Ian McDonald

Ian joined 4 New Square in October 2018 following the successful completion of his pupillage. He is developing a broad practice across several of Chambers’ core areas. Ian has a particular focus on commercial litigation, the conflict of laws, public law and human rights, international arbitration, and professional liability. He is increasingly instructed in cases with an international dimension.

Ian’s recent led work includes:

• Acting for Nick Suppipat in his $US 2billion fraud claims against multiple defendants in the Commercial Court (led by Justin Fenwick KC, George Spalton KC, and Lucy Colter);
• Junior to George Spalton KC in a multi-million pound claim connected to the disputed purchase of a bank in Africa;
• Acting for an insurer in an insurance coverage dispute arising out of a former solicitor’s fraudulent misconduct (led by Patrick Lawrence KC and Helen Evans KC);
• Junior to Daniel Saoul KC in VP Fund Solutions (Luxembourg) SA v. GI Globinvestment Ltd [2022] EWHC 1872 (Comm), successfully resisting a jurisdiction challenge (under both the recast Brussels I Regulation and the common law rules) in a multi-million pound unlawful means conspiracy claim;
• Assisting with advising commercial entities on the obtaining of permission for service out of the jurisdiction and pursuit of injunctive relief against a foreign State;
• Acting for a development manager in a multi-party professional liability claim arising out of the procurement and development of a multi-million pound retail and residential project (Standard Life Assurance Ltd v. Gleeds (UK) (A Firm) & Others, led by Graeme McPherson KC);
• Junior to Can Yeginsu as part of a legal team instructed in an international commercial arbitration arising out of a construction project in South America;
• Junior to Matthew Bradley in Ang v. Reliantco Investments Ltd [2019] EWHC 879 (Comm), involving a jurisdiction challenge under the recast Brussels I Regulation (in particular, the choice-of-court and consumer contract provisions);
• Assisting with advising a travel and lifestyle services provider on a jurisdiction challenge under the recast Brussels I Regulation (in particular, the choice-of-court and lis pendens provisions);
• Junior to Can Yeginsu in an international commercial arbitration in connection with an SPA relating to a renewable energy project in Eastern Europe; and,
• Junior to Helen Evans KC in an urgent application for freezing and proprietary injunctions and a Norwich Pharmacal order, arising out of a former solicitor’s fraudulent misconduct.

Prior to coming to the Bar, Ian originally trained and worked as a journalist. He then spent five years at Liberty, the human rights organisation, in senior media and campaigns roles. Accordingly, Ian has a strong interest in public law and human rights, and the rights to liberty and security and freedom of expression in particular. He has recently been instructed as part of legal teams in applications to the European Court of Human Rights; petitions to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and submissions to other Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council.

Ian has particular expertise, too, in the conflict of laws. He has worked as a teaching assistant on the Conflict of Laws module on the BCL at the University of Oxford, and has delivered tutorials in the same subject to visiting students at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. During pupillage, Ian also taught BPTC Commercial Dispute Resolution classes on jurisdiction and foreign judgments at BPP University. In 2017 he won The Bar Council’s Law Reform Essay Competition, for his paper “One rule for all: An end to the Abouloff double standard on fraud and foreign judgments”. Ian has also contributed a chapter to the forthcoming title The Common Law Jurisprudence of the Conflict of Laws (edited by Sarah McKibbin and Anthony Kennedy).

Ian has been instructed as sole Counsel in a range of matters. He regularly appears in his own right at interim and final hearings in the High Court and County Court. Ian has also advised upon, and settled pleadings in, actions across Chambers’ core areas, including professional liability proceedings against lawyers (both solicitors and barristers), financial practitioners, and construction professionals.

Prior to commencing pupillage, Ian read law at Birkbeck, University of London, where he won the Prize for Outstanding Performance on the LLB, and at Balliol College, Oxford, where he was the 4 New Square Chambers Scholar and achieved a Distinction on the Bachelor of Civil Law (taking courses in Comparative Human Rights; Conflict of Laws; Constitutional Principles of the European Union; and Jurisprudence and Political Theory). He subsequently completed the BPTC, for which he was awarded the Cunningham Scholarship by Middle Temple and an Excellence Award by BPP University, securing Outstanding grades in all three Advocacy modules and Commercial Dispute Resolution.

Ian is also an editor of Jackson & Powell on Professional Liability (Sweet & Maxwell, 9th edition, 2021).

For more examples of Ian’s recent work, please see the individual practice areas below.

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