Commercial Dispute Resolution
UK Bar Guide 2025 : London (Bar)
Band 2
Email address
[email protected]Contact number
(020) 7831 8441Chambers Review
3 Verulam Buildings' market-leading reputation arises out of its involvement in headline-grabbing commercial cases. It is well regarded in the fields of banking and finance, financial services and fraud. Recent highlights include major cases: Skatteforvaltningen (The Danish Customs and Tax Administration) v Solo Capital Partners LLP (in special administration) and others, a £2 billion Commercial Court fraud claim bought by the Danish Tax Authority; Various claimants v Serco Group, a securities group action brought under Section 90A of FSMA; and The Eclipse litigation, which concerned a failed filmtaxrelief scheme. One source comments: “They really are the go-to set for banking and finance disputes.” Another adds: “From top to bottom, the set features responsive, commercial and, most importantly, highly talented barristers.”
Stephen Penson and Stuart Pullum are the joint senior practice managers.
Strengths
Provided by Chambers
"Joint senior practice manager Stuart Pullam is undoubtedly one of the best individual clerks in the City, if not the best."
"Joint senior practice managers Stuart Pullum and Steven Penson are both excellent and highly attentive. They go above and beyond what is expected of them."
"The clerks are willing to have difficult conversations with you and really take the time to understand the dispute, before offering you the best person for the job."
"The clerks at 3VB are invariably excellent. They're the most responsive of any set I have used. Stephen Penson runs a tight ship, and is both supremely professional and exceedingly helpful."
"Practice manager James Kelly is the most practical, fastest moving clerk I've ever dealt with."
"Joint senior practice manager Stuart Pullam is undoubtedly one of the best individual clerks in the City, if not the best."
"Joint senior practice managers Stuart Pullum and Steven Penson are both excellent and highly attentive. They go above and beyond what is expected of them."
"The clerks are willing to have difficult conversations with you and really take the time to understand the dispute, before offering you the best person for the job."
"The clerks at 3VB are invariably excellent. They're the most responsive of any set I have used. Stephen Penson runs a tight ship, and is both supremely professional and exceedingly helpful."
"Practice manager James Kelly is the most practical, fastest moving clerk I've ever dealt with."
Notable Practitioners
"Adrian is a tough and very good advocate, who is an excellent cross-examiner."
"Adrian is in the premier league of barristers. He is insightful, and both his legal and commercial brains are just amazing. Clients really take to him and he is at the top of his game."
"A master of his craft."
"Adrian is phenomenal. His advocacy and analysis are both first-class."
"Adrian is extremely impressive. He is a careful and considered advocate, who presents complex arguments in a clear and concise manner."
"Ali is a heavyweight name that clients want to have on the ticket. He is a great orator and very charming. High net worth clients really listen to what he says."
"Andrew is someone judges listen to as his views are always balanced and he has great experience. He's good both in writing and in terms of his oral advocacy."
"Ewan is a real heavyweight with immense gravitas. He's brilliant, decisive and a real leader."
"He has a lot of gravitas."
"James is strategically good and presents well in his submissions; he is very clear in all he does."
"James is as sharp as a tack. He's super-responsive, friendly and a real team player."
"Adam is frighteningly clever and very polished."
"Adam is always a go-to for contractual issues."
"Adam is razor-sharp and has a quite humorous and relaxed advocacy style."
"David is really user-friendly and commercial. He's persuasive and has a particularly easy manner in court."
"David is one of the friendliest barristers and he is incredibly sharp."
"David is amazing. He is a compelling advocate with a very conversational style."
"David provides great clarity of thought and quickly knows exactly what the key points are."
"David is very smart, highly articulate and good on his feet."
"David is a fantastic all-round silk, who combines a forensic approach with deft client-handling."
"David is an excellent cross-examiner who is always on top of his strategy, always in control and is measured and effective."
"Hodge is brilliant. He is very measured and excellent at dealing with clients, and he has the best strategic brain I have seen at the Bar."
"Hodge is very good at seeing the big picture when faced with a worldwide legal issue."
"Jonathan is a brilliant silk. He's extremely thorough, hard-working, persuasive and completely unflappable."
"Jonathan is a very commercial and user-friendly silk, who is very good on his feet."
"Jonathan is an incredibly capable advocate. He is extremely clear in his advocacy."
"Jonathan is very experienced and he is always very composed and compelling on his feet."
"Jonathan is a silky smooth and impressive advocate in every sense."
"Jonathan is very good with clients and has the ability to put them at ease."
"Jonathan Nash has a very good bedside manner and is very responsive. His work is always well thought out and easy to understand."
"Peter is a really trusted pair of hands. He is incredibly thorough and very experienced."
"His written advice is very good and he is very quick to pick up points."
"Can is a silk standard junior. He's an excellent strategist and an excellent cross-examiner."
"Can works very hard for his clients. He's imaginative, innovative and great at thinking his way around problems which sometimes seem insurmountable."
"Peter is a superstar silk. He is fantastic with clients, the court and solicitors. He just gets results and is not afraid to cut through the detail."
"Peter is a go-to silk. He has a calm, unflappable demeanour and has both eyes on the court's viewpoint at all times."
"He is very sharp-witted, personable and user-friendly."
"He is a very confident advocate in court."
"I find him to be extremely sensible, on top of the details, very commercial and pleasant to work with."
"Tom is a fantastic advocate, who is very intelligent and quick on his feet. He also has a great rapport with the judges."
"Clients like him and he is a very confident advocate. Tom is very good at boiling down a difficult case to make it accessible."
"He is extremely hard-working and a quick drafter."
"Chris is very calm and composed. He is always on top of the legal side of things and never overcomplicates matters. He sees things very clearly and breaks them down. There's no fluff with him."
"He's incredibly thorough, detailed, user-friendly and supportive."
"George consistently gives clear and accurate advice on complex and unusual contract issues. He is a concise advocate, who is able to engage with and adapt to new issues that arise."
"He is a superb lawyer who makes really tough judgement calls."
"Hannah Glover is very can-do. She drafts well and she is someone you can rely on."
"She is very clear in her submissions."
"Liisa is a brilliant all-rounder."
"Wonderfully down to earth, really funny and a great team player. She's superbly technical, very clever and excellent on her feet."
"An excellent advocate and a superb tactician. She's forceful on her feet and great under pressure."
"A confident, charismatic and robust advocate. She provides clear advice in sophisticated commercial disputes, and is excellent when novel areas of law arise."
"He's very thorough and hard-working, and absorbs detail ridiculously easily."
"Matthew is very affable and really bright. He's a lawyer with a good commercial streak."
"Matthew has a brilliant courtroom manner and style of presentation. He is also very sound in his identification of problems and solutions."
"Matthew is an excellent silk, who offers keen attention to detail and stellar written and oral advocacy."
"Rajesh marshals his team very well. He is also commercial in his approach and has a forensic eye for detail."
"Smooth, experienced, well prepared and easy to get on with."
"Richard is nice to deal with, charming and very helpful. In court, the judges have confidence in him, which is key."
"A skilful advocate with potent arguments, who delivers his submissions in a balanced, calm and persuasive way."
"Ryan's attention to detail is fantastic and he gets across the key pieces of information in a case well. He is an exceptional junior who is user-friendly, accessible and approachable."
"Ryan is an extraordinarily good, hard-working junior. He is brilliantly clever and thinks widely around an issue."
"Ryan can see 50 moves ahead in a way I haven't seen in someone so junior. He sees all the possibilities."
"Ryan is hard-working, a creative thinker and someone who is interested in making novel ideas work in order to extricate the client from difficult situations."
"Alexia impresses with how incredibly good she is at working with the team. She operates in a really non-hierarchical way, which provides a more rounded service."
"She's ruthlessly intelligent and has an endearing style when on her feet, which allows her to make tough arguments really well."
"Andrew is great at distilling complex matters into simple propositions. He is also decisive and does not sit on the fence."
"Christopher is excellent on his feet and user-friendly with solicitors and clients."
"Very reassuring, very accessible and so lovely with the client."
"He brings value to every case he does."
"A real strength is that he spent several years at a firm as an associate, which means he understands the dynamics of how law firms are structured."
"Ian thinks of every argument, is incredibly detailed and is very good as part of a wider team."
"Ian is an extremely intelligent and impressive barrister whose drafting is first rate."
"Jamie is a pleasure to work with – clever and technically superior."
"Nick is a really powerful advocate and the most responsive KC I have ever worked with. He is a very robust performer who is charming and very good as part of a bigger team."
"Nicholas is fantastic. His judgement is always very good and he gives you a clear steer on how he sees a case."
"Nick is incredibly intelligent and very well versed in injunctions generally. He's highly commercially minded, very impressive and someone who has an excellent manner in court."
"Andrew is fantastic to work with. He's very responsive, he understands the issues and he communicates clearly and effectively to clients."
"Anne is user-friendly and very able to meet with the demands of quick turnaround."
"Anne's client service is excellent. She's commercial, she delivers work of the highest quality, she's laser-focused on how to find the route to victory and she's an immensely persuasive advocate."
"Farhaz is very smart and has good legal judgement but, importantly, he's also extremely user-friendly and good to work with."
"Very energetic and a masterful strategist, who has a very fine intellect."
"Matthew is an effective advocate on his feet, who also really shines through in terms of client relations."
"Matthew has a confident and assured manner in both his oral advocacy and his advisory work. He doesn't shy away from difficult points or challenges, whether they be from the bench or his opponents."
"Matthew is the complete package. He is a great tactician and is very good at explaining complex things to clients."
"Rebecca is super-intelligent, has an excellent knowledge of the law and has excellent tactical and commercial awareness."
"She is very considered and well prepared."
"Rebecca's advice is always very clear, commercial and common-sensical. She is able to distil some complex legal arguments into relatively easy to digest pieces of advice."
"Richard is very smart and his written work is excellent."
"He is extremely responsive, straight to the point and very clever."
"Richard has a great ability to take on board points and be collaborative."
"She is very well regarded and gives clear advice."
"Sarah is a natural, diligent and tenacious barrister."
"Will is one of the best juniors I've worked with. He has the most broad shoulders of any junior I've come across and he is well liked and trusted by the silk teams he works with."
"William Day is an outstanding barrister with an exceptional talent for framing complex commercial issues and developing legal arguments in a brilliant way."
"William Day is exceptionally bright and intellectually brilliant, and really impresses with his ability to master very difficult points of law in a short time. He is a star of the future."
"William is intellectually phenomenal. Also, because he worked in private practice, he understands the solicitors' and barristers' roles perfectly."
"Dominic is really exceptional. He has a strong ability to absorb disparate information and he works in lots of areas, which is a real strength."
"Dominic Kennelly is incredibly hard-working and he drafts beautifully; his written work is crisp, simple, unadorned and to the point."