Thomas de la Mare KC
Blackstone Chambers 'Tom is innovative, forceful, good on his feet, humorous and a pleasure to work with.'
Blackstone Chambers is ‘one of the best-regarded sets at the Bar’, with members regularly representing regulators and challenging applicants in complex enforcement cases before the CAT. Hanif Mussa KC acted for the defendants in Granville Technology Group & Ors v LG Display, a follow-on damages claim brought by a group of computer retailers that saw only the third ever cartel damages judgment given by a UK court. Brian Kennelly KC, Tristan Jones KC and Jason Pobjoy all appeared in Volkswagen AG & BMW v CMA, with the High Court’s judgment in favour of the car manufacturers regarding the extraterritorial scope of the Competition Act 1998 being overturned by the Court of Appeal in January.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The clerks are always easy to reach and helpful. Dean Tolman in particular is always very helpful.'
- 'The clerking team epitomise professionalism.'
- 'The clerks are friendly, responsive and deliver a professional service.'
- 'The clerks are helpful and responsive when needed, and flexible with providing availabilities on short notice.'
- 'Super set of chambers, one of the best. They have a deep bench of brilliant silks and juniors.'
- 'Blackstone have a strong cadre of competition silks and juniors, but the greater diversity of the practice areas as against certain other chambers in this area means its members often have a wider skill set, and stronger advocacy skills, that they can bring to bear.'
- 'Blackstone is undoubtedly one of the top sets for complex commercial litigation and increasingly is seen as a go to set for competition litigation.'
- 'Blackstone is a first rate set generally and for competition in particular.'
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.
James Segan KC
Blackstone Chambers ‘James has a huge depth of experience and encyclopaedic knowledge of the application of competition law.’
Jessica Boyd KC
Blackstone Chambers ‘Jess is very user friendly and gives pragmatic advice.’
Hanif Mussa KC
Blackstone Chambers ‘Hanif has an excellent ability to cut through to the most important issues in the case. He will prioritise – ruthlessly if needs be – to ensure that the points most in need of airtime get the exposition that they deserve. His advocacy style is clear, measured, and inspires confidence in the correctness of his position.’
2024 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.
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.
Ravi Mehta
Blackstone Chambers ‘Ravi is a safe pair of hands and knows his stuff.’
Naina Patel
Blackstone Chambers 'Naina's advocacy is measured, persuasive and highly effective. She is an excellent lawyer, very analytical and a pleasure to work with.'
Tom Coates
Blackstone Chambers ‘Tom is an incredibly thoughtful barrister and gives careful consideration to all aspects of the instruction. His written advocacy is always of an excellent standard and he clearly understands and is across all aspects of his cases. He performs well on his feet against KCs with significantly more experience.’
Rising stars
Rising stars at the Bar are defined as barristers between four and eight years’ call who are seen as up-and-coming members of the Bar in their respective practice areas by clients and peers alike. They will already be instructed in high-profile, complex, and high-value contentious and non-contentious matters, working with and opposite more experienced leading counsel.
