The members of Essex Court Chambers are delighted to announce the appointments of Simon Bryan QC and Sara Cockerill QC as Justices of the High Court. Simon Bryan is appointed with effect from 2 October 2017 and Sara Cockerill is appointed with effect from 1 November 2017. The Lord Chief Justice will assign the new Mr […]

The following nominations have been received in the Chambers UK Bar Awards 2017: International Arbitration – Set of the Year Insurance – Set of the Year David Foxton QC – Banking Silk of the Year David Joseph QC – International Arbitration Silk of the Year Jeremy Brier – Commercial Litigation Junior of the Year Emily Wood – International Arbitration […]

Sam Wordsworth QC, together with Paul Tan of Rajah and Tann, acted for the Kingdom of Lesotho in the first ever application in Singapore for an investor-State arbitral award on the merits to be set aside. The decision engaged wide-reaching issues on international law and also Singapore’s international arbitration law that had yet to be considered […]

Essex Court Chambers’ Tom Ford has been recognised as a rising star in Legal Week’s ‘Stars at the Bar 2017’. The feature profiles ten of the most promising barristers of ten years call and under and market research is undertaken to determine exceptional achievers. Tom was called to the Bar in 2008 and became a […]

David Craig QC (together with Michael Furness QC and Emily McKehnie) acted for the BBC in the Court of Appeal against an appeal brought by John Bradbury in respect of the BBC’s decision to cap at 1% the amount of any pay rise that would count as pensionable pay under the BBC’s defined benefit (final salary) […]

Members of Essex Court Chambers are deeply saddened to announce that Sir Anthony Colman passed away peacefully in hospital on 28 July 2017. Sir Anthony joined Essex Court Chambers in 1962. He served as High Court judge of the commercial court from 1992 to 2007, and was Presiding judge from 2006 to 2007. He was […]

The High Court has clarified the meaning of s.127 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 in Ministry of Justice v The Prison Officers’ Association [2017] EWHC 1839 (QB) which was handed down on 19 July 2017, holding that conduct proscribed by the section includes the withdrawal of “voluntary services”. On 27 February […]

The Court of Appeal has clarified the test for severance in Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1054 which was handed down this morning. The Respondent financial services recruitment agency had obtained an injunction to enforce a non-competition covenant. On appeal the Appellant contended that the covenant caught a shareholding and was therefore […]

The Divisional Court has dismissed a legal challenge brought by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) against the licensing of military equipment to Saudi Arabia for use in the conflict in Yemen. CAAT contended that open source reporting indicated that the Saudi-led Coalition had committed serious violations of International Humanitarian Law in Yemen and that […]

Richard Millett QC has been appointed as leading counsel to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, assisted by Bernard Richmond QC and Kate Grange QC. The Inquiry, an independent public inquiry into the fire in Grenfell Tower, North Kensington, is chaired by Sir Martin Moore-Bick. The purpose of the Inquiry is to examine the circumstances leading up […]

Jeffrey Gruder QC will give a lecture to the British Insurance Law Association on Friday 21st July at 1pm entitled: Arbitrating Insurance and Reinsurance Disputes: “Transparent and Impartial?”. Many insurance and reinsurance disputes are decided in arbitration. Jeffrey will discuss whether there are any problems arising from privacy, lack of transparency and possible justifiable doubts […]

The London Chamber of Arbitration has recently announced a newly formed panel of arbitrators, consisting of 19 former members of the judiciary and current senior practitioners. The highly experienced panel includes two members of Essex Court Chambers, Roderick Cordara QC and David Scorey QC. The LCCI is London’s largest independent networking and business support organisation. […]