Mark Howard QC's Full CV

Mark Howard is widely regarded as one of the leading commercial silks at the bar. He has very wide experience of commercial and 'City' litigation, along with banking, professional negligence, fraud, energy and insurance and reinsurance. He also has experience of Administrative Law and Competition Law cases. He is an experienced advocate appearing before Supreme Court and Court of Appeal frequently, as well as dealing with high value and complex first instance disputes. He also has great experience of appearing before arbitral tribunals as well as overseas jurisdictions.

Recent cases of note have been the major BSkyB -v- EDS litigation, Yugraneft -v- Roman Abramovich in which he appeared for Roman Abramovich. Recent cases relating to credit crisis include Bank of New York -v- Perpetual, Butters -v- BBC Worldwide before the Court of Appeal and In Re Sigma in which he appeared for Party A before the House of Lords.

In 2010 Mark Howard was presented with the 'Commercial Litigation Silk of the Year' Award. In 2008 he was awarded both 'Barrister of the Year' at the Lawyer Awards and 'Commercial Litigation Barrister of the Year' at the Chambers Bar Awards.

Important cases

Banking and Financial

  • Perpetual Trustee -v- Bank of New York (Supreme Court)
  • Satinland -v- BNP Paribas (Court of Appeal)
  • Sigma Finance Corporation (House of Lords)
  • IFE -v- Goldman Sachs (Court of Appeal)
  • REO -v- Aberdeen Asset Management (Court of Appeal)
  • Banco Santander -v- Banque Paribas (Court of Appeal)
  • Camdex International -v- Bank of Zambia(Court of Appeal)
  • Riyad Bank -v- Ahli United Bank (Court of Appeal)
  • Argo Fund -v- Essar Steel (Court of Appeal)

Commercial

  • SerVaas Incorporated -v- Rafidain Bank & Republic of Iraq & Ors (Court of Appeal)
  • Telenor East Holdings -v- Altimo Holdings (Commercial Court)
  • NML Capital Limited -v- Argentina (Supreme Court)
  • Concord Trust -v- Law Debenture (House of Lords)
  • CDC IXIS -v- West Deutche Landesbank (Commercial Court)
  • General Motors -v- Royal Sun Alliance (Court of Appeal)
  • Kolden Holdings Limited -v- Rodette Commerce Limited(Commercial Court)
  • Sibir -v- Gregory Trading (Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal)
  • Channel Tunnel Group -v- Balfour Beatty (Commercial Arbitration/Injunction)
  • Transworld Russian/Kazakhstan Litigation (Commercial Fraud / Arbitration)
  • Messier Dowty -v- Sabena (Commercial/Air) (Commercial Court)
  • Fyffes -v- Seatrade (Commercial/Fraud) (Commercial Court)
  • HHR Pascal -v- Puppet (Commercial Court)
  • Has also acted as Counsel in high value ICSID dispute.

Energy

  • AAR Petroleum -v- BP International Ltd (Comm Arbitration/Injunction)
  • British Energy -v- Credit Suisse (Commercial Court)
  • EWS -v- E.ON (Commercial Court)
  • Teeside Gas & Amoco -v- Enron (Technology and Construction Court)
  • BHP -v- Damine (Commercial Court)
  • Esso Petroleum -v- Texaco (Commercial Court)

Professional Negligence

  • Stone & Rolls -v- Moore Stephens (Commercial Court)
  • Barings Plc -v- Coopers and Lybrand(Chancery Division)
  • Sir Elton John -v- PWC & Ors (Court of Appeal)
  • County Nat West -v- Gilbert Elliott (Court of Appeal)
  • Maxwell - (Prof. Neg./constructive Trust Claims)
  • Kuwait Airways - (War risks insurance/Prof. Neg.) (Commercial Court)
  • Wallace Smith Trust -v- Coopers & Lybrand (Professional Negligence/ Fraud) (Chancery Division)
  • Attwell -v- Perry (Court of Appeal)

Insurance / Reinsurance

  • Wurttembergische -v- Home Insurance (Court of Appeal)
  • Axa -v- Field (Commercial Court)
  • Kuwait Airways -v- KIC and others(Commercial Court)
  • Sphere Drake -v- Orion (Court of Appeal)
  • Charman -v- GRE (Commercial Court)
  • Maxwell Accidental Death (Insurance Claim)
  • BP -v- Frankona (High Court) (Commercial Court)
  • "Capricorn" - (Hull insurance) (Commercial Court)

Administrative Law

  • R -v- DHSS ex parte: Source Informatics (Court of Appeal)
  • Yukos -v-FSA, London Stock Exchange & Rosneft (Administrative Court)

Competition Law

  • EasyJet -v- Go (Competition/Airline Industry)
  • Currently engaged in investigation into Supermarkets /the Tobacco Industry
  • Previously engaged in OFT investigation into the construction recruitment sector ( 2009 )

Publications

  • Co Editor of Butterworths Banking Law Guide ( 2006 ) with Roger Masefield

Legal Directory Comments

Banking

Chambers & Partners

  • 'cautious yet elegant', has a 'wonderful reputation', 'particularly useful when one needs to see how a judge would view a particular problem' (2009)
  • has a ‘rare quality of being not only an impressive advocate but also a devastating cross-examiner,' delivers ‘clever, shrewd and realistic advice in a timely fashion' (2008)
  • well prepared and punchy- he doesn't mess around but gets right to the heart of the matter,' ‘dangerous opponent,' ‘excellent court performer' (2007)
  • ‘class act,' ‘excellent cross-examination skills,' ‘good on detail, if you have a witness you think you can shred he's the man for the job' (2006)
  • ‘simply first class' (2005)
  • ‘recommend for his strong advocacy' (2003/4)

Legal 500

  • ‘pre-eminent trial advocate' with ‘a smooth turn of phase and keen strategic mind' (2007)
  • ‘devastating in cross-examination' (2004)
  • ‘strong cross-examination techniques' (2003)

Commercial Litigation

Chambers & Partners

  • ‘loves the way he can destroy opposing counsel with little more than a look' (2008)
  • ‘phenomenally intelligent,' ‘devastating cross examination skills' (2007)
  • ‘seriously clever,' ‘analytical, articulate and thoughtful,' tactically astute and able to cut right through to a point' (2006)
  • ‘devastating cross-examiner and never fails to impress the court,' ‘a top class brain'(2005)
  • ‘a courtroom master marked by his clarity of expression' (2003/4)

Legal 500

  • 'thinks outside the box, and is bold' (2009)
  • a ‘ discerning advocate'; his intellectual skills make him ‘ truly impressive' (2008)
  • ‘a ferocious cross-examiner,' ‘approaches problems in ways that hadn't even occurred to you,' ‘clever, shrewd and realistic advice' (2007)

Professional Negligence

Chambers & Partners

  • 'Wonderfully calm and authoritative', praised for his 'crisp, clear and concise advocacy style' (2009)
  • ‘very cleaver and extremely sensible' ‘he cuts a swathe through cases of infinite weight and difficulty' (2008)
  • ‘absolutely excellent' ‘incredibly bright, very thorough and a pleasure to work with' (2007)
  • ‘excellent' ‘amazing cross-examination skills' (2006)
  • ‘a devastation cross-examiner' (2005)

  • ‘a clear and measured thinker' (2003/4)

Legal 500

  • ‘incomparable as an advocate, - certainly the best I have ever worked with‘ (2009)
  • ‘puts things in such a compelling way' (2007)

Energy

Legal 500

  • ‘diligent and user-friendly‘ (2009)
  • 'proactive' (2008)
  • ‘impressive,' ‘nimble bright and a natural advocate' (2007)
  • ‘one of the few natural cross-examiners' (2005)
  • ‘eminently instructable' (2004)
  • ‘highly recommended' (2003)

Chambers & Partners

  • 'phenomenally quick and extremely bright', 'a fearless advocate with a good feel for the energy industry', 'aggressive and a fantastic cross-examiner', 'natural leader who is also collaborative and listens to others' points of view' (2009)
  • praised for his ‘grasp of the energy industry and gift for getting up to speed in an instant' (2008)
  • ‘absolutely terrific if you want someone tough in litigations,' ‘a great brain, he has reams of knowledge seemingly at his fingertips' (2006)
  • ‘always well prepared,' ‘a safe pair of hands for energy disputes' (2005)
  • ‘one of the coolest operators around,' ‘an excellent and forbidding opponent' (2003/4)

Insurance/Reinsurance

Chambers & Partners

  • 'dazzling brainpower' (2009)
  • ‘polished and incisive' (2008)
  • ‘terribly clever,' ‘ a tough cross-examiner' (2007)
  • ‘impressive advocate,' ‘inspires clients with confidence' (2006)
  • ‘one of the elite' (2005)
  • ‘an incisive and aggressive advocate with a good feel for the court' (2003/4)

Legal 500

  • ‘one of the best cross-examiners in the business (2009)
  • 'Mr Reinsurance' (2008)
  • ‘pragmatic, reinsurance expert' (2007)
  • ‘a wily and impressive thinker' (2005)
  • ‘clear thinker; one the elite' (2004)

Fraud

Legal 500

  • 'an outstanding all-round commercial advocate, great for fraud‘ (2009)
  • 'an excellent advocate and clear thinker, renowned as a cross-examiner' (2008)
  • ‘gives clever, shrewd and realistic advice and above all excels in cross-examination' (2007)
  • ‘a highly regarded court performer' (2005)

Chambers & Partners

  • "clearly has the respect and confidence of the judges", "an extremely clever and utterly rational mind,", "a cross-examiner par excellence" (2009)

Commercial Arbitration

Legal 500

  • 'brilliant' ( 2008)

Commercial Dispute Resolution

Chambers & Partners

  • "formidable", "impressive court performances", "constantly prepared for his meetings and appearances", "shrewd and realistic in his advice" (2009)

Further information

Cited as Leading Silk in the areas of Banking and Finance, Commercial Litigation, Energy, Fraud (Civil), Insurance and Reinsurance and Professional Negligence by Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 2005 - 2009