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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 is praised by clients for his strategic advocacy in international commercial disputes. He specialises in commercial litigation and arbitration (Chambers & Partners, Leading Juniors, 2020), particularly the fields of energy (The Legal 500, Tier 1 ranking 2019 – 2016), commodities (The Legal 500Leading Juniors, 2020), shipping / shipbuilding and rig-building (The Legal 500, Leading Juniors, 2019, 2017, 2016 and listed as a “Top Ten” maritime lawyer by Lloyd’s List in 2015), infrastructure / engineering / projects and insurance / reinsurance. Simon also has extensive experience in civil fraud disputes and is increasingly instructed in fraud matters involving Russia / CIS, China and elsewhere.

He is very enthusiastic, with Mandarin skills that are helpful when dealing with Chinese parties,” (The Legal 500, 2018), and is regularly instructed by Asian clients, in particular from China, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and the wider ASEAN region. He acts as a sole or lead counsel in arbitrations under the SIAC, ICC, HKIAC and LCIA rules. He is experienced in dealing with Asian law (Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, Philippines, Kazakhstan) in commercial disputes.

Simon’s work comes highly recommended by market sources, who say: ‘He is absolutely spectacular and his drafting is unimpeachably good.’ Another source enthuses: ‘He is just a genius – his analysis is so thorough.’” (Chambers & Partners, 2020). In the commodities field he is known as “a very bright and commercially astute barrister who gets to the point quickly.” (The Legal 500, 2020). With a wealth of experience in unled advocacy work across a range of different arbitration systems rules, 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).

Simon’s recent cases include arbitration and court litigation arising from: an alleged fraud and unlawful means conspiracy related to a call option agreement in respect of a shareholding in Vladivostok’s commercial port; a claim by a Chinese company for alleged fraud and breach of fiduciary duty; cancellation of the contract for the world’s largest drillship (US$120 million); an oil rig contract termination dispute; an arbitration over alleged contracts for the sale of heavy fuel oil (over US$12 million); a dispute over shares in valuable ASEAN-based renewable energy companies (over US$100 million); breach of a contract for observation satellite services (US$32 million); a co-investment agreement concerning an Eastern European bank (over €25 million); a long-term electricity off-take agreement and associated commission payments (€50 million); ‘hull swapping’ at Korean shipyards (US$ 40 million); a share option dispute in the offshore services sector; a joint venture dispute over construction of a mine and associated power plant; a complex dispute over a pharmaceutical licence and distributorship agreement in Asia (subject to Indonesian law); cases at the intersection of commercial with public international law, including investment treaty disputes (where he “has notable experience in investment treaty arbitrations”, Chambers & Partners, 2020), law of the sea issues and climate change risks and liability; several reinsurance treaty arbitrations triggered by natural disasters; anti-suit injunctions; freezing injunctions; enforcement and challenge of arbitral awards and foreign judgments; numerous arbitrations relating to international sales of oil, coal, iron ore, steel, cement, chemicals, metals, and soft commodities.

Simon is admitted to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, British Virgin Islands. He acted (led by Duncan Matthews KC) in JSC BTA Bank v Mukhtar Ablyazov and others in proceedings in both the BVI and the English High Court.

Simon also regularly sits as arbitrator in London, Singapore and Hong Kong; and is a member of the SIAC reserve panel of arbitrators and the HKIAC and MARC (Mauritius) arbitrator panels.

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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

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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