Praised as ‘the pre-eminent set in Manchester for valuable company litigation’, Kings Chambers is home to Lesley Anderson KC, who has appeared several times before the Supreme Court, and David Casement KC, who successfully represented the respondents in Brown v Graham, a shareholder dispute surrounding allegations of unfairly prejudicial conduct arising from the termination of a director. Louis Doyle KC is a specialist personal and corporate insolvency silk, while Mark Harper KC and Andrew Grantham KC are both strong in shareholder disputes. Martin Budworth and Ben Harding are notable juniors in this area; Budworth acted for the plaintiff in Durose v Waterland & ors, a £25m unfair prejudice petition arising from allegations that Dutch private equity investors unlawfully flooded the board and subsequently diluted the shareholding.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'The clerks are very responsive. Gary Young in particular is a legend.'
- 'Gary Young is among the best clerks, and other notable clerking assets are Harry Young and Gary Smith.'
- 'The clerks at Kings Chambers are helpful, responsive, and on hand to assist in any way they can. A lot of the clerks have worked at Kings a long time, which is testament to the slick operation they have and clear camaraderie, which makes them really pleasant to deal with.'
- 'Kings Chambers are the pre-eminent set in Manchester for valuable company litigation.'
- 'Kings Chambers as a whole has real strength in depth across company and other areas of litigation, and they offer excellent clerking support, helpful CPD courses, and suggestions for new areas of work that might be of mutual benefit.'
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.
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.
Ben Harding
Kings Chambers 'Ben is cerebral, detailed, analytical, and he treads with authority and intellect in all aspects of his commercial litigation practice. He is able to tailor his work and input according to the commercial circumstances and the relative importance of the matter on the client's agenda, and he is responsive and dedicated.'
Douglas Cochran
Kings Chambers 'Douglas’s insolvency work complements the commercial litigation work in which he also engages. He is a highly effective advocate by reason of his straightforward and clear manner, both in court and in dealing with clients, and he also possesses a dry sense of humour which, at an appropriate moment, can lighten any difficulty encountered either in the course of a hearing or client conference.'