Practice Areas
Jacob is a barrister specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration.
Jacob has a particular focus on data and AI. He is the author of a widely cited book ‘Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence’ and has acted in several groundbreaking disputes in that field. He is ranked by Chambers & Partners as a Global Market Leader in AI.
In addition to his technology work, Jacob is frequently instructed in heavy commercial and sovereign matters. His clients include Venezuela, Libya, Argentina, India and the UK.
Jacob is a former solicitor-advocate, having qualified in 2014. He has acted as sole counsel in the High Court, an LCIA Arbitration and the Court of Appeal and as junior counsel in the UK Supreme Court.
Jacob has been described by clients as “phenomenal”, “ferociously intelligent” and “an outstanding up-and-coming barrister”. Jacob was included in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 2025.
Jacob’s current and recent work includes:
• Mehul Choksi v The Government of India [2025] EWHC 1739 (KB): Acting for the Government of India (led by Harish Salve KC) in a claim brought by a fugitive businessman accused by Indian authorities of serious economic crimes. The Claimant alleges that India orchestrated his kidnapping in Antigua and his rendition by yacht to Dominica, with a view to extraditing him.
• Beneathco v R.J. O’Brien Ltd: Acting for the claimant (led by Rachel Barnes KC), a UAE oil trading company which has been sanctioned by the US but not the UK, in respect of a claim for funds frozen by the defendant, a financial services firm. This will be the first case to address the UK Blocking Regulation: a UK law which criminalises compliance by UK parties with certain Iran-linked US sanctions.
• Significant AI Copyright Claim: Acting for the British music industry major record labels in a potential claim for copyright infringement against an AI deepfake music company.
• Petersen Energía Inversora, S.A.U. and ors v The Argentine Republic: Acting for the Argentine Republic (led by David Railton KC and Rajesh Pillai KC). The case concerns a US$16bn arbitral award relating to the alleged failure by the Republic to make a tender offer to shareholders in respect of an oil company that was re-nationalised in 2012. The claimants have sought recognition and enforcement of that award in the English court.
• General Dynamics UK v The State of Libya [2025] 4 W.L.R. 34: Acting for the State of Libya (led by Richard Lissack KC) in the Court of Appeal in a case relating to the enforcement of an arbitral award against a property in London. The case raised important questions on as to the extent to which generalised language in a contractual document can be deemed to waive a State’s immunity from execution.
Publications
• Author of Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence (Palgrave Macmillan).
• Contributing author to The Law of Artificial Intelligence (Sweet & Maxwell).
• Co-author, with Lord Mance, of Privy Council Practice (OUP).
