The firm
We are thirty-eight lawyers in one building on the north side of Lincoln’s Inn Fields. We argue commercial and private-client cases, and we write about what we learn arguing them. Everything else on this page is the record.
Founded
2009, by Eleanor Harcourt KC and Julian Vane, with four lawyers and one room.
The Ledger
Our quarterly review, now in its seventeenth volume, with monthly notes between issues.
01Recent matters
From the ledger · 2025–2026
02Practices
Six · No departments
-
01
Commercial disputes
Contractual and shareholder litigation in the Commercial Court and the Court of Appeal.
-
02
International arbitration
LCIA, ICC and SIAC references in shipping, energy and infrastructure.
-
03
Art and cultural property
Restitution, authenticity, title and the movement of objects across borders.
-
04
Private wealth and trusts
Trust disputes, family governance and the quiet administration of large estates.
-
05
Regulatory and investigations
FCA and SFO investigations, internal reviews and section 2 interviews.
-
06
Reputation and media
Defamation, privacy and data protection claims, and the advice that avoids them.
03From The Ledger
Notes · Summer 2026
-
14 August 2026
Rosalind Achebe
Concurrent delay after the 2026 amendments
The tribunal in our desalination reference applied the prevention principle to a nineteen-month delay. A short note on what followed.
-
29 July 2026
Beatrice Fairley
What a letter of wishes is for
Trustees keep asking whether they must follow one. The better question is what the letter records about the settlor’s reasoning.
-
11 July 2026
Henry Okonkwo
Meaning, and the cost of getting it wrong early
A preliminary issue on meaning decided a defamation claim in three days this spring. It is still the cheapest hearing in the list.
The Ledger — issues, notes and the subscription list · Read the current long note
04People
Eleven partners
05Contact
Switchboard · 7405 2209
22 Lincoln’s Inn Fields
The building is on the north side of the square, between Newman’s Row and the Land Registry. Reception is on the ground floor; there is no waiting room, only a table and a lamp.
Instructing the firm
We accept instructions from businesses, trustees, institutions and individuals, and from other solicitors. A first conversation costs nothing and usually takes twenty minutes. If we are not the right firm we will say so, and say who is.