Alice Sims

Alice is ranked for construction in the Chambers & Partner UK Guide and the Chambers & Partners Global Guide. She is incredibly bright and her popularity with clients and solicitors, whether she is working as part of a team or as sole counsel, stems from her hard working and hands-on approach. She balances an air of authority with a down-to-earth approach. Alice gets stuck into the technical detail of a case and is a fearless cross-examiner. Clients praise her for being accessible, practical and commercial.

Alice specialises in construction and engineering disputes along with professional negligence and insurance claims related to these sectors. She undertakes all aspects of alternative dispute resolution including representations to adjudicators and enforcement proceedings.

She has particular expertise in energy-related disputes (both onshore and offshore) and has acted for clients in a wide range of litigation concerning ships, renewables, nuclear, oil and gas projects. She also regularly acts in cases relating to the sale and supply of chemicals and the construction of chemical processing plants. She is familiar with all of the major standard forms and standard terms of appointment including NEC, JCT, RIBA, LOGIC, RICS, FIDIC, ICC, ICE and IChemE.

Alice has a wealth of experience in residential and commercial cladding cases, arising out of concerns following the Grenfell Tower Inquiry and has advised on the Government’s White Paper concerning proposed changes to the Building Safety Act. She is currently instructed in numerous multi-million-pound cladding disputes for parties at all levels of the contractual chain including insurers. She is familiar with all of the technical issues concerning fire safety arising out of the Building Regulations, ADB and the Building Safety Act and has a number of cases concerning Building Liability Orders.

She also has extensive experience in domestic and international arbitrations concerning construction and energy disputes as well as the sale and supply of goods (conducted under various different rules including ICC, LCIA, SIAC, UNCITRAL). She also accepts arbitral appointments and has successfully completed the CIArb Accelerated Route to Fellowship.

Alice is a CEDR trained and incredibly popular mediator. She has an outstanding success rate of settling cases which clients attribute to her calm but commercial focus. She has conducted in excess of 20 mediations since completing her CEDR training and has an outstanding success rate of over 95%. She most commonly mediates construction disputes but has also successfully resolved cases involving planning issues, nuisance, lettings and partnership agreements.

Alice has held judicial appointments since 2013 and currently sits at as Recorder in the Crown Court and as a Deputy Judge in the Upper Administrative Appeal Tribunal (which hears appeals from certain first-tier tribunals and also applications for judicial review). She has sat for more than 500 days and has written hundreds of judgments so she brings years of judicial experience (both in terms of managing complex hearings and also writing decisions) to her work as a barrister, mediator and arbitrator. None of her judgments which have been appealed to the Court of Appeal have been overturned.