Nicholas Brookes > Ogier > Tortola, British Virgin Islands > Lawyer Profile
Ogier Offices
Ogier
RITTER HOUSE, WICKHAMS CAY II
PO BOX 3170, ROAD TOWN
TORTOLA VG1110
British Virgin Islands
RITTER HOUSE, WICKHAMS CAY II
PO BOX 3170, ROAD TOWN
TORTOLA VG1110
British Virgin Islands
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Nicholas Brookes
Work Department
Dispute Resolution; Restructuring and Insolvency; Trusts
Position
Partner
Career
Nick is the practice partner for Ogier’s BVI office and the head of the BVI Dispute Resolution team. He has worked on and appeared in some of the largest, high profile and high value litigation in the BVI in the past ten years. Nick specialises in director and shareholder disputes, restructuring and insolvency, fraud and asset tracing, trust and estates litigation, and general corporate and commercial disputes.
Nick has extensive trial experience in the Commercial Court, such as Mark Byers & another v Chen Ningning (part of the Pioneer Freight Futures international litigation); Play LA Inc v NFC Data Inc; Green Elite; King Bun Limited & others v Lau Man Sang, James & others. He regularly appears in the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, both as sole and lead counsel, and has significant Privy Council experience.
Nick has substantial experience of the procedure of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court throughout all of its tiers, having coauthored a collated version of the Civil Procedure Rules (ECSC CPR), used by the Commercial Court, High Court and Court of Appeal in the Eastern Caribbean, as well as other BVI practitioners and London counsel. He has sat on the BVI’s Civil Procedure Rules Committee on behalf of the BVI Bar Association. Nick also has particular expertise in relief in support of foreign proceedings, foreign enforcement, and costs principles particular to the BVI.
Nick was a member of the BVI Bar Association Council for more than four years. Within this time, Nick acted as First Vice President for more than three years and as Treasurer before that. He established a Bench and Bar advocacy programme with a former Commercial Court judge, assisted in the Bar Association’s pro bono clinic in the BVI, and set up a practitioner seminar programme for Bar members between 2020 and 2021.
Restructuring and insolvency
Nick’s restructuring and insolvency work is invariably cross-border and regularly involves urgent relief. Nick is leading the Three Arrows Capital liquidation for Ogier – one of the largest ever hedge fund insolvencies, involving litigation in the BVI, New York, and Singapore, along with other worldwide efforts. As part of this matter, Nick and his team obtained one of the largest injunctions ever issued in the BVI (circa US$1.2 billion). While in the China Fisheries litigation, Nick worked on some of the earliest light touch provisional liquidations to occur in the BVI.
Fraud and asset tracing
Nick has particular experience in fraud and asset tracing, dealing with the prospective and retrospective enforcement of international judgments, arbitration awards and awards of other types of tribunals. In this, Nick has experience working with New York and other US States, England, Hong Kong and the PRC, Singapore, the UAE, Switzerland, Brazil, Nigeria, as well as several other South American and African States. He frequently works to obtain or defend freezing injunctions and receiverships in support of such claims, as well as seeking charging orders and associated relief, including information gathering by way of Norwich Pharmacal Orders and other disclosure and examination orders.
Contentious trusts and estates
Nick specialises in contentious trusts and estates matters and has a deep understanding of the international holding structures in trusts and estate law and their implications for litigation in the BVI. He notably ran the BVI aspect of Gany Holdings (PTC) SA v Khan and others, including successfully both in the Court of Appeal and Privy Council stages. He has also appeared in the BVI aspect of the Scherbakov Estate case and ran the Al Thani dispute successfully at first instance and in the Court of Appeal, as well as working with a large number of other ultra high net worth individuals and families.
Admitted in:
2011 – England and Wales (non practising)
2014 – British Virgin Islands
Memberships
- RISA (BVI chapter of INSOL)
- Honourable Society of the Middle Temple
- BVI Bar Association
- Chancery Bar Association Overseas Member
Lawyer Rankings
British Virgin Islands > Dispute resolution
(Next Generation Partners)Ogier excels in commercial disputes and fraud cases, with particular specialism in claims involving the Middle East and FSU region. The practice consists of experts in high-profile insolvencies and restructuring schemes, as well as in the contentious trusts space. Crypto fraud also continues to be a key area of expertise for the group. Brian Lacy leads the practice and is noted for his expertise in disputes involving the Middle East. He leads the team alongside Nicholas Brookes, who is active in cross-border restructuring and insolvency matters, corporate disputes, and commercial litigation, often appearing as advocate. Nicholas Burkill‘s broad practice spans international disputes, including civil fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and asset tracing cases. Specialising in company, trusts and insolvency matters, head of the Dubai office David Welford brings a wealth of advocacy experience to the team. Alexander Muksinov and Sarah Latham are names to note.
Lawyer Rankings
- Dispute resolution British Virgin Islands
- Next Generation Partners British Virgin Islands > Dispute resolution