The Bar - London Bar

Chambers of Ewan McQuater KC and David Quest KC

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3 Verulam Buildings is known for its members having ‘great gravitas and reputation for contentious insolvency work,’ with the set often involved in multi-jurisdictional insolvency disputes. In Lehman Brothers Holdings plc, Adrian Beltrami KC was instructed to represent the insolvent bank in ongoing waterfall disputes about the distribution of surpluses within the Lehman estate. Ewan McQuater KC was involved in NMC Healthcare Limited v Dubai Islamic Bank, the Middle East’s largest ongoing insolvency, where he led a counsel team in defending the interests of a Dubai Islamic Bank and Noor Bank in litigation concerning the collapse of the health company, alleged to be caused by fraud on the part of the company’s chairman. Looking at the juniors, Philip Hinks is noted for his work in Harrington Trading Company Ltd v Mehta, in which he acted for seven companies in liquidation and their joint liquidators in their claim that the proceeds of US$1bn of loans of gold bullion were misappropriated and laundered through a global network of companies.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'The clerks at 3VB are without exception professional and accommodating. Steve Penson, Stuart Pullum and Lucy Burrows lead by example. When problems arise they are faced head on. Fee negotiations are usually fair and transparent. It is also good to see a woman in a senior position.
  • 'Excellent clerks - very responsive and knowledgeable.'
  • 'Efficient.'
  • 'The clerks are good. Responsive and commercial.'
  • 'Incredible strength in depth when it comes to counsel with financial services experience.'
  • '3VB has genuine strength in depth. Their tendency to recruit former solicitors means that a number of their baby juniors have experience that others lack. Their ability to cover a wide range of commercial and financial services work makes them one of our first choice sets.'
  • 'Great gravitas and reputation for contentious insolvency work.'
  • 'Generally a strong set for insolvency work.'

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.

Matthew Hardwick3

Matthew Hardwick

Hall of fameChambers of Ewan McQuater KC and David Quest KC

'Matthew's strength is his ability to dive into a complex case and very quickly identify the key issues and what matters the judge would like want parties to address. He is extremely sharp and hardworking, as well as patience in trying to explain the issues to client.' 

Andrew Sutcliffe4

Andrew Sutcliffe

Hall of fameChambers of Ewan McQuater KC and David Quest KC

‘Andrew is incredibly bright, user-friendly, hard-working, completely unflappable and also a delight to have on the team. He has a unique charm when on his feet and presents his cases with charisma, clarity and eloquence. Andrew is also a real champion of those working with and around him and inspires others to pull together and work hard.’

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.

William Day3

William Day

Chambers of Ewan McQuater KC and David Quest KC

‘Will is definitely one of the rising stars of the commercial Chancery field. His greatest strength is his considerable intellect, which is combined with evident confidence and enthusiasm. Like many of the very best barristers, his oral and written skills are equally strong.’

Philip Hinks3

Philip Hinks

Chambers of Ewan McQuater KC and David Quest KC

'Phil is practical and thorough. He gets gets to the nub of the problem quickly and comes up with sensible solutions. He is approachable and always happy to discuss and explain the reasoning he has used to come up with his proposed solutions.'

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.

William Day3

William Day

Chambers of Ewan McQuater KC and David Quest KC

‘Will is definitely one of the rising stars of the commercial Chancery field. His greatest strength is his considerable intellect, which is combined with evident confidence and enthusiasm. Like many of the very best barristers, his oral and written skills are equally strong.’

Philip Hinks3

Philip Hinks

Chambers of Ewan McQuater KC and David Quest KC

'Phil is practical and thorough. He gets gets to the nub of the problem quickly and comes up with sensible solutions. He is approachable and always happy to discuss and explain the reasoning he has used to come up with his proposed solutions.'