Paul McGrath
Profile Verified by The Marque
Last Updated: 22 Sep 2026
Barrister KC
London, GB
Profile Verified by The Marque
Last Updated: 22 Sep 2026
THE MARQUE
In Their Own Right
Biography
Paul McGrath is a leading KC barrister who specialises in international commercial and company law disputes. In addition to appearing in the High Court, Court of Appeal, the Privy Council and Supreme Court in England and Wales, he has appeared before the courts of most of the offshore jurisdictions including the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos, the Dubai International Financial Centre, and the Isle of Man and, in an advisory capacity, the Channel Islands.
Over the years, Paul has been instructed in many of the high-profile or substantial commercial fraud and asset recovery cases to be heard before the English Courts and offshore. He has a reputation as a “court-room bruiser” with the ability to think outside of the box on difficult legal issues across a broad spectrum of legal areas. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2011. He has been described as “the doyen of civil fraud” in the peer review conducted by The Legal 500 2021.
His book, Commercial Fraud in Civil Practice, is regarded as essential reading for those practitioners and scholars interested in this area of the law. Named as Commercial Litigation Silk of the Year in The Legal 500 Awards 2015, Paul was more recently recognised as Barrister of the Week by The Lawyer magazine. From March 2023 to March 2024 Paul was appointed Visiting Professor to the University of Oxford.
Paul is an avid fan, long-time season ticketholder and former shareholder of Liverpool FC. When he is not to be found at Anfield, he is likely to be on a flight to wherever the latest high-profile boxing match is being held. In 2019, he helped a former professional boxer renovate and re-open his local Waterloo Amateur Boxing Club in Liverpool. Together with his partner, Angela, Paul renovated and opened up a luxury dog hotel, training and hydrotherapy centre, The Pawfect Retreat.
Paul studied Jurisprudence at University College, Oxford and graduated with a first-class degree in both his BA (Law) and postgradua
The Record
Background
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1994 — Present
Barrister KC
Essex Court Chambers
Essex Court Chambers leads the way in commercial and financial litigation, arbitration, public law and public international law.
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1994 — Present
Barrister KC
Paul McGrath KC
Paul is a leading practitioner in the field of international commercial Chancery litigation. He has a wide practice spanning company insolvency and commercial disputes.
In The News
Newsfeed
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28 March 2025 · Essex Court Chambers
Settlement reached with UEFA
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22 September 2023
Foreign-seated arbitration agreement
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1 March 2023
Paul McGrath KC appointed Visiting Professor to the University of Oxford
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6 October 2021
Landmark decision on freezing order jurisdiction
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Formative Years
Education
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University College Oxford
BCL (First)
1992 — 1993
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University College Oxford
BA Law (First)
1989 — 1992
Areas Of Focus