Richard East

Practice Areas

Richard East was the founding partner of Quinn Emanuel’s London office and is presently the Senior Partner of the office.

Richard has been named Disputes Partner of the Year by The British Legal Awards (ALM) (2025) and is ranked in the Hall of Fame by Legal 500 for both Banking Litigation (2020 – 2026) and Commercial Litigation (2023 – 2026). A highly experienced solicitor advocate with three decades of experience in litigation and arbitration, Richard has received numerous accolades throughout his distinguished career. He is listed as a Recommended Lawyer by Legal 500 for Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency and Reputation Management and Fraud. Additionally, Richard is ranked by Chambers UK as Band 1 for both Banking Litigation and Banking Litigation: Mainly Claimant (2025-2026) and Band 1 for Restructuring/Insolvency: Disputes (2026).

Following client feedback, comments made within Legal 500 and Chambers over the years have included:

"Richard East is the best there is. He is truly exceptional, both in terms of client service and litigation expertise. He just excels in the litigation space and is very straightforward and responsive." (Chambers UK, 2026),

"Richard is top in class. He always shows up when you need him and his input is always excellent and quite often game-changing." (Chambers UK, 2026),

"Richard East: He’s the biggest beast in the English commercial litigation market (banking and general comm lit), and is now nothing short of a legend. He’s stunningly clever; he’s unbelievably commercially astute; he’s brilliant at both generating and winning big cases; and he’s a terrifying opponent." (Legal 500, 2026),

"Richard East is a heavyweight practitioner who opponents fear. He is probably the best litigation strategist in London." (Legal 500, 2026),

"Richard East is a ‘superstar litigator’ who is able to elicit favourable results for clients as defendants or plaintiffs engaged in hostile restructurings, often involving complex inter-creditor arrangements and sophisticated financial documentation." (Legal 500, 2025),

"Richard is stunningly clever, unbelievably commercially astute, he’s brilliant at both generating and winning big cases and is an absolute delight to work with." (Chambers UK, 2025),

“A legend in the London market" (Legal 500, 2021).

Other accolades include:

Richard has been repeatedly selected for inclusion in The International Who's Who of Commercial Litigators as a "Recommended Commercial Litigator"​ from 2013 to 2025.

Richard was named by Financial News as one of the “50 Most Influential Lawyers” in 2022, 2023 and 2025.