Kennedys Chudleigh, the Bermuda office of international law firm Kennedys Law, is celebrating partner Alex Potts’s appointment as Queen’s Counsel.

He received his Letters Patent from the Queen, at a ceremony before the Lord Chancellor in Westminster Hall in London, followed by ceremonial Court hearings before the Lord Chief Justice and the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the Chancery Division, and the Commercial Court.

Mr Potts, QC, is the first Bermudian-based barrister to have been appointed as a Queen’s Counsel under the current English appointment system (which was introduced in 2005), in recognition of his excellence as a world-class advocate, both in Court and in international arbitration, including Bermuda Form insurance arbitrations.

He said: “I am extremely grateful to my colleagues, clients, referees, as well as the Bermuda judiciary and the Bermuda Bar more generally, for the professional support and opportunities that I have received over the course of my career in Bermuda. I look forward to assisting a wide range of clients in the years to come, as well as supporting and promoting the jurisdiction of Bermuda more generally”.

Kennedys Chudleigh has also been recognised as a leading Bermuda legal practice by three independent legal directories in their 2018 editions.

Chambers Global’s identified the firm as one of the top tier in Bermuda for dispute resolution, and one of the top Bermuda law firms in the area of insurance.

The Legal 500 has separately identified the firm as a market-leading firm for dispute resolution, insurance/reinsurance, and trusts/private client work, while Who’s Who Legal identified the firm as a market-leading firm for insurance and reinsurance and asset recovery.

All three independent directories identified the firm’s three partners, Mark Chudleigh, Mr Potts, and Nick Miles, as market-leading lawyers in Bermuda.

Mr Chudleigh, managing partner, said: “These rankings provide independent confirmation of Kennedys Chudleigh Ltd’s position as a leading Bermudian law firm, capable of providing world-class legal services both to local and international clients.

“It is particularly encouraging for our firm, and for our clients, and for the jurisdiction of Bermuda, that our affiliated firm, Kennedys Law LLP, has also received very high rankings internationally, across a wide range of legal disciplines.”

And mentioning Mr Potts’s appointment as a Queen’s Counsel, Mr Chudleigh said: “We are thrilled with the recognition bestowed on Alex individually and on our firm in general. As Bermuda’s economy becomes increasingly international and diversified, and as the marketplace for legal services also becomes increasingly competitive, we at Kennedys Chudleigh Ltd look forward to providing the highest quality of service to our clients, while supporting Bermuda’s efforts to maintain its position as a leading international financial centre”.