SILK PROFILE
Thomas Plewman SC KC

Thomas Plewman SC KC

UK Bar 2026

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Ranked in 3 practice areas

About

Provided by Brick Court Chambers

UK Bar

Practice Areas

Thomas Plewman is a senior commercial silk in England (as well as South Africa). He is first and foremost a trial advocate, with a heavy commercial practice across a wide front, including leading cases in commercial fraud, financial services and auditors’ professional negligence. He has acted in Lawyer’s top 20 cases of the year for each of 2025 (NMC v Ernst & Young), 2023 (PJSC Bank v Kolomoisky), 2017 (Holyoake v Candy ), 2015 (Cattles Group v PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP), 2013 (Deutsche Bank AG v Sebastian Holdings Inc) and 2011 (British Sky Broadcasting Limited v Office of Communications).

Thomas has for 30 years acted in audit negligence cases, and won Legal 500’s Professional Negligence Silk of the year award for 2025. He acted in 2025 for Ernst & Young in defence of the multi-billion dollar claims arising out of the collapse of NMC plc, as the lead counsel on the audit issues; and is leading the defence for Deloitte in Hong of the claims by the Pacific Andes Group. Current and recent finance and fraud cases include the Ukrainian Bank fraud claims in PJSC Privatbank v Kolomoisky; the internet hacking claims in Azima v RAKIA, Dechert and others; and the Ugandan Bank fraud claims in Crane Bank Limited v DFCU Bank Limited and others. He has recently and is acting in a number or ongoing insurance and commercial arbitrations.

Chambers Review

Provided by Chambers

UK Bar

Professional Negligence - London (Bar)

Band 2
Band 2

Individual Editorial

Thomas Plewman SC KC is an active silk at the London Bar who also has many years' experience practising as senior counsel in South Africa. He is most often appointed to act in cases of accountants', auditors' and solicitors' negligence.

Fraud: Civil - London (Bar)

Band 4
Band 4

Individual Editorial

Thomas Plewman SC KC is qualified in both England and South Africa. He is a well-regarded silk who acts for both claimants and defendants in high-profile, fraught civil fraud trials.

Strengths

Provided by Chambers

  • Thomas Plewman KC is very good. He was once an accountant so trades off that.

    Professional NegligenceUK Bar
  • Thomas is very good. His judgement is excellent, and his knowledge of accountancy matters is really good.

    Professional NegligenceUK Bar
  • He is one of the top silks in the area of accountancy defence. Thomas has an encyclopedic knowledge of relevant rules and standards, and a huge amount of experience in these claims.

    Professional NegligenceUK Bar
  • Thomas is an excellent lawyer who is especially good in cases concerning accounting and auditing. He is the best in the Bar at those cases.

    Commercial Dispute ResolutionUK Bar
  • Thomas will do the hard work to get into the corners of the case others may miss. He compresses things into bite-sized chunks everyone can understand.

    Commercial Dispute ResolutionUK Bar
  • Thomas is super knowledgeable about audit negligence issues. He is very hard-working and super-efficient.

    Commercial Dispute ResolutionUK Bar

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