The Legal 500

Position

Barrister practising across the broad spectrum of commercial dispute resolution (both litigation and domestic and international arbitration). Expertise in areas including, but not limited to: banking and financial services; company and insolvency law; civil fraud; energy and natural resources; insurance and reinsurance; regulation (city and industry); and professional negligence. Recent cases include: acting for an LME broker against large claims arising out of copper transactions; acting for defendants in proceedings for worldwide freezing relief in support of a multibillion claim in US courts; acting for a defendant firm of actuaries in a large professional negligence claim arising out of the firm’s review of the claimant’s insurance reserves; acting for a banking syndicate in connection with a dispute with shareholders regarding a forced sale of the shares of the debtor company; representing third parties seeking relief in respect of damage caused by interim injunction; representing a Liechtenstein trust enterprise in proceedings for an account and other relief against the bank; representing an investment bank in a claim for declaratory relief in respect of a facility agreement; dispute in Bermudan courts involving the management of a hedge fund; a shareholders’ dispute involving the grant of US$500m freezing order in support of an arbitration claim; a dispute between shareholders in a Bulgarian bank; an LCIA arbitration concerning the sale and purchase of shares in a Nigerian telecommunications company; a dispute between the owner of a powerstation and the station operator and manager regarding the owner’s rights to use of management information during the currency of the operation and management agreement; a dispute between one of the Big Four accountancy firms and an offshore property-owning trust regarding the performance of a contract for the provision of corporate finance services in connection with a collective investment scheme; a dispute between a shipping group and a bank regarding the performance by the bank of a mandate to raise equity capital for the group; and three related arbitrations (LCIA/ICC) concerning the financing of coffee and wheat in east Africa and the fraudulent procurement of such financing; advising on the construction of a long-term liquid natural gas supply agreement; advising on the construction of a £500m facility agreement in the light of potential breaches of financial ration covenants caused by the credit crunch; acting in Cayman Islands proceedings concerning a private equity fund dispute about the ownership and enjoyment of intellectual property rights to a world-famous brand; defending a claim by an Irish mortgage broker for alleged wrongful termination of a mortgage distribution agreement by a US investment bank due to the credit crunch; acting for a US Dollar/Turkish Lira trader in connection with losses sustained as a result of the forced close out of his trading book; advising a yacht owner in connection with the withdrawal of the banking licence of an Icelandic bank which had procured a letter of credit as security for the construction of the yacht; acting for a broker in connection with the forced close out of exchange traded sugar contracts of a large physical sugar trader who did business with the broker; acting for a group of US investors in connection with a US$150m plus fraud relating to the Azerbaijan privatisation programme.

Career

Qualified 1991, Inner Temple.

Languages

Fluent French.

Education

French grammar school; Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London (LLB 1st class Hons).

Leisure

Badminton, table tennis (Seoul Olympics 1988); classical music.

Practice Areas

Banking; Litigation - commercial; Fraud: civil