Niran de Silva KC

Barrister

"Niran truly goes above and beyond and the quality of his advice has been superb. He is incredibly impressive."

Chambers & Partners 2025

"Niran is an excellent and very calm barrister."

Chambers & Partners 2025

"Niran is compelling in cross-examination, and he is good at dealing with difficult witnesses."

Legal 500 2025

"He is extremely forensic, really drilling into the detail of a case. He is able to see the bigger picture and understand what clients' overall objectives are and meet them head on. His cross-examination is ferocious despite his very pleasant demeanour."

Chambers & Partners 2024

“Niran is a suave and sophisticated genius. A skillful operator who leaves no stone unturned once in the zone.”

Legal 500 2024

"He is very clear in his opinions on the merits of a claim and clients are very pleased with his advice."

Chambers & Partners 2022

"He is an ex-broker so I always feel very comfortable in the knowledge that he has all the background and context needed, and he is very easy-going but he also very forensic in the way that he can grapple with large amounts of evidence. On his feet he is incredibly impressive and he has such a good knowledge of all the paperwork, even when there is a lot of it."

Chambers & Partners 2022

"He is very user-friendly, very efficient and incredibly helpful with short time-frames."

Chambers & Partners 2022

"An excellent choice for employment/commercial cross-over work."

Legal 500 2022

“Very responsive and has an excellent, commercial approach and an engaging client manner." "Extremely thorough and always goes the extra mile to assist."

Chambers and Partners 2020

Contact

Ian Smethurst

Team Leader

Email: ian@littletonchambers.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7936 5016

Tracy Thomson

Deputy Team Leader

Email: tracy@littletonchambers.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7797 8622

Joe Connor

Practice Manager

Email: Joe@littletonchambers.co.uk
Phone: +44 (0)20 7797 8621

Practice areas

Niran is a leading barrister, specialising in commercial and employment law with a particular expertise in applications for interim injunctive relief. He has a reputation for robust advocacy and sound commercial judgment.

Having worked as an equity derivatives broker in the City, Niran has a thorough understanding of complex financial products and financial services regulation and he is frequently instructed in disputes in the financial services sector. His extensive expertise has led to his being instructed in numerous restrictive covenant and whistleblowing cases in this area.

Niran regularly acts in commercial disputes between companies, including having appeared in the leading cases on the entitlement of utility companies to recover the costs of repairing negligent damage to their networks. He also appears in commercial arbitrations, both as a representative and as an arbitrator (including as chair of the arbitral tribunal).

Niran has a wealth of experience of acting in restrictive covenant and other employee competition cases, especially team moves and cases involving allegations of fraud and conspiracy. He has a particular expertise in cases where abuse of confidential information, trade secrets or database rights is alleged.

He is described as follows in professional guides:

“Niran is a suave and sophisticated genius. A skillful operator who leaves no stone unturned once in the zone.” Legal 500 2024
“Niran is a genius. He can advocate his way out of the most difficult of legal holes” Chambers & Partners 2023
“He has an excellent grasp of the detail and is extremely effective in cross-examination” Chambers & Partners 2023
“An excellent choice for employment/commercial cross-over work.” Legal 500 2022
“Very responsive and has an excellent, commercial approach and an engaging client manner.” “Extremely thorough and always goes the extra mile to assist.”Chambers and Partners 2020
“Extremely bright and tactical in his approach. He wins trust quickly and is brilliant to work with. He is an extremely experienced advocate in court.” “Clever, committed and commercial.” Chambers and Partners 2019

Recent Cases

Niran’s recent cases include:

Jump Trading v Couture & Another [2023] EWHC 1305 (KB). Successfully resisted application for interim injunctive relief in the terms of a restrictive covenant
Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake[2021] IRLR 758. Landmark Supreme Court ruling on minimum wage affecting thousands of workers in the care sector.
Advetec Holdings v Shaw & Another(2020), appeared for a claimant technology company in successful application for without notice ‘doorstep delivery-up’ injunction against former CEO. Successfully resisted application to set aside order on return date.
Walker v Wallem Shipmanagement[2020] IRLR 257. Leading case on territorial scope of discrimination provisions of the Equality Act 2010 applying to seafarers.
Thitchener & Another v Vantage Capital [2019] EWHC 1576 (QB). Appeared for successful defendant in claims for payment under an LLP agreement.
A&B v X&Y [2019] IRLR 920. Case on restricted reporting during the course of proceedings and interaction of Article 8 right to privacy and Article 10 right to freedom of expression.
Bourne Rail v Ashton & Others [2018] EWHC 17 (QB), acted for three of the defendants in 10-day expedited trial in Queen’s Bench Division of claims for unlawful means conspiracy and restrictive covenant injunctions brought by rail construction company. All of the claims against them were dismissed.
Bear Scotland v Fulton & Baxter[2015] ICR 221 EAT. Landmark judgment on in inclusion of non-guaranteed overtime in holiday pay
Embassy of Brazil v de Castro Cerquira [2014] 1 WLR 3718. Reported judgment on service of proceedings on foreign states.
Allen v Hounga [2014] 1 WLR 2889. Supreme Court judgment on illegality defence in statutory torts.
Brennan & Others v Sunderland Council [2012] ICR 1183. Leading case on third party contribution claims under the Civil Liability (Contribution) Act 1978.