Ben Smiley

Litigation, arbitration and other dispute resolution in core areas: commercial, insurance, professional liability, financial regulation, costs and sports work.

Ben was on the shortlist for the Chambers & Partners Professional Negligence Junior of the Year 2021, was nominated in the Legal 500 Bar Awards for Chancery Junior of the Year 2022 and was nominated in the Legal 500 Bar Awards for Professional Negligence Junior of the Year 2023.

In his broad commercial practice, Ben acts for claimants and defendants in respect of very complex and high-value cases, across a variety of industries.

Ben has significant expertise on insurance law, covering issues such as policy interpretation, aggregation, presentation of risk, and third party rights.

In the professional liability sphere, he often acts in claims by or against solicitors, barristers, accountants, financial service professionals and insolvency practitioners.

Ben’s costs practice is varied, with a particular emphasis on non-party cost orders and wasted costs orders.

The sports work undertaken by Ben includes governance, selection, doping, and commercial issues.

Ben regularly appears in the High Court and has also acted on several occasions in appeals to the Court of Appeal and/or the Supreme Court. He has strong experience as sole counsel and as part of a larger team.