Jacob Turner

Practice Areas

Jacob is a barrister specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration. He has advised individuals, corporates and sovereigns. His practice areas include finance, civil fraud, business and human rights, aviation and technology.

Jacob has a particular focus on data and AI. He is the author of a widely-cited book ‘Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence’ and has acted in several groundbreaking disputes in that field. He is ranked by Chambers & Partners as a Global Market Leader in AI.

His recent AI work includes acting in the ‘AI Inventor’ case, in which the Supreme Court considered whether an invention devised by an AI program can be registered as a patent. Jacob was instructed by a group of banks in a (now settled) multi-billion-dollar case where the claimants had sought, for the first time in a civil claim, to rely on evidence generated by AI. Jacob acted in a claim brought by Uber and Ola Cabs drivers, successfully challenging the use of algorithmic decision-making to fine the drivers and terminate their contracts. As sole counsel Jacob also successfully defended the first company to be investigated by the ICO for alleged algorithmic bias.

In addition to his AI practice, Jacob is regularly instructed to act both for and against sovereign states. He has in the past represented countries including Greece and Iraq, and he is currently instructed by Argentina, Venezuela, Libya and the UK. He is also acting for a claimant in a potential Bilateral Investment Treaty claim against the Russian Federation.

Jacob is a former solicitor-advocate, having qualified in 2014. He has acted as sole counsel in the High Court, an LCIA Arbitration and the Court of Appeal and as junior counsel in the UK Supreme Court and the ICSID Tribunal in Washington DC. He is on the Attorney-General’s Panel of Counsel.

He has been described by clients as “phenomenal” and “an outstanding up-and-coming barrister”.

Jacob’s current and recent work includes:

• Petersen Energía Inversora, S.A.U. and ors v The Argentine Republic:

Acting for the Argentine Republic (led by David Railton KC and Rajesh Pillai KC). The case concerns a US$16bn arbitral award relating to the alleged failure by the Republic to make a tender offer to shareholders in respect of an oil company that was re-nationalised in 2012. The claimants have sought recognition and enforcement of that award in the English court.

• Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks [2023] UKSC 49: Counsel for the appellant in UK Supreme Court appeal on the question of whether it is possible to register a patent for an invention devised by an AI system.

• Maduro Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela v Guaidó Board of the Central Bank of Venezuela [2023] EWCA Civ 742: Acting for the ‘Maduro Board’ in litigation concerning the control of US$2.1 billion of Venezuela’s international reserves. Led by Richard Lissack KC and others. One of The Lawyer’s top 10 appeals of 2023.

• General Dynamics UK v The State of Libya: Acting for the State of Libya (led by Richard Lissack KC) in the Court of Appeal in a case relating to the enforcement of an arbitral award against a property in London. The case raises important questions on as to the extent to which generalised language in a contractual document can be deemed to waive a State’s immunity from execution.

• Various Parties v Uber: Challenge in the Dutch Courts by drivers to the use of AI by Uber. Jacob’s clients succeeded in the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. Described in The Guardian as “a test case that could increase transparency for millions of gig economy workers across Europe.”

• Allianz Global Investors GmbH and ors v Deutsche Bank AG London and ors Claim No. CL-2020-000737: Instructed jointly by nine defendant banks in a multi-billion dollar follow-on damages claim in respect of the alleged manipulation of the foreign exchange market. This appears to have been the first litigation in the world where the claimant parties sought to plead and prove their claim using AI-generated evidence.

• Chelluri v Air India [2022] 2 All E.R. (Comm) 172: Sole counsel for the successful defendant airline in the Court of Appeal (Vos MR, Coulson LJ and Stuart-Smith LJ).

Publications

• Author of Robot Rules: Regulating Artificial Intelligence (Palgrave Macmillan).

• Contributing author to The Law of Artificial Intelligence (Sweet & Maxwell).

• Co-author, with Lord Mance, of Privy Council Practice (OUP).

Personal

Jacob has law degrees from Oxford (First Class) and Harvard.