Patrick Bourke > Norton Rose Fulbright > London, England > Lawyer Profile

Norton Rose Fulbright’s team is described by clients as ‘an all-round first rate pensions’ group, standing out for its growing workload of benefits correction and investigation mandates, together with its handling of complex transfers and scams prevention matters. Lesley Browning  and Patrick Bourke jointly lead the team, with the former advising on funding negotiations between the pensions regulator, managing trade unions and members relating to benefit errors, and the latter bringing wide-reaching commercial litigation expertise. Shane O’Reilly is a key name for compliance issues and cases relating to IDRP and the pensions ombudsman.

Seated within the firm’s broader dispute resolution and litigation department, Norton Rose Fulbright’s white-collar team leverages the firm’s international presence and capabilities to provide a full-service offering that spans the full range of business crime offences. Areas of recent growth for the team includes advising on senior management liability, cross-border mandates, as well as investigations relating to non-financial misconduct. Spearheaded by Neil O’May and Patrick Bourke, the group is routinely instructed to advise both corporates and individual clients. O’May is noted for his experience advising on deferred prosecution agreements as well as SFO self-reports. Andrew Reeves and Katie Stephen handle money laundering mandates, while David Harris is the name to note for cross-border internal investigations. Thomas Hubbard ably assists on SFO corruption and fraud trials. Pamela Reddy left the team in December 2023.

An ‘excellent choice for London litigation’, Norton Rose Fulbright is routinely instructed by corporate and banking clients to act in high-stakes and high-profile fraud disputes in the UK. The team’s civil fraud and asset tracing expertise extends to insolvency, white-collar crime, cyber-fraud, and bribery and corruption cases. It also has substantial experience in high-value civil fraud-related interim relief applications, such as worldwide freezing orders and proprietary injunctions, as well as Norwich Pharmacal and search orders. The practice recently experienced an increase in work relating to push payments, supplier invoices and crypto fraud. Fusing experience in civil fraud litigation in the English High Court with international expertise, Ruth Cowley is the firm’s London commercial disputes head, while Patrick Bourke is EMEA dispute resolution leader. The practice also includes Harriet Jones-Fenleigh, a specialist in civil fraud disputes, including applications for worldwide freezing orders, proprietary injunctions, and Norwich Pharmacal orders and other ancillary relief; James Lockwood, a ‘star of the future’, who is currently acting in bribery, conspiracy and dishonest assistance claims, along with payment fraud disputes; Antony Corsi, whose caseload frequently involves large-value fraud claims; and contentious financial services lawyer Katie Stephen. Stuart Neely, Samson Spanier and Aditya Badami are other names to note.

Norton Rose Fulbright ‘provides first-class legal advice and the disputes team is excellent‘. Handling disputes across the commodities supply chain, the firm acts for financial institutions, commodity trading houses, and national and international mining and energy companies in matters concerning production, shipping, transportation, warehousing, physical supply contracts, collateral management and insurance, trade and commodity financing, as well as the hedging of commodity trades. Head of litigation and disputes for EMEA Patrick Bourke oversees a group that ‘knows the industry extremely well and has strength at all levels of seniority‘. Holly Stebbing, who has a particular focus on energy disputes in Africa, is ‘commercially minded, calm in a crisis and tough when necessary‘. Cross-border banking and finance litigation and arbitration specialist Harriet Jones-Fenleigh, commercial litigator Antony Corsi, and corporate disputes and investigations lawyer Ruth Cowley are among the firm’s many talented practitioners.

‘Able to handle the most difficult and complex international arbitration work’, Norton Rose Fulbright is best known for arbitrations in the energy, infrastructure, mining, transport, aviation, shipping and financial services sectors. Patrick Bourke is EMEA disputes head and Paul Stothard regularly appears as lead advocate in high-value arbitrations. Holly Stebbing is experienced in institutional and ad hoc commercial arbitrations, and Ruth Cowley is ‘an outstanding litigator’. Simon Ramsden specialises in energy, natural resources and infrastructure-related arbitrations. Experienced international arbitration practitioners Claire Irwin and Amy Armitage were made partners in January 2024. Former EMEA international arbitration head Sherina Petit departed in late 2023.