Bankim Thanki KC

Bankim Thanki KC commenced practice at the English Bar in 1989 and took Silk in 2003. He is a member of Fountain Court Chambers and is currently its deputy Head of Chambers as well as a Bencher of the Middle Temple. His practice as King’s Counsel spans a wide range of commercial litigation, arbitration, regulatory investigations and inquiries (public and private) and other high quality civil work. Bankim represented Barclays Bank in the case which saw the first judgment handed down in the new Financial List in London and he is currently acting for Ukraine in defending the USD3 billion Eurobond claim brought on behalf of the Russian Federation in the same List.  

Mr Thanki represented BP in the first case brought to trial under the English Commercial Court’s Shorter Trials Scheme.  Other notable cases in Silk have included acting for GMR in its dispute with the Maldives government over the international airport at Malé, for Deloitte LLP in relation to the Phoenix Four/MG Rover investigation, for Vincent Tchenguiz in his civil damages claim against the SFO, for the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago in the public enquiry into the collapse of Colonial Life Insurance, for Lloyds Bank in the OFT test case on Bank Charges, for RBS in the principal test case on the enforceability of credit card agreements, for the son of the King of Bahrain in his dispute with the pop star Michael Jackson, for the Bank of England in the Three Rivers litigation, for Qantas in The Deep Vein Thrombosis and Air Travel Group Litigation and for the Bar Council in R (Prudential) v HMRC and Smith v Kvaerner.

Mr Thanki has also been instructed to advise the central banks of a number of countries including the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Bank of England, the Bank of Namibia and the Central Bank of Trinidad & Tobago. He regularly acts for clients offshore and has provided expert evidence on English law to numerous foreign courts or tribunals. He has conducted LCIA, UNCITRAL, ICC and ad hoc arbitrations as an arbitrator. Amongst other works, he is the editor of The Law of Privilege published by Oxford University Press.