The Supreme Court has decided in King Crude Carriers SA & Others v Ridgebury November LLC & Others [2025] UKSC 39 that there is no principle of deemed fulfilment of conditions precedent in English law. The decision provides a definitive answer to the much-discussed question of the status in England of Mackay v Dick (1881) […]
News & publications
On 14 November 2025, the High Court handed down judgment in the liability trial of Mariana v BHP, ruling that BHP UK and BHP Australia (or “BHP”) are strictly liable for the collapse of the Fundão Dam and liable based on fault. On the subject of limitation, the Court decided that the Claimants’ claims are […]
After being shortlisted for multiple awards, members of Essex Court Chambers are delighted to have won ‘International Arbitration Set of the Year’ at the Chambers UK Bar Awards which were held at Old Billingsgate yesterday evening. The awards recognise sets of chambers and barristers who are at the top of the profession as identified by […]
In what may be the largest by value English Court judgment, on 10 November 2025 the High Court awarded the Ukrainian bank PrivatBank over US$3 billion in damages, interest and costs against its former owners, Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov: see JSC Commercial Bank PrivatBank v Kolomoisky & others [2025] EWHC 2909 (ChD). This follows […]
Members of Chambers are pleased to announce that Professor Jonathan Morgan has joined Essex Court Chambers as a full tenant upon completion of his pupillage. Jonathan Morgan has been an academic lawyer at Oxford and Cambridge Universities for 25 years. He has been a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge since 2012 and was appointed […]
On 16 October 2025, the Court of Appeal (Phillips, Nugee and Jeremy Baker LJJ) handed down judgment in ENRC v the Director of the Serious Fraud Office, Dechert and Gerrard [2025] EWCA Civ 1307. Background The appeal arose in the context of two long-running sets of Commercial Court proceedings, brought by ENRC against (1) the […]
On 20 October 2025, Meade J handed down judgment in Amazon.com, Inc v InterDigital VC Holdings, Inc [2025] EWHC 2708 (Pat). At an ex parte hearing, Amazon was granted an anti-anti-suit injunction (AASI) prohibiting InterDigital from taking any steps to restrain Amazon’s pursuit of certain claims in pending proceedings in the Patents Court. The AASI […]
On 24 October 2025, a Divisional Court (consisting of Lord Justice Holgate and Mr Justice Foxton) handed down judgment in R (ARC Time Freehold Income Authorised Fund & Ors) v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government [2025] EWHC 2751 (Admin). The judicial review proceedings concerned aspects of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform […]
On 22 October 2025, Henshaw J handed down judgment in Arcadia v Bosworth, Hurley, and Kelbrick [2025] EWHC 2724, addressing the question of whether a party can rely on its own wrong in the context of causation. Following a 10-week $325m trial in the summer of 2024, in January 2025 Henshaw J dismissed substantial civil […]
The Supreme Court today handed down judgment in favour of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (“FRN”), dismissing the appeal of Process & Industrial Developments Ltd (“P&ID”) on the issue as to the currency in which the FRN is entitled to recover its costs: see [2025] UKSC 36. FRN successfully set aside the c. US $11bn […]
On 15 October 2025, the Administrative Court handed down judgment in R (HyNot Limited) v Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Anor [2025] EWHC 2644 (Admin). Following an oral hearing, Saini J refused the Claimant permission to apply for judicial review. The claim concerned a challenge to the decision of the […]
Essex Court Chambers have been highly ranked in the Chambers and Partners UK Bar Guide 2026, which was released today. A total of 83 members of chambers hold 198 rankings across 27 practice areas. The set has been ranked in 12 practice areas, including a Band 1 ranking in: Commercial Dispute Resolution, Fraud: Civil, International Arbitration […]
