Mr Stephen Moverley Smith KC > Chambers of Elspeth Talbot Rice KC > London, England > Barrister Profile
XXIV Old Buildings Offices
XXIV Old Buildings
24 OLD BUILDINGS, LINCOLN'S INN
LONDON
WC2A 3UP
England
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Mr Stephen Moverley Smith KC
Position
Stephen specialises in litigation and arbitration in the fields of commercial, company, trusts and business law.
With a background of high profile work for the DTI and Inland Revenue as junior counsel to the Crown (Chancery) prior to taking silk in 2002, Stephen has developed an extensive practice in the fields of hostile corporate and trust litigation, insolvency, civil fraud and joint venture disputes (in both a corporate and partnership context), often for private clients.
Stephen has practiced in the regulatory field for many years and was appointed a Joint Inspector by the DTI (now BERR) to investigate allegations of market abuse. His on-going regulatory work includes cases is in the area of collective Investment schemes and land banking.
Stephen has an extensive off-shore practice, particularly in the British Virgin Islands (since 1995) and Cayman Islands. He is regularly involved in multi-jurisdictional disputes, advising on global strategy, interim remedies, conflicts of law and asset recovery and appearing before courts and arbitral tribunals in a wide variety of jurisdictions.
Recent notable cases include acting for the successful claimants in Papadimitriou v Credit Agricole, a seminal decision of the Privy Council establishing a new test for constructive notice of beneficial interests; Re: China Shanshui, acting for the majority shareholders in successfully challenging the ability of directors to institute winding up proceedings without shareholder approval; Re Fairfield Sentry, acting for members seeking to establish distribution entitlements in the liquidation of Madoff’s largest investor; TMSF v Merrill Lynch, a ground breaking decision of the Privy Council that a judgment creditor, for whom Stephen acted, could obtain the appointment of receivers over a power of revocation of a Cayman trust and for the Moscow patriachate in a dispute as to the ownership of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in London.
Career
Called 1985, Middle Temple; junior counsel to the Crown, Chancery; called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean; Queens Counsel 2002.
Memberships
- Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
- Bar of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Chancery Bar Association
- COMBAR
- European Circuit
- Insolvency Lawyers Association
Education
- Pembroke College Oxford (MA)
- Editorial Board, Tolley’s Offshore Service
Lawyer Rankings
London Bar > Private client: trusts and probate
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3London Bar > Company
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Stephen Moverley Smith KC – XXIV Old Buildings ‘Stephen is a smooth operator whose written and oral advocacy is top-notch, and his calm demeanour is great when interacting with a judge.’
XXIV Old Buildings is ‘the supreme set for trust and commercial work and anything offshore, with an excellent roster of counsel at all levels’. The set has built a solid reputation for company law work, which typically arises from its highly regarded practices in Chancery and offshore matters. Head of chambers Elspeth Talbot Rice KC remains a standout silk for domestic and cross-border company matters. Stephen Moverley Smith KC’s highlights include long-running case Re Genmar Resources Ltd, concerning winding up and unfair prejudice claims in relation to an oil trading business, with allegations of asset misappropriation. Stuart Adair remains a standout junior in this field, his recent work including unfair prejudice proceedings for the claimant in Excess Reserves Limited v Patel and others.
London Bar > Insolvency
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3Stephen Moverley Smith KC –XXIV Old Buildings ‘Stephen is a smooth operator. His written and oral advocacy is top-notch. His calm demeanour is great when meeting with the client and interacting with a judge. With Stephen, you know you are in safe hands.’
XXIV Old Buildings deals with domestic and international insolvency and restructuring cases, with members such as Elspeth Talbot Rice KC instructed on high profile liquidations and insolvencies such as the case of Gorbunova v Berezovsky where she acted for the trustees in the bankruptcy of Boris Berezovsky’s insolvent estate agent against which estate a proprietary, and other, claims are being made by the former partner of the Russian businessman, who died in suspicious circumstances in Berkshire in 2013. Stephen Moverley Smith KC and Francis Tregear KC are noted for their cross-border practice, often being instructed by clients in the Cayman Islands.
London Bar > Fraud: civil
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 2Stephen Moverley Smith KC –XXIV Old Buildings ‘Stephen is exceptional – he’s the go-to person for BVI disputes, being one of the first lawyers to practice in the area. He is also a very good team player and strategist, and wins a lot of support from judges for his measured and persuasive style.’
‘A go-to chambers for civil fraud work involving complex, multi-jurisdictional disputes‘, XXIV Old Buildings also has a consistent flow of domestic fraud work, and is widely esteemed for its expertise in trusts and insolvency-related civil fraud matters. Elspeth Talbot Rice KC is currently acting in a claim that funds were stripped out of a company to render it judgment-proof; and in an important decision on the principles to apply in determining a forum challenge involving foreign law expert evidence, Stephen Moverley Smith KC represented various defendants in a claim to recover $50m of alleged bribes that were paid to an agro-chemical company’s chief executive. At the senior junior end of chambers, Stuart Adair is defending an individual who is alleged by the claimants to have induced them to invest in start-up technology company, Seed Media, by making multiple fraudulent misrepresentations.
London Bar > Commercial litigation
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 4London Bar > Banking and finance (including consumer credit)
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 3XXIV Old Buildings has a substantial banking and financial practice developed over three core areas, including hedge fund and structured investment vehicle work, international insolvencies involving banks and financial institutions, and claims against financial institutions relating to financial mismanagement. Stephen Moverley Smith KC has a practice spanning international litigation, especially those involving the BVI and Bermuda – he represented the defendant in Ivanishvilli v CS Life, a claim arising from a rogue trader fraud at a Swiss bank, with proceedings brought against its Bermudian subsidiary alleging a failure to discover the fraud – the claimant being former Georgian prime minister Bidzina Ivanishvili. Francis Tregear KC is noted for his ‘very good advocacy‘, and Sarah Bayliss has extensive experience of acting in mis-selling and negligence claims against financial institutions.
The English Bar Offshore > The English Bar Offshore
(Leading Silks)Ranked: Tier 1Stephen Moverley Smith KC –XXIV Old Buildings ‘A real flair for advocacy. Energetic, engaged and enthusiastic.’
‘Pre-eminent Chancery set’ XXIV Old Buildings offers clients a ‘deep bench with consistently high quality’ and demonstrable expertise in offshore jurisdictions including Gibraltar, Bermuda, BVI, Cayman Islands and the Crown Dependencies. Corporate and commercial matters, trust related work and financial based cases are among the core pillars of the set’s offshore offering. Steven Thompson KC was retained for an appeal heard in December 2022 in Ivanishvili v Credit Suisse (Bermuda) Ltd. The case involves a claim by the ex-prime minister of Georgia against a subsidiary of the Swiss bank arising out of the allegedly fraudulent actions of a rogue employee; the bank was ordered to pay over US$600m in damages by the Bermudian court. Head of chambers and in-demand silk Elspeth Talbot Rice KC is very well-known for her broad commercial Chancery practice, appearing in the Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, among others. Elsewhere within chambers, offshore commercial cases are a core specialism of Stephen Moverley Smith KC with his practice emphasising restructuring, fraud, corruption and insolvency.