Jeffrey P. Elkinson
Bermuda
Barrister, Attorney & Chartered Arbitrator
Clarendon House
2 Church Street
Hamilton, Bermuda
Tel: +1 441 299 4932
Email:
attorney@elkinson.com
Web:
www.elkinson.com
Jeffrey Elkinson is lawyer who has been extensively engaged in complex litigation and arbitration cases throughout his career. With colleagues and friends in the legal profession worldwide and a broad range of international qualifications and experience, Jeffrey is uniquely positioned to assist in commercial disputes with an international aspect.
He is a member of the Bars of Ireland, England, Hong Kong, New South Wales Australia, New York, United States Court of International Trade, United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Bermuda and the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. He is admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. He has been appointed a Special Assistant Attorney-General for Massachusetts.
He also sits as an Assistant Justice of the Supreme Court of Bermuda, a court with original unlimited jurisdiction and appellate jurisdiction from lower courts. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and is a door tenant of Des Voeux Chambers, Hong Kong.
Jeffrey is a commercial litigation specialist and appears at all levels of the courts in the Commonwealth and beyond as counsel. He specializes in cross-border disputes and deals with many areas of complexity, not least Regulatory, often acting for the Regulator in matters concerning tax treaties and insurance. He has had extensive experience in relation to telecom disputes but also deals with HNWI disputes in connection with trusts and has appeared in the leading cases in Bermuda in connection with trust restructuring.
Jeffrey sits as an arbitrator with appointments from ICC, LCIA, BVIAC and CIArb and, in respect of domain names, HKIAC/ADNDRC. He is a Past President of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He is the Education Officer of the Professional Ethics Committee of the International Bar Association.
Chambers recognizes Jeffrey as a leading dispute resolution lawyer – “…very tactically minded lawyer with a huge amount of common sense… great fun to work with” and in Legal 500 he is described as a “star litigator, highly commercial and effective.” Jeffrey is also recognized in 2025 as a leading dispute resolution lawyer by Legal Week’s The Private Client Global Elite, Who’s Who Legal Arbitration, Who’s Who Legal Asset Recovery, Who’s Who Thought Leaders Commercial Litigation, International Who’s Who Legal of Business Lawyers and International Who’s Who Legal Construction Lawyers.
Jeffrey’s pro bono work includes chairing the Professional Conduct Committee of Bermuda and the Police Complaints Authority. He is the legal advisor to the Bermuda Olympic Committee. He is Course Director and Tutor for the diploma, fellowship, member and associate courses for the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and has led arbitration courses across the globe for the Chartered Institute, including in Hong Kong, South Korea, Bermuda, Brazil, Taiwan, Sierra Leone, and Oxford University. He has written the definitive text on arbitration in Bermuda which is contained in the World Arbitration Reporter. Jeffrey is also the author of the Bermuda Chapter of the ICCA Handbook, Spitz’s Tax Havens of the World and Butterworths Offshore Cases and Materials.
- Advised one of the wealthiest families in the United States in a case involving a restructuring of a trust with in excess of 70 beneficiaries. An allegation that a trust purportedly created in the early 1970s by a European entity was invalid because allegedly the European entity was invalid from 1950. Litigation was highly complex and involved a European country, Bermuda and several states in the United States. The case was settled amicably after the initial aggressive litigation was brought by a leading QC in London.
- Acted as counsel for the 4, 5 and 8 Defendant in a trust restructuring matter which required the confirmation as to whom the correct current trustees are.
- Acted on behalf of the company, seeking judicial review of the Minister of Finance’s decision to serve a Notice to produce documents on the company and to enforce the company’s right to see the underlying Request from the Argentinian Government in circumstances where the Bermuda Government sought to rely on the confidentiality provisions contained in the OECD Model Tax Information Exchange Agreement.
- Acting for the Bermuda Monetary Authority in contentious litigation.
- Acting for Butterfield Trust Company Limited and Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Ltd.
- Acting for American Airlines, British Airways and United Airways.
- Acting for a global telecom entity in a shareholder dispute.
- Appointed as Amicus Curiae by Bermuda Court of Appeal in relation to statutory interpretation on Tax Information Exchange Agreement legislation.
- Justice of the Peace
- Chairman, Professional Conduct Committee of the Bermuda Bar
- Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- Chartered Arbitrator and Mediator
- Active Arbitrator and Counsel, Domestic and International Disputes with appointments from ICC, LCIA and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- President, Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, 2012
- Founder and Branch Chairman Chartered Institute of Arbitrators
- Course Director and Tutor, Fellowship Course of Chartered Institute; Course Director and Tutor, Members’ Courses of Chartered Institute
- Member of IBA, ABA and ICCA
- Education Officer, Professional Ethics Committee, IBA
- Trust and Estates Practitioner (STEP)
“Jeffrey Elkinson is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading commercial disputes and arbitration practitioners. With decades of experience appearing before courts and arbitral tribunals across multiple jurisdictions, he is regularly entrusted with matters involving significant legal complexity and international dimensions. Clients value his strategic insight and commercial judgment, while peers consistently recognize him as an exceptional advocate and one of the foremost figures in international dispute resolution.”