Claire van Overdijk KC

Practice Areas

Claire is King’s Counsel and Partner in the Dispute Resolution team at Appleby’s Bermuda office.

She has extensive experience in contentious and non-contentious trust and estate disputes as well as commercial and civil litigation. As a specialist in the resolution of complex disputes, Claire’s practice is principally contentious extending to advocacy, strategic expertise and tactical advice in domestic and multi-jurisdictional high-value litigation. As an expert in private international law, she is also well equipped to advise on cross border elements that arise in these fields.

Claire also has a broad private client practice advising on domestic and offshore wealth structuring and estate planning matters including the creation, restructuring and termination of trust structures, matters relating to trust administration, as well as probate and testamentary issues.

She is also a recognised expert in the field of mental capacity law and an editor of “The International Protection of Adults” (Oxford University Press), which provides comparative analysis of private international law rules relating to mental capacity law and the Hague Convention on the International Protection of Adults.

Claire has extensive experience with global businesses, financial institutions, public bodies, trustees, beneficiaries, settlors, protectors, private individuals and families, and has regularly advised and represented them before the Supreme Court of Bermuda and Court of Appeal for Bermuda.

Claire is a member of the STEP Bermuda Committee. She also sits on the Bermuda Mental Health Tribunal and the Bermuda Human Rights Tribunal. She is a full member of STEP and a member of the Chancery Bar Association.

Claire was called to the Bermuda Bar in 2022. Prior to this, she practised as a barrister at Outer Temple Chambers in London. She was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2003 and throughout her time practising as a barrister there she developed extensive advocacy experience before the High Court and Court of Appeal of England & Wales in the fields of civil and commercial litigation, trust and estates disputes, mental capacity and public law. Prior to her appointment as King’s Counsel, Claire was appointed to the Attorney General’s London Panel of Civil Counsel through which she represented the UK Government in a wide variety of high profile cases before the High Court, Court of Appeal and UK Supreme Court. She was also appointed to the “A Panel” of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Panel Counsel. Alongside her practice, Claire also taught private international law on the LLM course at University College London for 6 years.