We are delighted to announce that Serle Court has been recognised for another outstanding year in the Chambers UK Bar 2025 guide. This year, we are proud to have been ranked in 25 practice areas, with an impressive 164 individual rankings—a significant increase from last year.
The guide describes Serle Court as “a really top set, home to some of the best people in the industry.” It also praises us as a set that "has an enviable bench of senior and junior barristers and is regularly called upon to undertake the most complex cases in the market."
Top Tier Set Rankings
Serle Court has proudly maintained its top tier set rankings in Offshore, Chancery: Commercial, and Chancery: Traditional. Additionally, we have been recommended in the following practice areas: Company, Charities, Commercial Dispute Resolution, Fraud: Civil, Partnership, Professional Negligence, Real Estate Litigation, and Restructuring/Insolvency.
New and Rising Talent Recognised
We are pleased to announce several new individual rankings this year:
Notable Moves Up the Rankings
We are equally proud of the 22 individuals who have collectively advanced in 36 rankings across various practice areas this year. These barristers include: Philip Jones KC, John Machell KC, Jonathan Adkin KC, Rupert Reed KC, Zoe O’Sullivan KC, Daniel Lightman KC, Giles Richardson KC, Dan McCourt Fritz KC, Michael Walsh, James Mather, James Weale, Paul Adams, Sophie Holcombe, Adil Mohamedbhai, Harry Martin, Oliver Jones, Stephanie Wickenden and Stephanie Thompson.
Special congratulations go to:
Giles Richardson KC, recognised as a Star Individual in Family/Matrimonial: Trusts/Tax Experts.
Michael Walsh, who made an impressive leap, moving up two bands in Property.
Our “superstar” clerking team also received high praise from clients, described as "excellent," “a pleasure to deal with,” and commended for their flexibility, responsiveness, and approachable nature.
These achievements reflect the dedication, expertise, and outstanding quality of our barristers and clerks. We extend our appreciation to our clients and referees for their continued support, and to Chambers & Partners for their comprehensive research.
To view Serle Court’s full rankings and testimonials, [Serle Court, UK Bar 2025 | Chambers Profiles].
Call: 1985
Silk: 2006
John Machell KC has a broad commercial chancery practice, with particular experience in large-scale litigation involving trusts, fiduciary/director duties, and fraud, particularly with an international dimension.
John is regarded as one of the leading partnership and LLP silks and has experience of a wide range of both contentious and non-contentious matters across the whole range of business sectors. A large part of his work involves issues arising from the use of partnerships and LLPs in hedge fund and private equity structures; in international commercial group structures; and as part of wealth planning strategies.
A substantial part of John’s practice is offshore, and he has appeared in the courts of Grand Cayman, the British Virgin Islands, and Bermuda on several occasions in recent years.
Call: 1993
Silk: 2012
Call: 1997
Silk: 2013
Call: 1996
Silk: 2014
Call: 1993
Silk: 2015
As part of a broad Chancery-Commercial practice, Daniel Lightman KC engages with challenging and novel issues of law and civil procedure, in particular concerning shareholder disputes (having appeared in a number of landmark unfair prejudice petitions and derivative claims), company law (including in matrimonial proceedings), insolvency, civil fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and professional negligence.
Shortlisted for Company/Insolvency Silk of the Year in the Chambers & Partners UK Bar Awards in both 2026 and 2024 and shortlisted for Chancery Silk of the Year in the Legal 500 Bar Awards 2026, Daniel is recommended in Band 1 for Silks for Company by both Chambers UK, 2027 and the Legal 500, 2027 – and in Band 1 for Chancery Commercial by Chambers. Chambers UK, 2027 describes him as “A go-to silk for high value, complex disputes who leads the pack on shareholder disputes. He has great judgement and always furnishes reliable advice” and praises him for “constantly identifying innovative solutions to complex problems” and building “outstanding relationships with the wider legal team.”
Daniel has an extensive international practice, including current or recent shareholder litigation in the courts of Abu Dhabi, Bermuda, Cayman, Guernsey and Qatar, and a multi-shareholder arbitration in Hong Kong.
Call: 1995
Silk: 2016
Call: 1997
Silk: 2022
Call: 2007
Silk: 2023
Call: 2006
Silk: 2025
James Weale KC has a very busy commercial chancery practice with a focus on domestic and international commercial and trusts disputes.
He is recognised as a leading practitioner in those fields by Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, Chambers Global, Chambers High Net Worth, and Who’s Who Legal, where they describe him as a “brilliant lawyer” and a “Superstar”. He was Chambers & Partners’ Chancery Junior of the Year in 2023.
He regularly appears (both as sole and junior counsel) in the English High Court and has appeared several times in the Court of Appeal. He also has considerable experience in overseas jurisdictions (including as sole counsel), including Bermuda, the DIFC, the BVI, Cayman, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar and Panama.
Call: 2007
Silk: 2026
Call: 2006
Call: 2007
Call: 2008
Call: 2009
Call: 2010
Harry Martin has a busy junior practice specialising in chancery, commercial chancery, and art and cultural property work. He advises in relation to contentious and non-contentious matters, both in England & Wales and in other jurisdictions.
Harry is ranked as a leading barrister in the Chambers UK Bar and Chambers High Net Worth guides, which describe him as “a rising star”, and “very bright and commercial in his advice”.
Call: 2012
Oliver Jones is a senior junior with a broad commercial and chancery practice, and particular expertise in private wealth and civil fraud disputes. He is recognised by the directories as a leading junior in these areas.
In addition to his busy practice in England, he regularly works in major offshore jurisdictions, including the Channel Islands, BVI and Bermuda. Ollie was called to the BVI bar in 2019.
In addition to noting his “incredible intellect” and “engaging and persuasive” advocacy, the directories note Ollie’s ability to “roll up his sleeves”, “get on top of huge volumes of work and detail quickly” and build a “great rapport with clients”. In addition to acting unled, Ollie also enjoys working as part of larger teams on large-scale litigation, in which he “consistently delivers impressive results”. Ollie takes pride in his reputation for being “user-friendly” and “great to work with”.
Before coming to the Bar, Ollie spent several years as a management consultant in the financial services, energy, and public sectors. He brings this commercial experience and perspective to bear in his cases.
Call: 2014
Stephanie Wickenden specialises in intellectual property, art and media law.
She has experience in commercial chancery cases in the creative and technology sectors, including contractual and tortious IT disputes, contentious trusts and estates matters involving creative assets, and shareholder and directors’ disputes involving IP breaches. A significant proportion of her practice has an international element, including cases involving disputed jurisdiction, foreign law, and service and enforcement out of the jurisdiction.
With a background in art and theatre, combined with expertise in IP, commercial and private international law, Stephanie is uniquely placed to advise on contentious and non-contentious matters relating to art and cultural property. Having spent three years at a top international law firm, she also advises on IP transactions and licensing.
Stephanie enjoys working as part of a team and is confident acting as sole counsel. She is regularly instructed in significant Intellectual Property cases before the UK courts, often unled and against KCs, including Thatchers v Aldi [2025] EWCA Civ 5 and EasyGroup v Nuclei and others [2023] EWCA Civ 1247. She has appeared before the CJEU (General Court), Court of Appeal, High Court and IPEC, and in registry proceedings before the UK IPO and EUIPO.
Call: 2014
Charlotte Beynon has a commercial chancery practice encompassing contentious trusts, civil fraud, insolvency and commercial litigation.
Her clients say, “Charlotte is brilliant. A superstar in the making”, and they also commend her as “pragmatic, responsive and commercial.”
She frequently handles complex, high-value cases, onshore and offshore, often with international elements. She is particularly experienced in acting in high-value offshore trusts disputes and complex fraud claims – often raising issues of private international law.
Charlotte regularly appears in the High Court and County Court both led and as sole counsel. She also appears as specialist chancery counsel in matrimonial proceedings in the Family Division. Her legal writing has been published in Trusts & Trustees.
Call: 2015
Call: 2016
Sparsh Garg is a chancery and commercial barrister specialising in contentious trusts and estates matters and company disputes. He has acted in complex, high-value trusts and company cases.
Sparsh is recognised in the legal directories for offshore private client and commercial work. He regularly receives instructions in The Bahamas, Gibraltar and Jersey, is called to the BVI Bar, and acts in BVI matters independently and as part of counsel teams.
In England, Sparsh is recognised as a “rising star” and “up and coming” barrister in traditional chancery and private client work. Clients describe him as “intelligent, hard-working, an innovative thinker”, as well as personable and a good team player.
In 2019, Sparsh was seconded to the dispute resolution team of a leading Gibraltar law firm, working on contentious trusts and commercial disputes. He has since continued to develop his offshore practice, acting as sole counsel and alongside other barristers.
His offshore experience includes three Privy Council appeals: Chu v Lau [2020], concerning just and equitable winding-up on grounds of shareholder deadlock; Perry v Lopag [2023], concerning appellate intervention in findings of foreign law; and Dawson-Damer v Grampian Trust Company Ltd, concerning a trustee’s duty of adequate deliberation.
Call: 2017
Jamie Randall has a practice spanning a wide range of disputes concerning commercial and personal interests, and frequently the interconnection between the two. His recent trust and probate work covers the full spectrum of traditional chancery proceedings, including claims for breach of trust, accounts and removal of trustees, proprietary estoppel, 1975 Act claims, and probate disputes. Those cases often have an international element and he has acted on cases in numerous jurisdictions, including Jersey, Guernsey, Singapore, The Bahamas and Bermuda. His commercial work often includes claims for breach of fiduciary duty, deceit, unfair prejudice and insolvency-related issues.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Jamie worked in strategy consulting focused on the financial services sector. He approaches cases with pragmatism and always maintains a focus on the commercial outcome for clients. He also still enjoys being able to apply his financial experience to complex claims concerning valuation and forensic accounting issues.
Call: 2017
Call: 2017