John Machell KC


Year of Call: 1993 Year of Silk: 2012

“A strong commercial chancery silk with an excellent reputation for his partnership work. He carries out both advisory work and litigation, and is regarded as a hard-working and technically astute practitioner.” “Works tremendously hard and has a good brain.”

Chambers & Partners
Portrait of John Machell KC

Practice Overview

John has a broad commercial chancery practice, and particular experience of large-scale litigation involving trusts, fiduciary duties, and fraud and trusts, 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 relates to trusts, mostly offshore, and he has appeared in the Grand Court in Cayman on a number of occasions in the last few years.

John acts as an arbitrator and as an expert pursuant to expert determination agreements. As a member of the Football Premier League Panel, John sat as the chair of an inquiry into Hull City's ticketing policy. John has conducted internal inquiries on professional conduct and other matters for firms of solicitors.

News & Events

  • News

    Serle Court Excels in Chambers Global Guide 2025

    Serle Court is delighted to have once again achieved top-band recognition in the Chambers & Partners Global Guide 2025. We are... Read More

    News

    Serle Court Achieves Top Tier Ranking in The Legal 500 Caribbean 2025: The English Bar Offshore

    Serle Court is delighted to have once again achieved top-tier recognition in The Legal 500 Caribbean 2025: The English Bar Offshore, with... Read More

  • Events Hub

    7th International Trusts & Commercial Litigation Conference 2024

    Location:
    Read More

    Events Hub

    Serle Court Client Party 2024

    Location:
    Read More

  • "John Machell KC is knowledgeable, calm, highly commercial and absolutely to be trusted. You always feel that he's got your back, and that's what you need in a barrister."

    Chambers & Partners, 2025
  • "John is an absolute pleasure to work with. He's thorough, considered and extremely well regarded by clients."

    Chambers & Partners, 2025
  • “John is a class act and a star of the trust litigation bar. He is intelligent, gets to the point, provides quality advice, and is very effective as an advocate.”

    Legal 500, 2025
  • "John hits all the marks - he is an intellectual powerhouse, a persuasive advocate, and his advice is always commercial."

    Legal 500, 2025

Education & Qualifications

LLB (First Class) University of Southampton

Memberships

Association of Partnership Practitioners

Commercial Bar Association

Chancery Bar Association

VAT Number

649223135

News & Events

  • News

    Serle Court Excels in Chambers Global Guide 2025

    Serle Court is delighted to have once again achieved top-band recognition in the Chambers & Partners Global Guide 2025. We are... Read More

    News

    Serle Court Achieves Top Tier Ranking in The Legal 500 Caribbean 2025: The English Bar Offshore

    Serle Court is delighted to have once again achieved top-tier recognition in The Legal 500 Caribbean 2025: The English Bar Offshore, with... Read More

  • Events Hub

    7th International Trusts & Commercial Litigation Conference 2024

    Location: Read More

    Events Hub

    Serle Court Client Party 2024

    Location: Read More