Seladore Legal

Seladore Legal is a London-headquartered law firm specialising in complex, cross-border litigation and international arbitration. The firm’s partners include some of London’s most experienced and acclaimed litigators who have worked on many of the biggest commercial disputes of recent years.

The firm does not undertake transactional work, leaving it able to pursue claims where necessary against large financial institutions, multinational corporations and government entities as the case may be. It takes a focused, partner-driven approach, developing and pursuing effective solutions for clients faced with the most difficult and challenging problems.

Seladore Legal was founded in 2020 by highly experienced former Herbert Smith Freehills lawyers Simon Bushell and Gareth Keillor. Simon spent 26 years at Herbert Smith Freehills, having established its Russia and CIS disputes practice and led its civil fraud team. He subsequently became Chair of the Litigation Department at Latham & Watkins in London. All of Seladore’s partners have trained and worked at Herbert Smith Freehills.

Seladore has a vast wealth of collective experience at all levels of the English higher courts, from the Commercial Court to the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. The team are veterans of complex multijurisdictional disputes and are regularly instructed to coordinate litigation across multiple jurisdictions, including high-value proceedings in offshore courts and appeals before the Privy Council.

Civil fraud is a particular strength of the practice. Seladore’s lawyers have acted in many of the largest fraud disputes to come before the English courts, involving allegations of misappropriation, breach of duty, conspiracy and dishonest assistance. They are frequently instructed in cases requiring urgent interim relief such as worldwide freezing orders, disclosure orders, and asset tracing measures. Simon Bushell and Gary Milner-Moore are recognised authorities on Norwich Pharmacal relief, having co-authored the leading practitioner text on the subject, and the firm is at the forefront of obtaining disclosure and investigative remedies to support clients in the recovery of assets and enforcement of judgments and arbitral awards.

This depth of expertise enables Seladore to provide clients with a decisive advantage in high-stakes English litigation, whether acting for corporates, financial institutions, states or high-net-worth individuals.

International arbitration is a central pillar of Seladore’s practice. The firm’s lawyers have appeared in some of the most significant arbitrations of recent decades, spanning commercial and investor–state disputes across industries including energy, natural resources, construction, telecoms and financial services. Its partners have acted under all major institutional and ad hoc rules, including LCIA, ICC, SCC, SIAC, HKIAC, UNCITRAL and ICSID. Seladore combines deep knowledge of English law with experience of civil and common law systems, enabling it to manage the complexities of parallel court and arbitral proceedings, jurisdictional challenges, and enforcement strategies worldwide.

The team is particularly well-versed in disputes involving state parties and state-owned enterprises, and in cases requiring the coordination of multi-jurisdictional remedies. Partners bring both advocacy and arbitrator experience, allowing the firm to offer clients not only practical procedural insight but also a clear sense of how tribunals are likely to approach key issues.

The firm also has a corporate crime, internal investigations, & regulatory practice led by specialist partner Dan Hudson. This complements Seladore’s already well-established practice in civil fraud, with the recoveries of assets and damages arising from bribery, corruption and other forms of misappropriation having a significant overlap with criminal and regulatory issues.

Seladore’s unique white collar crime capability enables it to manage an issue with discretion from the moment it is first identified internally. Being an unconflicted specialist firm, Seladore combines heavyweight forensic skills, astute judgment and the level of independence necessary for companies to maintain the trust of investors, regulators, and other stakeholders throughout the process. The firm has genuine expertise in navigating the interplay between potentially competing civil and criminal processes and dealing with the relevant criminal investigatory and prosecution authorities.

2024 saw the arrival of Laurence (Larry) Shore as partner at Seladore. Larry, who joined from a leading Italian law firm, is a distinguished international arbitration practitioner with a wealth of expertise, and heads Seladore’s Milan office.

2025 saw Seladore set up its Singapore office, led by partner Liang-Ying Tan, from which the firm is able to provide clients with representation in commercial and treaty arbitrations, and SICC matters.

Cases

The team at Seladore has worked on some of the largest and most complex disputes in the English High Court and in international arbitration. These include:

• Representing jailed Russian businessman Ziyavudin Magomedov in his $13.8 million UMC claim brought against TPG, DP World and various Russian state interests. It is the largest claim ever brought in the High Court of England and Wales outside the collective redress regime. Seladore has also acted for Mr Magomedov in ligation and arbitration around the world as he pursues damages following the unlawful dismantling of his business empire.
• Successfully acting for the President of Mozambique in relation to claims stemming from the so-called ‘Tuna Bond’ case brought by the Republic of Mozambique against Privinvest, with allegations of bribery and collusion against the state following the issuing of loans to fund projects in the region.
• Acting for Kidman Asset Management (in liquidation) as it seeks to recoup funds on behalf of creditors of a fraudulent company run by London-based Italian financier Massimo Bochicchio.