Raj Parker—Matrix Chambers

Matrix has announced that Raj Parker will be joining the chambers as an associate member from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Raj has worked as a solicitor at Freshfields for over 30 years, 23 as a partner.

At Freshfields his client work was broadly broken down into three categories. His sports law practice began with the Hillsborough disaster, which gave rise to a public inquiry, of which Raj was at the heart, acting on behalf of the Football Association. He also helped the FA set up the Premier League in 1991/2 and has conducted many Court of Arbitration for Sport cases as advocate and latterly as arbitrator. Raj led the insurance and reinsurance practice at Freshfields for many years. His practice has also included investigations and he was one of the first people to handle a large scale cross border investigation that had civil and criminal aspects to it.

Raj originally trained as a barrister and is a seasoned litigator. In addition to his sports law, insurance and investigations practice, he specialises in general commercial and financial services dispute resolution, international regulatory investigations and public and administrative law. He has handled contentious and regulatory issues in the banking, pharmaceuticals, air traffic, leisure, diamond, energy, transport, reconstruction and insolvency, sport and media sectors. He also specialises in white collar crime issues.

Raj is a Recorder of the Crown Court and as such has a particular interest in and experience of white collar crime. He is also an arbitrator at the LCIA London and FIBA Munich, solicitor advocate in the Higher Courts and an accredited mediator.

David Scott, partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, says: “Whilst he is retiring from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, he is not retiring, full stop, as he is going to return to the Bar and he will practice at Matrix Chambers. I have no doubt that Raj will have a very interesting and varied mix of work whilst he is there and we wish him all the very best for his future career around the corner at Matrix Chambers.”

Helen Mountfield QC, joint chair of the management committee at Matrix, says: “After his huge successes at Freshfields, we are delighted that Raj Parker has chosen Matrix as the chambers from which to launch the next phase of his career. We welcome him and very much look forward to working with him.”