Year of Call: 2012
“Lara is truly exceptional on her feet. Extremely smart and commercial, she is all over the detail.”
“A robust advocate who is confident and persuasive. She is a delight to work with and always has a commercial, bigger-picture view in mind”
Lara has a commercial Chancery practice, with a particular emphasis on high value disputes in England & Wales and offshore. Her work encompasses all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration, property litigation, civil fraud, company law and insolvency matters.
Consistently ranked as a leading junior barrister in the legal directories, Lara is recommended in five practice areas (commercial litigation, chancery:commercial, insolvency/restructuring, company and property litigation) across the current editions of Legal 500 (London Bar) and Chambers and Partners (UK Bar).
Lara is highly regarded for her advocacy and, in the majority of her cases, she acts as lead or sole advocate. She frequently appears (unled) against senior juniors or KCs. However, she is equally comfortable acting as junior counsel led by more senior barristers from within or outside chambers, as she is currently doing across a range of cases in England and internationally.
In addition to her private work, Lara also undertakes work on behalf of the UK Government. She is on the Attorney General’s B Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown and represents the Government in commercial, property, company and insolvency matters.
Before transferring to the English Bar, Lara was a solicitor in the London commercial disputes team of two US firms: Weil, Gotshal & Manges and McDermott Will & Emery UK LLP. Between 2013 and 2015, Lara practised as a Cayman Islands attorney in the Dispute Resolution and Insolvency group at Maples and Calder.
Lara is recommended as a leading junior in Legal 500 (London Bar) for Commercial Litigation and in Chambers and Partners (UK Bar: London Bar) for Chancery:Commercial work.
She has significant experience of complex commercial litigation and has appeared in the English Courts and offshore in disputes relating to a range of industry sectors, frequently with a technological focus and involving cross-border issues.
Lara’s practice covers all the key areas of contractual disputes, including the sale of goods and supply of services; joint venture and shareholder disputes; and claims arising from guarantees and indemnities. Her clients include individuals, large corporate entities, the UK Government and litigation funders.
Lara is a member of COMBAR. She writes regularly about subjects relating to commercial litigation for several legal journals including the Butterworths Journal of International Banking & Financial Law and the New Law Journal.
Recent and notable matters include:
As a solicitor, Lara advised and acted in a number of very significant high-profile commercial disputes, including
Lara has significant experience in international commercial arbitration, having represented clients in high-value and complex matters heard under ICC, LCIA, SIAC, SCC and UNCITRAL rules, as well as in ad hoc arbitrations.
Lara has a Diploma in International Arbitration from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb). She accepts instructions to act as an arbitrator and is a panel arbitrator for the Asian International Arbitration Centre (Kuala Lumpur).
Recent and notable cases include:
Lara is ranked by both Legal 500 (London Bar) and Chambers and Partners (UK Bar: London Bar) as a leading junior in Insolvency/Restructuring.
Lara’s practice includes acting and advising in relation to corporate and personal insolvency matters of all sizes, including: hostile administration applications; challenges to company voluntary arrangements; challenges to decisions of insolvency officeholders; applications for validation orders; challenges to officeholders’ remuneration and expenses; appeals of liquidators’ rejections of proofs of debt; contested winding up petitions and bankruptcy petitions; applications to set aside statutory demands and injunctions to retrain the presentation of winding up petitions.
Lara is on the Attorney General’s B Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown and regularly advises and represents HMRC, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, the Official Receiver and the Insolvency Service in insolvency-related matters, including winding-up petitions (and related injunctions) and directors disqualification proceedings.
Current and recent instructions include:
As a solicitor, Lara advised and acted for a number of financial institutions in relation to matters arising from high-profile insolvencies, including: representing Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and various of its subsidiaries in UK proceedings related to their US Chapter 11 bankruptcies; acting for the Icelandic bank, Kaupthing, in relation to various litigation and recovery proceedings in the UK; advising and acting for creditors of Madoff “feeder funds”. She represented Lehman Brothers Special Financing in one of the four conjoined appeals regarding (among other things) whether the operation of s2(a)(iii) of the ISDA 1992 Master Agreement in an insolvency context engaged the anti-deprivation principle or infringed the pari passu principle: Lomas v JFB Firth Rixson [2012] EWCA Civ 419.
Lara is highly regarded for her property work and is ranked as a leading junior in both Chambers and Partners (UK Bar: London Bar) and The Legal 500 (London Bar) for Property/Real Estate Litigation.
Her practice encompasses a broad range of real property and landlord and tenant related litigation and advice. Given her expertise in relation to construction and insolvency matters, she is frequently instructed on complex property cases which require experience of all three practice areas.
Lara is on the B Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown and advises and acts for several Government bodies in relation to property matters which have a public law aspect.
Lara is the author of the “Security on Land” chapters of Practical Lending and Security Precedents (published by Sweet & Maxwell).
Landlord and Tenant
Lara has considerable experience of representing both landlords and tenants across a range of commercial and residential disputes. She regularly advises and acts in opposed and unopposed lease renewal claims under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and in matters concerning forfeiture, service charges, breaches/enforceability of leasehold covenants, dilapidations and rent reviews.
Current and recent work includes:
Real Property
Lara accepts instructions in relation to all real property matters, including co-ownership disputes, applications under the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996, claims concerning proprietary estoppel, easements, nuisance, trespass, disputed boundaries and party wall litigation.
Current and recent cases include:
Lara has substantial experience appearing in, or assisting with, arbitrations and cases in other jurisdictions, including Anguilla, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands. She is called to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands. Between 2013 and 2015, Lara practised as a Cayman Islands attorney in the Dispute Resolution and Insolvency group at Maples and Calder.
Examples of cases include:
Lara is recommended in the Legal 500 (London Bar) as a leading Company law junior.
Lara has considerable experience in contested Company law matters, both in England & Wales and offshore. She is currently instructed on several substantial unfair prejudice petitions, derivative claims and claims for breach of directors’ duties. She also advises on matters such as directors’ rights to access company documents, rectification of registers, and insolvency-related matters.
Lara is on the Attorney General’s B Panel of Junior Counsel to the Crown and in that role frequently advises and represents the Government in relation to Company law matters. She is regularly instructed by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy in claims for disqualification against delinquent company directors.
Notable cases include:
Legal 500 (London Bar), 2026
Commercial Litigation
Company
Insolvency
Property Litigation
Chambers and Partners (UK Bar: London Bar), 2026
Chancery: Commercial
Restructuring/Insolvency
Real Estate Litigation
“Lara is truly exceptional on her feet. Extremely smart and commercial, she is all over the detail” (Company, Legal 500, 2026)
“Lara is a robust advocate who is confident and persuasive. She is a delight to work with and always has a commercial, bigger-picture view in mind” (Commercial Litigation, Legal 500, 2026 and 2025)
“Lara’s written work and advice is extremely good. She knows what clients need and is all over the detail” (Insolvency, Legal 500, 2026)
“Lara is excellent. She is pragmatic, responsive and commercial, with a meticulous eye for detail, and provides very clear advice” (Property Litigation, Legal 500, 2026)
“Lara produces amazing performances in court because she is very well prepared and aware of the court and its reactions as the day progresses. She is able to adapt very quickly to changing situations”; “Lara has always been very reliable and very, very good in court. Her written work is excellent, and she is very, very user friendly”; “I consider Lara Kuehl to be an excellent advocate. Her written work is first class and she is very responsive and extremely easy to work with” (Chancery: Commercial, Chambers and Partners 2026)
“Lara is exceptional at promptly mastering facts and arguing complex law”; “Lara is so approachable and a great lateral thinker which makes her drafting skills top notch”; “She is very intelligent in negotiations as well as being thoughtful, practical, calm, organised and a pleasure to work with” (Real Estate Litigation, Chambers and Partners 2026)
“She gets on well with clients and is clear in court and in her communications”; “Lara is personable, really responsive and hugely knowledgeable”; “Her written work is first class. She is very responsive and extremely easy to work with”; “She really helps to streamline processes and her written work truly stands out” (Restructuring/Insolvency, Chambers and Partners 2026)
“Lara is very thorough and precise. She comes across as very reliable and trustworthy. She is not easily thrown and is a strong and careful advocate” (Insolvency, Legal 500, 2025)
"An absolute star, razor sharp and fearless in submissions and cross-examination" (Property Litigation, Legal 500, 2025)
“Lara's advice on complex matters is always timely and easy to understand. Her drafting skills are excellent, being clear, concise and pragmatic, and her advocacy style is calm but confident"; and “Lara is highly competent, attentive and generates a positive client experience" (Real Estate Litigation, Chambers and Partners 2025)
“a bright and hardworking junior with a good grasp of company law and a zest for commercial litigation. Her pleadings are excellent and she is an assured performer in court” (Commercial Litigation, Legal 500, 2024)
“bright, thorough, responsive and very easy to work with. She adds value to all that she has been asked to assist with” (Property Litigation, Legal 500, 2024)
“an intelligent tactician”; “determined, tenacious and gets to the heart of an issue with practical solutions”; “incredibly diligent” (Real Estate Litigation, Chambers and Partners, 2024)
“covers every angle and has brilliant drafting abilities” (Property Litigation, Legal 500, 2023)
Lara contributes chapters on winding up, conduct of liquidation and receivership to the Law of Limited Liability Partnerships (Whittaker and Machell, 6th ed.) and is the author of the “Security on Land” chapters of Practical Lending and Security Precedents (published by Sweet & Maxwell).
Section 994 Petitions: Received Wisdom? – New Law Journal, Vol 174, Issue 8069, 3 May 2024.
Foreign crypto arbitrations and UK consumer rights: a culture clash? – Butterworths Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, March 2024
The Decentralised Governance of Bitcoin: Truth or Myth? – Society for Computers and Law, May 2023
Serle Court Achieves Outstanding Results in The Legal 500 UK Bar 2026
We are delighted to announce another year of outstanding rankings and testimonials in The Legal 500 UK Bar 2026. Serle Court has... Read More
Lara Kuehl appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel
Serle Court is delighted to announce that Lara Kuehl has been appointed to the London B Panel of... Read More
“Lara is a robust advocate who is confident and persuasive. She is a delight to work with and always has a commercial, bigger-picture view in mind.”
“Lara is very thorough and precise. She comes across as very reliable and trustworthy. She is not easily thrown and is a strong and careful advocate.”
"An absolute star, razor sharp and fearless in submissions and cross-examination."
“A bright and hardworking junior with a good grasp of company law and a zest for commercial litigation. Her pleadings are excellent and she is an assured performer in court.”
LLB (Hons), Durham University
LLM Corporate and Commercial Law, King’s College London
Diploma in International Commercial Arbitration, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (FCIArb)
Called to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands (2024)
Admitted to the Bar of the Cayman Islands whilst working for Maples and Calder from October 2013 to August 2015.
Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales (2007)
Junior Counsel to the Crown – B Panel (current appointment)
Junior Counsel to the Crown - C Panel (2022 to 2025)
Chancery Bar Association (Committee Member)
COMBAR (The Commercial Bar Association)
INSOL
Property Bar Association
Registered Name: Lara Kuehl
VAT Information: 220373841
Registered Name: Lara Kuehl
VAT Information: 220373841
Serle Court Achieves Outstanding Results in The Legal 500 UK Bar 2026
We are delighted to announce another year of outstanding rankings and testimonials in The Legal 500 UK Bar 2026. Serle Court has... Read More
Lara Kuehl appointed to the Attorney General’s B Panel
Serle Court is delighted to announce that Lara Kuehl has been appointed to the London B Panel of... Read More