Tim Akkouh QC is a commercial litigator, with a strong reputation for civil fraud and asset recovery. He has acted in some of the largest actions to come before the courts, such as JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov, Pinchuk v Bogolyubov, Mezhprom v Pugachev, Republic of Djibouti v Boreh, PrivatBank v Kolomoisky, Chernukhin v Deripaska and ENRC v SFO.
Tim is particularly experienced in applications for pre-emptive and interlocutory relief, including freezing, search, receivership, committal and Norwich Pharmacal orders.
He also maintains a commercial chancery practice, with an emphasis on insolvency, company and trusts disputes.
Tim regularly appears in the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court. He has appeared in the Court of Appeal on over 15 occasions and twice in the Supreme Court. Fourteen of Tim’s cases have been reported in the WLRs.
Before taking silk, Tim was ranked as the only ‘star’ junior in Chambers and Partners’ civil fraud category. He was also ranked as a Tier 1 junior in Chambers & Partners’ Commercial Dispute Resolution and Commercial Chancery categories. Tim held similar Tier 1 junior rankings with Legal500.
The directories have described Tim as follows:
- “He’s ferociously intelligent, a great advocate, and a lovely man” “He’s a pleasure to work with.”
- “Tim Akkouh is brilliant – probably, of all of them, the one I would go back to again and again and again.”
- “Very approachable, highly responsive – absolutely at the top of the field for civil fraud matters” “His name immediately springs to mind on any new major international fraud litigation” “A top-class operator in civil fraud. He has a wealth of knowledge on freezing orders.”
- “Has a fantastically creative mind and isn’t afraid to pursue difficult arguments.”
- “He has gravitas, a brilliant reputation and a fantastic style in court.” “He has a very elegant and persuasive writing style.”
In October 2015, Tim was named Chancery Junior of the Year by Chambers and Partners. He was also a nominee for Legal 500’s 2018 Commercial Junior of the Year award.
Tim is a co-author of Trusts Law (5th ed, Palgrave Macmillan) and regularly writes on civil fraud topics – including “Trust Busting” (2018) Trusts & Trustees 151, “How to Freeze Cryptocurrency” (2020) JIBFL 101 and “Sinking the Siskina” (2022) JIBFL 102.
Before taking silk, Tim was a member of the Attorney General’s A Panel of Counsel to the Crown and complemented his civil fraud practice by acting for the National Crime Agency and SFO on cases under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 and Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.
Tim regularly gives talks on civil fraud issues, most recently on freezing orders (including ‘How to Freeze a Bitcoin’) and contempt.
See Tim’s full profile here.
