Alice Sims
Call: 2004
"very bright and very user-friendly"
Construction, Chambers UK 2023
Clerk Details
Practice Summary
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.
For mediation enquiries, please contact the ADR Practice Manager Oliver Goldsmith or ADR Assistant Practice Manager Hannah Bennett.
Practice Areas
Construction, Engineering & Professional Negligence
Sole counsel in a multi-million pound claim for a company involved in F1 concerning fluctuating steel prices as a consequence of the war in Ukraine.
Junior counsel for the architect defending a case worth more than £40m in relation to a multi-party cladding dispute (involving BLOs) in a mixed-use commercial development in London Listed for a 7 week trial in 2025.
Junior counsel for the Employer pursuing the design and build contractor in a high profile, multi-million pound, multi-party dispute about the cladding on a high-profile building in the South of England.
Junior counsel for the NHBC in a £20m dispute concerning numerous different buildings constructed by the same D&B contractor.
Counsel for a specialist tunnelling contractor in relation to various contractual disputes with a number of employers on the HS2 project.
Sole counsel for a specialist roofing contractor in a claim relating to the design and construction of a psychiatric hospital worth over £5m.
Sole counsel for a concrete flooring designer in a multi-million pound dispute relating to a manufacturing facility.
Sole counsel for a firm of engineers in relation to a multi-million pound claim arising out of the design of a heating system in a landmark building in London.
Sole counsel for the owner of a power station in a Part 8 claim concerning a contractual dispute with a supplier.
Junior counsel for Alstom Power in a multi-million pound dispute concerning a chemical processing plant.
Junior counsel for a leading manufacturer of petro-chemicals in connection with a multi-million-pound dispute against a specialist designer of chemical processing plants.
Advisory work for a main contractor in relation to a dispute arising under an NEC contract and concerning the construction of treatment works within a nuclear power plant.
Energy & Utilities
Sole counsel for an international energy company relating to a dispute about an umbilical carousel.
Sole counsel for the owner of a power station in a Part 8 claim concerning a contractual dispute with a supplier.
Junior counsel for Alstom Power in a multi-million pound dispute concerning a chemical processing plant.
Junior counsel for a leading manufacturer of petro-chemicals in connection with a multi-million pound dispute against a specialist designer of chemical processing plants.
Advisory work for a main contractor in relation to a dispute arising under an NEC contract and concerning the construction of treatment works within a nuclear power plant.
Arbitration
Junior counsel in a multi-million pound final account dispute between a Council and a contractor carrying out housing repairs.
Sole counsel for the insurers in a multi-million pound cladding dispute about a mixed-use building in the South-West of England.
Junior counsel for the employer in a multi-million pound ICC international arbitration concerning a high- profile development in downtown Moscow.
Sole counsel for a sub-contractor in an international arbitration concerning a commercial dispute about oil and gas separation plants in Libya.
Sole counsel for the main contractor of a hydropower project in Kenya in relation to a multi-million dollar arbitration against the employer involving the FIDIC form of
Junior counsel for the main contractor in a multi-million pound ICC international arbitration concerning a large offshore wind farm.
IT & Technology
Advisory work for a major supplier of internet services to the NHS Ambulance service.
Junior counsel in a dispute concerning the functioning of bespoke servers in a leading mobile network provider’s main UK call centre.
Sole counsel for a leading telecommunications supplier in a claim relating to the installation of a telecoms
Sole counsel for a leading telecommunications supplier in claims relating to the laying of telephone cables and the installation of telegraph poles.
Offshore Construction & Marine Engineering
Sole counsel for an international energy company relating to a dispute about one of the largest umbilical cable carousels in the UK.
Junior counsel for a main contractor in a multi-million pound TCC dispute about the construction of a soft yoke mooring platform in Russia.
Acting for the Defendant in connection with an alleged commercial fraud concerning the purchase of an oil platform in Brazil.
Appointments
Mediator in a dispute concerning the trespass of gas flues in a housing association property into the air space above a commercial premises, preventing its upward development.
Mediator is a dispute concerning the alleged failure of bespoke glazing to a commercial development.
Mediator in a multi-million-pound residential dispute concerning alleged architect’s negligence.
Mediator in a dispute between a charity and a major utility company relating to waste water.
Adjudicator in a contractual dispute at a commercial development between an Employer and architect.
Adjudicator in a final account dispute.
Other Information
Education & Career
CIARB Accelerated Route to Fellowship, 2023
CEDR Accredited Mediation Member, 2021
London School of Mediation (Training in Conducting Online Mediations), 2021
TECBAR Mediation Member, 2011
London School of Mediation (full accredited course), 2011
Tenancy, Keating Chambers, 2008
Tenancy, 4 Pump Court, 2006
Pupillage, 4 Pump Court, 2005
Bar Vocation Course (Outstanding – 5th in year), ICSL 2004
Postgraduate Diploma in Law (Very Competent), City, University of London 2003
MA Social Anthropology (First Class – 5th in year), Cambridge University 2002
Privacy Policies
Additional information
Alice is a keen scuba diver, horse rider, skier and cyclist. Alice loves travel, socialising and good food.
Appointments & Awards
Recorder (Crime) S.E. Circuit (ticketed to hear serious sex cases), 2019
Deputy Judge in the Upper Administrative Appeal Tribunal (Currently on sabattical), 2018
Tribunal Judge in Mental Health (Restricted Panel Patients), 2018-2022
Independent Member of the Parole Board, 2016-2021
Legally Qualified Chair Police Misconduct Tribunals, 2014
Tribunal Judge in Social Security and Child Support, 2013-2021
Scholarship from the South Eastern Circuit to attend an advocacy course run by the Florida Bar Association, 2009
Internship Award, Inner Temple, 2004
Everard Ver Heyden Scholar, ICSL, 2004
Princess Royal Scholarship, Inner Temple, 2003
Exhibition Award, Inner Temple, 2002
Dame Rosemary Murray Scholar, Cambridge University, 2001
Cambridge Commonwealth Scholarship, Cambridge University, 2000
Memberships
Recorder (Crime) S.E. Circuit (ticketed to hear serious sex cases), 2019
Deputy Judge in the Upper Administrative Appeal Tribunal (Currently on sabattical), 2018
Tribunal Judge in Mental Health (Restricted Panel Patients), 2018-2022
Independent Member of the Parole Board, 2016-2021
Legally Qualified Chair Police Misconduct Tribunals, 2014
Tribunal Judge in Social Security and Child Support, 2013-2021