Richard MILLETT KC

Richard Millett KC has a broad international commercial disputes practice covering a variety of different specialist areas, most prominently in fraud and assets tracing, trusts disputes, hedge fund and private equity disputes, corporate finance and boardroom litigation, company law, shareholder and joint venture disputes, banking and financial markets, structured finance, and corporate insolvency with a cross-border flavour. He appears in the London High Court and appellate courts and in international arbitrations worldwide. He also sits as an arbitrator in international arbitrations, both as chair and as party- appointed.

Richard has developed a strong reputation for Offshore work, particularly in Cayman, the BVI and Bermuda. Chambers & Partners researchers say that he “expertly handles the most complicated of commercial disputes” and clients describing him as a “hugely successful advocate” who “thinks quickly on his feet and presents clearly in court.” He has appeared frequently in the BVI, Anguilla, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Nevis, The Seychelles and the Isle of Man over the years and is a permanently called member of the Bars of the British Virgin Islands and of Anguilla. He frequently gives expert evidence as to English law, BVI law and Cayman law in litigation in the US, Hong Kong and other jurisdictions.

He appears as lead Counsel in international arbitrations of all kinds and regularly sits as an arbitrator on ICC and LCIA arbitrations and as an ad hoc tribunal.

In April 2013 he was appointed a Deputy Judge of the High Court, Chancery Division. In 2014 he was appointed to the panel of Senior Decision Makers by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.

Richard was shortlisted for International Arbitration Silk of the Year in The Legal 500 UK Awards 2017.

He is the co-author (with Dame Geraldine Andrews) of The Law of Guarantees (7th edn 2015), a new edition of which is due shortly.

He has been consistently recognised as a leading Silk by both Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners across a number of practice areas and the recent market views reflect positive client comments such as: ‘incredibly enthusiastic and positive’; ‘very bright and fast-moving’, ‘a first- class intellect and provides tenacious and effective advocacy’, ‘always first on our list’ and ‘bright, lateral thinking and client-friendly’.

He is Lead Counsel to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry into the 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in which 72 people lost their lives. Between January 2020 and July 2022 he was on his feet almost daily in public examining hundreds of witnesses of fact and experts across a wide spectrum of disciplines. He has run a counsel team of more than 40 other counsel across six teams grappling with hundreds of thousands of documents across more than three decades, in an inquiry with more than 500 core participants. He is now one of the best-known advocates in the country. With the end of the evidence hearings in July 2022 he has now returned full time to his commercial disputes practice.