One Essex Court is the ‘go-to’ set for litigation heavyweights

One Essex Court is the favourite set among litigation-heavy firms, according to data from The Lawyer’s Litigation Tracker.

The magic circle firms – Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Clifford Chance – are generally unlikely to deviate from instructing the magic circle sets, defined as One Essex Court, Essex Court Chambers, Brick Court Chambers, Fountain Court Chambers and Blackstone Chambers.

This publication has defined the litigation heavyweights as magic circle firms as well as those in which litigation significantly contributes to turnover: Clyde & Co, Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF), Hogan Lovells, Mishcon de Reya, Pinsent Masons and Reynolds Porter Chamberlain (RPC).

Data published as part of The Lawyer’s Litigation Tracker for the third quarter of this year reveals that during the period of October 2016 to September 2017, the litigation heavyweights instructed One Essex Court 35 times, accounting for 38 per cent of the set’s total 91 instructions for the year.

HSF instructed One Essex Court 10 times, the most out of the litigation group. Clients in these instructions varied from Goldman Sachs to British American Tobacco and AbbVie Biotechnology.

The firm who instructed the set the most after HSF was Freshfields at eight times, followed by Mishcon de Reya who used One Essex Court five times.

Blackstone Chambers was the second most instructed set, receiving 30 from the firms noted above. It enjoys a good relationship with Mishcon who instructed the set 13 times to represent clients including Ladbrokes, Coral Racing, Microsoft and private client Gina Miller.

Nearly a third of Blackstone’s 107 instructions came from outwith the litigation circle, with the set working with Leigh Day, Eversheds Sutherland, Baker McKenzie, Deigthon Pierce Glynn and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe. Leigh day used Blackstone six times while the remaining firms used the set four times.

Finally, Brick Court received 21 instructions, including six from HSF, five from Clydes, four from Enyo Law and three from Jones Day.

These findings are based on The Lawyer’s Q3 Litigation Tracker report, which is available to purchase from Monday. The report is based on over 450 recorded judgments in the Litigation Tracker database and identifies the most active firms, chambers and barristers in the last quarter.