Lyndsey de Mestre and Edward Cumming appointed Queen’s Counsel

December 21, 2017

XXIV Old Buildings is delighted to announce that Lyndsey de Mestre and Edward Cumming are to be appointed Queen’s Counsel

Lyndsey de Mestre, called in 1999, has been consistently recommended as a leading junior in chancery-commercial work.

Lyndsey’s practice focuses on disputes of all types, including litigation, arbitration and disciplinary work.  Her particular expertise lies in the fields of insolvency and restructuring, commercial fraud, trusts and probate, company and contract-related disputes. In these spheres she has wide experience of litigation and arbitration in offshore jurisdictions, notably the DIFC, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and Hong Kong. She is called to the Bars of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and of the Dubai International Finance Centre. The directories state that Lyndsey “stands out due to her skill at handling complex international cases.”

In her years of practice at the Bar Lyndsey has built up a wealth of expertise in disputes relating to companies and in cases which include general commercial, contractual and corporate issues. She has particular interest in, and extensive experience of, shareholder disputes (including minority shareholder actions, unfair prejudice petitions, misrepresentation claims, and derivative claims) and claims relating to directors’ duties.  Described as “outstanding”, she offers “an incisive knowledge of the law”. She is noted both for her precise advisory work and for her strong and effective court presence. The directories note “if there’s a war going on, she will bring calmness to the storm

Edward Cumming, called in 2006, will be one of the youngest silks ever appointed.

Said to be “a lion in court”, Edward prides himself on being both a “formidable advocate and excellent with clients”. He specialises in most areas of chancery and commercial work as part of his busy practice, with exceptional experience in contentious trust and estate litigation, commercial litigation (including, in particular, banking and finance disputes and civil fraud matters) and company/insolvency work.  In the past year (as well as becoming a father!), he has been named “Chancery Junior of the Year” at the Chambers & Prs UK Bar Awards, acted for Viscount Weymouth in his claim to remove a trustee of the famous Longleat Estate, appeared as sole counsel before the Supreme Court in Wood v Capita Insurance Services [2017] UKSC 24 (the leading authority on contractual interpretation) and continued to act for the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) in relation to its appeal following the 2-month trial of LIA v Goldman Sachs [2016] EWHC 2530 (Ch) (concerning novel equitable claims in a business context), and in LIA v Société Générale & ors (which settled on the eve of a 3½-month trial with SocGen apologising and announcing it had agreed to pay more than $1 billion to the LIA).

Recognised as a leading junior by Chambers & Prs and Legal 500 in an extraordinary 6 and 7 practice areas (respectively), he is said to show “maturity beyond his years” as well as being described as “[f]erociously hard-working, but always a delight to deal with” and “a solicitor’s dream”.

If you would like further details, please contact the Practice Management team on 020 7691 2424 or clerks@xxiv.co.uk.