Lance Ashworth KC

Practice Areas

Lance specialises in commercial dispute resolution (both in the Commercial Court and in the Chancery Division) insolvency and restructuring, company law and civil fraud. With over 37 years’ experience (18 of which have been in Silk), Lance’s breadth of knowledge is substantial. He has litigated in a number of jurisdictions across the world, frequently in the context of insolvent companies and the restoration of their assets from fraudulent officers, including where assets have been hidden in offshore structures. He has received instructions from Jersey, Cayman, BVI, Isle of Man and Gibraltar in addition to those from England & Wales.

In 2024, he persuaded the Court of Appeal to reject 40 years of received wisdom in the context of unfair prejudice petitions (Zedra Trust Company v. THG plc) and also spent a substantial part of the year in one of the Isle of Man’s lengthiest trials in recent years (leading both a local advocate and an English junior), in a case involving alleged fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, breaches of directors’ duties and unlawful distributions in the context of insolvent companies who had undertaken the £280 million redevelopment of super prime properties in London’s Regents Park.

Lance was a trustee of the Access to Justice Foundation for 7 years, was appointed a Recorder in 2005 and a Deputy High Court Judge in 2016 and again in 2023.