On 26 November 2020 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in AIC Ltd v Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria [2020] EWCA Civ 1585. The judgment arose in the context of enforcement of an arbitral award worth approximately US$140m by the date of judgment.  Reversing the High Court’s ruling, the Court of Appeal granted enforcement […]

Essex Court Chambers has recently completed a comprehensive refurbishment of its iconic premises on Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The newly refurbished client suite offers nine spacious conferencing rooms each with state-of-the-art, multi-platform video and audio to allow conferencing and participation in remote hearings, trials and arbitral processes. Essex Court Chambers can host multi-party round tables, mediations, […]

On Monday, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Sotheby’s v (1) Mark Weiss Ltd (2) Fairlight Art Ventures LLP [2020] EWCA Civ 1570. The case concerned a painting that was sold as a work by Frans Hals for US$10.75m in 2011 and subsequently alleged to be counterfeit. The issues on appeal went to […]

Members of Essex Court Chambers are delighted to announce that the six sets of Chambers participating in the Mentoring Scheme for underrepresented groups have, between them, offered places on the scheme to nearly 150 applicants.  Over 400 applicants from groups that are underrepresented at the Bar applied for places on the scheme. The sets involved […]

In the 10th and final episode of the Essex Court Chambers ‘10 in 10’ podcast, Stephen Houseman QC is joined by David Joseph QC and Toby Landau QC to discuss the recent Supreme Court decision of Enka v. Chubb. In October 2020 the Supreme Court issued its decision in Enka Insaat Ve Sanayi AS v. OOO […]

After being shortlisted for multiple awards, Essex Court Chambers are delighted to have won three awards at the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2020 which were held virtually last night. The awards recognise sets of chambers and members who are at the top of the profession as identified by extensive objective research undertaken by Chambers and […]

This week, in episode 9 of our ’10 in 10′ Podcast, Daniel Oudkerk QC and Stephen Houseman QC discuss the litigation of Tullett Prebon v. BGC, which involved a large scale attempted team move in the inter-dealer broker sector in 2010 and 2011. The case is considered to be a landmark employee competition conspiracy claim, which provided […]

On Friday 6th November 2020, Mr. Justice Henshaw handed down judgment in relation to a jurisdictional challenge by several defendants in the case of The Public Institution for Social Security v. Al Rajaan & Others [2020] EWHC 2979 (Comm). This is one of the most significant pieces of international fraud litigation currently before the English […]

The Supreme Court has given permission to appeal in the test case brought by the Financial Conduct Authority against Arch Insurance and others. At first instance, a specially constituted Court (Flaux LJ and Butcher J) handed down a 580 paragraph judgment, addressing a number of construction issues and issues of principle on causation in business […]

In episode seven, Stephen Houseman QC is joined by Richard Millett QC and Anna Dilnot to discuss the chancery insolvency case of BAT v. Sequana, which occupied many weeks of Chancery Division’s time in 2016 and the Court of Appeal in 2018. The high profile case concerned the payment of two dividends by AWA to its parent company Sequana. Both sets […]

Members of Chambers are pleased to share that Amy Sander has been promoted to the Attorney General’s Public International Law A panel of counsel and both Sean Aughey and Andrew Legg have been promoted to the B panel of counsel. Jackie McArthur, Stephen Donnelly, and Naomi Hart have been newly appointed to the C panel of counsel for Public International Law. The Attorney […]

In episode 6 of the Essex Court Chambers ‘10 in 10’ podcast, Stephen Houseman QC talks to Hugh Mercer QC and Professor Dan Sarooshi QC about the two Gina Miller appeals to the Supreme Court in 2017 and 2019 and the effect of the decisions on the Brexit process. The first appeal, heard in 2017, […]