Charles Russell Speechlys LLP‘s 'well-established commercial litigation team' is widely respected for its expertise in fraud matters, in addition to its disputes experience in the technology, engineering, telecoms, sporting regulatory and financial services sectors. It also acts in claims involving the mining, energy, aviation, professional services and retail industries. Clients additionally benefit from the London group's leveraging of expertise of colleagues in Paris, Geneva, Zurich, Luxembourg, Dubai, Doha, Manama, Hong Kong and Singapore. Commercial dispute resolution head Charlotte Pender 'gets on top of the legal and factual issues rapidly'; Stewart Hey heads the fraud, asset recovery and investigations group; Rhys Novak has longstanding experience in commercial and corporate disputes; and Edward Craig is 'great with clients and gets results'. Caroline Greenwell's cases typically involve contract breaches and misrepresentations, civil fraud and asset tracing, and bribery and corruption allegations. Lucy Wicksteed and Abigail Rushton are experienced senior associates.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘A well-established commercial litigation team, which deals with a wide range of very good work for a range of clients.’
‘Charlotte Pender gets on top of the legal and factual issues rapidly and organises work streams, enabling the whole team to be fleet of foot in fast-paced commercial litigation.
‘Edward Craig - great with clients and gets results.'
‘Rhys Novak is excellent. A pleasure to work with and extremely competent.'
‘Rhys Novak is very engaged, very hands-on and very intelligent.'
‘A firm that really knows the market.’
‘Clients really like working with the CRS team. On top of its undoubted technical abilities, the lawyers bring a warmth and strong sense of enjoyment to the client-solicitor collaboration. They are also highly commercial.’
‘Stewart Hey, Charlotte Pender and Caroline Greenwell are all steely individuals when a firm approach is required, yet commercial and receptive when a non-contentious resolution is the more appropriate way forward.’
Key clients
- Central Bank of Bahrain
- Awal Bank BSC
- RSM Restructuring & Advisory
- FRP Advisory
- Fica Frio
- Charlton Athletic Football Club
- Charlton Athletic Women’s Football Club
- EFG Private Bank
- Bilta (UK)
- Greggs
- LK UK
Work highlights
- Successfully defended Guy Colegate in the (reportedly) largest corruption prosecution in Italian legal history, which concerned alleged grand-scale bribery in Nigeria.
- Assisting a victim of a complex fraud with enforcement efforts, against the backdrop of a concerted campaign by the Award debtors to frustrate recovery.
- Successfully acted for Greggs in a High Court claim over a £150m insurance claim triggered by the Covid-19 crisis.
Lawyers
Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
Stewart (who heads the Charles Russell Speechlys Fraud and Investigations Group) specialises in complex and high value international disputes (both in Court and Arbitral forums) and investigations, usually involving allegations across the spectrum of dishonesty including fraud, dishonesty and corruption, with particular emphasis on Financial Services and Energy and Natural Resources. As the vast majority of Stewart's cases involve allegations of fraud, dishonesty and corruption, key legal issues arising include conflicts of law, interim (injunctive) remedies to prevent dissipation of assets and/or preservation of evidence, asset recovery and tracing, as well as contentious insolvency scenarios and investigations.Stewart’s most recent cases include acting successfully for the liquidators of six defendant companies in the Cayman Islands’ longest-ever trial - 129 days - about one of the world’s largest-ever Ponzi schemes – US$330 billion. Stewart also led a team successfully acting for one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical wholesalers in relation to a complex high-value letter of credit fraud perpetrated on it by a fraudster, and which involved related proceedings in a number of jurisdictions in Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific. He also has a great deal of experience in advising corporates in relation to product mis-selling within the financial services sector.Stewart is admitted to practise in England and Wales and has limited admission in the Cayman Islands (in relation to the AHAB vs SAAD litigation). He is also a member of the Fraud Lawyers Association. Experience highlights: Leading a team advising Joint Official Liquidators in connection with an alleged $9.2Bn fraud before the Cayman Courts An external administrator to Awal Bank BSC (in Administration), as appointed by the Central Bank of Bahrain in a multi-billion dollar alleged fraudulent scheme of arrangement involving a large number of inter-related cases in various jurisdictions, where Stewart leads the teams dealing with US and Cayman issues Advising individuals/entities in relation to an on-going SFO investigation into payments against a backdrop of multi-billion USD sales of defence equipment to the Middle East Led a team advising the Central Bank of Bahrain that forged new US Bankruptcy Ch11 law in the US against a backdrop of acting as External Administrator to a Middle Eastern Bank (in administration) and currently under US Ch15 recognition Advisor the joint-venture entities involved in a dispute relating to a West African mining project valued at between $800m-$1.5Bn Advised one of the world's largest pharmaceutical wholesalers in a complex multi-jurisdictional letter of credit fraud Advising a world famous academic institution in relation to an investigation relating to wrongdoing Advising international investors in relation to an investigation concerning corruption relating to a Government contract in North Africa
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Charlotte Pender