Deputy Head of Clerking
Practice Manager
Assistant Practice Manager
Jessica was called to the bar in 1997 and has had a broad commercial chancery litigation and advisory practice, encompassing domestic and international litigation, arbitration and mediation of business and private client disputes.
Her strengths lie in her analytical skills and eye for detail, clients comment she is “ferociously clever”, “has an absolutely first-rate brain” and she “shows incredible attention to detail”.
Jessica is qualified as an accredited mediator. She balances her litigation and advisory practice alongside her mediation practice where she excels in building trust, solving problems creatively, and handling challenging discussions. With a broad commercial chancery background and effective mediation skills, Jessica is well-equipped to mediate disputes across any practice area.
Jessica’s cases have often had an international or offshore element. She has often been involved in the leading trust and inheritance disputes of the day. In addition to the core areas of her practice, a number of her cases have involved aspects of insolvency, company and partnership law, and she has experience of financial services, hedge funds litigation and professional negligence as well.
Jessica has been involved in a number of arbitrations arising out of commercial disputes. Her arbitration experience includes:
Jessica has been involved for many years in significant cases with leading silks. She has excellent experience of all the interlocutory applications associated with fraud claims and asset tracing.
Her experience includes:
Jessica has extensive experience of commercial disputes. She is frequently involved in both interlocutory applications and trials and has good knowledge of procedure for injunction applications, jurisdiction challenges, disclosure applications against parties and non-parties, contempt proceedings, all deployed in aid of asset-tracing measures, as well as cost applications and the mediation process.
Jessica was in the Phillips v Symes litigation regarding the recovery of a deceased’s estate from his former business partner. This litigation has been widely reported on a variety of applications ranging from forum challenges to a cost application against an expert witness, an inquiry into the capacity of the defendant to conduct litigation and a committal application.
In addition Jessica’s major arbitration cases stem from commercial disputes involving the breakdown of relations between joint venturers or partners. These cases, along with arbitration experience, have given her experience of large scale cases involving significant amounts of disclosure and forensic document work.
Her experience includes:
Jessica became a mediator having gained a keen interest in the benefits of mediation after being involved in substantial pieces of litigation for many years and having attended mediations herself as counsel. The qualities she brings to the role are a natural ability to build trust and rapport, creative problem-solving skills and a good ear. She is adept at having difficult conversations. In her final assessment to become a mediator, her examiner praised her performance as the best they had seen in their years of examining.
Jessica had a broad chancery practice, and over the years gained extensive litigation experience of family inheritance and trust disputes. She is comfortable mediating in other areas as well, as it is the mediation skills which are key to successful mediations.
Recent testimonials have praised the following qualities:
“brilliant, intelligent, empathetic, detail-orientated and thorough to a fault”
“her most remarkable quality is her empathy”
“a can-do approach and straight to the point reasoning”
“a first-class communicator … her knowledge, experience and determination is outstanding”
Jessica has gained international experience of partnership law and joint venture disputes in some significant cases. She has been involved in the following disputes:
Jessica has excellent experience of both onshore and offshore contentious and non-contentious trust matters, reinforced by her consistent recommendations in Chambers & Partners for traditional and commercial chancery work.
She has represented trustees, personal representatives, beneficiaries, minors and unborns, and has experience of the associated applications from Beddoe applications to an application for segregation of a trust fund and an application for the removal of a protector. She has experience of probate disputes, in particular regarding testamentary capacity, and Inheritance Act claims, and has advised on cases which raise issues of mutual wills, secret trusts, the Hastings-Bass principle, and rectification.
In addition Jessica was a contributing editor of International Trusts Laws with responsibility for a number of offshore jurisdictions and specialist topics.
Cases include:
Chambers & Partners Chancery – “She’s very bright, very quick and very thorough, and has a high level of intelligence.”
Chambers & Partners High Net Worth – “Ferociously clever”, “I cannot keep up with her. She does trusts and wills, and she understands the law really well in this area. She is very hardworking and responsive. I would be surprised if she does not take silk. She is good on her feet, and has a good rapport with the judge”
Citywealth Leading Lawyers – “It is always a pleasure to refer work to her as I know that it will be turned around quickly and the work will be of excellent quality”.
Citywealth Leading Lawyers – she “gives clear, concise, easy to understand advice”.
MA (Hons) Oxford
Denning Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn
Hardwicke Entrance Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn Mansfield Scholar, Lincoln’s Inn
