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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

Simon C Milnes KC

Simon C Milnes KC

Silk: 2022 Call: 2005 (England and Wales); 2010 (British Virgin Islands)

Languages: Mandarin Chinese (proficient)

Simon specialises in advocacy and strategic advice in international commercial disputes, especially in the fields of energy and commodities, shipping, shipbuilding and offshore installation construction, insurance/reinsurance, infrastructure and projects, shareholder/post-M&A, and civil fraud. His caseload typically includes both contractual claims and fraud-related disputes requiring interim relief, including freezing and anti-suit injunctions.

Asia is a particular focus of Simon’s work. He speaks and reads Chinese (Mandarin), which he uses in working with Chinese-language documents and presentation of evidence. He was based in Singapore from 2010 – 2016 and has acted in arbitrations seated in Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines as well as the UK and Caribbean jurisdictions. He is experienced in handling and presenting submissions involving other systems of law and in cross-examining expert witnesses.

Simon was called to the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Bar in 2010 and has acted in multiple matters in the BVI High Court.

Simon also regularly sits as an arbitrator in London, Singapore and Hong Kong.

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Example cases

Arbitration

Banking and finance

Commercial law

Commodities and international trade

Conflicts of law and jurisdiction

Energy and natural resources

Environment and human rights

Fraud

Infrastructure projects

Insurance and reinsurance

Public international law

Shipping and transport

Sectors and services

Publications

Professional memberships

Lectures/talks

Education

Simon is a very good advocate, very calm and persuasive, and his advice is very clear, practical and obviously the product of very careful consideration.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

His written advocacy is strong and he comes up with creative arguments. As an oral advocate, Simon can be incisive without being unnecessarily aggressive.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2024

Simon has a great legal mind and is a strong communicator and strategist.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

Simon is an excellent barrister who is very amicable and user-friendly.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

Simon is very sharp and commercially astute.

Chambers UK Bar 2024

He is brilliant. The legal opinion he provided was very useful. It has helped me look at the issue with a fresh perspective.

Chambers Asia-Pacific 2024

Combines legal skills such as writing and analysis and deduction, and legal knowledge with pure genius.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2023

He is a gift to the profession, a great counsel, quick to identify and comprehend the issues and mechanisms however intricate and technical.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2022

All the right cross-cultural skills, language skills and arbitrator skills.

Chambers Asia Pacific 2022

Simon has great sense of how a judge will see the case and a great sense of bringing the various ingredients together. His knowledge of Chinese is useful, and his advocacy is tip-top. It is useful that Simon can handle cross border and multi jurisdictional issues.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2023: The English Bar

Simon is very commercial and practical in his advice and is able to understand Mandarin, which is extremely valuable in cases involving Chinese parties, particularly when the personnel and client representatives are more comfortable in Mandarin.

The Legal 500: Asia Pacific 2023: The English Bar

A great strategist, a genius in getting the best out of his clients and instructing solicitors in building a case.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022: The English Bar

A bright and commercial junior with experience in both London and Singapore.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2021

He is absolutely spectacular and his drafting is unimpeachably good.

Chambers Global 2020

He is just a genius – his analysis is so thorough.

Chambers Global 2020

Able to process both the legal and political nuances of even the most sensitive matters. 

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020: The English Bar

A very bright and commercially astute barrister who gets to the point quickly.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2020

Insightful, and provides very helpful ideas.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2019: The English Bar

Extremely intelligent and simply brilliant.

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2016

He is good on his feet, thinks off-the-cuff very well, speaks confidently without notes and is dogged and determined in pursuit of the case.

Chambers Asia Pacific 2015

A source of well-thought-through pragmatic advice.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2018

He is very enthusiastic, with Mandarin skills that are helpful when dealing with Chinese parties.

The Legal 500 UK Bar 2018

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