Milberg London

Milberg London LLP is a preeminent law firm with a reputation for excellence in complex multi-party disputes primarily in large-scale group litigation. Since launching Milberg London in 2020, the team have established themselves at the forefront of some of the highest-profile claims going through the English courts.

Milberg’s small team of expert litigators specialise in consumer redress for large groups of claimants. They have secured over £90 million of litigation funding in support of their cases. Milberg combine this with decades of combined experience in commercial and banking litigation and retain a commercial litigation practice which acts for institutions and high net worth individuals. The firm have a track record of acting for clients across a broad range of industries and markets including financial markets and products, private equity , hedge funds, data protection, shareholder and companies’ issues, fraud, and mis-selling.

James Oldnall, Polly Blenkin, Edward Cardington and James Taylor worked together for many years at Mishcon de Reya. They developed a reputation for acting in technically complex and legally significant cases, often against large institutional defendants. Natasha Pearman also joined from Milberg where her sterling reputation in the competition litigation space was well known and the stars aligned for Milberg London to launch it’s competition practice with Natasha at the helm in 2021.

Milberg London’s strategy is focused on bringing magic-circle quality to the Claimant side of group litigation, building a compact law firm with a high talent density, able to be both strategic but also fleet of foot. Our goal is to deliver exceptional value to our clients and stakeholders whilst keeping law breaking corporations honest and compliant by creating moral hazard.

Milberg London have strong relationships with the main litigation funders in the London market (including ALF members) and are highly experienced in negotiating ATE insurance policies, sourcing funding to support claims negotiating funding agreements and leading group action steering committees to run claims cost effectively and with appropriate downside protection.

Many of their cases tackle important societal issues such as the environment, consumer protection and access to justice. The future for Milberg London is promising as they continue to shape the consume protection landscape by investigating a variety of cases in adjacent areas.

Areas of practice
Group actions: Milberg London is at the forefront of group action law and practice and are instructed in some of the most significant multi-party cases ever to be heard before the courts in this jurisdiction. Uniquely in the legal market, they have in-house scientific expertise such that they are leading both the legal analysis and the expert evidence in relation to numerous Dieselgate group actions. Milberg's market-leading legal team regularly goes toe to toe with major corporate defendants and their immense war chests.

Milberg London represents over 100,000 claimants as part of ‘opt-in’ group litigations against various car manufacturers in relation to ’Dieselgate’. Claims have been brought in numerous jurisdictions on behalf of millions of claimants and are amongst the largest pieces of litigation in England & Wales.

A founding firm of the Collective Redress Lawyers Association (CORLA) and involved on its committees, Milberg London is a market leader in the practice, procedure, legal knowledge and commercial imperatives involved in pursuing litigation on a collective basis for large groups of clients.

Competition litigation: Milberg London's competition litigation practice is at the forefront of private antitrust enforcement and collective litigation proceedings in the UK. They are involved in some of the most high-profile competition disputes before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, with the UK emerging as a premier jurisdiction for antitrust damages claims world-wide.

The team is headed by Natasha Pearman, a highly regarded competition lawyer, who was responsible for the ground-breaking Justin Le Patourel v BT claim, which was the first ever collective action to be certified by the Competition Appeal Tribunal. Zena Prodromou adds expertise in public and private antitrust enforcement in the EU and the UK.

In 2022, Milberg’s competition team filed a claim on behalf of millions of people against Sony PlayStation and in 2024 filed another claim against leading PC gaming platform operator, Valve.

Commercial litigation:  Milberg London's commercial litigation team bring a wealth of experience from working in some of London's leading litigation practices before establishing Milberg London in a highly competitive commercial litigation market.

The firm are a genuinely conflict-free and client-orientated litigation boutique, making them well-placed to resolve complex, high-value commercial disputes for corporate and individual clients.  The team have in-depth understanding of disputes involving financial markets and products, private equity, hedge funds, data protection, corporate and shareholder disputes and mis-selling.

Milberg London's commercial litigation team have acted for and against global financial institutions, major European banks, private equity houses, family offices, hedge funds, FTSE-100 listed retailers and international players and have developed deep expertise in a range of sectors including manufacturing, natural resource extraction and financial markets.

Expertise includes:

• Civil and commercial fraud
• Jurisdictional and Cross-border disputes
• Due diligence and investigations
• Banking and finance disputes
• Commercial arbitration
• Contractual disputes
• Shareholder and Partnership disputes
• Mediation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
• Litigation funding and alternative fee arrangements
• Enforcement

Supported by our International Disputes practice, we are also well-placed to act on multi jurisdictional matters.

Trialling and developing technology is at the heart of our business and driven from the top by an entrepreneurial partnership. We are market-leading in terms of our use and adoption of legal tech solutions to ensure we are delivering cost-effective solutions to our clients, particularly in the disclosure process. We deploy the latest disclosure technology and adopt data-led solutions for the most challenging and document-heavy disputes, including early case assessment.

Litigation funding: The Milberg London team is well acquainted with the litigation funding market which operates hand in hand with collective redress and many other forms of litigation in today's legal market. The partnership has strong relationships with the main players in the London market, including members of the Association of Litigation Funders (ALF) and are increasingly looking to the larger US funding market for investment .

As well as handling the factual and legal analysis underpinning any successful group litigation, the team understand the logistical and commercial considerations which also need to be overcome and know how to coordinate strategy across cases, jurisdictions and legal teams.

Milberg are highly experienced in negotiating and obtaining ATE insurance policies, sourcing funding to support claims, negotiating funding agreements and setting up and leading group action steering committees to ensure claims are run cost effectively and with appropriate downside protection.

International Dispute Resolution: Milberg London represent clients in different types of complex international litigation and arbitration proceedings with expertise in navigating the various dispute resolution systems available, tailoring their approach based on the most efficient and effective litigation forum and strategy for their clients.

The team have a deep knowledge of international fora and institutions and represent clients before standing international dispute resolution bodies including the World Trade Organization and regional human rights tribunals. They have experience leading on cross-border disputes and co-ordinating proceedings before different domestic tribunals.

The team regularly litigate before the EU courts and engage with EU institutions to best address client needs, They are uniquely placed to lead on parallel proceedings before the EU and international or domestic tribunals to maximise success and ensure consistent results across different jurisdictions. Their experience includes disputes arising out of the full spectrum of EU law including:

• Competition law and digital regulation;
• Institutional law, including EU institutions’ non-contractual liability;
• Banking law and regulation;
• Internal market and public procurement;
• State aid, restructuring and insolvency;
• Trade, restrictive measures and sanctions;
• General regulatory law;
• Data privacy and protection;
• Human rights law.

Milberg London have expertise in both the common law and civil law jurisdictions and represent companies, sovereigns and high net worth individuals. They act under different international rules and before various arbitral institutions, including the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

The team have a deep understanding and command of public and private international law, which allows them to craft creative arguments and litigation approaches and have invaluable insights into the unique nature of arbitral proceedings. Zena Prodromou is featured as a recognised arbitrator by various arbitration centres across the world.