Judgment in King v Stiefel [2021] EWHC 1045 (Comm)

In a judgment handed down this morning, the Commercial Court has struck out a £58 million claim in unlawful means conspiracy brought against the defendants to previous (discontinued) litigation against the same claimants, their solicitors and QC.

In her excoriating judgment in King v Stiefel [2021] EWHC 1045 (Comm) – a rare example of a court striking out a fraud claim – Mrs Justice Cockerill DBE addressed a number of significant legal and procedural issues. These include whether the CPR require a defendant to file a defence before applying for summary judgment (the Judge found that they don’t), the purposes and requirements of a pleading (in particular when pleading fraud), that abuse of process can arise where the relevant issue could have been raised during a costs assessment in relation to previous proceedings and that (save in relation to actions for negligence) an advocate’s immunity from suit has not been abolished. Daniel Lightman QC and Charlotte Beynon represented five of the ten defendants who successfully applied to strike out and for summary judgment.

Please click here to view the judgment.

Related Barristers

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

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.