The Legal 500 2025
The Legal 500 2024
Chambers UK Bar 2024
The Legal 500 2023
Chambers UK Bar 2023
The Legal 500 2022
David Allen KC is a deeply experienced commercial law silk, relied upon by his clients to lead litigation teams in a wide array of high-value, complex commercial cases with elite advocacy and acclaimed strategic and legal advice.
He is in high demand appearing in the London Commercial Court and Court of Appeal as well as in London arbitrations and overseas, recently in Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands. He is a recognised leader in energy, shipping, insurance, reinsurance, fraud, shareholder purchase and other corporate disputes, banking, construction and commodities cases.
He is described in the independent legal directories as a “truly brilliant, top quality, heavyweight commercial silk,” “widely respected for his capabilities in all manner of commercial disputes” being “tough, decisive, brilliant, clever, always on the front foot”.
He is “spectacular to watch on his feet”, “very engaging, very influential and highly persuasive”, “outstanding and a tour de force”. His advocacy is exceptional amongst his peers described as “stelar” and “extraordinarily excellent”.
In court and arbitration, he is said to be “hardcore and in control”, “a real streetfighter and the barrister you want on your side against a difficult opponent”. He is a “fearless” and “great” cross-examiner, “punchy, robust and assertive” when needs to be, and in submissions someone who tribunals find “engaging and interesting”.
In addition to his “formidable advocacy”, he is “regularly sought out for his quick, clear and thoughtful advice” and as an acclaimed strategist who is “a breath of fresh air” and “a one-off who can find and shoot the silver bullet”.
He takes pride in devoting himself completely to his clients’ causes and is repeatedly praised for being “committed 110% to every case he is on”, “very well prepared, very committed to his clients and exactly what you want”, “one of the few top-quality commercial Silks who truly understands his clients’ businesses”.
His clients have described him as “very user friendly” and an advocate who has “a great rapport with his clients” and a great team player.
David is a quadruple graduate, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, co-author of a leading company law textbook which forms part of the United Nations Judicial Training Programme and a multiple academic and advocacy prize winner. David is appointed as Honorary Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London. It is said that his science qualifications and experience are “a bonus offering extra value” in the many highly technical commercial cases he is instructed on.
David is cited by the legal directories as a recognised leader in Commercial Dispute Resolution. His clients are almost always international corporations. David contributes heavily to his Chambers being “pound for pound easily the best Chambers at the Commercial Bar” and the legal directories confirm he is “one of the few top-quality commercial silks, who truly understands his clients’ businesses.”
Examples of other recent cases include:
David’s experience in arbitration is equally extensive including having acted as the leader on the largest (Euro multi-billion) LCIA arbitration brought in London concerning a European-listed utilities company and mineral exploration in Iraq.
David is cited by the legal directories as a recognised leader in cases involving Commercial Fraud. He is a member of the Commercial Fraud Lawyers Association (CFLA) and has lectured frequently on legal and practical issues surrounding fraud.
David has conducted cases involving fraud including cases concerning scuttling (purposeful sinking of ships by their owners), fraud on insurance companies (fire lighting, explosions, mis-statement of accounts, mis-statement of profits), fraudulent breaches of data-room protocols, fraudulent banking practices, fraudulent banking instruments including cheques and letters of credit, fraudulent mis-statements of value in property transactions, fraudulent misrepresentations including about trade and value in share purchase agreements (SPAs), fraudulent representations involving charities, equitable fraud (breach of fiduciary duties), fraudulent obtaining of mining rights and government concessions, fraudulent drug taking in sport, professional fraud (solicitors, barristers, building contractors and accountants), transactional fraud, forgery, piercing the corporate veil, the ‘sham doctrine’, whether a director was personally liable or the company was in the context of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty and the unlawful interference in the transfer of money under a third party contract.
David has also heard numerous cases of fraud sitting as a judge in the Crown Court.
His recent cases include:
David is also practised in committal proceedings for contempt of court for example: Tidewater Marine International v PhoenixTide Offshore Nigeria [2015] EWHC 2746 (Comm) and Saab [2020] EWHC 48 (Comm).
David is a top ranked energy barrister. It is said that his “powerful insight into the oil and gas industry is truly exceptional”. He is particularly known for “his technical flair and deep experience in the domestic and international upstream oil and gas and maritime spheres”.
He has “extensive academic and practical experience of the energy sector and particular knowledge of drilling operations. He is highly in demand as demonstrated by his involvement in numerous high-value disputes such as Global Oil v Maersk.”
David has also lectured and published on energy law.
His recent cases have included:
For thirty years, David has been instructed on innumerable shipping law cases and has very extensive experience. He is recognised in the legal directories as a leading Silk in this field and described as “one of the stars of the shipping Bar”, “strong in shipping,” “a tough shipping and commodities barrister” and “one of the best advocates available in shipping”.
He has conducted countless charterparty disputes, unsafe port cases, casualty disputes, shipbuilding disputes, dangerous cargo disputes and cases involving transhipment. Most recently he worked for an oil major following two ship explosions and a case concerning a claim for force majeure due to a hurricane.
Most of David’s shipping work has been in London and Hong Kong arbitration and therefore confidential, but he has also been appointed counsel in a number of seminal reported cases including those cited in practitioner textbooks for example “The Marel” (Perils of the sea); “The Golden Victory” (damages following repudiation); Zodiac Maritime (termination by Fortescue Metals Group of 17 Charterparties on one day); “The Falkonera” (transhipment); Berazovsky (agent’s entitlement to a commission on the sale of a super-yacht); IMS SA v Capital Oil (discharge of cargoes without bills of lading); and Glencore (orders for the sale of distressed cargoes of oil).
Since his first trial against (what was then) City Merchants Bank David has been regularly instructed in cases concerning bills of exchange, letters of credit, contracts of guarantee, promissory notes, documentary credits, syndicated loans, derivatives (swaps), asset-backed securitisation, misleading prospectuses, fraud, forgery and malpractice.
For example, David appeared in Deutsche Bank v Highland [2009] EWHC 730 (Comm) considering anti-suit injunctions and non-exclusive jurisdiction clauses (see [2009] EWCA Civ 725); PetroSaudi Oil v Novo Banco SA [2016] EWHC 2456 (Comm) and [2017] EWCA Civ 9 advising in overturning a commercial court decision injuncting presentation of a letter of credit for the fraud exception; in Saab v Dangate [2019] EWHC 1558 (Comm) acted for the owners of the Federal Bank of the Middle East in a successful action against ex Metropolitan Police officers who had unlawfully disseminated the bank’s documents to third parties: see also Saab v Dangate [2020] EWHC 48 (Comm) successfully applying for findings of contempt against the former police officers.
David was also asked to speak to and advise the Caribbean Development Bank in Barbados on standard form contracts for international arbitration and mediation.
David is vastly experienced advising in the context of and representing clients in international arbitration. He appears before ad hoc as well as UNCITRAL, ICC, LCIA, LMAA. David is by examination and experience a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Arbitrators, a member of the London Court of International Arbitration and an Associate Member of London Maritime Arbitrators Association.
David is instructed to advise clients on the implications of Coronavirus COVID-19, most recently the owners of a Superyacht and the owners of a Premier League Football Club as regards contract claims, insurance / re-insurance coverage and claims.
Due to the confidential nature of arbitration, it is not possible to describe cases in detail but recent cases include:
David has been recently instructed by the owners of a Superyacht to advise as to their injunctive rights against an overseas yard following the outbreak of Coronavirus COVID-19 and international security corporations concerning completion of SPAs.
David is very experienced in obtaining and resisting injunctions of all kinds including Freezing Orders and Search orders. For example, David obtained an injunction requiring the delivery up of documents and other information in favour of the owners of the Federal Bank of Middle East: Saab v Dangate [2019] EWHC 1558.
He was the first barrister to challenge the power of the court to compel a Mareva (now Freezing Order) Defendant to attend for cross-examination in respect of his assets when the answers would also go to substantive issues in circumstances when the Defendant had opted not to give evidence at trial relying on what was then the European Convention on Human Rights: Yukong Line Ltd. of Korea v Rendsburg Investments Corporation of Liberia, The Times, 22nd October 1996 (CA).
Since then, he has been leading counsel in dozens of cases involving injunctions including:
Conflict of laws and jurisdiction disputes have always been a speciality of David Allen for example Deutsche Bank v Highland (alleged Texan jurisdiction) [2009] EWHC 730 (Comm) considering anti suit injunctions and non-exclusive jurisdiction clauses (see [2009] EWCA; Kingspan Environmental Limited and Ors v Borealis A/S and another [2012] EWHC 1147 (Comm) (alleged Northern Ireland and Danish jurisdiction); Tidewater Marine v PhoenixTide [2015] EWHC 2748 (Comm) (alleged Nigerian jurisdiction).
David Allen KC is recognised as a leader in product liability cases and has conducted cases including drugs, chemicals, electronic products and software. He has extensive experience of the concept of ‘physical damage’ in the context of all commercial contracts and is currently advising clients following the outbreak of Coronavirus COVID-19.
See for example Balmoral Group Limited v. Borealis A/S and others [2006] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 629, one of the largest product liability cases in the Commercial Court, David led the case for the Defendants successfully defending the first in a series of claims. The case concerned the international Sale of Goods, deciding UCTA reasonableness, whether goods at a holding depot were in the course of international carriage, applicability of UCTA to a foreign law contract, inter-relationship of sections 14(2) and 14(3) UCTA, incorporation of standard terms and conditions after trading had commenced, remoteness of damage when loss is increased by a subsequent change in legislation and evidence required to prove corporate losses.
David also acted for Huawei in a dispute concerning a digital motherboard, and an Austrian listed company in connection with software deficits.
This aspect of David’s practice is almost always confidential. He has however acted for decades for Olympic and Commonwealth athletes in different sports in matters of libel, slander, regulation, personal contracts, media rights and coaching rights. He has acted for Premier League football clubs, for sporting governing bodies and for the heads of sporting bodies and in the context of drug agencies. He acted for a professional squash coach wrongly banned by Squash England from coaching (coaching permission now restored) and against the Rugby Football Union.
He has been instructed by the owners of a Premier League Football Club as to their rights following the outbreak of the Coronavirus COVID-19.
David Allen KC has practised for over 30 years in the leading insurance and re-insurance Chambers. The legal directories describe him as “a highly knowledgeable insurance silk with a reputation for sharp and cutting advocacy”.
Recently, David has been instructed to advise clients on the implications of Coronavirus COVID-19, most recently the owners of a Superyacht and the owners of a Premier League Football Club, an international security company as regards contract claims, insurance / re-insurance coverage, and claims and cases surrounding the invasion of Ukraine.
His practice started with the vast array of Names’ litigation in the 1990s including the Lloyd’s Feltrim syndicates which reported losses of US$550 million. Since then he has had a continuous stream of seminal insurance cases including The Marel [1994] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 624 (CA) (Marine insurance, perils of the sea); Bates v Barrow Ltd. [1995] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 680 (Comm.) (Illegality, insurance contracts, retrospective interpretation of statute, construction of the Financial Services Act); Colonia v Amoco Oil[1995] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 570 (Comm.) (Marine Insurance, claims by assignment); John Wyeth & Brothers Ltd v Cigna Insurance Company of Europe SA/NV and Ors [2001] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. IR 420 (CA) (New York law litigation insurance/reinsurance, whether excess layers liable where primary layers exercised “buy-out” clause, whether assured in breach of maintenance clause, apportionment of costs between insurers, whether product liability cover excluded by efficacy clause in excess policy); Audrey Jones and (2) Roger Jones v Congregational and General Insurance plc (2003) The Times, July 7, 2003 (QB) (Fraudulent insurance claim – statutory interpretation of Access to Justice Act 1999 – whether fraudulent publicly funded claimants can receive statutory protection against enforcement of costs orders); Lumberman’s Mutual Casualty Co v Bovis Lend Lease Ltd. (No. 2) [2005] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 494 (Assured reaching settlement agreement with third party including claims and counterclaims, whether the Assured’s loss had been ‘ascertained’ – a case said at the time to be creating “Ground breaking insurance law”); Balmoral Group Limited v Borealis A/S and others [2006] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 629 (One of the largest product liability cases in the Commercial Court, David led the case for the Defendants instructed by insurers successfully defending a claim exceeding £50 million plus costs. The case concerned the international Sale of Goods, deciding UCTA reasonableness, whether goods at a holding depot were in the course of international carriage, applicability of UCTA to a foreign law contract, inter-relationship of sections 14(2) and 14(3) UCTA, incorporation of standard terms and conditions after trading has commenced, remoteness of damage when loss is increased by a subsequent change in legislation, evidence required to prove corporate losses); Andrew Knudtzon v Michael James (on behalf of himself and Lloyd’s Underwriters) [2008] (following a large incident in a refrigeration plant, David successfully defended the claim for an indemnity by demonstrating that the loud “bang” with accompanying rush of air heard and felt by witnesses was not an ‘explosion’ within the meaning of the policy; Biffa waste Services v. Outokumpu Wenmac AB, The Times, November 21, 2008; [2008] EWHC (TCC) and [2008] EWCA Civ 1257 (Court of Appeal) (David successfully overturned a decision by Ramsey J. holding his clients vicariously liable in tort for burning a waste plant down. The judgment deals with two of the most important aspects of tort law for commercial lawyers namely: (a) the doctrine of vicarious liability; and (b) the doctrine of non-delegable or strict liability for so called ‘extra hazardous’ acts); Kingspan Environmental Limited and Ors v Borealis A/S and another [2012] EWHC 1147 (Comm) a further action in what was seen as a Borecene test case with suppliers waiting on the outcome of this claim initially made for £100 million. David was again successful for Borealis in what was a highly technical case spanning three months in the Commercial Court.
The majority of David’s insurance and re-insurance work is of course conducted in arbitration both in London and Hong Kong, and must remain confidential.
David Allen KC has been recognised by the independent legal directories as a recognised leader in many categories of commercial law.
Solicitors, clients and his peers have described his attributes in the most recent publications of The Legal 500, Legal Expert, Chambers and Partners, Chambers Global and Legal Week in the following ways:
Energy & Natural Resources, Chambers UK Bar 2025
Shipping & Commodities, Chambers UK Bar 2025
Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chambers UK Bar 2025
Energy, Legal 500 2025
Commercial Litigation, Legal 500 2025
Shipping, Legal 500 2025
Commodities, Legal 500 2025
Commercial Dispute Resolution, Chambers UK Bar 2024
Energy & Natural Resources, Chambers UK Bar 2024
Shipping, Legal 500 2024
Commodities, Legal 500 2024
Energy, Legal 500 2024
Commercial Litigation, Legal 500 2024
Fraud: Civil, Legal 500 2024
Pre 2024
7KBW recognised in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific Bar Guide 2025
David Allen KC successfully defends contempt of Court proceedings in Eletson Corporation and another v Levona Holdings Ltd and another BVIH (COM) 2024/0111 [11 October 2024]
Premier Oil UK Limited v Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Limited [2023] EWHC 3269 (Comm)
The Lawyer features 9 members in their Top 20 Cases of 2022
Apache v Esso: Commercial Court hands down important energy law judgment on meaning of Petroleum Act 1998
Publications
David Allen KC and Professor Dignam “Company Law and the Human Rights Act” published by Butterworths (Cambridge Law Journal, November [2001] pp. 628-629; and Public Law [2001] Winter pp. 824-826). This work remains a core authority for company lawyers and forms the basis of the United Nations Judicial Training Programme.
David Allen KC, Jason Robinson and Henry Moore “Pre-emption rights: oil and gas” published by Practical Law.
David Allen KC is a member of the Bar of the British Virgin Islands.
David was appointed a part-time judge of the Crown Court and sat in that capacity for 10 years. He has frequently been appointed as an arbitrator, both a sole and panel arbitrator, following ad hoc agreements and also through various appointing bodies.
David is Honorary Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London.
David was invited to sit on the Commercial Court Guide Consultative Committee and the Commercial Court Users’ Committee. He has for many years been a member of the Commercial Bar Association and the Commercial Fraud Lawyers’ Association.
David is a quadruple graduate – BSc (Hons) Construction Economics (mathematics, economics, material sciences, civil engineering, critical path analysis, construction methodology, accounting and computer coding) (Prizes for ‘the most outstanding contributions’); LLB (Hons) (Best student prize); LLM (International Comparative Commercial Law); and MA (Criminology and Criminal Justice) (top Distinction). He was awarded scholarships by the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn and the Inns of Court School of Law and following international competition, the Gray’s Inn International Mooting Prize. By experience and examination, he is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
David is Honorary Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London.
“A very bright, compelling advocate, brilliant in Court”
Chambers UK Bar 2025