US firm Gibson Dunn has hired London barrister Christopher Harris KC from 3 Verulam Buildings (3VB) to bolster its global arbitration coverage.
Harris, who joins as partner in the firm’s London office, will serve as the firm’s co-chair of its international arbitration and its judgment and arbitral award enforcement practice groups.
Harris brings more than 20 years’ experience in international arbitration as well as extensive advocacy experience before major commercial courts in London, the Caribbean and Dubai. He was elevated to silk in 2019.
Incumbent co-chair Penny Madden KC said his arrival would strengthen the firm’s London arbitration bench. Madden took silk in 2016 and remains one of a small band of solicitor-silks to lead an arbitration department in London, with Harris’s appointment boosting its advocacy offering.
She added: “English law continues to feature prominently in cross-border contracts and London remains a preferred seat of arbitration, particularly for disputes with links to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.”
She said Harris’s experience and multi-jurisdictional practice would align both with the firm’s client base and wider cross-border disputes capabilities, having appeared regularly in the Commercial Court as well as senior appellate courts. He has also had appearances in major offshore jurisdictions and overseas common law jurisdictions like the Dubai International Financial Centre courts.
Harris is qualified in both Geneva and England and Wales, giving him both civil and common law insights, reflecting an academic background that spanned Bristol, Leiden, St Gallen and Queen Mary University.
Rahim Moloo, also co-chair, added: “We have worked with Christopher for several years and are excited to welcome him,” calling him “a brilliant lawyer and colleague”.
Harris will also become co-chair of the firm’s litigation and arbitration enforcement group, alongside Robert Weigel and new appointment Miguel Estrada.
Harris is the current UK member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration, and a current UK government nominee as a panel arbitrator at ICSID, as well as a leading light in the organising committee of the binannual International Arbitration Charity Ball.
He has appeared in arbitrations under all the major rules across a wide range of seats, including more than 30 investor-state arbitrations for both investors and states in commercial and investment disputes across the energy and natural resources sector, alongside banking and financial services.
Harris acknowledged it was comparatively rare for a senior silk to join a law firm, but said the offer from Gibson Dunn “made this an irresistible opportunity for me”.
He paid tribute to his former colleagues at 3VB for their “friendship and encouragement” over nearly a quarter of a century, saying: “It is a hard to leave such a special place, but I am glad that we part as friends.”
The set’s joint heads of chambers, David Quest KC and David Head KC, said Harris had “built a formidable practice and strong market reputation since completing his pupillage at 3VB in 2003”.
Praising Harris for playing a key role in developing its arbitration practice, the duo, who succeeded Ewan McQuarter KC and Adrian Beltrami KC as joint heads in 2022 and 2024 respectively, wished Harris well, saying the set’s arbitral offering remained strong.
The set, which appointed the experienced Kathryn Paterson as chambers director in October 2024, would “continue to consolidate and grow those areas in the years ahead”, adding that the set would maintain “a close relationship between Christopher in the future”.
While it has seen exits at senior junior level to rival sets, Harris’s exit is the first silk to leave 3VB in recent years, although it hired arbitration and international law specialists Can Yeginsu from 4 New Square and Professor Zachary Douglas KC from Matrix Chambers in 2022.
Prior to Harris’s arrival, the firm in March hired former A&O Shearman arbitration partner Patrick Pearsall in Washington DC. The firm restructured its London leadership team with a new management duo in January, with Madden stepping down from her role as co-managing partner.
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