Chambers UK 2021

Silks

David Blayney QC: "He is exceedingly bright and very good on his feet." "He has a super-computer brain for any sort of technical, scientific or financial expert material and he has a very easy and understated style of advocacy."

Legal 500 2021

Serle Court is an 'excellent commercial set' whose members are often instructed on market-leading and complex banking and finance disputes, including many with an international angle.

Silks:

Elizabeth Jones QC: "An outstanding mind and phenomally hard worker."

Dominic Dowley QC: "Quick and great on the papers."

Philip Marshall QC: "A superlative Commercial and Chancery Silk – creative with exceptional tangential thinking ability and very hard working."

David Blayney QC: "A brilliant mind, and first choice for complex and fact-heavy financial litigation. Large-spirited and unflappable."

Rupert Reed QC: "Our go to silk for DIFC Court matters - he is pre-eminent in the UAE and DIFC."

Juniors: 

Simon Hattan: "Top-notch senior junior - works hard, is reliable and produces excellent work product."

State of Qatar v Emirates NBD Bank:

Philip Marshall QC, Jonathan Harris QC (Hon.) and James Mather are acting for Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank in State of Qatar v Emirates NBD Bank, one of the largest claims to be brought in the English High Court, in which claims are brought against the bank by the State of Qatar in conspiracy said to arise out of an alleged international scheme to manipulate the value of Qatari currency and bonds connected with the so-called ‘blockade’ of Qatar by neighbouring Gulf states causing the Qatari Central Bank to have to deposit US$13 billion.

LIBOR Transition:

Grove Park Properties v Royal Bank of Scotland:

Lance Ashworth QC acts for the claimant in Grove Park Properties v Royal Bank of Scotland, which is due for a 10-day Commercial Court trial in January 2021, in which it is alleged that the defendant bank fraudulently amended a loan agreement to halve the term of the loan.

Shanghai Shipyard Co Ltd v Reignwood International Investment (Group) Company Ltd [2020] EWHC 803 (Comm):

Zoe O’Sullivan QC acted for the successful defendant in a US$170m guarantee claim brought by the Shanghai Shipyard, in which Robin Knowles J held that the guarantee given by it to the Shipyard in respect of the final installment of a shipbuilding contract was not a performance bond but gave rise only to secondary liability: Shanghai Shipyard v Reignwood International Investment (Group) Company Ltd [2020] EWHC 803 (Comm). She is also acting for the shipowner in its 2021 LMAA arbitration claim under the shipbuilding contract.

Please click here to view the judgment.

Ang v Reliantco [2019] 3 W.L.R. 161:

Jonathan Harris QC (Hon.) and Zahler Bryan successfully argued that an investor in Bitcoin futures was a consumer for the purposes of the European rules of jurisdiction in Ang v Reliantco [2019] 3 W.L.R. 161. 

Yukos Finance B.V & ors v Stephen Lynch & Ors:

Jonathan Adkin QC successfully acted for one of the Defendants in Yukos Finance B.V & ors v Stephen Lynch & Ors in a five-week Commercial Court trial arising out of the Yukos Oil saga, in which allegations of corrupt participation in a rigged Russian auction were dismissed. 

Please click here to view the judgment. 

Punjab National Bank (PNB) v Srinivasan [2019] EWHC 3495 (Ch):

In Punjab National Bank (PNB) v Srinivasan [2019] EWHC 3495 (Ch), Matthew Morrison appeared for the Third Defendant in connection with an appeal from a judgment setting aside permission to serve the Defendants out of the jurisdiction. PNB's claims in respect of loans totaling US$37 m were based on personal guarantees and allegations that the loans had been produced by fraudulent misrepresentation. The decision to set aside permission on the grounds of non-disclosure of existing foreign proceedings, and the absence of viable claims in contract and deceit, was upheld on appeal. 

Please click here to view the judgment. 

The Global Legal Post:

'Banking litigation offers appellate insight on sanctions compliance' article by Professor Suzanne Rab