Christopher HARRIS

Christopher Harris KC is an experienced advocate specialising in complex commercial disputes under English and international law across a range of industry sectors from banking and finance, through energy and natural resources, to infrastructure projects and corporate finance. Christopher’s practice focuses on advising and appearing as counsel in disputes before courts and arbitral tribunals in England and internationally.

Christopher is usually retained as the lead advocate, often leading substantial teams, and has substantial experience of court and arbitration advocacy in London, the DIFC and the Virgin Islands, as well as multiple appearances before appellate courts. He is particularly sought after for his “razor-sharp mind and great oral advocacy” and his “highly effective” cross-examinations, as well as being “extremely good with clients”. Christopher has been instructed in a number of the largest cases to come before the English courts in recent years including: Yukos v. Russia, Cherney v. Deripaska, the Ablyazov dispute, the Liverpool FC litigation, and the Algosaibi litigation, as well as arbitrations worth billions of dollars.

Christopher is ranked by the directories as a leading silk across five areas of practice: banking and finance; commercial litigation, energy and natural resources, international arbitration; and public international law. The international nature of his practice is reflected in his rankings in the Global and Asia Pacific directories and as one of the small group of barristers in the Who’s Who of Global International Arbitration practitioners.

Christopher has been identified by the market for many years as a leading expert in commercial and investment arbitration. Since 2018, he has been identified by Who’s Who UK Bar guide as one of the five most highly regarded individuals practising in arbitration at the UK Bar. Before taking silk, Christopher won the arbitration awards of both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, and was runner up in commercial dispute resolution. He was ranked by Chambers & Partners alone as “Star Individual” for international arbitration for several years.

Christopher focuses a substantial part of his practice on arbitration-related applications before the English courts, in particular the enforcement of and challenges to arbitration awards. He has market-leading experience of complex multi-jurisdictional enforcement proceedings, including the Yukos v. Russia, Stati v. Kazakhstan and Gold Reserve v. Venezuela matters. He is one of the few barristers to have acted in ICSID enforcement proceedings before the English courts.

Christopher is also recommended as a leading arbitrator and has been appointed in over 40 cases as co-arbitrator, sole and presiding arbitrator in disputes under the ICSID (both tribunal and ad hoc committee), SCAI, UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, SCC and SIAC Rules, amongst others (further details of which can be found in the drop-down below). He is often chosen as an arbitrator where the parties or the co-arbitrators are from a mix of jurisdictions and desire someone who understands both the civil and common law perspective.

In 2020, Christopher was designated by the British Government to the ICSID Panels of Arbitrators and Conciliators and in 2021 he was appointed the UK member on the ICC Court of Arbitration.

Christopher speaks French and German and studied French and Swiss law during his academic training.