Sonia Tolaney QC

Call 1995; QC 2011; MA Jurisprudence (Oxon)
Email: stolaney@3vb.com

"Genuinely brilliant, ..a class act with a sharp legal mind and great advocacy skills"

Sonia Tolaney specialises in commercial and financial litigation and advisory work. She was appointed Queen's Counsel on 7 April 2011. Prior to taking Silk, Sonia was named the "Commercial Litigation Junior of the Year"both in 2008 and in 2009. In 2007 she was named as the "Banking and Finance Junior of the Year" (an award for which she was also nominated in 2005, 2008 and 2009): Chambers & Partners' Bar Awards.

In recent years the legal directories have described her as:

"one of the brightest stars at the Bar" who is "brilliant academically", with "crisp and flawless paperwork", "tremendous intellect" and "great tactical sense and litigation ability". "She deals with complex issues incredibly quickly and skilfully, showing some really original thinking when needed".

A "clever and persuasive" and "highly accomplished" advocate who is "really excellent on her feet" and "a proper fighter in court...When the other side sees her on her feet in court, they know they've already lost the battle."

'‘A truly impressive character known as being clever, strategic and a delight to work with''.

"A big name" who is "at the top of any right-thinking person's wish list..."

"She constitutes an ideal choice of counsel due to her communicative approach allied to her steely and unflappable manner."

Sonia has acted in a large number of landmark commercial, banking, fraud and insolvency disputes including the appeal to the House of Lords in OFT v Lloyds TSB Bank plc (overseas use of credit cards), the high-profile dispute between British Energy and Credit Suisse (over the Eggborough Power Station), the Boxclever litigation, and JP Morgan v Pollux (a similar action to JP Morgan v Springwell). She also has significant experience of professional negligence/indemnity and insurance disputes, and acted for some of the executive directors in the litigation brought by the Equitable Life Assurance Society against its former directors.

Over the last few years Sonia has been involved in a plethora of high profile commercial cases, appearing in the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal and in the Supreme Court, as well as in a number of substantial arbitrations. In particular, Sonia has acted in many of the cases identified by the Lawyer as the most significant commercial cases of the last few years including the much-publicised "Bank Charges" litigation, in which she successfully acted for Nationwide Building Society in the House of Lords (instructed by Slaughter and May), and the substantial claim brought by British Gas against Accenture in relation to the British Gas customer billing system, in which she successfully represented British Gas in a significant trial of preliminary issues (instructed by Linklaters) and thereafter appeared with Jonathan Sumption QC in the Court of Appeal to resist Accenture's appeal.  Sonia has also appeared in many of the leading 'jurisdiction' cases including UBS v Nordbank: Deutsche Bank v SHI: and UBS v Calabria.

Presently Sonia is instructed by Freshfields in the high profile Berezovsky litigation, both in the Commercial Court action and in the Chancery Division actions. Sonia is also acting for Deutsche Bank in its substantial claim brought against Sebastian Holdings Inc, a company owned and controlled by Internet billionaire Alexander Vik, in respect of losses arising from Equities and FX trading.

In addition to being "known for her sophisticated command of heavyweight litigations" Sonia is particularly recognised for her extensive expertise in banking practices and complex derivative products. She is currently instructed in a number of substantial misselling disputes concerning CDO, interest rate swaps and cases between various investment banks and Regions of Italy concerning the alleged mis-selling of derivative transactions (for example, Sonia is instructed as UBS's lead Counsel in respect of its claim against Italian Region of Lombardy in connection with the latter's USD 1 billion bond issue).   

Sonia's written and oral advocacy receives particular praise. Her drafting is considered "outstanding" and she is described both as "formidable on her feet" and "wonderful to listen to in Court".   She has substantial experience of appearing as the lead advocate in the Commercial Court, Chancery Division, the Court of Appeal and in front of arbitral tribunals.  Over the last year, Sonia has successfully represented a number of the investment and retail banks as their lead advocate, often leading teams of juniors, particularly in cases concerning sophisticated derivative products.  She has also appeared as the advocate in hearings in the Berezovsky litigation and other sizeable commercial disputes.

Awards, Scholarships and Appointments

Appointed as Queen's Counsel, 2011
Commercial Litigation Junior of the Year (2009), Chambers and Partners' Bar Awards
Commercial Litigation Junior of the Year (2008) Chambers and Partners' Bar Award
Banking Litigation Junior of the Year (2007), Chambers and Partners' Bar Awards
Founder Member of the Times Law Panel (2007)
Parker Scholarship (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Jurisprudence)
Sheelagh Griffiths Award (Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Jurisprudence)
Astbury Scholar of the Middle Temple
CEDR Accredited Mediator (2000).