Senior Practice Manager
Practice Manager
Assistant Practice Manager
Described as “a star” by a client, Rachel Carver has a busy commercial chancery practice, spanning the full spectrum of Chambers’ practice areas. Her interests include trusts, probate and estates litigation, company law, commercial dispute resolution, and financial services.
Rachel is an in-demand junior, with clients commenting that she is “[s]uch a help and a pleasure to have in the team”. She is also comfortable acting as sole counsel and welcomes instructions in any of her areas of expertise.
Rachel has particular experience in offshore trust matters, having spent five months on secondment with a leading Jersey law firm, during which she advised and assisted on several complex, multi-million pound trust cases. Her recent work in this area has included matters in Jersey, Guernsey, the Bahamas, and the BVI, encompassing disputes about the appointment and removal of trustees, the validity of trust deeds, and the ownership of trust assets, and applications for accounts, trust information, leave to distribute, and Beddoe relief.
Rachel graduated with a First-Class degree in History from the University of Oxford and achieved Distinctions in the GDL and BVS. She was awarded scholarships by her Oxford college and Gray’s Inn, as well as winning a number of academic prizes.
Prior to coming to the Bar, Rachel worked as a professional harpist. She has performed at most of the country’s major concert venues, as well as making appearances as a soloist and in orchestras on BBC TV and classical music radio stations.
Rachel’s work in this area has included assisting in a claim for damages arising from conversion or trespass to a valuable painting by one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
Rachel has advised a high-profile flag carrier in a dispute with a leading engine manufacturer about delays to the upgrading of airplane engines (led by Edward Cumming KC).
As a pupil, Rachel provided assistance during the two-week trial of NAS Air Company v Genesis Ireland Aviation Trading 3 Limited [2022] EWHC 176 (Comm), a case concerning repairing obligations under an aircraft lease.
Rachel has acted in a dispute arising from the purported premature closure of foreign exchange contracts (led by Oliver Assersohn KC). During pupillage she also gained experience of a number of financial services matters, including providing assistance during the trial of Shop Direct Finance Co Ltd v Official Receiver [2022] EWHC 1355 (Comm), a case with potentially industry-wide ramifications for the bringing of payment protection insurance claims, and advising on limitation periods in relation to potential FCA disciplinary proceedings.
Rachel was part of the team working on a major bribery and fraud case worth around $1.5 billion. She has also acted in a series of disputes involving claims for breach of fiduciary duties, fraudulent misrepresentation, conspiracy, unjust enrichment, conversion, and trespass.
Rachel has been instructed on a number of cases involving contractual disputes, both led and unled. Her recent work has included:
Rachel’s experience includes:
As a pupil, Rachel worked on several unfair prejudice petitions. She also won the Sweet & Maxwell Prize for the highest exam mark in the Company Law elective on her Bar course.
Rachel has been instructed in both insolvency and bankruptcy cases, such as acting in an application under s.234 of the Insolvency Act 1986 and a bankruptcy petition relating to non-payment of debts arising under facility and guarantee and indemnity agreements.
Rachel spent five months on secondment with the Insolvency and Dispute Resolution team at Walkers (Jersey). Following this secondment, she continued to be instructed on several of Walkers’ trust cases, and has been building experience in other jurisdictions such as Guernsey, the Bahamas, the BVI, and Gibraltar. Rachel enjoys working as part of a larger international team, and welcomes cases involving multi-jurisdictional entities and structures, and conflict of law questions.
During pupillage, Rachel gained experience of mediation in the context of a probate dispute and a multi-jurisdictional judgment debt enforcement claim.
Rachel has a broad experience of trusts, probate and estates litigation. Following a five-month secondment in Jersey working primarily on trust matters, she has been instructed on several substantial domestic and offshore trust claims.
Her work has included:
Rachel has also worked on a number of estates disputes, including:
