Essex Court Chambers’ Nathan Pillow QC and Emily Wood have been selected, in a list of only 10 barristers, for The Lawyer’s Hot 100 list 2017. The leading legal publication today unveiled its Hot 100 list for 2017, which recognises the profession’s brightest stars and “the most daring, innovative and creative lawyers from in-house, private practice and the Bar”.
Less than a year into silk, Nathan Pillow QC is already taking the lead on major cases, specialising in substantial civil fraud and asset recovery actions. Most recently, he was instructed by Steptoe & Johnson to lead the four-strong bar team for the claimant (one of Russia’s largest banks) in National Bank Trust v Yurov & others, a US$850 million fraud claim in the English Commercial Court.
The Lawyer reports, “It has been quite a battle already. Pillow and his three-strong team saw off an attempt by Ilya Yurov, the former chairman of NAT’s board, and his wife, Nataliya, to have their assets unfrozen. If the application had been successful, it would have paved the way for the other defendants to discharge the freezing order that had been granted in February.”
Of Emily Wood, The Lawyer says, “If Emily Wood isn’t at the top of everyone’s list for major litigation and arbitration cases, she should be. The Essex Court Chambers barrister acts for major household names in highly complex circumstances. She is also a favourite of some of Britain’s top tier law firms.”
The Lawyer describes Emily as instructed in weighty disputes, citing her recent defence of Barclays against a €240m indemnity claim by UniCredit, the major Italian bank, in respect of a sophisticated structured finance deal between the two banks and that she acted for the UAE’s Crescent Petroleum in knocking out an attempt by the National Iranian Oil Company to challenge an arbitration award against it.
