I still don’t regard myself as a proper ‘lawyer’ as such. Despite 35 years in practice at the Bar, 21 of which have been in silk, I still regard this whole thing as extended work experience to see if this might be the right career for me.
I was on the verge of starting a doctorate in History at Oxford, when my brilliant and very perceptive tutor at Balliol, Oswyn Murray, told me frankly that he just didn’t think I would enjoy a lonely three (or more) years in dusty archives which the completion of a D. Phil would require, nor the years of penury which would follow if I pursued the academic career I hoped for. It was Oswyn who suggested that the Bar might be a better alternative to academia – just as intellectually stimulating, but with more financial security and more variety. I thought I would give it a try.
When I started in practice at Fountain Court, new members were sent off to spend three months in a criminal set to gain advocacy experience.After a week following an established criminal barrister, we were let loose on actual cases. One of my first outings involved a plea for mitigation in the Crown Court. Halfway through my oration, I heard a scuffle at the back of the court – my client had jumped over the rail of the dock and had done a runner, possibly displaying less than complete confidence in my advocacy on his behalf.
My career hasn’t involved any warfare or even minor hostilities on my part. There are better ways of winning (or trying to win) cases without unnecessary friction. Certainly my single worst experience was being repeatedly shouted at by an angry judge in the Admin Court who hated my client’s case. We obviously went down in flames. We did win on appeal though.
Since 2016 I have led Ukraine’s defence of a claim brought on behalf of the Russian Federation in respect of the first tranche of a $15bn loan programme by way of a bond issue, which Ukraine asserts was induced by duress prior to the Russian invasion of Crimea in 2014. We lost at first instance, but we won in the Court of Appeal and, eventually, in the Supreme Court. The case involved frequent trips to Kyiv to see my marvellous Ukrainian clients at the Ministry of Finance, before the dark days when this became impossible after the outrageous 2022 invasion. Commercial litigation is hardly ever black and white in terms of the morality of the litigants, but this is a case where I really do feel that we are on the side of the angels. Alex Gerbi at Quinn Emanuel has handled a really difficult case with great dexterity and dedication to the cause, despite the huge practical difficulties the case has thrown up.
I was also involved for over a decade acting for the Bank of England in the monumental Three Rivers litigation.I started the case as the baby junior in a large team assembled by Freshfields and ended the case as a silk. The case collapsed when the liquidators unexpectedly threw in the towel midway through the course of a trial which had already lasted two years, including the longest opening speeches in English legal history, and several interlocutory trips to the Court of Appeal and House of Lords along the way. The widespread allegations of systemic dishonesty said to have infected the Bank of England’s supervision of BCCI were without merit, but aggressively pursued over many years. Mr Justice Tomlinson’s eventual judgment vindicating the Bank of England’s conduct was a very gratifying read.
Most recently I led for the DAF parties in the PACCAR case on litigation funding. Having lost twice at first instance and on appeal, I was not hugely optimistic when we showed up at the Supreme Court. The successful outcome there (by a 4-1 majority) was a very welcome surprise, but has made me very unpopular in certain quarters. The outcome was (I think) analytically correct as a matter of statutory interpretation, but against the settled market understanding of many years. Throughout, Travers Smith (Huw Jenkin and Caroline Edwards) remained true believers and persuaded the clients to carry on the fight. The government has said it plans to reverse the outcome though legislation, but regulation of the litigation funding sector may be the price it has to pay — which may be no bad thing, if properly done.
Normally barristers don’t really have to manage anything, but I was head of chambers of Fountain Court between 2018 and 2023, having been deputy head between 2013 and 2018. We concentrate quite a lot of responsibility in the office of head of chambers at Fountain Court and my colleagues would probably say I was at the more autocratic end of the spectrum – perhaps, at best, a benign dictatorship! My time in chambers before then had taught me, over many years, that attempts at more democratic engagement in a large set (now with more than a hundred members) tended to disintegrate into a cacophony — where any unifying consensus was more or less impossible. This is compounded by the fact that barristers have a short attention span for management and administration depending on how busy they are running their own practices at any given time. I was head of chambers during the Covid years, which required a bit of dexterity and imagination to keep chambers ticking over and eventually to coax people back into chambers. My management style nowadays, such as it is, is to be the passive recipient of management by others without any attempt at backseat driving — finally to enjoy focusing on my own practice while my eminent successor runs the show!
How would my team describe me? Frankly, I dare not ask, so I am not entirely sure. Possibly ‘high maintenance, but appreciative’.
It can be quite gruelling to last the course in heavy commercial work. The more senior you get the less easy the work becomes. In the early days of Three Rivers I was led by the late great Sam Stamler QC at the tail end of his long and illustrious career. He invited me to tea at One Essex when I was first instructed, which came as a surprise for the most junior barrister on the team, but he was genuinely interested to hear my take on the case with a fresh set of eyes. While we were chatting his senior clerk brought in a new set of papers for him. Brandishing his scissors, Sam said he still felt a thrill of excitement when he cut the pink tape on new instructions with brand new facts. I have never forgotten that sense of effervescent joy in his work. Perennial gloom merchants tend not to thrive at the Bar. So, ultimately, leaving aside all the obvious attributes around intellect and advocacy, I would say it takes curiosity, positivity, and stamina.
I don’t see any great changes on the horizon for claimant litigation. Claimant work may go through a period of flux while the funding sector sorts itself out after PACCAR, but otherwise I see no dark clouds gathering (words I may come to regret).
Outside of work, I spend my time on food, wine, cinema, and friends. As a family, we love adventurous holidays, our best-ever trip being an extended journey around Alaska in 2018. I still read a lot of history books, my latest being The Restless Republic by Anna Keay, about the interregnum between Charles I and Charles II – a period about which I knew only a little, and the book was, surprisingly, a real page turner.
We used to ask pupillage candidates to name their favourite film, but gave up when virtually everyone said The Shawshank Redemption. This is undoubtedly a great film but not my favourite. My answer would vary depending on when I’m asked, but if I had to pick one film it is (possibly out of nostalgia and at the risk of cancellation) Woody Allen’s Play It Again, Sam, a very clever and funny take on another great film, Casablanca. Naming a favourite book is very hard. A shortlist would include Middlemarch, The Remains of the Day, and War and Peace. Ultimately, I think Tolstoy shades it.
My biggest inspiration within the law was my first pupil master – the late Trevor Philipson QC, simply the most stylish advocate I have ever seen in action. He made advocacy look effortless, but this was all backed up by prodigious preparation beforehand.
Outside the law and in every other realm, my biggest inspiration is my beloved late wife Catherine, about whom I think every day and try to imagine what she would have advised we do about any situation. She was invariably right.
My biggest achievement is raising four lovely and rather interesting children, who are never boring. They had to manage without their mother during some of their formative years, but they are all stumbling along in life in a vaguely straight line. I am quite proud of that.
Bankim Thanki KC is a silk and served as head of chambers from 2018 to 2023 at Fountain Court Chambers.