Overview
Alan was called to the Bar in 2025 following a distinguished 17-year career as a solicitor specialising in complex commercial litigation. His transition to the Bar builds on a wealth of experience resolving high-value disputes in both court and arbitration settings. Alan joined Three Stone Chambers as a tenant in September 2025.
Alan trained at Slaughter and May and qualified into its Dispute Resolution department in 2008. In 2012, he joined Reynolds Porter Chamberlain’s Commercial Disputes team, where he was promoted to partner in 2019. Throughout his career, Alan has acted in numerous high-profile cases, including two featured in The Lawyer magazine’s Top Twenty Cases: CF Partners (UK) LLP v Barclays Bank Plc & Anor [2014] EWHC 3049 (Ch) and The Federal Republic of Nigeria v JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA [2022] EWHC 1447 (Comm).
Alan’s practice spans a broad spectrum of commercial disputes, including shareholder disputes, professional negligence claims, breach of confidence, warranty and indemnity disputes, and misrepresentation, and breach of contract claims. He also has experience in tax litigation and insolvency-related matters.
He has particular expertise in banking and financial markets disputes, having acted in cases involving margin call injunctions, payment disputes, fund management issues, and cases arising from market events such as the 2015 Swiss Franc revaluation and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Alan is also highly experienced in civil fraud claims, including those arising from insolvency and alleged corruption in foreign jurisdictions.
Alan frequently collaborates with lawyers across multiple jurisdictions, including the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Offshore. He has appeared as sole advocate in county court proceedings and has litigated cases in the High Court and Court of Appeal in London, as well as in the Isle of Man and the United States. His arbitration experience includes proceedings under LCIA rules.
As a solicitor, Alan held civil and criminal Higher Rights of Audience and was consistently recommended by The Legal 500, particularly in the Civil Fraud and Banking Disputes categories. He was described in Legal 500 2025 as “very clever, well versed in the law and good at thinking ahead,” with “drive and enthusiasm,” and praised for going “the extra mile.” In Legal 500 2024, he was noted for being “always across the detail and phenomenally clever.”
Areas of expertise
Cases of interest
Recent highlights include
- Acted for Frasers Group PLC in a claim against Morgan Stanley (defended by Clifford Chance) for inducing a breach of contract, causing loss by unlawful means, and unlawful means conspiracy, arising from a $900m margin call restrained by injunction (see below). The claim settled after a three-week trial in the Commercial Court in 2024. It also involved related proceedings in the USA (section 1782 applications for evidence including to subpoena Morgan Stanley’s CEO) and the making of Data Subject Access Requests and third-party disclosure applications.
- Obtained an injunction for Frasers Group PLC in June 2021 to restrain a $900m margin call made by Morgan Stanley and passed on to Frasers Group PLC via Saxo Bank.
- Acted for the Federal Republic of Nigeria in a $875m claim arising from allegedly fraudulent and corrupt payments made by JP Morgan to a company owned by a former Nigerian Minister of Petroleum. Went to trial in Spring 2022. One of The Lawyer magazine’s Top Twenty cases of 2019.
- Acted on a claim for misuse of confidential information for CF Partners against Barclays Bank (represented by Freshfields). Following a 34-day trial in May-June 2013, judgment was handed down in CF Partners favour, although the claim settled on confidential terms shortly thereafter. One of The Lawyer magazine’s Top Twenty cases of 2012.
- Instructed by a ‘big four’ liquidator of a collapsed Isle of Man based property investment group in connected with a claim against a global investment bank for dishonest assistance in connection with the sale of interest rate swaps.
- Acted in a LCIA arbitration for a US-based online fx brokerage in a dispute with a French client (represented by Danish lawyers) arising from an account deficit incurred following the Swiss Franc market event of January 2015.
- Acted on behalf of an AIM-listed Isle of Man incorporated investment company in a shareholder dispute arising from a shareholder’s purchase of $60m convertible preference shares issued by the company.
- Acted for the general partner of a real estate fund in a EUR160m gross negligence claim brought on behalf of the fund’s limited partners, against the fund’s manager (a global investment bank, represented by Allen & Overy), following a failed EUR220m investment in a high profile German real estate portfolio.
- Acted for a prominent national recruitment agency in a £158m dispute with HMRC arising from a travel benefit scheme; including related tax appeals and judicial review proceedings, as well as a contingent professional negligence claim against the recruitment agency’s former tax advisers. The dispute with HMRC was determined at first instance following a four-week trial.
Education
BPP Law School
2006 Legal Practice Course
2005 Graduate Diploma in Law, Commendation
Trinity Hall, Cambridge University
2000 – 2003 MA: Social and Political Sciences
Scholarships and awards
2001 Elected Trinity Hall Scholar – Dean Nurser Prize for Sociology
Directory recommendations
“Very clever, well versed in the law and good at thinking ahead” – Legal 500 UK 2025
“Alan has drive and enthusiasm” – Legal 500 UK 2025
“Clients love Alan Williams. He always goes the extra mile” – Legal 500 UK 2025
“Alan Williams and Dan Hemming are the two stand-out younger partners” – Legal 500 UK
2025
“Alan Williams and Chris Ross play key roles in financial disputes with cross-border
elements” – Legal 500 UK 2025
“Alan Williams is always across the detail and phenomenally clever” – Legal 500 UK 2024
“Jonathan Cary and Alan Williams were right across the detail, knowing the case inside out
and back to front, and showed great judgement throughout” – Legal 500 UK 2023