Tom FORD

Tom Ford is widely acknowledged as one of the stars of the junior commercial Bar. He is a senior junior regularly instructed – both unled and as part of a team – in high-value commercial disputes, whether contractual or with a tort or fraud aspect. He frequently argues matters against King’s Counsel, and acts both in Court and arbitration. Alongside a top Tier 1 ranking, Legal 500 describes that, “Tom is a force of nature. He can take on much bigger and better funded teams, and beat them into submission almost single-handedly. An extraordinary work ethic and a great legal mind.”

Tom’s practice covers domestic and international commercial dispute resolution, including contractual claims, banking & finance disputes, civil fraud claims, shareholder disputes, arbitrations and related proceedings, and appellate advocacy. Tom is currently recognised in the Legal Directories for his particular reputation in Commercial Dispute Resolution (Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500 and Who’s Who Legal), Civil Fraud (Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500) and Banking and Finance (The Legal 500). Chambers and Partners describes that, “Tom is incredibly tenacious and effective” and that “He is a very established junior with a very sharp intellect and the ability to see new angles.”

Tom’s expertise has been recognised as exceptional: Tom is ranked in Litigation as a “Future Leader” by Who’s Who Legal, has been twice shortlisted as Commercial Litigation Junior of the Year (Chambers Bar Awards 2019 and 2022), and previously highlighted in Legal Week’s Stars of the Bar. That article explained: “Highly commended in 2013’s feature, 2017 sees Ford enter this feature in his own right, as someone who is equally as able at major oligarch disputes, as he is in offshore arbitrations and enforcement actions, to mainstream Commercial Court work, be they banking cases, shareholder disputes, or civil fraud claims…”

Tom has particular and regular experience of acting in high profile and lengthy trials. Recent instructions include acting in Federal Republic of Nigeria v. P&ID, a US $11 billion dollar eight week Commercial Court trial seeking to set aside an arbitration award on the grounds that the award was procured by fraud or contrary to public policy (one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2023); acting – both at first instance and in the Court of Appeal – for a Swiss lawyer in a successful jurisdiction challenge in Public Institution for Social Security v. Al Rajaan & Ors (a previous The Lawyer Top 20 case), and acting in the twelve week Commercial Court trial in Tatneft v. Bogolyubov and ors, the longest fully remote Commercial Court trial of 2020, involving the cross-examination of witnesses and experts from the UK, Russia, Ukraine and America via video link.

In addition to acting in trials and arbitrations, Tom has considerable experience in interlocutory matters (including freezing injunctions, applications concerning disclosure and challenges to privilege claims, summary judgment and security for costs applications), arbitration enforcement claims and in appeals.

Tom has also acted in arbitrations under various different rules (including ICC, LCIA, DIFC-LCIA, NAI and ad hoc) and seated in various different jurisdictions around the world, including different European Countries, the Middle East, and India. He has also acted in the DIFC Courts in the Dubai International Financial Centre.