Andrew practices in all areas of commercial law, particularly banking and financial services, civil fraud, professional negligence, insurance and media and entertainment. He is Head of Blackstone Chambers' Commercial Group and was the Chair of Consultations at COMBAR from 2019 - 2023. He was the Chair of Trustees of the Tower-Hamlets based charity, Spitalfields City Farm, from 2009 until 2017 and is currently Chair of Trustees at the Arts Council-supported charity, Modern Poetry in Translation.

Andrew is recognised as a leading silk in the latest editions of both the leading legal directories, Chambers UK and Legal 500. His areas of practice that feature are; banking and finance, commercial litigation, financial services, civil fraud, professional discipline and regulatory and professional negligence. Recent comments include:

  • "He has infallible judgement, an ability to get to the heart of the matter instantly, and an extraordinary work ethic."- Legal 500, 2024
  • "Andrew is diligent, conscientious and always responsive to the needs of his instructing solicitors. His advice is clear, concise and practical, and in terms of his advocacy he is by far the most prepared, effective and charismatic barrister in the room."- Chambers & Partners, 2024

Previous comments include:

  • "Extremely clever, fantastic with clients and very compelling on his feet. He’s a big hitter and always great fun to work with."- Legal 500, 2023
  • "He was 100% on top of the detail of the case, as well as the wider strategy. His advocacy was excellent."- Chambers UK, 2023
  • "He is an amazing strategist and tactician."- Chambers UK, 2023

Experience

Shortlist

Commercial

Andrew has an extensive commercial practice, regularly appearing in substantial commercial litigation and arbitration. Within this field Andrew’s practice incorporates the specialist areas of Professional Negligence, Insurance and Reinsurance, Civil Fraud and Financial Services as well as more general commercial disciplines such as breach of contract, sale of goods, and conflicts of laws. Andrew is the Head of the Blackstone Chambers' Commercial Group and was COMBAR's Chair of Consultations from 2019 - 2023 and heavily involved in the negotiations and debates which led to substantial reforms to the disclosure and factual evidence regimes in commercial cases and the Arbitration Act 1996.

In recent years, Andrew has successfully acted in Commercial Court trials for Saudi-Arabian businessmen accused of fraudulently withholding repayment of a US$30M loan, a large pharmaceutical corporation in a US$250m claim for fraudulent misrepresentation and breach of competition law following a corporate acquisition, and an entrepeneur in the on-line gaming industry in claims for breach of contract.

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Financial Services & Banking

Andrew has huge experience and expertise in the areas of financial services and City regulation acting both for and against the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) including in hearings before the Regulatory Disciplinary Committee (RDC) of the FCA and the PRA's EDMC. He has also acted for and against the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) in disciplinary cases involving accountants and actuaries and in proceedings brought by the Takeover Panel.

Andrew appeared in the first ever RDC hearing, the first ever hearing in the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal, and the first market abuse trial to be heard by that Tribunal.  He also appeared in the first Tribunal hearing before the Qatar Financial Services Tribunal and the first substantive hearing before the Dubai Financial Services Tribunal. He is regularly involved in the leading financial services Tribunal and High Court cases including, in recent years Forsyth (2021), Steel & Foster (2021-3), Papadimatrokopolous & Gryparis (2021 - 3) Seiler & ors (2022/3), and Bluecrest (2023).

Andrew has successfully defended cases before the RDC relating to alleged senior management negligence, benchmark (LIBOR) manipulation, insider dealing and retail misconduct in selling and advising.


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Civil Fraud, Asset Recovery & Injunctive Relief

Andrew practises extensively in civil fraud. He was recently instructed for the Claimants in a US$250m fraud claim arising out of the acquisition of a pharmaceutical company. Between 2014 and 2021 he acted for the Libyan Investment Authority in their substantial fraud and corruption claim arising out of multi-billion dollar investments made with, amongst others, the French bank, Societe Generale during the Gaddafi era. He has previously acted in relation to allegations of misconduct and intimidation brought by Boris Berezovsky against Roman Abramovich and conducted the successful defence of a 6-month trial involving solicitors from Collyer Bristow accused of acting dishonestly in connection with a financial promotion.

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Professional Negligence

Andrew practises extensively in professional negligence . His work has involved cases involving allegations against solicitors, barristers, architects, accountants, actuaries, surveyors, company directors and bankers. He is particularly experienced in acting in disciplinary and regulatory cases involving allegations of professional negligence, often acting for individuals and entities defending parallel regulatory and disciplinary cases brought by, for example, the Financial Conduct Authority and/or Financial Reporting Council.

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Professional Discipline

Andrew practises extensively in professional discipline where he regularly acts for and against regulators such as the Financial Conduct Authority, Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Reporting Council in the financial services sector and the TakeOver Panel and Ofgem at a wider commercial level.

Andrew appeared in the first ever RDC hearing, the first ever hearing in the Financial Services and Markets Tribunal, and the first market abuse trial to be heard by that Tribunal. He successfully acted for the FCA in Tribunal proceedings which imposed the largest fine ever levied against an individual and also appeared against the FCA and PRA  in the the first joint investigation by those regulators to reach the Upper Tribunal, in which all the regulators' allegations of lack of integrity were rejected, and they were ordered to conduct an internal review of their disclosure processes.

Andrew also appeared in the first Tribunal hearing before the Qatar Financial Services Tribunal and the first substantive hearing before the Dubai Financial Services Tribunal.

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Arbitration

Andrew has substantial arbitration experience acting in domestic and international arbitrations relating to, for example, American hurricane insurance coverage, joint venture arrangements in a luxury Caribbean holiday resort, academic publishing and multi-million pound commodity trading. He recently obtained an urgent anti-anti-suit injunction from the Commercial Court in the context of substantial on-going international arbitration disputes.

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Insurance & Reinsurance

Andrew has particular experience in the field of insurance and reinsurance having been instructed for the first 8 years of his career in multi-party insurance  litigation involving an explosion in an American copper smelter. He subsequently acted as the senior counsel in FCA investigations into Equitable Life and Independent Insurance Company and has recently acted for the Financial Reporting Council in substantial investigations involving allegations of accountancy and actuarial misconduct.

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Achievements

Other relevant information

Andrew has worked extensively in Europe and America as a speech and advocacy trainer. He was the world’s top-ranked debater in 1997 and, in 1998, he was part of the first English team to win the World Debating Championship for 10 years. 

Andrew received Gray’s Inn’s top student award in each of his three student years and, in 1997, undertook a coast-to-coast mooting tour under the captaincy of Lord Justice Mummery.

Andrew’s debut poetry collection Milk Round was shortlisted for the Live Canon First Collection Prize and was subsequently published by Live Canon in 2015.

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