Chambers UK Bar 2021 Rankings – “They are excellent without exception”

Serle Court is delighted to announce that chambers has been ranked in 11 practice areas in this year's Chambers UK Bar directory. Five of those departments are band 1 rankings:

Chancery: Commercial: Band 1
Chancery: Traditional: Band 1
Charities: Band 3
Commercial Dispute Resolution: Band 2
Company: Band 3
Fraud: Civil: Band 1
Offshore: Band 1
Partnership: Band 1
Professional Negligence: Band 4
Real Estate Litigation: Band 4
Restructuring/Insolvency: Band 3

Our barristers have received 132 individual recommendations across 21 practice areas (77 Silk recommendations and 55 Junior recommendations):

We would like to congratulate John Machell QC, Dakis Hagen QC and Will Henderson who have been recognised as 'Star Individuals' in Partnership, Family: Matrimonial Trusts and Chancery: Traditional respectively. We also congratulate Stephanie Wickenden who is 'Up and Coming' in Intellectual Property.

Thank you to Lance Ashworth QC, Matthew Morrison, Sophia Hurst, Eleni Dinenis are the contributors to Insolvency 2019, Second Edition Law and Practice in the UK.

Serle Court continues to receive praise from its instructing solicitors as "a leading commercial chancery chambers," adding that "everyone at the set is sensible, collaborative and very easy to work with." Chambers "houses an enviable bench of senior and junior barristers, and is regularly called upon to undertake the most complex cases in the market."

"They are my favourite set to work with – they have expertise in this field, but what we love is that they are so pragmatic and commercial, real team players," says a source.

The set is known for having developed strong arbitration and mediation practices and for being home to barristers who "combine detailed legal knowledge with practical application; they invariably present their advice in a client-friendly manner."

Serle Court's administrative operation also receives some fantastic reviews from clients:

The clerks are very responsive, helpful and commercial when it comes to negotiating fees." "The team is very good at identifying and matching needs for specific client requirements – they make sure that they match the right barrister with the right client." "The clerks understand the practicality of litigation and go the extra mile to help."

The set's administrative operation is praised by sources. "They are very easy to work with," observes a commentator, adding: "It's such a slick operation – they always provide a safe pair of hands."

"There is a real collaborative effort within the set and the clerks are very responsive, helpful and commercial." "The clerks are friendly, approachable and happy to accommodate requests."

"The clerks are great: they are very user-friendly, practical and pragmatic." "The client service is second to none; we would not be able to run any of our cases without them."

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our cherished clients who continue to support chambers' work.

To view Serle Court's rankings for 2021, please click here.

Related Barristers

Elizabeth Jones KC

Call: 1984
Silk: 2000

Dominic Dowley KC

Call: 1983
Silk: 2002

Lance Ashworth KC

Call: 1987
Silk: 2006

Christopher Stoner KC

Call: 1991
Silk: 2010

Michael Edenborough KC

Call: 1992
Silk: 2010

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.

John Machell KC

Call: 1993
Silk: 2012

Hugh Norbury KC

Call: 1995
Silk: 2012

David Blayney KC

Call: 1992
Silk: 2013

Jonathan Adkin KC

Call: 1997
Silk: 2013

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.

Daniel Lightman KC

Call: 1995
Silk: 2016

Dakis Hagen KC

Call: 2002
Silk: 2017

Constance McDonnell KC

Call: 2000
Silk: 2019

Justin Higgo KC

Call: 1995
Silk: 2020

Giles Richardson KC

Call: 1997
Silk: 2022

Dan McCourt Fritz KC

Call: 2007
Silk: 2023

Matthew Morrison KC has a broad commercial chancery practice, with particular expertise in civil fraud, company and partnership disputes, and insolvency litigation.

Described by Chambers UK 2027 as an “outstanding barrister” who is “technically brilliant, fantastic with clients and someone whose cross-examination is exceptional”, Matthew regularly appears in the High Court and Court of Appeal and has acted in proceedings before the Grand Court and Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (BVI), the Supreme Court of Gibraltar, the Isle of Man High Court of Justice and the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts. He also has significant experience assisting advocates before the Royal Courts of Jersey and Guernsey. He is generally admitted to the BVI Bar and is currently admitted ad hoc on a number of matters in the Cayman Islands.

Matthew is an established legal author. He has written widely read PLC practice notes on minority shareholder remedies and edits chapters on directors’ duties and disqualification, and insolvency, in Gore-Browne, Butterworths Corporate Law Service, Tolley’s Company Law Service and Tolley’s Company Law Handbook; and on unfair prejudice, misfeasance and disqualification in the Law of Limited Liability Partnerships (Whittaker and Machell (6th ed.), 2026).

Matthew Morrison KC

Call: 2004
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.

James Weale KC

Call: 2007
Silk: 2026

Andrew Francis

Call: 1977

Beverly-Ann Rogers

Call: 1978

Andrew Bruce

Call: 1992

David Drake

Call: 1994

Jennifer Haywood

Call: 2001

Jonathan Fowles

Call: 2004

James Mather

Call: 2006

Gareth Tilley

Call: 2007

Paul Adams

Call: 2008

Adil Mohamedbhai

Call: 2010

Emma Hargreaves

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.