Overview
Jonathan has a litigation and arbitration practice which covers all core areas of Chambers’ work, with a particular emphasis on commercial litigation; civil fraud; company and partnership disputes; mortgages and other banking litigation; and corporate and personal insolvency.
He is recognised as a leading junior for commercial chancery work in the Chambers UK directory, in which recent entries have described him as “phenomenally bright, charming, hard-working and approachable”, “terrific” and “everything you want in a junior and a barrister”, as well as referencing his “excellent” advocacy and client-handling skills.
Jonathan has substantial experience in the Business and Property Courts, particularly the Commercial Court and the Business (Chancery) List, both as a sole advocate and as a junior. His trial experience includes appearing un-led in complex and lengthy High Court trials, and Jonathan has also advised and appeared on a wide range of interim applications, including applications for freezing and proprietary injunctions, committal orders, security for costs, orders for cross-examination, civil restraint orders, disclosure orders and jurisdiction applications. Jonathan also has appellate experience in the Court of Appeal and in the Privy Council and worked on several high value cases in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands while on secondment in the litigation and insolvency practice group of Appleby.
Jonathan often works as part of a Counsel team in large, high-profile commercial and fraud cases with an international dimension. His recent experience of this kind has included roles in Raiffeisen Bank v Asia Coal Energy Ventures & Ashurst LLP (one of the Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2020); two different sets of proceedings in the JSC BTA Bank v Ablyazov litigation; an LCIA arbitration concerning ownership of a Russian bank; and the latter stages of the Tchenguiz v Serious Fraud Office litigation (led by, amongst others, Lord Pannick KC). In addition, however, Jonathan has a thriving practice in UK-focussed business and banking litigation as sole counsel, covering (in particular) shareholder disputes, general commercial and contractual disputes, and mortgage litigation.
Before being called to the Bar, Jonathan read Modern Languages at Trinity College, Oxford, where he was a scholar and was awarded a distinction in his preliminary examinations and a first in his final examinations. He subsequently completed the Diploma in Law (CPE) at City University, gaining a distinction and winning the Maitland Advocacy Prize, and was classed as outstanding at Bar School. He was also a Harmsworth Scholar and Queen Mother Scholar of the Middle Temple.
Jonathan’s clerks would be happy to discuss the terms on which Jonathan will act in any particular matter. In the absence of express written agreement otherwise, the terms under which Jonathan accepts instructions are the Standard Contractual Terms for the Supply of Legal Services by Barristers to Authorised Persons 2020. A link to those terms can be found here and related guidance can be found here.