Fountain Court Chambers is a set of commercial

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

s based in the

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in London and with offices in Singapore. It has 105 full members (in addition to door tenants), of whom 45 are silks. It is in the Magic Circle. The head of chambers, since 2023, is Richard Handyside KC. The deputy head of chambers is Patrick Goodall KC, the senior clerk is Alex Taylor and the head of administration is Julie Parker.

History

It is possible to trace Fountain Court's origins to the early part of the Twentieth Century, but its period of sustained success dates from after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Its reputation for commercial litigation developed in the late 1940s and 1950s and its standing as a ' magic circle' chambers was cemented in the 1960s and 1970s. Numerous members of chambers have gone on to hold high judicial office. The most eminent is Lord Bingham KG, who served as

Master of the Rolls The Keeper or Master of the Rolls and Records of the Chancery of England, known as the Master of the Rolls, is the President of the Court of Appeal (England and Wales)#Civil Division, Civil Division of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales ...

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

and Senior Law Lord. Other notable members include Leslie Scarman SC (later Lord Scarman), Alan Orr QC (later Lord Justice Orr), Melford Stevenson QC (later Mr Justice Melford Stevenson), Peter Webster QC (later Mr Justice Webster), Peter Scott QC (head of chambers 1994–1999 and former chairman of the bar), Conrad Dehn QC (head of chambers 1984–1989), Christopher Bathurst QC (Viscount Bledisloe and head of chambers 1989–1994), Mark Potter QC (later President of the

Family Division The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

), Henry Brooke QC (later Lord Justice Brooke and vice-president of the Civil Division of the

Court of Appeal An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to Hearing (law), hear a Legal case, case upon appeal from a trial court or other ...

), Denis Henry QC (later Lord Justice Henry), Lord Goldsmith QC (later

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

), Trevor Philipson QC, Charles Falconer QC (later

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

), Nicholas Underhill QC (now Lord Justice Underhill), Nicholas Stadlen QC (later Mr Justice Stadlen), Marcus Smith QC (now Mr Justice Marcus Smith), David Waksman QC (now Mr Justice Waksman), Professor Andrew Burrows QC (now Lord Burrows, a justice of the

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), Michael Green QC (now Mr Justice Michael Green) and Sir Francis Jacobs QC (later Advocate General of the

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). Notable current members include Richard Lissack KC, David Railton KC, Timothy Dutton CBE KC (head of chambers 2008–2013 and former chairman of the Bar), Stephen Moriarty KC (head of chambers 2013–2018 and chairman of the Commercial Bar Association), Bankim Thanki KC (head of chambers 2018-2023), Patricia Robertson KC (past Vice-Chair of the Bar Standards Board), Richard Handyside KC (current head of chambers), Andrew Mitchell KC (current vice-chair of the Bar Standards Board) and Patrick Goodall KC (current deputy head of chambers). Other previous heads of chambers include Anthony Boswood QC (1999–2003) who died in 2022, and Michael Brindle QC (2003–2008), who is now a door tenant. Other current door tenants include Lord Wilson (a former Justice of the

), Sir Andrew Smith (a former Judge of the High Court), Professor Lawrence Boo (

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

), Arvind Datar SA (

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

), Gaurav Pachnanda SA (

), Zal Andhyarujina SA (

), Kanaga Dharmananda SC (

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

), Peter Watts KC (

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), Eric A Schwartz ( USA), David R Wingfield (

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), Ian Benjamin SC (

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

), Sebastian Said (

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) and Professor Luca G Radicati di Brozolo (

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

). In 2014, Fountain Court opened an office in

's financial district.

Notable cases

Members of Fountain Court Chambers have appeared in many landmark cases and high-profile commercial disputes. In the well-known

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

’ case of '' Caparo v Dickman'', all counsel on both sides were from Fountain Court. Several members of the Chambers were also prominent figures in acting for the Bank of England in the celebrated ''Three Rivers'' litigation, a case which led to several appeals to the

. Numerous members of Fountain Court Chambers were involved in the ''Lloyds'' litigation which dominated the work of the Commercial Court in the 1990s, and produced two significant appeals in the

. In addition, members were involved in the ''Bank Charges'' litigation (a test case which ended up in the

), the ''RBS Rights Issue'' case, various high-value PPI matters and the ''FCA Test Case'' regarding

business interruption insurance Business interruption insurance (also known as business income insurance) is a type of insurance that covers the loss of income that a business suffers after a disaster. The income loss covered may be due to disaster-related closing of the business ...

claims arising as a result of the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

(proceeding both to the High Court and by way of 'leapfrog' appeal to the

). Other recent substantial cases in which members of Fountain Court appeared include ''SFO v ENRC,'' ''Autonomy/Hewlett-Packard v Lynch & Hussain'', the ''Ingenious'' litigation, ''Law Debenture v Ukraine,'' litigation arising from

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

' $11 billion 2008 capital raising in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, ''Palladian Partners & others v Republic of Argentina'', ''R (on the application of PACCAR Inc and others) v Competition Appeal Tribunal and others'' and the so-called 'Tuna bonds' litigation.

External links

Fountain Court Chambers home page
{{Legal services in the United Kingdom Law firms based in London Barristers' chambers in the United Kingdom