Lifetime Achievement Award – Chambers UK Bar Awards 2019
Insolvency ‘Silk of the Year’ 2018 – The Legal 500 Awards
Chancery Silk of the Year 2008 – Chambers UK Bar Awards 2008 Shortlisted in 2010 and 2011.
International Trust Barrister of the Year: UK – Acquisition International Legal Awards 2013
Company & Partnership
Chambers & Partners
Alan Steinfeld QC is an impressive practitioner who is frequently involved in high-profile cases. He has a wealth of experience in shareholder disputes, having made appearances in all the UK courts and those of the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the BVI and the Channel Islands. His broad practice also takes in a host of commercial chancery and partnership matters. Strengths: “Creative, proactive and good value.” (2022)
Alan Steinfeld QC commands tremendous respect as one of the London Bar’s most active and redoubtable commercial and chancery silks, being particularly well known for his handling of partnership matters with a strong commercial or financial services aspect. He regularly acts in complex partnership issues considered in the courts of a number of British offshore territories. Strengths: “Alan is brilliantly good, very bright and an accomplished all-rounder.” “He is a formidable courtroom performer who impresses judges greatly.” (2022)
An impressive practitioner who is frequently involved in high-profile cases. He has a wealth of experience in shareholder disputes, having made appearances in all the UK courts and those of the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, the BVI and the Channel Islands. His broad practice also takes in a host of commercial chancery and partnership matters. Strengths: “Alan is brilliant and achieves exemplary end results.” (2021)
Strengths: “A leading counsel with extensive knowledge and experience of partnership and LLP law. ” “He is confident, authoritative and decisive.” “Clients feel they are in safe hands.” (2021)
Legal 500
‘Fantastic. Well respected by peers and clients.’ (2022)
‘Garners respect and loved by clients. Very impressive and knowledgeable in partnership law.’ (2021)
Restructuring/Insolvency
Chambers & Partners
Alan Steinfeld QC stands out for his active practice in offshore jurisdictions, notably the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands. He also routinely advises clients in significant domestic litigation. Strengths: “He’s amazingly insightful and an absolute delight to work with – a marvellous advocate.” (2022 – UK and Global)
Stands out for his active practice in offshore jurisdictions, notably the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands. He also routinely advises clients in significant domestic litigation. Strengths: “He’s one of the great brains of the English Bar.” “He is fantastic – incredibly intelligent and absolutely charming.” (2021 – UK and Global)
Legal 500
‘Fabulous. Respected by peers and admired by clients.’ (2022)
‘An absolutely superb silk.’ (2021)
Chancery: Commercial
Chambers & Partners
“A really stellar silk with a brain the size of a planet, who is confident in lots of areas. ” “Excellent. He is just incredibly bright and must have swallowed whole books.” (2022 – UK and Global)
“He is a real class act and a top-class trust litigator. He has a well-deserved reputation and his knowledge is superb.” “He is incredibly intelligent and absolutely charming.” (2021 – UK and Global)
Fraud: Civil
Chambers & Partners
Alan Steinfeld QC is a respected silk well known for his work in the fields of offshore trusts, company law and civil fraud. He has conducted actions in a host of jurisdictions beyond the UK for many years. Strengths: “Very experienced in this space.” (2022)
Strengths: “An excellent barrister who is charming in court and well received by judges.” (2021)
Legal 500
‘It is great to be able to be put in such a safe and experienced pair of hands.’ (2022)
‘Absolutely excellent and I would recommend him unhesitatingly for chancery and trusts work.’ (2021)
Chancery: Traditional
Chambers & Partners
Alan Steinfeld QC is frequently instructed in the most high-profile and complex traditional chancery matters, and someone with extensive experience of trust cases. He is also highly sought after for offshore work. Strengths: “He is a star of the Bar – a real heavyweight who has the ear of the court.” (2022)
Strengths: “He knows everything there is to know.” “A very smooth advocate and a very nice chap.” “He is a real class act,” and “a top-class trusts litigator. Clients single him out; he has a great reputation and it is well deserved. His knowledge is superb.” (2021)
Alan Steinfeld QC brings a vast amount of experience to high-value international trusts matters. “He just has so much experience, and his instincts for the right answers are just unparalleled,” says a solicitor, adding: “He is absolutely steeped in chancery law and knows every case inside out. He is a truly great senior advocate.” Sources also describe Steinfeld as “the cleverest of the clever” and “the oracle of this practice area.” (2021 – High Net Worth)
Offshore
Chambers & Partners
Alan Steinfeld QC has wide commercial and traditional chancery expertise and a profound knowledge of trust disputes. He has broad offshore experience across the Channel Islands, the Caribbean and Hong Kong. Steinfeld is well versed in hedge fund, investment fund and property disputes. He is also active on behalf of private clients in family and estate disputes. Strengths: “Alan is one of the grandees of the Chancery Bar. His advice is incredibly insightful and he’s also a marvellous advocate.” (2022 – UK and Global)
Strengths: “He has great analytical skills.” (2021 – UK and Global)
Legal 500
‘A very skilled advocate who commanded the respect of the Cayman court.’ (2022)
‘Very clever and makes difficult concepts approachable.’ (2021)
Commercial Dispute Resolution
Chambers & Partners
“Very, very good and extremely patient even with the trickiest of clients. He’s so clever you can almost hear his brain whirring.” (2022 – UK and Global)
“Incredibly intelligent and absolutely charming, he is a fantastic barrister.” (2021 – UK and Global)
Legal 500
‘Alan commands the court room – he is incredibly intelligent and sparkly.’ (2022)
‘Phenomenally bright, great court room manner, garners respect and clients love him.’ (2021)
Trusts
Chambers & Partners
Alan Steinfeld QC is active across a wide array of practice areas and has a substantial focus on trust law. He is experienced in offshore, as well as domestic, trusts disputes, and is recognised for his familiarity with international arbitrations in connection with contentious trust matters. Strengths: “A class act who is everything you want in a very senior silk.” “He’s very direct and straightforward in the advice he gives. His opinions are always well expressed and well thought through.” (2022)
Strengths: “A top-class trusts litigator, who is a real class act. Clients single him out for his superb knowledge of the law.” (2021 – UK and Global)
Legal 500
‘A persuasive advocate.’ (2021)
Pensions
Legal 500
‘His advocacy is tremendous and he really does have the ear of the court.’ (2021)
Professional Negligence
Legal 500
‘He is first rate.’ (2021)
Alan is ranked in Chambers & Partners High Net Worth 2020 for traditional chancery. He is described as “a top-class trusts litigator” and that “he has a great reputation and it is well deserved. His knowledge is superb.”
Legal 500 2020 describes Alan as having a ‘fantastic range and depth of experience which sets him apart from other silks’ and recommends him for commercial litigation, company and partnership, civil fraud, insolvency, offshore, pensions, private client (trusts and probate) and professional negligence. Clients praise his ‘fantastic depth of knowledge in complicated and esoteric areas of law‘ and say that ‘he has the ear of the court, and is imaginative in his arguments and his deployment of them‘ as well as being ‘excellent with clients – concise, confident and authoritative‘. Alan is also said to be ‘down to earth and practical, and has no airs or graces‘, ‘brilliant in court‘ and ‘highly skilled and very thorough‘.
Chambers & Partners for many years has given Alan “Star of the Bar” status for his impressive tally of recommendations in 10 categories: commercial and traditional Chancery, commercial dispute resolution, company and partnership, fraud, insolvency, offshore, pensions, professional negligence, restructuring and insolvency, and trusts. Noted as ‘A leading silk at the Chancery Bar who’s confident, authoritative and decisive‘, Alan is said to be ‘Brilliant – he’s very, very bright and you can feel his brain whirring. He is very good, very patient and communicates well with very bright clients.’ Clients praise him for being ‘incisive and down-to-earth’, Alan ‘delivers advice in a very authoritative and understandable manner‘. Other commented saying ‘He has an uncanny ability to make the extraordinarily complicated seem perfectly straightforward.’ ‘A heavyweight. If you really need a big gun, you’re not going to get better than Alan. He commands the utmost respect in the court, has an incredible brain and his manner and presentation in court is excellent. He can pull rabbits out of hats’.
Alan is also recommended in Chambers Global 2020 for dispute resolution (commercial chancery), offshore and private wealth (trusts). Described as ‘the Godfather of offshore work‘ with a ‘mega brain‘ and ‘experience of appearing in every court imaginable‘, instructing solicitors recognise his ‘tenacity and enthusiasm‘. One client comments: ‘Alan has a razor-sharp intellect and can cut right to the heart of the matter. Every word he utters is perfectly measured’.
The Citywealth Leaders List 2019 recommends him as a Prominent Barrister for Contentious Trusts, saying he is ‘one of the “giants” in the field of trust litigation‘ and ‘an immensely charming and courteous individual‘. He is endorsed for being ‘able to respond to tricky legal questions from the bench with a consummate ease as he really knows his stuff‘ and ‘Alan is an old pro who still has the energy for a fight. The distinctive Steinfeld qualities are speed and instinct and, on hard trust and company matters, one learns to trust Alan’s penetrating glance above hours of others’ reflection’.
He is recommended as a leading lawyer for company and partnership, civil fraud, insolvency and restructuring and private client work by Who’s Who Legal 2020. He is recognised for his “vast experience“, “encyclopedic knowledge” and “vision and gravitas“. He is considered “one of the big names in the area” for civil fraud and has a “formidable reputation in the market” for insolvency and restructuring.