Rumen Cholakov is a barrister at Three Verulam Buildings (3VB), London, where he practises across international arbitration and complex commercial litigation, with a particular focus on disputes arising from banking, private equity, civil fraud, and digital assets. He is ranked as a Leading Junior by Legal 500 and as an Up-and-Coming Junior by Chambers & Partners, and is a member of the New York Bar.
Rumen has extensive experience in international arbitration under the ICC, LCIA, PCA and UNCITRAL Rules, acting both as sole counsel and as part of leading teams. His arbitration work includes ICC and LCIA proceedings seated in London, Abu Dhabi and Europe, ad hoc arbitrations, and investment treaty disputes, including ICSID proceedings under the Energy Charter Treaty. He regularly advises on jurisdictional challenges, interim relief, enforcement and set-aside proceedings, and the interface between arbitration and national courts.
Alongside his arbitration practice, Rumen is highly experienced in high-value commercial litigation before the English courts and offshore jurisdictions, particularly in disputes involving financial institutions, private equity funds and multinational corporates. He has acted in a number of landmark matters involving fraud, asset tracing and crypto-assets, including claims exceeding US$1 billion in value, and is regularly instructed in urgent applications for injunctive relief, jurisdictional disputes and enforcement proceedings.
Before coming to the Bar, Rumen trained and practised as a solicitor at Davis Polk & Wardwell and Kirkland & Ellis in London and New York, specialising in private equity and finance. He holds a First-Class degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, and an LL.M. from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Fulbright Scholar. He is also a visiting lecturer in U.S. constitutional law at King’s College London and a contributor to leading practitioner texts and journals in banking and arbitration.
