Members of Essex Court Chambers have received 11 new rankings in The Legal 500 2023

30 September, 2022

In the 2023 Legal 500 rankings, members of chambers have received 11 new rankings across 23 practice areas.

The Legal 500 UK Bar, which was released on Wednesday 28 September 2022 highlights the UK’s most impressive barristers and chambers.

Special mention is given to the following members who have received a ranking in the Rising Star category:

The set has been ranked in the following categories:

  • Art and Cultural Property: Tier 1
    ‘The barristers at Essex Court Chambers stand out for their ‘deep experience‘, often acting for auction houses, collectors, and dealers in transactions and contractual disputes relating to the art world.’
  • Commercial Litigation: Tier 1
    packed with excellent barristers‘ and has ‘a deserved reputation as a Magic Circle chambers for heavyweight litigation‘. The set’s senior and junior members offer an incredibly broad range of expertise, including overlapping strengths in civil fraud and commercial arbitration.
  • Fraud: Civil: Tier 1
    the market leading civil fraud set by the proverbial country mile’ with ‘true strength and depth in chambers from silks to baby juniors, and a great training programme to show off their knowledge and skills‘. The set’s broad offering ensures a wide range of expertise in a range of areas, including cryptocurrencies.’
  • International Arbitration: Counsel: Tier 1
    the go-to set for international arbitration‘, unmatched in terms of scale and quality. The chambers is commended for its ‘deep bench of advocates at every level who are specialists in arbitration and court-related arbitration work’.
  • Public International Law: Tier 1
    first rate chambers with real strength in depth across the board‘ and is widely considered ‘among the best in the business for public international law‘.
  • Tax: VAT & Excise: Tier 1
    ‘includes experienced members in the field of VAT and indirect tax, with specialist expertise in areas relating to customs duty, environmental tax and restitution work.’
  • Banking and Finance: Tier 2
    an up and coming power in the banking disputes space, leveraging off its traditional strength in fraud‘ and fielding ‘lots of exceptional people’. 
  • Employment: Tier 2
    high-quality employment practice‘ spans cross-border team moves, remuneration disputes, complex bonus issues, restrictive covenants and confidential information, as well as whistleblowing and discrimination claims.’
  • Energy: Tier 2
    without question a go-to set when you have a difficult issue’, particularly in ‘high-value, frighteningly complex multi-jurisdictional energy disputes’.
  • Shipping: Tier 2
    ‘Fielding ‘high-level professional services’, Essex Court Chambers is known for its strong barristers on both junior and silk level.  The set handles disputes, arbitration, and litigation on the full spectrum of maritime matters.’
  • Commodities: Tier 3
    one of the go-to sets for commodities and shipping, with great depth both at silk and junior level’. It has an impressive track record in both areas of law and is particularly highly regarded in wet and dry shipping cases, as well as high-value fraud matters.’
  • Insurance and Reinsurance: Tier 3
    Fielding an ‘impressive range of individuals‘, Essex Court Chambers has a significant market presence in insurance and reinsurance disputes, with members regularly acting in claims before courts and arbitration panels in London, Paris, Vienna, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore, the US and Canada among others.’

Members of Essex Court Chambers are also delighted to congratulate its clerking team on receiving outstanding praise from clients collected by The Legal 500 again in 2023. The Essex Court Chambers team clerking team has received the following praise from clients:

They are reliable, provide excellent judgment and advice in choice of counsel, and help effectively to co-ordinate with the Courts to administer client cases. All of which enables solicitors to meet and manage client expectations. The team goes from strength to strength, and is one of the key reasons I keep coming back to Essex Court time and time again.” ““Essex Court’s stellar reputation is driven to a large extent by having a clerking team that is head and shoulders above the competition. Joe and his team are always commercial and a joy to work with.”

Special mentions are given to:

  • Joe Ferrigno who is described as “ a class act and his team is good.” “a modern group with clear value add above other sets and whose modus operandi is to build long term relationships with solicitors.” “is without question the premier clerking team in London, in a crowded field. “
  • Kevin Grubb will always go the extra mile.
  • David Banks is “always helpful.”

Members, clerks and staff of Essex Court Chambers would like to thank our clients and colleagues for their kind feedback once again this year.