Erskine Chambers

Senior Clerks: Phil Reeves
Tenants: 25

THE CHAMBERS
Erskine Chambers is recognised as being pre-eminent in company law and a leading set in associated fields including insolvency, financial services and corporate/commercial litigation (including civil fraud and asset recovery). Chambers’ size (27 barristers including 10 KCs) allows it to maintain expertise in its core practice areas while fielding effective teams in Commercial Court and Chancery Division litigation.

WORK UNDERTAKEN  

Company Law:
Erskine is the go-to set for company law disputes and corporate transactions, including: shareholder disputes (Kleanthous v Paphitis; Bumi; Re Dee Valley Group plc), joint venture disputes and technical company litigation (Eclairs v JKX; Enviroco v Farstad - both Supreme Court). Members have advised on most of the largest UK corporate transactions of recent years, including Anheuser-Busch InBev/SAB Miller, Friends Life/Aviva, Invensys/Schneider, Glencore/Xstrata and Vodafone/Verizon. Erskine provides counsel for the majority of schemes of arrangement, cross-border mergers (Honda Europe; Sony; Itau BBA), Part VII transfers (Royal London/CIS, Barclays/ING), and reductions of capital.

Corporate/Commercial Litigation & Arbitration:
A large proportion of Erskine’s work is litigation at the intersection between company, commercial and insolvency law, including: commercial disputes; breach of fiduciary duty (Hewlett Packard and Autonomy v Lynch; BTI v Sequana; LLP and funds disputes (Re Charterhouse Capital; F&C Investments v Barthelemy); and civil fraud and asset recovery (BTA Bank v Ablyazov; Mezhprombank v Pugachev; Pinchuk v Bogolyubov). Members have particular expertise in freezing injunctions and other forms of interim relief.

Insolvency:
Erskine has a strong reputation for both contentious insolvency and corporate restructuring. Insolvency litigation often involves cross-border issues (Olympic Airlines; Nortel & Lehman Bros v Pensions Regulator; Belmont Park v BNY– all Supreme Court; Singularis v PwC; PwC v Saad; MF Global). Restructurings include insolvent schemes of arrangement, administrations and CVAs (SphinX, Halliwells, Baugur; Miss Sixty).

Financial Services:
Members undertake both contentious and non-contentious FSMA work. Litigation includes: funds, collective investment schemes and public offers of securities; prospectus liability (RBS Rights Issue litigation); financial conduct, regulation and enforcement (Lehmans Client Money) and interest rate swap claims against banks. Non-contentious work includes Part VII business transfers, securitisation and structured finance.

INTERNATIONAL: Erskine’s work is highly international, whether advising on multi-jurisdictional transactions or litigating complex cross-border disputes. Members are active in a large number of offshore jurisdictions, including the Channel Islands, Cayman, BVI, Bermuda, Turks & Caicos, St Vincent and Grenadine, Hong Kong and Singapore and have extensive trial experience, from First Instance to Appellate and Privy Council.