One Essex Court is right at the very top of the commercial litigation market. Our professional clients comprise all of the major commercial litigation and disputes law firms in London and the wider UK, as well as many internationally renowned litigation operations. In addition, we are regularly engaged by in-house legal departments and general counsel to offer incisive and effective advice on a wide range of dispute resolution issues.
Barristers at One Essex Court, at all levels, appear for parties in a significant amount of the major commercial litigation that passes through the UK High Court, more particularly before the Commercial Court and the Business & Property Courts, as well as the appellate courts. From short procedural hearings and injunctions to large set-piece trials, barristers at One Essex Court are sought after for their powerful intellects, market leading advocacy skills and ‘commercial’ good judgment.
Large scale, high-value commercial litigation forms the backbone of chambers work, often occupying teams of counsel from One Essex Court on both sides. Recent high-profile cases have included: Hewlett Packard/Autonomy v. Lynch & Hossain, in the UK's biggest fraud trial, where it was found a software firm had defrauded a US tech giant; SKAT v. Solo Capital Partners, where SKAT, the Danish tax authority claims it is the victim of a sophisticated fraud between 2012 and 2015 by which it was induced to part with around £1.44 billion; in the RBS Rights Litigation, a case dealing with shareholder claims under Section 90A FSMA; in Omers Administration Corp. v. Tesco plc & Anr., dealing with claims brought by shareholders for alleged breaches of Section 90A and Schedule 10A FSMA; in PCP Capital Partners v. Barclays Bank, a case concerned with the recapitalisation of Barclays at the height of the global financial crisis in late 2008; and in Phones4U v EE and others, a substantial case challenging the major mobile network operators over an alleged anti-competitive breach of contract.
As well as trial work, barristers here regularly handle urgent or critical interlocutory hearings and applications covering a broad spectrum of relief. Those have included, challenges to jurisdiction, anti-suit proceedings, injunctions, challenges to arbitration awards, enforcement of foreign judgments, disclosure applications including Norwich Pharmacal relief, security of costs, applications for summary judgment, letters of request and applications for declaratory relief.
Alongside this higher profile casework, new and junior members regularly appear in medium-sized and smaller scale disputes, often in the County Courts across the country. Fixed and capped fees can be agreed for many of those engagements.
Where recourse to the courts is to be avoided, members can be relied on for pragmatic, confident and effective advice in order to help resolve a client’s difficulties. Barristers at One Essex Court are also regularly engaged to advise on technical and developing areas of law including, but not limited to; jurisdiction and conflict of laws; contracts and torts, including economic torts; competition; obligations; evidence; damages and equitable remedies; trusts; unjust enrichment and restitution.
One Essex Court is regularly recognised by the industry as the leading commercial litigation set, winning the Chambers UK Bar Award for Commercial Litigation Set of the Year in 2010, 2011, 2015, 2018, 2019 and Chambers UK Bar Award overall Set of the Year in 2018. One Essex Court was also the Legal 500 Commercial Litigation Set of the Year 2013. Our juniors are also regularly featured in the industry press as rising ‘Stars of the Bar’ and represent some of the most promising talent available at any of the major commercial sets.