Andrew Stafford QC

Andrew Stafford is an English Barrister and Queen’s Counsel with great experience both as a trial lawyer and as an appellate-advocate. His courtroom experience ranges from the UK Supreme Court to international arbitrations, with subject-matters as specialized as complex financial derivatives, protection of trade secrets and confidential information, insurance and international commercial fraud. The breadth of his courtroom experience has led to acknowledgement in professional directories as “a really good lateral thinker,” “a great tactician,” with a “fantastic courtroom demeanor.”

Mr. Stafford QC acts for corporations, hedge funds and high net worth individuals in complex high-value litigation involving banking and insurance instruments. He has acted in cross-border and domestic litigation involving pharmaceutical products, and confidential information relating to pharmaceutical companies. He has acted regularly in cases concerning the abuse of trade secrets and confidential information, most recently winning a trial involving a former director who had passed trade secrets to a competitor. He has been heavily involved in swaps litigation, and has been active in the wave of litigation arising out of currency-fixing such as LIBOR, FOREX, and EURIBOR, generally with an international element. Mr. Stafford QC has also been involved in the English law elements of a dispute spanning three continents which involves issues relating to insolvency, performance guarantees and construction claims. His background also includes a wealth of experience in insurance-related disputes. Recent forensic successes have included overturning in the Commercial Court an adverse ICC arbitration award, challenging an adverse decision made by a liquidator, securing judgment against a director for unlawful misuse of trade secrets and breach of fiduciary duties, overturning a judgment on appeal in respect of fiduciary duties and confidential information, and successfully resisting an appeal in a case concerning territorial jurisdiction.

Andrew Stafford QC was called as a Barrister in 1980 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2000. He is a qualified and experienced mediator. He is also a Bencher of Middle Temple. He is the co-author of a specialist textbook on fiduciary duties, has written widely on the issues affecting trade secrets and fiduciary duties, is a member of the Advisory Editorial Board of Gore-Browne on Companies, a contributor to Atkin’s Court Forms, and an editor of an encyclopedia on the Transfer of Undertakings.