David Alexander

Background

About David Alexander

David is Joint Head of Chambers at South Square. He has a predominantly litigation-based practice with a particular emphasis on company, commercial, banking, insolvency and restructuring, civil fraud and contentious trust work. He has appeared regularly in courts in England, including the Court of Appeal, the Supreme Court and the Privy Council. David has also acted extensively in relation to international cases including in the Bahamas, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Jersey and Gibraltar. Over the course of the more than 30 years that David has been at the Bar (14 of which have been in silk) David has been instructed in relation to many of the major insolvencies that have taken place since the late 1980s, including BCCI, Maxwell, Parmalat, TXU, Madoff, Enron, Lehman, MF Global and Landsbanki. A specialist and highly recommended trial lawyer David has appeared in many major, lengthy trials including in relation to the Maxwell saga, the KWELM litigation, New Gadget Shop and the Thyssen litigation in Bermuda. More recent significant trials include Smithson v Naggar (breach of duty/misrepresentation claim), LBI hf v Stanford (claim for repayment of £20 million), International Consolidated Minerals Limited, Moses v Fry (breach of duty claim against former administrators), Marrache & Co v Jyske Bank (dishonest assistance/knowing receipt claim in Gibraltar), Ma v Wong (unfair prejudice claim in BVI) and Ma v Incredible Power Ltd & Ors (breach of director’s duty and conspiracy claim in BVI). The leading guides to the UK Bar have variously described David as an “astute and brilliant trial silk”, “a brilliant litigation strategist”, “a hard-hitting trial lawyer”, “the best cross-examiner in the business” and “a formidable cross-examiner who prepares meticulously; he knows how to handle trials”. He is “widely acclaimed for his persuasive advocacy style and strategic nous”. He “brings great experience, knowledge and judgment to every matter”. The most recent Legal 500 listed David as a Leading silk in Tier 1 for Offshore Work (“A complete team player and very popular with clients”). He was also listed in Commercial Litigation (“A deeply experienced barrister with a robust and no-nonsense approach”), Company and Partnership (“Team player, good communication skills, popular with clients, very available and accessible”) and Insolvency (“He is a good barrister for an old-fashioned commercial scrap – calm and determined, and bags of experience”).