Members of the Blake Morgan Privy Council Team

Members of the Privy Council Team

LOUISE di MAMBRO OBE

Louise joined Blake Morgan as a consultant in 2022 following a long career in the Government Legal Service working in the Treasury Solicitor’s Department and the Lord Chancellor’s Department. In 1997 Louise joined the court staff in the Court of Appeal, Civil Division and was subsequently appointed as a Deputy Master, a role which involved exercising administrative and judicial functions in the Court. After a spell as Deputy Head of the Judicial Office of the House of Lords, Louise became the Acting Registrar of the Privy Council in 2009 receiving the Royal Warrant in 2011. Louise retired as Registrar of the Privy Council in 2022. Louise received an OBE in the 2021 New Year’s honours list for services to the administration of justice.

Louise will conduct a wide variety of cases (including company and commercial cases) from those jurisdictions such as the BVI, the Cayman Islands and Mauritius which have the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as their final court of appeal.

SARAH REES

Sarah heads the London Commercial Litigation team.

Sarah has extensive experience of civil litigation generally, working on a broad range of general corporate and commercial disputes across all sectors, but predominantly business and finance, retail, leisure and media.  She handles national and international high-value and complex litigation and is often involved in cases with an offshore element. She has first-hand experience of litigation in offshore jurisdictions, notably the British Virgin Islands and The Bahamas.

NICOLA DIGGLE

Nicola is a Consultant in our London litigation group, specialising in appeals to the Privy Council as well as other domestic and international disputes. She has over 10 years of experience assisting foreign law firms and their clients with appeals to the Privy Council in London from Permission to Appeal stage through to hearings and costs. She has acted in appeals from several jurisdictions including the BVI, Grenada, Anguilla, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Mauritius. Nicola is a Solicitor Advocate with Higher Rights of Audience who has appeared as advocate in the High Court; she is also a mediator.

ALEXANDER SHIRTCLIFF

Alex is a Partner in our London litigation group with extensive experience of domestic and international cases. He was admitted in the BVI in 2017. With a focus on pursuing or defending assets in complex civil fraud situations, Alex has pursued his clients’ interests in the UK, BVI, Cayman, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Gibraltar, France, Spain and multiple U.S. states.

JOE COWLES

Joe is an Associate in our Dispute Resolution Division, who specialises in all aspects of commercial litigation and arbitration. Joe has considerable experience with appeals to the Privy Council, and he regularly acts as Privy Council agent for overseas attorneys. Joe has also practised in the Caribbean, and is called to the Bar of Trinidad and Tobago.

The services the team can provide

Our firm has a long history of acting in appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council both in its own right and through its legacy firms. Blake Morgan can be instructed directly but it also acts as agents for attorneys overseas.

Our team of experts has unrivalled links with attorneys in many of the JCPC jurisdictions. Two members of our team are even qualified to act in two of the main jurisdictions which have the JCPC as their final court of appeal.

The practice and procedure of the JCPC was completely revised in 2009 and Louise di Mambro as the former Registrar of the Privy Council at that pivotal time has unparalled experience of the rules and practice directions which now govern applications and appeals, having overseen the many changes which were introduced since 2009 and following the pandemic.

The JCPC now operates a largely paperless procedure and our team is able to mastermind the whole process.