2015 Legal Awards

M&A awards Legal Awards 2015 109 LEGAL awards Looking further ahead, one of the biggest challenges facing the Bar will be the effect of the recent rise in court fees on the amount of work going through the courts. Certainly the rise in the Employment Tribunal fees had a massive impact on the amount of work going to The Bar, although this wasn’t felt until around 12 months after the increase was introduced. We are all now looking to see if the same will occur in the civil courts. As mentioned previously, we are a proactive set of chambers that values the relationships we have with our clients. Competition for work is increasing due to a market which is, overall, contracting, but we are constantly looking at new initiatives to remain the first choice for clients. The most difficult challenge is growing a business in an industry that is being constantly affected by further regulation. However this also morphs into the most exciting opportunity as it makes people look outside of the box and actively seek fresh ideas and opportunities to expand and grow. OUR CORPORATE TEAM INCLUDES John Randall QC John Randall is recognised as one of the leading commercial silks in the country by “The Chambers 100 UK Bar”, and has a broad based practice in chancery and commercial law. John acts in a wide range of work including contractual, corporate, property and professional negligence disputes, with particular emphasis in acting for construction and property companies. Avtar Khangure QC Avtar Khangure is a leading silk in banking and company law, insolvency, professional negligence, franchising, shareholder disputes, disciplinary proceedings before regulatory bodies, tax and VAT cases before the Special Commissioners and VAT Tribunals and product liability. His client base is also varied, from major institutions such as banks, to professional clients such as accountants and solicitors, to individuals and companies. Ed Pepperall QC Ed Pepperall has particular expertise in the law of restraint of trade and confidentiality and in commercial fraud work. His clients include a number of FTSE100 compa- nies as well as US and Russian companies. Andrew Charman Andrew Charman advises on company law matters, including non-contentious transactional and drafting work, and also regularly undertakes heavy-weight financial ser- vices work relating to derivatives and other complex financial products. He advises corporates on takeovers, in particular where corporate sanction is required. Andrew also undertakes contentious company law work, in particular, minority shareholder litigation, directors’ duties claims and share warranty claims. He was previously a solicitor in the corporate department at Freshfields in London and Tokyo. Andrew’s book “Shareholder Actions”, was published by Bloomsbury in January 2013. Dominic Roberts Dominic Roberts advises on accounting matters and group reconstructions, working closely with the general counsel and finance departments of major corporates and their external advisers and auditors. His work on the creation of an innovative profit reserve was recognised with an Innovative Lawyers Award from The Financial Times. He also has particular expertise in the field of corporate financial investigations. Valdis Skudre / Shutterstock.com