Senior Practice Manager
Practice Manager
Assistant Practice Manager
Described as “a star in the making”, Hugh specialises in commercial chancery matters, with a particular emphasis on complex civil fraud, commercial litigation, insolvency, company law and contentious trust litigation. He has significant experience of asset tracing claims, and his work often includes offshore or other international elements. He is in high demand both as sole Counsel and as junior on significant pieces of litigation, including disputes being resolved at arbitration. He is frequently instructed in relation to urgent and ex parte applications.
Hugh is recommended as a leading junior across his primary areas of practice, being ranked in Chambers and Partners UK Bar (2023) for Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chancery: Commercial and Insolvency, and by Legal 500 (2023) for Commercial Litigation, Civil Fraud, Company & Partnership and Insolvency. Praised as being “just brilliant” and as having “the Midas touch“, he is “considered a rising star in the commercial chancery market” who “excels across a broad spectrum of shareholder disputes, trusts work, property litigation and civil fraud matters.” Hugh has been praised as being a “terrific advocate” with “superb strategic judgment” and “immaculate written work” and as being able to “combine a robust style with considerable expertise and brain-power”. He is recommended as being “really top notch“, “Super bright, down to earth and approachable” and “brilliant – incredibly intelligent but also personable and good to work with.”
Hugh is renowned both for his technical skill as well as for his robust advocacy in the court room and his straightforward and astute advice. He is described as being “incredibly bright and very pragmatic”, “very clever, very capable” and “very down to earth, highly knowledgeable” as well as being “an effective and persuasive advocate” whose “grasp of the detail is terrific” and who “gives clear advice”. Clients have also described him as having “excellent judgement and a most incisive and agile mind” and that “He distils complicated concepts into easy to understand language.”
Hugh’s commercial and collaborative approach has also been the subject of praise from his extremely loyal client base. Solicitors say “He is just brilliant; he explains things in a pragmatic way and he is really good at providing support to the client.” Hugh is also “extremely commercial and good at understanding the big picture”, “very easy to deal with, takes a sensible view and is very good at talking directly without offending the clients” and is “very supportive of both solicitors and clients, highly collaborative and good at making himself available. He is more than willing to chat through the challenges in a case”. He is known as being someone who “goes the extra mile to be available”.
He has also been described as an “Excellent junior. Focussed and hard working” and “a pleasure to work with and a charming practitioner who provides quality advice and always offers a clear litigation strategy” and well as being a “prodigiously hard worker” who “turns around big pieces of work in the blink of an eye.”
Frequently instructed in relation to offshore cases or in litigation involving other international elements, Hugh has worked on matters across the globe and is called to the Bar of the British Virgin Islands.
Hugh is an experienced arbitration practitioner and advocate. He has acted in arbitration proceedings as sole counsel, as a leader and as part of larger teams. His experience includes complex international and high value commercial disputes for individuals and corporate clients across a range of sectors, including oil and gas, banking and financial services, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, manufacturing and aviation. Hugh is familiar with the rules of the major arbitral institutions, including the ICC, ICDR, DIFC- LCIA and the UNCITRAL rules. His arbitration related experience includes:
Hugh’s commercial practice includes the field of aviation, in particular both litigation and arbitration. His work in this area overlaps heavily with his expertise in commercial dispute resolution, insolvency and civil fraud. Examples of Hugh’s aviation experience include:
Hugh has significant expertise of acting and advising in relation to cases involving the financial services sector. Such claims include disputes concerning guarantees, indemnities and security rights over property, including issues of receivership as well as significant litigation arising out of commodities trading relationships.
Hugh has experience advising on mis-selling claims in relation to interest rate hedging products, including swaps, collars and caps, particularly in relation to small businesses. He has advised financial institutions in relation to factoring agreements and has acted in litigation arising out of the demise of major brokering firms.
Examples of his experience includes:
Hugh is frequently instructed on complex and high value fraud and asset recovery matters spanning commercial, company, insolvency and, increasingly, tax scheme litigation across a variety of sectors, including aviation, financial services, hospitality industry both on and offshore. Recognised for Civil Fraud in the legal directories clients comment that “he has the Midas touch and can spot winning points that others do not. He combines excellent factual analysis with strong interpersonal skills” and note that he is an “excellent junior. Focused and hard working” who “has the ability to distil clarity from extreme complexity. He is brilliantly forensic.”
Hugh’s fraud expertise includes claims involving deceit, breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty, dishonest assistance, knowing receipt, conspiracy and conversion and the recovery of assets held on trust. Alongside his general commercial litigation experience, Hugh often advises on the use of pre-action relief in relation to such claims, including the use of both proprietary and non-proprietary freezing injunctions. Other forms of relief often considered include anti-suit injunctions, applications to preserve evidence or documents, and for information from third parties.
His notable experience includes:
Much of Hugh’s practice focuses on commercial or business disputes and associated applications. His expertise spans a wide range of commercial litigation and arbitration, including contractual disputes, misfeasance, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, conspiracies and other tortious claims. He has been recognised for commercial dispute resolution and commercial chancery by Chambers & Partners and for commercial litigation by The Legal 500 for many years. Client comment “He’s brilliant – incredibly intelligent but also personable and good to work with. He goes the extra mile to be available” and that “He is really top notch. With superb strategic judgement, he is very easy to work with.”
Clients praise Hugh’s commercial and approachable style, saying that “His advice is very commercial, he’s practical and he distils technical legal issues into clear layman’s terms”, he is “a first-rate advocate, both on paper and on his feet.” and “a really effective advocate, who is a very good sounding board throughout the case. He achieves remarkable settlements for clients.”
Hugh works across a variety of sectors, both on and offshore, including aviation, financial services and investments, care homes, health and pharmaceutical, IT/technology (including defence technology), oil, gas and energy, precious metals, travel and leisure. He also has particular experience of the hospitality, music and entertainment industries.
Hugh advises and acts at all stages of the litigation process, from initial advice and pre-action relief through to trial. His experience includes a range of interim remedies, including freezing orders, search and seizure orders, anti-suit injunctions and disclosure orders, including Norwich Pharmacal and Bankers Trust applications.
Hugh also advises and appears for clients in alternative dispute resolution procedures.
Examples of his notable commercial litigation experience include:
Hugh has experience in a wide range of company law matters, particularly within contentious litigation. He is recognised in The Legal 500 as a leading junior for company law, clients describe him as “an exceptional advocate, technically excellent, friendly, responsive, pragmatic and willing to go above and beyond” and “a very high-quality advocate on paper and on his feet”. They note that he has a “excellent knowledge of corporate insolvency law, allied to commercial flair” and a “very good grip of the authorities and superb ability to marshal the facts and present them persuasively.” His expertise includes claims for breach of fiduciary duty, acting both for and against company directors; derivative claims brought against directors; acting in relation to shareholder disputes, including under s.994 Companies Act 2006 and in relation to shareholder agreements. Hugh also advises on company law and procedure generally, and in relation to company-related agreements and corporate documents.
Hugh’s company law work often overlaps with his insolvency practice, and he frequently advises liquidators, administrators and directors on both insolvency procedures and company law claims brought in an insolvency context. Hugh has significant experience of defending Company Director Disqualification Act 1986 proceedings, as well as applications for permission to act under the same legislation.
Additional experience includes winding up petitions, including injunctions restraining presentation of petitions or of advertisement, civil fraud claims in a corporate context and actions for the restoration of companies.
Examples of work recently include:
Hugh’s substantial insolvency practice comprises both contentious and non-contentious work, with most of his instructions arising in insolvency litigation. His experience includes both personal and corporate insolvency work, acting for numerous creditors, debtors, litigation funders and all the major insolvency practices. His work frequently includes asset recovery after bankruptcy or liquidation, claims involving antecedent transactions, misfeasance and wrongful and fraudulent trading and other ancillary matters arising out of winding up proceedings, liquidation and administration as well as all other insolvency procedures including IVAs and CVAs. His work increasingly includes the application of cross-border regulations and foreign insolvencies.
A junior of choice in this practice area he is recommended in both Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500, with clients commenting that “his grasp of the detail is terrific” and that he is “a strategic mastermind” and is “an extremely good advocate with excellent in depth knowledge of his area“ and is “very commercial but also technical at the same time. Bright and approachable.”
Examples of Hugh’s work include:
A significant portion of Hugh’s work includes international or offshore elements and he is called to the Bar of the BVI. He is regularly involved in litigating or advising in relation to disputes concerning the BVI, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands, Gibraltar, Isle of Man and Switzerland. His experience includes:
Hugh’s commercial chancery practice covers all areas of partnership law, spanning traditional 1890 Act partnerships, LLPs and joint ventures which raise issues of the existence of partnerships. He specialises in litigation arising out of disputes between partners and the breakdown or insolvency of partnerships but is also frequently asked to advise on discrete areas of partnership law acting for professional firms as well as family or individual clients.
Examples of Hugh’s experience in this area include:
Hugh’s practice encompasses a wide range of matters relating to trusts, equity, probate and estates.
Hugh is experience in acting and advising on on complex offshore trust structures, and in particular in respect of the recovery of assets held both on and offshore in trust (whether express or as a result of other actions).
Many of the commercial and fraud claims Hugh is instructed on include trust issues or the recovery of assets held in various forms of trust, a number of which arise in the offshore context. Hugh has also acted in relation to fraud claims arising out of the insolvency of offshore protected cell companies.
Aside from those cases already mentioned in above sections which include trusts issues, notable work experience includes:
Chambers and Partners (2025)
“He’s very strong technically, measured, thoughtful and a pleasure to work with.”
“Hugh Miall is easy to work with and exceptionally thorough. He has a good eye for the right tactical decisions to make.”
“Hugh is easy to work with, exceptionally thorough and someone with a good eye for tactical decisions.”
“He’s super-knowledgeable, very thorough, good on his feet and highly responsive.”
“Hugh is an impressive lawyer. He is very smart and a capable advocate.”
Legal 500 (2025)
‘Hugh is a safe set of hands and brilliantly easy to work with. He is a calm and assured advocate who quickly establishes trust with the judge.’
‘Hugh has excellent knowledge of corporate insolvency law, allied to commercial flair.’
‘Hugh has the ability to distil clarity from extreme complexity. He is brilliantly forensic.’
‘Strategic mastermind.’
‘Hugh is an accessible team-player who provides essential leadership and tactical acumen in high stakes commercial or corporate disputes.’
Chambers and Partners (2024)
“Very effective on his feet and really good on paper.”
“He’s a very bright chap, who’s a tenacious and aggressive litigator. He has an impressive future ahead of him.”
“An exceptional barrister who you keep coming back to because he does such a thorough and meticulous job. He drafts superb pleadings and arguments, and in court has a tough but pleasant demeanour.”
“His presentation of evidence to the bench is very impressive.”
“Hugh Miall is fantastic at drafting and a safe pair of hands.”
“He is excellent in written work and on his feet.”
The Legal 500 (2024)
“Capable of grasping fine detail, while not losing sight of the bigger strategic landscape.”
“Hugh gives clear and confident advice. He is a team player and very personable, which gains the confidence of the clients.”
“Hugh is a first-rate advocate, both on paper and on his feet.”
“Hugh is an exceptional advocate, technically excellent, friendly, responsive, pragmatic and willing to go above and beyond.”
“Hugh is a first-rate advocate on paper and on his feet. He wins interim applications against very experienced partnership counsel. He likes to get his hands dirty with the detail.”
Chambers and Partners (2023)
“Hugh is on top of the detail, his written work is of high quality and his advocacy is very measured and persuasive.”
“He is incredibly easy to work with as he gets up to speed quickly and approaches cases with a sharp commercial mind. Clients are always impressed by him.”
“He consistently impresses with his strategic approach and creative and careful legal analysis.”
“Hugh is very approachable. He gets to the point quickly and inspires confidence.”
“He is a superb extension of any team that has to deal with heavyweight commercial and corporate work.”
“Hugh is a good technical barrister. He is user-friendly and commercial.”
Legal 500 (2023)
“He is a pretty complete package: very strong on the law; an excellent live advocate and very strong on paper.”
“Hugh is bright, calm and unflappable. He is exactly the kind of barrister you want on a complex case.”
“Excellent technical ability, and timely pragmatic advice.”
“Excellent technical ability, and timely practical advice. Hugh is very responsive, and excellent as part of a team.”
“Hugh can deliver clear and digestible advice in respect of extremely complex and challenging matters. He is user-friendly, commercial and adept at finding creative solutions in the face of seemingly insurmountable problems.”
Chambers and Partners (2022)
“His advice is very commercial, he’s practical and he distils technical legal issues into clear layman’s terms.”
“A really effective advocate, who is a very good sounding board throughout the case. He achieves remarkable settlements for clients.”
Legal 500 (2022)
“He is really top notch. With superb strategic judgement, he is very easy to work with and a star in the making.”
“Hugh is a very high-quality advocate on paper and on his feet.”
“He has the Midas touch and can spot winning points that others do not. He combines excellent factual analysis with strong interpersonal skills. One to watch.”
“Hugh is an extremely good advocate with excellent in depth knowledge of his area.”
Chambers and Partners (2021)
“He is just brilliant; he explains things in a pragmatic way and he is really good at providing support to the client.”
“He’s super bright, down to earth and approachable. He distils complicated concepts into easy to understand language.”
“He’s very easy to deal with, takes a sensible view and is very good at talking directly without offending the clients.”
“His grasp of the detail is terrific.”
“He’s brilliant – incredibly intelligent but also personable and good to work with. He goes the extra mile to be available.”
“Hugh is hard-working and will go the extra mile.”
Legal 500 (2021)
“He is a highly effective advocate both on paper and in person.”
“Excellent junior. Focussed and hard working. Good written style.”
“Very commercial but also technical at the same time. Bright and approachable.”
“Very good grip of the authorities and superb ability to marshal the facts and present them persuasively.”
Chambers and Partners (2020)
“Considered a rising star in the commercial chancery market, born out of his impressive roles in a number of significant recent commercial matters. He excels across a broad spectrum of shareholder disputes, trusts work, property litigation and civil fraud matters.”
“He is incredibly bright and very pragmatic. He’s very down to earth, highly knowledgeable on insolvency and gives clear advice.”
“What I appreciated was that from the beginning we were able to have an open and direct conversation and to discuss the strategic direction of proceedings. He was able to tackle procedural hurdles and he was very supportive of us and the client. He was good at being available, collaborative, and able to chat through challenges.”
“He is a pleasure to work with and a charming practitioner who provides quality advice and always offers a clear litigation strategy.”
“He is an effective and persuasive advocate.”
“Extremely commercial and good at understanding the big picture.”
“Very supportive of both solicitors and clients, highly collaborative and good at making himself available. He is more than willing to chat through the challenges in a case.”
“A well-regarded junior with a broad insolvency and restructuring practice spanning both contentious and non-contentious work. He is particularly adept at advising on cross-border matters and foreign insolvencies. He also offers expertise in asset recovery after bankruptcy or liquidation, claims involving antecedent transactions and misfeasance, IVAs and CVAs and winding-up proceedings.”
Legal 500 (2020)
“He manages to combine a robust style with considerable expertise and brain-power, and is a star to watch for the future.”
“Terrific advocate, immaculate written work.”
“A prodigiously hard worker, he turns around big pieces of work in the blink of an eye.”
“He has excellent judgement and a most incisive and agile mind.”
Legal 500 (2019)
”Very clever, very capable.”
Hugh has contributed to Corporate Rescue and Insolvency journal: The Inadvertent Trustee: Handling Trust Assets as an Office-holder – (2015) 1 CRI 6.
Hugh is regularly asked to deliver lecture and seminars to clients and professional associations on issues arising across his practice areas. Details of upcoming events, topics and Hugh’s availability can be obtained from the practice management team at [email protected].
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