Charles Samek KC
Littleton Chambers 'Charles is a force of nature. A tenacious and skilled advocate that no right-minded witness would want to face in cross-examination.'
‘Well-regarded for its depth of expertise in commercial law’, Littleton Chambers handles commercial contract, shareholder, and business sale disputes, as well as civil fraud, intellectual property, and company law matters. Charles Samek KC is acting for all the claimants in the high-profile Athena Capital Fund and others v Secretariat of the Holy See concerning the Vatican’s purchase of a landmark building in London, where the Vatican accused the financier Raffaele Mincione of inflating the price of the property. Alexander Halban is acting for the claimant in Gorbachev v Gurlev, a Russian businessman, in a Commercial Court claim to recover shareholding interest worth $1.8 billion in PhosAgro, alleging fraud by the defendant and current owner of the company.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The clerking team is very strong. George Shah is a rising star.'
- 'There is a strong clerking team. Scott Hersey is good.'
- 'Jason Drakeford offers great service and can always recommend the right person for the job and client.'
- 'The clerks are very user-friendly. They are good at finding solutions. Scott Hersey is a real star.'
- 'Littleton Chambers is well-regarded for its depth of expertise in commercial law. They have a broad range of experienced barristers available and offer strong training programmes that ensure high standards across the board.
- 'Littleton Chambers has a strong reputation with a deep bench of experienced barristers. They offer excellent availability of counsel and comprehensive training programs. The set is highly regarded for its expertise in employment and commercial disputes.'
- 'They are a good all-round commercial set with rates that are reasonable.'
- 'Great strength in depth.'
Silks
Leading Silks
KCs at the very top of their field, with a long-established record of market-defining cases, and widespread endorsement from clients and peers. All silks appointed in the last two rounds are listed further below.
Jonathan Cohen KC
Littleton Chambers
‘His advocacy is superb. He is very likeable and excellent with clients.'
David Reade KC
Littleton Chambers 'David is calm, measured and an incredible advocate. He can quickly cut through a complex dispute to identify the issues and has an excellent manner with clients.'
Rupert D’Cruz KC
Littleton Chambers 'Rupert is a very solid and respectable advocate. His style is to produce a very convincing skeleton which would help him win the judge's mind even before the hearing.'
Juniors
Leading Juniors
Leading juniors are those with significant experience of key cases, strong market recognition from both peers and clients, and are seen as future candidates for silk.
David Lascelles
Littleton Chambers 'David is simply brilliant - very bright and great with clients. He reads the situation and opponents well, and devises great strategies as a result.'
Alexander Halban
Littleton Chambers 'Alexander has a remarkable ability to dissect complex legal issues and present them clearly. His advocacy is persuasive and precise, making him highly effective in court.'
Sam Neaman
Littleton Chambers 'A highly experienced senior junior. Excellent legal skills, highly strategic, and very user-friendly.'
Ming-Yee Shiu
Littleton Chambers
Ashley Cukier
Littleton Chambers ‘Ashley is hard-working and thorough and the quality of his drafting is very high. He is good at engaging with clients. As an advocate, he is well prepared and able to cope well under pressure.’
Nicholas Goodfellow
Littleton Chambers 'Nick is an excellent barrister - client-friendly, pragmatic, approachable and eminently sensible.'