The members of XXIV Old Buildings are well-equipped to handle corporate, commercial, and finance-based disputes, including fraud and insolvency matters, before the courts of Gibraltar, Bermuda, BVI, the Cayman Islands, and the Crown Dependencies, including Jersey and Guernsey. Stephen Moverley Smith KC specialises in restructuring, fraud, and insolvency work, as well as cases surrounding allegations of corruption. He represented the successful respondent in the Cayman Court of Appeal in a case which saw, for the first time, an appellant decision confirming the jurisdictional power and scope of the Grand Court when considering injunctions in support of foreign arbitrations (Minsheng Vocational Education Company Limited v Lead Education Holding Limited and Others). Francis Tregear KC has recently been active in major liquidation cases in Cayman, and David Brownbill KC is skilled in fraud and asset recovery claims. He is representing the defendant in the Gibraltar-based case of Ambra and Others v Fiman Limited and Others, which concerns allegations of breaches of statutory, fiduciary, and tortious duties which are said to have caused substantial losses to several offshore companies. International disputes specialist Steven Thompson KC is active in the BVI, where he has appeared before the Court of Appeal and Privy Council. A key junior, Bajul Shah boasts company, commercial, and insolvency expertise.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Profile
Position
David Brownbill KC specialises in international trust, company and financial services disputes and advice. His experience covers international trust, corporate and commercial structuring; investment funds, commercial trusts and pensions; political risks, international sanctions, investment disputes and bilateral investment treaties.
David’s litigation work covers all matters within these fields, in both the English and the Commonwealth courts. David has been called to the Bar of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, has appeared in the courts of the British Virgin Islands, Cayman, Gibraltar, and the Isle of Man and regularly advises on cases in Anguilla, Antigua, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Jersey, Guernsey, Hong Kong, the Middle East and Singapore.
Clients value his ability to manage cases whose size, complexity and profile make them extremely difficult to handle. David has, accordingly, acted in numerous international and offshore trust, company and commercial disputes, including substantial fraud and asset recovery claims, both in England and overseas. David has also acted in various disputes concerning investment funds including a number of Madoff related matters.
David advises on the transactional as well as the litigation aspects of investments funds and commercial trusts generally and is regularly instructed to advise on complex trust and corporate documentation. David is well known for his ability to devise innovative solutions to problems, particularly in cases where tax and other transactions have gone awry.
David has for many years been concerned in the planning of international estates and family enterprise succession, including devising complex family governance and control structures.
David has also assisted various jurisdictions on the drafting of trust and company legislation and, most recently, has been retained in the Bahamas to advise on and draft legislation to provide for the arbitration of trust disputes, to introduce new features to its trust law and to abolish perpetuities.
David is an editor of International Trust Laws, and a member of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law and the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
Career
Called 1989; Grays Inn; formerly a solicitor, admitted 1980; Silk 2008.
Memberships
- Academician of the International Academy of Estate and Trust Law
- ChBA (The Chancery Bar Association)
- COMBAR (The Commercial Bar Association)
- Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), serving on the International Committee
Education
LLB, Nottingham
Content supplied by XXIV Old Buildings
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'Very good. Paul Horsfield, Perry Brown, and Tommie Drury are excellent.'
- 'The clerks room are always professional and responsive. Paul Horsfield and Perry Brown stand out.'
- 'Very responsive and flexible. Paul Horsfield in particular often goes the extra mile to build and maintain relationships with instructing counsel.'
- 'Paul Horsfield, Perry Brown and James Ladbrook are a formidable team. They are organised and responsive and make for a seamless experience when instructing members.'
- 'Paul Horsfield, head of clerking, is excellent. Very approachable, always prepared to be commercial on fees, has an in-depth understanding of the work of chambers and looks to build relationships and make introductions wherever possible.'