Important recent commercial law cases in cases in which Colin was instructed include the following:

Michael Standing and Axis Football Investments Ltd. v Lee Power. Litigation concerning ownership and future management/control of Swindon Town Football Club. The litigation has resulted in the grant of several injunctions against the Defendant and a number of High Court judgments on points such as fortification of undertakings, joinder and variation.

Renate Blauel v Sir Elton John. Litigation concerning whether superstar musician’s memoir and involvement in biopic contravened the contractual terms upon which he had separated from his former wife.

116 Cardamon v MacAlister. High Court trial of breach of warranty claims following sale of insurance brokerage.

Transocean Drilling UK v Providence Resources [2016] 2 Lloyd's Rep. 51. Construction of consequential loss exclusion in offshore drilling contract.

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. Ltd. v Songa Offshore Equinox Ltd. [2018] 1 Lloyd's Rep 443. Substantial shipbuilding arbitration and application to appeal from Award.

Bilta v Nazir [2016] AC 1. "The leading authority on attribution in the context of an illegality defence" (as described in Singularis v Daiwa per Sir Geoffrey Vos C).

Masri v Consolidated Contractors - numerous reported decisions before all levels of English judiciary. These judgments concern the continuing jurisdiction of the English Court over proceedings after judgment has been given.

In addition to the above Colin is involved in a number of substantial arbitration proceedings of a confidential nature.

Important recent competition law cases in cases in which Colin was instructed include the following:

Conversant Wireless Licensing SARL v Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. [2020] UKSC 37 (Supreme Court) (heard together with the Unwired Planet appeal). The leading judgment concerning jurisdictional aspects of FRAND claims in England and Wales.

OnePlus Technology v Mitsubishi Electric Corp [2020] EWCA Civ 1562 (Court of Appeal). Judgment concerning confidentiality protection for comparable licences in FRAND litigation.

IPCom v HTC [2020] EWHC 2941 (Pat) (Birss J). Judgment concerning jurisdictional scope of damages inquiry in claim for infringement of standards-essential patent.

Allianz Global Investors v Barclays Bank [2021] EWHC 399 (Comm). Judgment concerning pass-on in massive follow-on litigation arising out anti-competitive manipulation of the forex market.

iiyama UK Limited v Samsung Electronics Ltd. [2018] EWCA Civ 229. Now the leading case on the territorial scope of EU competition laws in private damages proceedings.

Apple Retail UK Ltd. v Qualcomm (UK) Ltd. [2018] EWHC 1188 (Pat). Concerned the jurisdiciton of the English Court over the UK part of the worldwide litigation between Apple and Qualcomm.

Conversant Wireless Licensing SARL v Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. [2018] EWHC 808 (Pat); [2018]

EWHC 1216 (Ch). Judgments concerning jurisdictional aspects of claims of the kind pursued in the Unwired Planet case and stays pending appeals on jurisdiction.

Zantra Ltd v BASF plc [2016] EWHC 3578 (Ch). The first successful application for a Norwich Pharmacal order in a competition case in this jurisdiction.

Arriva The Shires v Luton Airport Operations [2014] EWHC 64 (Ch); [2014] UKCLR 313. Standalone abuse of dominance claim for injunction and damages.

Cardiff Bus [2012] CAT 19. The first ever claim to proceed to a final award of damages for breach of competition law in this jurisdiction.

NCRQ v Institution for Occupational Safety and Health 1243/5/7/15. The first ever standalone claim to be issued before the Competition Appeal Tribunal (also the first ever claim for an injunction before that Tribunal and the first ever application for allocation to the fast-track procedure.)

Colin is a contributor to "Competition Litigation: UK Practice and Procedure" (Brick Court Chambers, OUP, 2010), and co-author of the UK chapter of Kluwer, "Competition Law in Western Europe and the USA".

BA, St. Anne's College, Oxford, First Class

BCL, St. Anne's College, Oxford, First Class

Bar Vocational Course, Inns of Court School of Law

Career to date

Called to the Bar, Inner Temple, November 1999

Pupillage at Brick Court Chambers 1999-2000

Tenant at Brick Court Chambers, 2000 to date

Appointed Queen’s Counsel, 2020.

Professional Memberships

• Inner Temple
• Bar European Group
• London Common Law and Commercial Bar Association (current Chair)
• COMBAR
• South Eastern Circuit
• European Circuit
• Human Rights Lawyers' Association
• Competition Law Association

Life outside the Bar

• Colin is married with three children and lives in London
• Colin played clarinet in the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. He sings tenor in various choral groups. He reached the final of the men’s Silver Pendant Gaelic singing competition at the Mòd in Glasgow in 2019.
• Languages: French, formerly fluent, now rusty (attended school in France for a year prior to attending university); Scots Gaelic, neach-ionnsachaidh
• Ran 2016 Barcelona marathon in under 3hrs 45 mins.
• Enthusiastic “Equity Punk” (BrewDog shareholder).

Colin is recommended in Commercial Litigation and in Competition by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners since 2008 

• "A deep thinker and a fearless strategist." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
• "Colin’s appetite and capacity to get into the weeds of issues, and work out the points which will really win the day in a hearing, are seriously impressive. He is very user-friendly and easy to work with, too." (Chambers & Partners 2024)
• "Colin is clear and robust in his advice and client-friendly." "His work is really high quality and he is very easy to deal with." (Chambers & Partners 2023)
• "Very available and rolls up his sleeves. He does a fantastic job for us." (Chambers & Partners 2023)
• "He writes brilliantly and thinks deeply about the issues." "Very bright and very approachable; he is also hard-working and efficient." (Chambers & Partners 2022)
• "An excellent junior who has deservedly made the step up to silk." "Pragmatic, commercially astute and superb in terms of his analytical skills." (Chambers & Partners 2022)
• "Very bright, very approachable and a real team player." (Legal 500 2022)
• "Colin is technically terrific and very impressive." "He is a very balanced advocate and excellent competition specialist." (Chambers & Partners 2021)
• "He is technically terrific and very impressive in all he does." (Chambers & Partners 2021)
• "Very bright; very engaged; very knowledgeable." (Legal 500 2021)
• "Has superb analytical skills and is pragmatic, highly responsive and commercially astute." (Chambers & Partners UK & Global 2020)
• "He's extremely hard-working, offers a high level of attention to detail and is three steps ahead of everyone else." "His advice is to the point and he is very commercial." (Chambers & Partners UK & Global 2020)
• "Hardworking and effective." (Legal 500 2020)
• "He works well as a team member and his technical knowledge is first rate." (Legal 500 2020)
• "Has good drafting skills, is quick on the uptake and is very good to work with." (Chambers & Partners UK & Global 2019)
• "West has a real appreciation of EU competition law and is good on complex cartel cases and jurisdictional analysis." (Chambers & Partners UK & Global 2019)
• "He turns round his work very quickly and is a real team player." (Legal 500 2018-19)
• "Able to build an instant rapport with clients, and very useful as a second opinion. He's an excellent trial advocate, who's completely unflappable." (Chambers & Partners 2018)
• "He is academically strong and very good on his feet." (Chambers & Partners 2018)
• "He has a great ability to speak a client’s language and make the complicated simple." (Legal 500 2017)
• "He has got knowledge at his fingertips and adopts a good, robust style." (Chambers & Partners 2017)
• "Incredibly hard-working and insightful." "He is bright and no-nonsense in his approach." (Chambers & Partners 2017)
• "A skilled tactician, who is extremely clever and tenacious to the end." (Legal 500 2016)
• “A bright and reliable junior, with a practice spanning a range of commercial litigation and arbitration cases. Insurance, civil fraud and shipping cases are a particular focus, and he is strong on contractual disputes.” (Chambers & Partners 2015)
• "Very bright, good on the detail and excellent tactically." "Really calm, really sound and obviously going places." (Chambers & Partners 2015)
• "An excellent barrister, who is very, very clever." (The Legal 500 2014)
• "The "sharp, quick, and highly responsive" Colin West "cuts through complex issues to get to the nub of the issue astoundingly quickly. His conclusions and reasoning are spot-on," say those that use him. He is a market favourite" (Chambers & Partners 2013)
• "The ‘sharp, quick, responsive and incisive' Colin West has ‘a deep knowledge of jurisdictional issues and is at home dealing with complex cases'." (The Legal 500 2012)