Twenty Essex

(Re)insurance; Arbitration; Banking and financial services; Commodities and international trade; Energy and infrastructure; Jurisdiction, conflicts and enforcement; Shipping; Technology, media and telecoms

Fiona is a versatile barrister with a broad commercial practice and is regularly instructed as led and unled counsel in cases of the utmost importance, including in the Supreme Court. Her practice encompasses international trade, civil fraud, insurance, company/insolvency, construction/energy and jurisdictional disputes.

Fiona regularly advises in her own right and appears as a sole advocate in the High Court and County Court, including on appeal. Highlights of her recent litigation and arbitration experience include successfully defending a test case for the business model of an energy broker client, obtaining injunctive relief on behalf of a partnership to enforce post-termination restrictive covenants against a departing partner, and succeeding in a sale of goods dispute which turned on a complex construction argument about the meaning of “Insurance Total Loss”.

Fiona is a confident and experienced advocate who has received praise from judges for the quality of her submissions in both the High Court and County Courts, for example, while acting for a global bank defending an appeal about the legal requirements for a binding settlement agreement, and while acting pro bono to resist an injunction in order to prevent a family losing their home.

Before joining Chambers, Fiona was a policy advisor to the UK government, where she led a complex IT procurement project and the commercialisation of a multi-billion-pound government programme. She also taught law at a leading German university (world trade law, EU law and English public law).

An active publisher, Fiona has contributed to the foremost authority on the conflict of laws, Dicey on Conflicts. She also contributed to the White Book 2019 on issues of European jurisdiction and service, and Cullen on Freedom of Information in the UK.

Fiona prides herself on being a flexible, personable barrister who is quick to grasp points and easily able to integrate into teams.

https://www.twentyessex.com/people/fiona-whiteside/

German (fluent)