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Contact

Contact with chambers should be made through the Practice Management Team. They are happy to discuss client requirements and provide further information on such matters as the expertise and experience of individual members, fees, working practices and languages spoken. We have members able to work in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Greek and Chinese (Mandarin).

Outside working hours, a member of our team is always available to be contacted on matters of an urgent nature. Contact should be made using the Chambers main number or email.

For our Singapore office, for client enquiries please contact our BD Director, Asia Pacific, Lara Quie and for all other queries please contact Lynn Quek. Out of office hours calls will automatically be diverted to our clerking team in London.

London

20 Essex Street
London
WC2R 3AL

enquiries@twentyessex.com
t: +44 20 7842 1200

Singapore

28 Maxwell Road
#02-03 Maxwell Chambers Suites
Singapore 069120

singapore@twentyessex.com
t: +65 62257230

Contact

Contact with chambers should be made through the Practice Management Team. They are happy to discuss client requirements and provide further information on such matters as the expertise and experience of individual members, fees, working practices and languages spoken. We have members able to work in French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Greek and Chinese (Mandarin).

Outside working hours, a member of our team is always available to be contacted on matters of an urgent nature. Contact should be made using the Chambers main number or email.

For our Singapore office, for client enquiries please contact our BD Director, Asia Pacific, Lara Quie and for all other queries please contact Lynn Quek. Out of office hours calls will automatically be diverted to our clerking team in London.

London

20 Essex Street
London
WC2R 3AL

enquiries@twentyessex.com
t: +44 20 7842 1200

Singapore

28 Maxwell Road
#02-03 Maxwell Chambers Suites
Singapore 069120

singapore@twentyessex.com
t: +65 62257230

Michael Ashcroft KC

Michael Ashcroft KC

Silk: 2011 Call: 1997

Michael is a senior silk with a broad commercial practice, specialising in high value and complex (often highly technical) commercial contractual disputes. He relishes cases that involve mastery of complicated expert evidence.

He was awarded the prestigious “International Arbitration Silk of the Year” by Chambers & Partners in 2016 and also won Chambers & Partners “Shipping Silk of the Year” in 2019.  Most recently, he completed a hat-trick by winning the The Legal 500 “Shipping, Commodities and Aviation Silk of the Year” for 2023.

Over recent years, he has been ranked as a leading silk by Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500 in the following practice areas: shipping, commodities, insurance, commercial litigation, construction, energy, civil fraud and international arbitration.

Michael’s recent work has focused heavily on energy and natural resources disputes, covering construction, exploitation, sale, insurance, joint venture and shareholder disputes. He recently led a large team in a multi-billion dollar dispute relating to Zambian copper mines. He regularly acts in construction disputes relating to offshore vessels and structures, powerplants and other on-shore complexes. He has excellent experience of very high-value oil and gas supply disputes, including gas pricing arbitrations. He remains a ‘go to name’ for the biggest and most difficult shipping and commodities disputes. He has been instructed regularly in insurance disputes, which he particularly enjoys, including marine, war risks, contractor’s all risks, liability and defence costs disputes.

Michael appears regularly in the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Supreme Court. He also has a wide range of experience of cases before, and on appeal from, arbitration tribunals in various jurisdictions (including Singapore, mainland China, Dubai, France, Hong Kong, Sweden, Malaysia, Paris and New York) and he has been admitted to the Bar of St Kitts and Nevis (on an ad hoc basis).

Michael prides himself as a team player and has led large teams of counsel in significant cases; he enjoys working together with clients, instructing solicitors and expert witnesses with a view to formulating the best possible case strategy and maximizing prospects of success; he works frequently as co-counsel with lawyers qualified in other jurisdictions. Michael also has significant experience of mediation.

Michael accepts appointments as an arbitrator both in London and abroad. He is a member of the MOOGAS panel of international arbitrators and mediators. Michael also acts as an expert on English law in foreign proceedings.

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Example cases

Commercial arbitration

Commercial litigation / dispute resolution

Civil fraud

Shipping and commodities

Energy and natural resources

Construction

Insurance

A hugely intelligent practitioner with impressive credentials across a range of markets.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

A superb operator who knows the law inside out. Judges feel comfortable following his propositions – he is the voice of reason.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

He is one of the best silks at the Bar, very user-friendly, thoughtful and considered.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

Incredibly clever, focused, hard-working, absolutely first rate.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

He is outstandingly good. He is such a good advocate and naturally persuasive.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

Incredibly bright, cool, calm and collected under pressure, Michael is a very polished and persuasive advocate.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

Michael is an extraordinary intellect. He immediately grasps the most technical legal issues, without losing sight of the overarching commercial goal of the client.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

Michael remains as grounded and user-friendly now as he was when he was a junior, which is a great attribute when combined with his considerable intellectual power. He gets to the crux of a problem very quickly and offers sound, practical and very well-considered advice.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

Encyclopedically brilliant, Michael is very quick to pick up the issues and identify the key point, and exhibits strong and persuasive advocacy.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

A knowledgeable silk highlighted for his courtroom advocacy.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

Very competent insurance lawyer who is hugely in demand.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

A superb strategist and a specialist on letter of indemnity cases.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

He is incredibly bright.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

He's very experienced and knowledgeable.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

He is a very calm and persuasive advocate who has a very good style in hearings.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

Michael is very good, very experienced and user-friendly.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

A superb strategist and a very clever, clear advocate who is good on his feet and knows how to argue a case.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

He is incredibly meticulous, calm and organised, and remains polite and yet immovable in his advocacy, unaffected by any opposing barristers’ antics.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

Michael has fantastic advocacy skills and has a rare manner about him – he is a joy to watch.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

He picks up the detail on complex points in no time at all. Michael's client care is excellent, and he is commercial and a fantastic advocate.

Chambers UK Bar 2023

He is completely unflappable and is always wonderful to work with.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

He is able to understand complex factual issues in a short space of time and present them in the most favourable way for the client.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

He is also very user-friendly and skilled at communicating with non-native English speaking clients who may be unfamiliar with the English adversarial system.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

Very well-regarded by clients and opponents alike for his incisive analysis and appealing court manner.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

Industrious in his legal research, Michael thinks every point through – often further than his opposition.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

He dominates the courts and is on top of his subject matter.

Chambers UK Bar 2022

He is very careful, thoughtful, leaves no stone unturned and his measured, detailed and well-structured approach secures good results.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2022

He is incredibly meticulous with an excellently structured approach to his work and advocacy.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022: The English Bar

A very senior silk and second to none in commodities, he demands his opponents' A game.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2022

He always produces work that is nothing short of brilliant. He is clear and formidably intelligent.

Chambers UK Bar 2022

A pleasure to work with - a real team player, but also incredibly thoughtful and a master tactician and strategist.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2022

He really doesn't shy away from the fight and he gets stuck in with the detail. He has a can-do attitude and an excellent commercial mind.

Chambers UK Bar 2022

Lightning fast, utterly reliable and makes you feel perfectly relaxed as you go through the case.

Chambers UK Bar 2021

A leading shipping silk who also excels in commodities matters, especially highly technical cases.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2021

He is good at getting to the heart of a case and quickly identifying the key issues. He is also excellent at turning around top-quality work under tight deadlines.

Chambers UK Bar 2021

A leading shipping silk with a strong intellect that he applies to conventional and renewable energy matters.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2021

A hugely intelligent practitioner… Thoughtful, diligent and very good on his feet.

Chambers UK Bar 2019

An always impressive silk for arbitration matters.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2021

Michael Ashcroft QC is unflinching even in times of adversity.

Chambers UK Bar 2020

Extremely easy to deal with and intellectually at the top of the tree.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2020

Very bright indeed – a good strategist who provides excellent submissions and skeletons.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2020

He's a clever, sensible and straightforward guy who knows his stuff, gets on with it and presents his points well.

Chambers UK Bar 2020

A “go-to” silk in the shipping and commodities sector.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2020

He is an exceptionally gifted barrister.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2020

Amazingly hard-working and responsive. He is very clever and has a fantastic advocacy style.

Chambers UK Bar 2019

Clearly highly experienced in international arbitration and inspires confidence in his solicitor team and the client.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2020

Tough, gritty and very experienced in international trade and commodities work.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2019

He is very calm and collected and very impressive in court.

Chambers UK Bar 2020

Michael is extremely user-friendly as well as a very intellectual and detail-driven individual. He is excellent on tricky chartering questions in particular.

Chambers UK Bar 2020

Extremely intelligent and inspires complete confidence.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2019

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