XXIV Old Buildings is ‘the leading set for domestic and international contentious trust, probate and commercial disputes’. Elspeth Talbot Rice KC is heavily involved in complex and high-value contentious trust matters, including applications for addition and removal of beneficiaries, removal or substitute trustee and restructuring of the trusts. ’A real intellectual giant of the chancery Bar’, Adam Cloherty KC, is currently acting for the beneficiary in a case concerning the structuring of trusts holding several UK companies, in a dispute over control of the structure. On the junior end, Daniel Warents garners praise for his ‘skilful and slick cross-examination’, and Elizabeth Weaver regularly acts for trustees, executors and beneficiaries and is known for ’spotting the critical points for development in any case’.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'James Ladbrook is extremely helpful and proactive.'
  • 'The clerks are user-friendly and always helpful. Tommie Drury, in particular, always brings a lot of enthusiasm and energy to his work.'
  • 'The clerking team is great and led by Paul Horsfield, who is always a safe pair of hands. James Ladbrook, Tommie Drury and Perry Brown all deserve mention for their unfailingly helpful demeanour. They are service-oriented and helpful.'
  • 'Tommie Drury is one of the best clerks and is very responsive.'
  • 'Paul Horsfield leads a good clerks room in an approachable way. Perry Brown stands out as particularly easy to deal with.'
  • 'James Ladbrook is first class. He is polite, responsive and reasonable.'
  • 'James Ladbrook and Lyndon Tiller are very helpful and respond quickly.'
  • ‘XXIV Old Buildings is the leading set with counsel from top silks to juniors.'

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.
Elspeth Talbot Rice KC
1
Elspeth Talbot Rice KC
XXIV Old Buildings
 'Elspeth is a fearsome advocate and go-to silk for all heavyweight litigation. She cuts through the weight of evidence to get to the core issues.'
2023 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.
Adam Cloherty KC
Adam Cloherty KC
XXIV Old Buildings
‘Adam is incredibly talented. He is thoughtful, careful and methodical, and his advice is always rigorous and reliable.’

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.
Andrew Holden
2
Andrew Holden
XXIV Old Buildings
‘Andrew is an absolute superstar and has an outstanding legal mind. His written work is first-rate and cuts through issues and finds solutions.’
Daniel Warents
2
Daniel Warents
XXIV Old Buildings
‘Daniel is a first-rate junior destined for higher things. He always has a fantastic grasp on the whole scope of a case, no matter how complicated, and works in a notably clear, methodical and persuasive.’
Elizabeth Weaver
2
Elizabeth Weaver
XXIV Old Buildings
'Elizabeth is very thorough, easy to work with and willing to take a pragmatic approach when necessary. She is very good at assessing risk and helping to make balanced decisions in light of all the issues.'
Sarah Bayliss
4
Sarah Bayliss
XXIV Old Buildings
'Sarah is very insightful, grasps the key points quickly, and can give pragmatic and commercial advice.'
Helen Galley
4
Helen Galley
XXIV Old Buildings
‘Helen is a tough negotiator and very good at translating complex legal concepts into client-friendly language.’
4
Bajul Shah
XXIV Old Buildings
‘Bajul has great commercial instinct and is a very astute judge of the merits and weaknesses of cases. He is a go-to barrister.’
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.
James Fennemore
James Fennemore
XXIV Old Buildings
 'James is a star in the making. He is very intelligent and able to come up with brilliant solutions.'