Richard East

Richard East was the founding partner of Quinn Emanuel’s London office and is presently the Senior Partner of the office.

Richard is a highly experienced solicitor advocate with more than two decades of experience in litigation and arbitration. He has received numerous accolades throughout his career, including being ranked by Legal 500 in the Hall of Fame for Banking Litigation (2020 – 2025) and Commercial Litigation (2023 – 2025), and is listed as a Recommended Lawyer for Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency and Reputation Management and Fraud. Additionally, Richard is ranked as Band 1 for Banking Litigation and Banking Litigation: Mainly Claimant by Chambers (2025). 

Following client feedback, comments made within Legal 500 and Chambers over the years have included :

Richard East is a ‘superstar litigator’ who is able to elicit favourable results for clients as defendants or plaintiffs engaged in hostile restructurings, often involving complex inter-creditor arrangements and sophisticated financial documentation. (Legal 500, 2025),

"Richard is stunningly clever, unbelievably commercially astute, he’s brilliant at both generating and winning big cases and is an absolute delight to work with." (Chambers UK, 2025),

“Richard East is probably the biggest beast in the English commercial litigation market. He’s fearsomely clever; he’s unbelievably commercially astute. The toppest of top quality!” (Legal 500, 2024),

“A legend in the London market (Legal 500, 2021),

“a clever and motivated practitioner” (Legal 500, 2023),

“talented and creative adviser”​ (Legal 500, 2013),

“tremendously hard-working”​ (Legal 500, 2012),

"Richard understands a client's objectives and crafts strategies to achieve them. He sees the big picture and understands the importance of putting together a high-quality litigation team." (Chambers, 2023),

 "Richard is very knowledgeable and tough, yet practical. He understands a client's objectives and crafts strategies to achieve them. He is nimble and able to quickly respond when a plaintiff acts unexpectedly." (Chambers, 2023),

"Richard is an excellent litigator and a great adviser to his clients." (Chambers 2023),

“Richard East receives wide acclaim from a range of sources for being an excellent litigator who fights your corner, is commercial and provides invaluable assistance.” (Chambers, 2017).

Other accolades include: 

Richard has been repeatedly selected for inclusion in The International Who's Who of Commercial Litigators as a "Recommended Commercial Litigator"​ from 2013 to 2023.

Richard was named by Financial News as one of the “50 Most Influential Lawyers” in both 2022 and 2023.

Richard featured in The Lawyer's Hot 100 2012, a prestigious recognition for individual lawyers in England.