South Square

Chambers Director: William Mackinlay M.V.O.

Practice Managers: Dylan Playfoot, Marco Malatesta, Tom Gibbons, Luke Clark

Tenants: 46

THE CHAMBERS South Square is a leading set of commercial law barristers who have acted in many of the most important restructuring, insolvency, banking, commercial, company and fraud-related disputes of recent times. The set is highly regarded internationally, with barristers regularly appearing in courts around the world, including the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda, Guernsey, Jersey, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Gibraltar. WORK UNDERTAKEN

Restructuring & Insolvency: South Square is consistently recognised as the top set for restructuring and insolvency work – both domestic and cross-border. The credit crunch and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic have generated a substantial amount of restructuring and insolvency litigation. South Square barristers have been involved in all of the major cases including Virgin Atlantic, Swissport, Debenhams, Lehman Brothers, Saad, Singularis, and Nortel.

Banking & Finance: South Square has a strong banking and finance practice, with a particular specialisation in large-scale financial disputes, derivatives, securitisations and structured finance products. Due to its insolvency and restructuring expertise, the set is uniquely positioned to deal with credit crunch litigation and advisory work. Examples of cases include Graiseley v Barclays Bank, BNY Corporate Trustee Services v Eurosail, Loreley v LBIE, Landsbanki v Heritable, Landsbanki v Rabobank and GSO Capital Partners v Barclays Bank.

Commercial Dispute Resolution: South Square barristers are involved in significant pieces of high-profile commercial litigation in the Commercial Court and the Chancery Division. The set is instructed by a wide range of firms, predominantly leading City firms, in commercial matters with a business dimension. Recent cases include Constantin Medien AG v Bernard Ecclestone, BNY Mellon Corporate Services V LGB Capital and Edgeworth Capital (Luxembourg), S.A.R.L. v Ramblas.

Company: South Square plays a major role in company law cases, regularly appearing in litigation arising out of shareholders’ disputes, derivative proceedings and claims relating to directors’ duties. High-profile cases include Smithton v Naggar, McKillen v Barclay and Jackson v Dear. In addition, barristers have acted in virtually all of the recent high-profile creditor schemes of arrangement under the Companies Act, including Hema, Flint Group, Swissport, NN2 Newco and Lecta. South Square barristers also appeared on the first “restructuring plan” promoted (by Virgin Atlantic) under Part 26A of the Companies Act.

Civil Fraud: South Square handles some of the most complex commercial fraud and asset tracing litigation. Recent work in England and offshore includes acting in litigation arising from the Saad, Madoff and Stanford frauds as well as litigation involving the Tchenguiz brothers and Bernie Ecclestone/Formula One. Financial Services: South Square undertakes a broad range of financial services work, including conduct of business rules, client money, payment services, insurance regulation, derivatives, security issues and financial collateral arrangements. Prominent examples of financial services insolvencies have included SVS, Beaufort, Lehman Brothers and MF Global.

International & Offshore: South Square barristers are at the forefront of insolvency, banking, company and fraud cases before the courts of all the major offshore jurisdictions. Examples of work include Abraaj, Ocean Rig, Saad, Singularis, Oscatello, Picard v Primeo, Primeo v HSBC, Dubai World, Thyssen, Marrache and Nolan v Minerva.

Arbitration & Mediation: South Square barristers have significant arbitration or mediation experience having been involved in domestic and international arbitrations and mediations over the course of the last 20-30 years. Members of Chambers have regularly appeared or advised as Leading and Junior Counsel in arbitrations administered by, for example, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) and the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Sport: South Square barristers have a long track-record of appearing in high-profile sports law cases. These cases involve acting for numerous sporting bodies (including UEFA, the FA, the Premier League, the English Football League and the England and Wales Cricket Board) and teams (including the McLaren motor racing team and Arsenal FC). In recent years South Square barristers have acted in a number of cases concerning the application of financial fair play rules to football clubs, including UEFA v MCFC, EFL v Sheffield Wednesday FC and EFL v Derby County FC.