bridging private wealth and corporate matters.
Fenner Moeran KC is particularly focused on high-value private client litigation and associated advice, acting in both court proceedings as well as various forms of ADR. He has a substantial advisory practice both onshore and offshore.
He is my go-to counsel for contentious trusts matters. He has this extraordinary ability to explain complex concepts in layman's terms.
He is a real asset in any team, possessing a commanding presence and strong sense of authority which inspires confidence in others. He has an incredible knack for unwinding complex legal issues.
He just deploys his experience to really good effect to achieve constructive solutions for clients. He thinks imaginatively on how to sort disputes and is an excellent advocate reassuring for judges.
He has got great intellect and always looks at questions constructively. He is somebody I really enjoy working with, he's very business-like and knowledgeable.
He is a real brain box in his area. He is able to argue any side of any argument in a really exceptional way, a bit like an scholar. He thinks on a different intellectual plain to most of us.
Gilead Cooper is extremely clever. He thinks of things others don't, and is great for complex cases. He is also a pleasure to work with.
Jonathan Hilliard KC has a broad traditional chancery practice that takes in a wide array of trusts matters and a substantial amount of advisory work. He is widely respected for the depth of his technical knowledge. Hilliard has built a formidable practice focusing on trusts, fraud and pensions cases.
Jonathan Hilliard is phenomenally hard-working and will help you through all sorts of issues for offshore trust litigation. He is always available, his analytical skills are second to none.
We really enjoy working with him. He is all over the technical side but also engages with the clients well. He's an excellent strategic and commercial thinker.
Jonathan Hilliard is superb, probably one of the cleverest at the Bar. He is responsive and constructive.
Michael Furness KC has expertise in complex trust and estate matters, both domestically and offshore.
He is a very experienced advocate. He cuts through issues well and can identify client needs and find short pathways to it.
He is clever, brilliant on trusts and pensions crossovers which is really unique. Clients are delighted by his solutions as he thinks creatively. He is also brilliant in court, judges like him.
He really stands out in having that integrated view on trust driven matters with complex UK tax questions. He has got a very attractive way of dealing with matters.
Robert Ham KC focuses on trusts and other private client work, including tax matters, both contentious and non-contentious. He is regularly instructed in offshore cases.
There is nothing he doesn't know about trusts, he has been key in developing a lot of those principles here in the early stages. He is an amazing man.
He is very knowledgeable. He has a massive amount of technical trust knowledge and also an appreciation of tax law. He is very good at looking at complex trust structures.
Robert Ham is the guy you want if you're acting for trustees. He is wise and thoughtful with experience second to none.
Robert Ham is a legend. He has been doing this for a long time and his experience is such that he has seen everything before. He has a tried and tested solution for any complex issue.
He is very good, his ability to process massive amounts of legal information and facts is amazing. He is good with cross-border litigation and an excellent team player with very elegant delivery.
Andrew Mold is commercially and strategically brilliant. He has a sharp mind that is able to get into the weeds without losing sight of the bigger picture.
He is the go-to silk for family cases involving trusts. He is meticulous, technically excellent and a joy to work with. He is very clear and practical in his advice.
Jonathan Davey is charismatic, pragmatic and laser-focused on securing a result for the client. He is very strategically minded but his real skill set shines through when he is on his feet.
He will take responsibility and is meticulous in his preparation. He combines an ability to get into the details of the case with a grand narrative style that always has the confidence of a court.
He's absolutely first-class. His advocacy is compelling, he commands huge respect from clients and has a quicksilver mind.
He is very detail-oriented and great for offshore elements in trust cases. He is client-friendly, his advice is technically good and strategically excellent for particularly complicated matters.
Michael has formidable knowledge of trusts law and an ability to deliver detailed and commercial advice in a timely manner.
Michael has an excellent skill set for private client matters. His application of the law is great but he is also able to dovetail it with pragmatism and look at the big picture.
Tiffany Scott is great. A calm, measured resource in any large-scale matter.
She is a straight-talker, a concise advocate and the court really listens to her.
What stood out for me is her experience as a trust lawyer and how she brings that to get things done quickly with a good strategy.
Edward Sawyer acts in both contentious and non-contentious matters involving trusts, probate and succession, both domestic and offshore.
He has been great at navigating practical challenges and coming up with creative legal solutions that work for clients.
A very impressive, analytical legal mind, one who will always display a calmness in any situation, however febrile.
He is very experienced and knowledgeable. He is good to go to for tough problems as he will try and strip out the core issues and advise on those.
Jennifer Seaman is thoughtful, with a good eye for detail. She can pick up points of nuance while keeping an eye on the bigger picture.
She is a safe pair of hands, has very good judgement and is really on top of everything strategic.
Jennifer is hugely capable and technical, with a strong focus on ensuring that all procedure is correctly dealt with at the same time as giving the best legal advice.
Zoë Barton KC has a broad chancery practice, which makes her a particularly fine choice of counsel for matters with commercial or real property aspects. She is also noted for work on Court of Protection matters.
Zoë Barton is very cerebral and my first choice for anything that is property and fraud-related. She is a very articulate advocate.
One of her great USPs is that she is always available at the end of the phone. In terms of advocacy, she is very effective.
Anna Littler's private client work regularly involves significant offshore trusts matters. She also advises clients on commercial matters involving insolvency and civil fraud.
Anna is one of my favourite juniors, she is so user-friendly, bright and thorough. Even as a junior who is in the weeds with drafting, you can rely on her to get to the crux of the matter quickly.
She is fantastic, she has incredibly good judgement and thinks through to the end. She sees all the traps that could be before a litigant in a case.
I find Anna to be very proactive and on top of the details. She is very aware of the strategic output of a case, with an eye on best position for a client.
Elizabeth Houghton advises on a wide range of commercial and chancery matters. She is regularly involved in cross-border mandates, including cases in offshore jurisdictions.
She is the complete package, lovely to work with and a very commercial thinker.
She's very friendly and easy to work with. A really sound and solid performer and great to have on the team.
She is unbelievably bright, she makes things happen and constantly looks at the bigger picture.
James Goodwin's chancery practice sees him acting on a range of onshore and offshore trust matters.
James is an incredible senior junior who provides a KC's insight to everything he does. A ferocious intellect and robust legal strategist, there can be very few who consistently deliver like he does.
He is just really commercial, switched on and very easy to deal with on commercial issues.
James Goodwin is an excellent junior. He is a lovely, helpful team player and I would be happy to have him on any team I am part of.
Joseph Steadman is an experienced chancery barrister, with a broad practice involving property, pensions and trusts matters. His trusts work is often related to divorces and separations.
Joseph Steadman is a really brilliant, an exciting junior. He's phenomenally bright and really client-friendly. I wouldn't hesitate to work with him again.
He is very thoughtful about approaching issues. His written work is just really excellent and his arguments are broken down to ensure they are thoughtful.
Joseph is highly knowledgeable, fantastic with clients, communicative and on hand as and when needed. He will go over and above.
Simon Atkinson has expertise in trust, estates and property-related disputes. He acts for a variety of international high net worth clients.
He is an excellent black-letter lawyer but adds to that good strategic sense. He is very good at negotiating with parties.
Simon Atkinson is highly intelligent and thorough.