Will Cook

Will has a broad commercial practice across Chambers’ core areas of work, with a particular focus on civil fraud, commercial litigation and arbitration, construction & engineering, insurance and professional liability. He is also developing a growing practice in disciplinary & regulatory and offshore work. He appears frequently in both the High Court and County Court, and is regularly instructed both as sole Counsel and as part of a larger team.

Current and recent highlights of Will’s practice include:

• Instructed in a multi-million dollar ICC arbitration arising out of a joint venture in Saudi Arabia (led by Justin Fenwick QC and Tim Chelmick)
• Instructed in FRC proceedings against auditors arising out of the high-profile collapse of London Capital & Finance plc (led by George Spalton QC)
• Various Claimants v Spence: Instructed as part of a Counsel team (led by Daniel Saoul QC) on behalf of c. 450 investors in claims in the Commercial Court for deceit and unlawful means conspiracy arising out of a collapsed property investment scheme
• Providence Investment Funds PCC Ltd v PwC CI LLP: Instructed for the defendant “Big 4” firm in proceedings in Guernsey arising out of an alleged Ponzi scheme said to have defrauded thousands of local investors. The case settled shortly before a five week trial in the Guernsey Royal Court (led by Edward Harrison of Brick Court Chambers)
• Instructed in the defence of a €9m COVID-19 Business Interruption insurance claim brought by a real estate investment manager concerning losses arising from its European property portfolio (led by David Turner QC)
• Executive Counsel to the FRC v KPMG LLP: Will (led by David Turner QC) was instructed in these high-profile disciplinary proceedings against KPMG and its former partner/employees arising out of the FRC’s investigations into KPMG’s audits of Carillion plc and Regenersis plc, which culminated in a five-week trial before a Disciplinary Tribunal. The case has been widely reported in the press and was featured as one of The Lawyer’s “Top 20 Cases of 2022”
• Alfozan v Quastel Midgen LLP [2022] EWHC 66 (Comm): Will (led by Helen Evans) was instructed in the successful strike-out of a £6.5m claim against a city firm of solicitors on the grounds of “warehousing” and abuse of process. The underlying dispute related to an alleged fraud in respect of a large London property portfolio held by a Saudi national

Prior to joining Chambers, Will read Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oriel College, Oxford, where he was awarded an Academic Scholarship and graduated with First Class Honours (7th highest in year). He completed the Graduate Diploma in Law at City, University of London with Distinction (4th highest in year) and also won the Jean Monnet Prize for EU Law, before undertaking the Bar Professional Training Course as a Lord Justice Holker Scholar of Gray’s Inn. While at school, Will represented England at the World Schools Debating Championships, winning the tournament in 2014 while also being named the best individual speaker.

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