Maitland Chambers

Maitland is one of the leading sets of barristers’ chambers in the UK. Based in London’s Lincoln’s Inn, we offer legal advice and advocacy of the highest quality both domestically and internationally. We appear across a full range of UK civil courts and tribunals including the Supreme Court and Privy Council as well as in Caribbean, Asian and other jurisdictions. is one of the largest commercial chancery sets, with 73 members, including 21 silks.

The set: Maitland handles a very wide range of cases from major litigation involving multinational companies to property disputes in the county courts. Much of its work is done in London, although it frequently advises and appears for clients in other parts of the UK and overseas. Many of its barristers are full members of overseas Bars, including Hong Kong, Singapore, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cyprus, the Channel Islands and the US. Its barristers sit as arbitrators (in arbitrations involving both domestic and international subject-matter) and are instructed as mediators and legal assessors. The size and breadth of chambers expertise means that it can provide teams of barristers to deal rapidly and thoroughly with complex cases that raise a broad range of issues. Its barristers and staff are committed to providing exceptional service and its barristers are committed to giving advice and representation at a level that is recognised in the directories and by clients, year after year, for its exceptional quality, comprehensiveness and practicality.

Types of work undertaken

Banking and financial services: Maitland has been involved in some of the most significant and noteworthy banking and financial services disputes over the last few years including Red Kite v Barclays, State of Qatar v Banque Havilland, FundingSecure v Green, Lehman Brothers and Carillion. We act for and against banks and other financial institutions, financial advisers and intermediaries as well as public bodies engaged in financial services regulation including the Financial Conduct Authority and regulators in offshore jurisdictions. One of Maitland’s great strengths is the ability to offer expertise across a variety of specialisms which is particularly important where banking and financial services disputes are intertwined with other areas, such as company and partnership law, insolvency and asset recovery or civil fraud.

Charities: Maitland is recognised as one of the leading sets for charity law.  Several of our barristers, from silk downwards, have direct regulatory experience, acting or having acted as counsel to the Charity Commission and to the Attorney General as the protector of charity. Our barristers have also offered specialist advice to the Charity Law Association and acted for charity regulators in other jurisdictions.  As well as this, they regularly speak on issues of current importance at seminars and conferences.

We have been at the forefront of developing charity law, including appearing in almost all of the leading cases on the impact of the Charities Act 2006 (having indeed participated in the debate as to what form that legislation should take), obtaining registration of innovative charitable objects, resolving issues as to tax liabilities in fundraising and rating relief, and helping charities seeking schemes to enhance or modernise their workings.  We have experience across the breadth of the NGO sector, including medical charities, educational establishments and religious bodies.

Commercial disputes:Maitland is a leading set in the field of Commercial Disputes, and our barristers are renowned for their expertise in all aspects of legal advice, court litigation, arbitration and ADR both on- and off-shore.

We have extensive experience in the full spectrum of commercial claims and related fields within the commercial chancery sphere, such as civil fraud, company, insolvency, banking & financial services and trusts.  Whatever its nature and size, Maitland has the depth and range of expertise to handle all aspects of a dispute.  Our barristers, at all levels of seniority, regularly litigate claims in court and arbitration; excellence in advocacy is one of the hallmarks of Maitland.

Our barristers have acted in many of the largest, most complex and high-profile commercial cases of recent years such as, Tugushev v Orlov, Rusal v Crispian Investments, State Bank of India v Mallya, Tatneft v Bogolyubov, Ivey v Genting Casinos and Libyan Investment Authority v Societe Generale.

Company, partnership and LLPs: Maitland has a long tradition of providing advocacy and advice in company and partnership disputes of all shapes and sizes, in England and globally, in litigation or arbitration. These disputes regularly throw up complex issues involving a wide range of legal disciplines including fraud, insolvency, directors’ and other fiduciary duties, trusts and property rights.  Maitland is able to put together a team which can readily cover all such issues.

Civil fraud and asset recovery: For many years, Maitland barristers have been instructed in complex and high-value fraud claims. Our barristers have appeared in landmark cases that have shaped the law of civil fraud, such as FHR European Ventures LLP v Cedar Capital Partners LLC, Patel v Mirza, Burnden Holdings (UK) Ltd v Fielding, and Ivey v Genting Casinos (UK) Ltd, as well as high-profile trials that have turned on the examination of witnesses or documents.  In addition, the publication of the leading work on civil fraud led by David Mumford KC - Civil Fraud: Law Practice & Procedure - means that our barristers remain at the forefront of civil fraud litigation. Our expertise in the pursuit and defence of civil fraud claims, particularly in the commercial context, extends from the early investigatory stages and the obtaining (or resisting) of urgent freezing and search order relief, through to trial and the tracing and recovery of assets in the UK and abroad.  Our expertise in civil fraud claims is augmented by our cross-disciplinary expertise in related areas, such as banking and financial services, company, insolvency, partnership, real estate and trusts law, which ensures that clients receive the best all-round advice and representation.

Cryptoassets: Maitland is at the forefront of developing the law in relation to cryptoassets both in the UK and internationally. We are involved in the largest and most complex digital asset, data and cyber work at the Bar. Maitland barristers have been involved in some of the most significant and complex digital asset disputes over the last few years, such as AA v Persons Unknown, FTX, D'Aloia v Persons Unknown and Osbourne v Persons Unknown.

Insolvency and restructuring: With a vast number of specialists in insolvency and restructuring, our barristers regularly appear in courts and tribunals of every level in England and Wales (including the Privy Council) and internationally (particularly in the BVI, the Cayman Islands, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Gibraltar and the Channel Islands). We have been instructed on the major domestic and international insolvencies of the last few decades across a wide variety of industries, including banking and financial services, retail, tech, sport, construction and charities. Particularly significant cases include BCCI, Barlow Clowes, Enron, Barings, Northern Rock, MG Rover, Lehman Bros, Kaupthing Bank, MF Global, Fairfield Sentry (and other Madoff schemes), Force India Formula One, Cambridge Analytica, Farepak, GAME, Carillion, Debenhams and Kids Company.

Intellectual property, media and entertainment: We provide expertise in intellectual property rights, in particular copyright, performers’ rights, passing off, trade marks, breach of confidence and image rights. We also advise and represent businesses involved in online exploitation and providers of information society services.

International and offshore: International and offshore work is one of Maitland’s core practice areas.  We are one of the pre-eminent sets in this area, being ranked highly by directories including, Chambers UK, Chambers Global and the Legal 500.  Our barristers regularly appear as advocates before foreign courts and tribunals from first instance through to the higher Courts such as the Privy Council; as well as appearing in all forms of ADR and providing expert evidence of English law in foreign proceedings. Maitland is regularly instructed in heavyweight offshore disputes.  We have particular experience in the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Barbados, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Gibraltar, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. 

Media and Entertainment: Maitland offers a wide range of experience in this field.  We are regularly instructed by major record labels, film, television and theatre producers, directors, broadcasters, publishers, newspapers and distribution companies as well as artists, performers, composers, writers, managers and agents. We also act for the major UK collecting societies and industry bodies. Our expertise embraces all aspects of the media and entertainment industries and covers, in particular, licensing agreements and contractual disputes, royalty payments, rights infringement claims, issues arising out of co-productions and joint ventures, and grants of media and broadcasting rights.

Professional negligence: Maitland has extensive experience in advising, litigating and negotiating settlements in professional negligence claims in a wide range of fields, acting for claimants and defendants.  Chambers can offer expertise at all levels, from teams of counsel led by one or more senior silks for heavy commercial disputes worth hundreds of millions of pounds, to juniors able to take claims involving individuals or SMEs to trial and/or ADR.

Real estate: Maitland is home to some of the leading property practitioners at the Bar.  Our barristers are prominent experts in all areas of property work (both litigious and transactional) including commercial and residential landlord and tenant, covenants and easements, highway and waterways, insolvency, land registration, mines and minerals, professional negligence, purchase and development of land and telecoms. What sets Maitland apart is the number of barristers we can offer, as well as the multi-disciplinary skills they possess, covering further expertise in related areas such as company and insolvency (including CVAs), partnership/LLP, trusts, joint ventures and financial services law.

Our barristers often appear in the Court of Appeal and High Court for major institutional lenders, investors and developers (including national housebuilders and supermarket chains), as well as high net worth investors, businesses and individuals.

Private client: Maitland is renowned for its depth of experience in private client litigation, ranging from multi-jurisdictional trust disputes involving institutional trustees and investment vehicles to domestic probate and Inheritance Act claims. With a number of silks and juniors at all levels working in both the core private client disciplines and related areas such as Charities, Civil Fraud and Offshore & Trusts, Maitland can offer a full suite of advocates for instructions of any size and nature.