Man City recruit record £9m 'super silk' KC for Premier League appeal

Manchester City have added Mark Howard KC to their legal team as they appeal against findings that the club breached Premier League financial rules on 114 occasions between 2009 and 2018.

Howard, joint head of Brick Court Chambers in central London, is described in legal circles as a ‘super silk’ — a colloquial term for a King’s Counsel of exceptional standing. His involvement was reported by legal trade magazine The Lawyer.

City were formally charged in February 2023. A 42-day hearing followed the next year, and the outcome — confirming the 114 breaches — was announced last month. The club subsequently lodged an appeal, maintaining they possess a ‘body of irrefutable evidence’ that proves their innocence. No timeline has been set for the appeal process.

Howard became a barrister in 1980 and was appointed KC 16 years later. His client list spans former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich (2008) and musician Elton John (2002). In an interview with The Times last year, he described ‘cross-examining witnesses and undermining their evidence’ as the most rewarding part of his work — a quality that has earned him a formidable reputation. As one legal source put it: ‘His name strikes fear into the heart of the opposition.’

His record brief fee of £9 million came in 2023, when he represented the Federal Republic of Nigeria against Process & Industrial Developments — the highest known brief fee in legal history. Howard helped Nigeria avoid a $11 billion (£9.3bn) damages bill.

More recently, in 2025, Howard acted for AerCap — the world’s largest commercial aircraft owner — in an insurance dispute over planes stranded in Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. The High Court ruled that contingent war risk insurers were liable to compensate AerCap for more than $1 billion (£844m), one of the largest financial awards by a UK court in an insurance dispute.

Howard is not the only high-profile KC to have worked with City since the charges were brought. David Pannick KC has also been part of the club’s legal effort, leading their core team through the original hearing. The addition of Howard signals that City intend to pursue their appeal with the same intensity they have shown throughout the process.