Rupert Reed KC KC > Serle Court > London, England > Barrister Profile
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Rupert Reed KC KC
Position
Rupert took silk in 2014, having won ‘Chancery Junior of the Year’ at the Chambers Bar Awards in 2013. In the same year, he was included in the Chambers 100: UK Bar list of the top 100 junior barristers across all fields. Since 2014, he has been consistently identified as a leader of the Bar across various fields in Chambers Global, Chambers UK Bar, Legal 500 and other directories.
He has a broad commercial and financial dispute practice, with a focus on agreements arising out of property investment, finance, development, and management, as well as wider fraud, banking, and shareholder disputes. In his UK practice, he has recently led trial teams in one of the Lawyer’s ‘Top 20’ cases in each of 2022 (Aurium) and 2023 (Asturion).
His practice in England is primarily in the Commercial Court and Chancery Division of the High Court and the Court of Appeal. He has a substantial overseas practice before arbitral tribunals and in the courts of offshore jurisdictions, in particular, the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC) Courts. His international work commonly involves issues as to interim injunctive relief, jurisdiction, applicable law and cross-border enforcement.
Rupert has an established reputation in cases in the Middle East and in London involving parties from the Gulf and wider MENA region. He is fluent in French and has a working knowledge of Arabic, and has significant experience of issues of law and practice arising in Saudi Arabia, as well as the UAE, Egypt and other civil law jurisdictions.
He co-edits the DIFC Courts Practice, the leading text-book on DIFC substantive and procedural law, to which a number of members of Chambers have contributed. In his foreword, the Chief Justice of the DIFC Courts generously commented of the editors that ‘few have made as great a contribution to the development of the laws and rules’.
He is regularly appointed as an arbitrator in commercial, banking and property matters in the Middle East and has significant experience as co-arbitrator, chairperson and sole arbitrator in DIAC and DIFC-LCIA arbitrations. He has even wider experience as counsel in LCIA, LICA-DIFC, ICC, DIAC and LMAA arbitrations seated in Europe and the Gulf.
He is a member of both the DIAC Rules Task Force and the DIFC Court’s Arbitration Working Group, and was appointed in 2023 as a member of the DIAC Court.
Rupert accepts professional negligence and indemnity work for both claimants and defendants across a broad range of professionals, including solicitors, barristers, IFAs, company directors and property professionals.
Rupert’s work and reputation have been widely recognized: in Chancery Commercial practice and Middle East Commercial practice in Chambers Global; in Chancery Commercial, Real Estate Litigation, and Professional Negligence in Chambers UK Bar; in Commercial Litigation in London and the Middle East, Property Litigation and Banking and Finance in the Legal 500; and in Civil Fraud and Real Estate in Who’s Who Legal: UK Bar. In 2022, he was recognized as one of the world’s leading property practitioners in WWL’s Real Estate Report 2022.
Career
Called 1996: Lincoln’s Inn; KC 2014; Called (ad hoc) to the Bar of the Cayman Islands 1999; Attorney General’s C Panel of Treasury Counsel 2002-2005; registered as an advocate of the DIFC Courts 2009; editor of the leading guide to the Rules of the DIFC Court, published in its most recent edition in 2016.
Languages
French (fluent); Arabic (working knowledge)
Memberships
COMBAR; Chancery Bar Association
Education
Lincoln College, Oxford (BA Hons History and French, 1st Class with Distinction); Downing College, Cambridge (MA Hons Law, Double 1st Class); Harvard Law School (LLM, Kennedy Scholar).
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Property litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Rupert Reed KC – Serle Court ‘He has real intellectual and strategic acuity and knows exactly how to pitch a case, whether to a judge, opponent or witness.’
At Serle Court, recent instructions for the property litigation team include Andrew Bruce acting for various mortgagees in West One Loan Ltd v Anton Palmer, concerning the cancellation of the defendant’s mental health crisis moratorium. In another matter, Rupert Reed KC represented the widow of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia before the High Court in Asturion Foundation v HH Princess Al Jawharah bint Ibrahim al Ibrahim, a longrunning dispute over the validity of a will gifting the London residence of the late King to the widow, involving complex points of Liechtenstein, Saudi, Islamic and English law. The High Court dismissed the foundation’s claims and ruled that the formal validity of the transfer was ultimately a matter of English law. The junior end of the group has been bolstered by the arrivals of Michael Walsh and Jonathan Upton in 2023 and 2024 respectively.
London Bar > Banking and finance (including consumer credit)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Rupert Reed KC – Serle Court ‘Rupert is highly intelligent, hard working and a pleasure to work with. Despite his seniority and experience he still gets involved with the detail of a case, getting his hands dirty in the documents and the facts. He also has a very fine legal mind.’
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London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4Rupert Reed KC –Serle Court ‘Rupert is an extremely measured and forensic advocate who commands utter respect from judges as well as his opponents. A powerhouse in the field and the Bar.
Serle Court offers a ‘broad range of experience and deep experience’ and is particularly reputed for its commercial Chancery experience. For example, Rupert Reed KC successfully defended Princess Aljawharah Bint Ibrahim Abdulaziz Alibrahim in the Chancery Division against property claims in London made by the Asturion Foundation, which involved complex issues of Liechtenstein, Saudi, and Islamic laws. Hugh Norbury KC continues to represent the claimant in Public Institution for Social Security v Al Rajaan others, a case concerning alleged bribery of the former Director General of Kuwait’s public pension fund, a claim exceeding $1bn. In Privatbank v PricewaterhouseCoopers, Jonathan Harris KC is defending the auditor’s Ukrainian entity against allegations of responsibility breaches that resulted in the bank’s significant capital shortfall. Additionally, Sophie Holcombe is representing the beneficiaries of a Singapore trust in a dispute against Credit Suisse Trust, alleging fraudulent mismanagement of a high-value investment portfolio.
Middle East: The English Bar > Commercial
(Leading silks)Ranked: Tier 1Rupert Reed KC – Serle Court ‘Rupert is extremely knowledgeable on issues that concern the conflict of jurisdiction between the DIFC Courts and other courts of the UAE. Rupert is extremely user friendly and provides prompt turnaround.’
Described as a ‘powerhouse when it comes to DIFC court litigation’ Serle Court remains a popular choice for commercial, banking, civil fraud and asset recovery litigation and arbitration proceedings. The set is strong at both silk and junior level, Rupert Reed KC led James Weale and Gregor Hogan in the long running SBM Bank (Mauritius) Ltd v. Renish Petrochem FZE, Mehta and Prime Energy FZE on behalf of the SBM Bank regarding an appeal against the 2021 fraud judgement against the first and second defendants. Members of the set often handle complex jurisdiction disputes, with Zoe O’Sullivan KC representing Carmon in Carmon Restructura-Engenharia v Cuenda regarding a freezing order granted by the DIFC and permission to appeal the decision that the court lacked jurisdiction.