Alan Gourgey KC
Wilberforce Chambers ‘Alan is a fantastic leader and a port in a storm in tricky fraud cases. He is calm and utterly reliable, with great judgement built on experience with the toughest cases.'
Wilberforce Chambers is ‘excellent for fraud, insolvency and commercial Chancery work’, regularly handling claims involving allegations of misrepresentation, conspiracy, breach of duty, as well as accessory liability. Tim Penny KC was instructed by the first and seventeenth defendant in Suppipat and others v Narongdej and others, a $1bn claim arising from allegations of fraud and asset-stripping related to dealings in the shares of Thailand’s largest wind farm company, Wind Energy Holding. In Harrington & Charles Trading Company and others v Mehta and others, another $1bn claim, Thomas Grant KC and Emily McKechnie are defending various members of the Mehta family, accused of misappropriating and laundering proceeds from their diamond and precious metals businesses in an international fraud scheme. Alan Gourgey KC, leading Bobby Friedman, act for the defendants in Steenbok Newco 10 SARL v Formal Holdings, a fraud claim advanced by assignees of the Steinhoff Group, involving allegations of misappropriation and laundering of £90m in payments made by the now-liquidated South African conglomerate.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The clerks are brilliant. Fraser Geddes, Andrew Barnes, Stewart Cameron and Antonia Matthew are standouts.'
- 'Conor Michaels is supremely organised and always a pleasure to work with.'
- 'Antonia Matthew is always incredibly helpful and responsive. She is someone you can have a sensible commercial conversation with and will take on board your views while still ensuring a good outcome for the barrister.'
- 'Clerks at Wilberforce are all great, commercial, and effective. Steward Cameron leads by example.'
- 'All of Wilberforce's members are excellent for fraud, insolvency and commercial chancery work.'
- 'Excellent commercial chancery set looking to lead the pack.'
- 'Wilberforce are well known for their fraud practice and are a go-to set for these types of matters.'
- 'The set is very strong in civil fraud and has a good range of barristers with the right expertise.'
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.
Thomas Grant KC
Wilberforce Chambers ‘Thomas is a fantastic strategist and a master at steering the court’s attention to the key elements of the case – he is simply brilliant to work with.’
John Wardell KC
Wilberforce Chambers ‘John is a top-class barrister. His attention to detail is meticulous, which combined with an engaging and persuasive advocacy style makes him a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom.’
Tim Penny KC
Wilberforce Chambers 'A very pragmatic and concise silk. He understands exactly how to advance arguments for maximum impact with the court, even when arguing challenging points.'
Fenner Moeran KC
Wilberforce Chambers 'A terrific advocate. Clients love him. He is supremely quick off the mark but listens to the mood of the room.'
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.
Anna Littler
Wilberforce Chambers ‘Underestimate Anna at your peril. A fiercely intelligent, analytical and creative lawyer with tremendous judgement and is superb on her feet.’
Bobby Friedman
Wilberforce Chambers ‘Bobby is commercially aware, astute and highly intelligent. He is pure class.'
Tim Matthewson
Wilberforce Chambers 'Tim is a talented junior barrister with a strong understanding of fraud law. He is able to hold ground in court even in particularly challenging circumstances.'
Jack Watson
Wilberforce Chambers 'Jack is a terrific advocate whose cross-examination skills are beyond his year of call. He is direct yet personable and is liked by clients.'
Sri Carmichael
Wilberforce Chambers 'Sri is a fantastic advocate - ferocious when required, calm and collected when not.'
James Goodwin
Wilberforce Chambers 'He is a brilliant court advocate with a mastery of the details in even the most complex cases.'
Alice Hawker
Wilberforce Chambers 'She always rolls her sleeves up, and is calm, confident and on top of the details.'
Emily McKechnie
Wilberforce Chambers 'She has a great command of the law and top quality strategic views.'
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.
