Paul Girolami QC
pgirolami@maitlandchambers.com
Year of Call: 1983
Year of Silk: 2002
Profile
Paul is a Deputy High Court Judge for the Queens’ Bench & Chancery Divisions of the High Court. He took silk in April 2002, having been one of the Junior Counsel to the Crown for about nine years. He is experienced in general commercial litigation, in particular in the areas of specialisation identified below.
He acts and advises in relation to proceedings both in the UK and internationally. In the UK he appears in the High Court, Court of Appeal, House of Lords and Privy Council, as well as in mediations and arbitrations. Internationally Paul is called to the BVI Bar, has appeared before the Court of Appeal of Gibraltar and is on the register of practitioners able to appear in the DIFC (Dubai International Financial Centre). He has also been involved in a number of matters in the Cayman Islands and has acted as an expert witness on English law in US proceedings. He has been involved in many of the major cases of the past two decades, including of BCCI, Maxwell, Polly Peck, Barlow Clowes, the collapse of Blackspur group, British & Commonwealth & Atlantic Computers, Enron, Federal Mogul & Turner & Newell, TXU, and the NHS claims against Norton Healthcare and others. He has sector experience in distribution and finance agreements; the film industry; the fashion industry; healthcare and pharmaceuticals (including grey market and parallel imports); magazines & publishing; airlines & the travel industry.
- Commercial (Chancery): business disputes of a contractual and non-contractual nature, in particular those involving the following specialised areas: breaches of contract; licence agreements; agreements for the sale of businesses and shares; rights over assets or property; confidential information and breaches of confidence; charges, debentures and other security interests; the meaning and effect of financial instruments; and the fiduciary obligations of agents, business professionals, joint venturers, partners, trustees and others.
- Company: Paul is recognised as an expert in the company field. He acts and advises in relation to technical aspects of company law; disputes of all types concerning the rights of shareholders, including quasi-partnership companies; bringing and defending claims for breach of fiduciary duty against directors & senior employees; the rights and obligations of directors; disqualification of directors.
- Insolvency/Corporate recovery: technical issues of company and personal insolvency, administration and voluntary arrangements, arising both in the UK and offshore; claims brought by and against liquidators, administrators and trustees.
- Civil Fraud: bringing and defending civil claims of fraud, accessory liability and other claims based on dishonesty, especially those involving corporate fraud; worldwide freezing and search & seizure orders; following and recovering assets; constructive trusts; piercing the corporate veil. His instructions have included pursuing claims of dishonesty against investment fund managers; against former directors and employees, against clients of banks and against trustees.
Educated at St Paul’s School and Corpus Christi College Cambridge, Paul did a commercial pupillage at Brick Court Chambers and a Chancery pupillage at Wilberforce Chambers, before joining what is now Maitland Chambers in 1985.
Paul is recommended in all of the above categories in the Chambers UK Guide, where he is described as “the lawyer’s lawyer par excellence”. In Legal Experts, he is recommended for commercial litigation, company, fraud and property.
Further details are available on request.
Memberships
Chancery Bar Association and COMBAR.
Qualifications
BA (Cantab)
