ESG Litigation Second Annual Summit 2024

Heather is Head of the Dispute Resolution Department and is also Head of Travers Smith's ESG and Impact Group. 

Heather has a broad commercial litigation practice, covering the spectrum of high-value and complex disputes (including large scale group claims); such disputes include environmental damage, human rights and product liability litigation. Heather has particular experience in novel and large-scale tort claims, including "parent company liability" claims, as well as in contractual disputes, competition law litigation, shareholder disputes and fraud cases. She is highly experienced in claims involving international and foreign law elements. Her clients include corporates, multinational organisations, banks, financial institutions and private equity houses with business interests across a broad range of sectors.

A particular aspect of Heather's practice is acting for clients facing reputationally sensitive litigation and investigations, and advising clients in relation to corporate risk management including business and human rights issues and ESG-related risk.  Her work in this space includes preventative counselling to clients facing potential ESG-related risk.

Dr. Wolf H. von Bernuth, a Partner in Hausfeld's Berlin office, specializes in national and international litigation and arbitration. His litigation experience includes banking, financial and capital markets disputes, model proceedings under KapMuG, corporate and post-M&A disputes, joint venture disputes, directors' and officers' liability as well as disputes arising from complex contracts, e.g. in the automotive and energy industries. He was an expert for the legal committee of the German Bundestag during the KapMuG reform in 2012 and is a lecturer in the Master's programme International Dispute Resolution at the Humboldt University in Berlin. He has many years of experience in arbitration proceedings under ad hoc rules and various procedural rules (including ICC, DIS) and also acts as an arbitrator.

Before joining Hausfeld, Dr. Wolf H. von Bernuth was a dispute resolution partner at Gleiss Lutz for many years.

Helen has almost two decades of strategic legal advice and has proven experience working with in-house legal teams providing advice on commercial contracts, reinsurance, intellectual property, maritime & shipping, space, ESG, construction, employment, projects, subcontract issues, corporate & regulatory matters.

She is a qualified Barrister (England and Wales), registered practitioner of Abu Dhabi Global Markets and a Foreign Registered lawyer in Victoria, Australia as well as experience as a Part II advocate with the DIFC Courts.  Helen has experience acting as an industry representative -  including acting as UK Maritime Coastguard representative to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), representative for the Space Generation Advisory Council (SGAC) at the United Nations Office of Outer Space (UNOOSA) and the IAF at ITU.

She is educated at the University of Sheffield, University of Tilburg (Erasmus Program) and University of Law in which she obtained her law degrees. Helen furthered her studies at the University of Greenwich for PhD studies (completed coursework only) in maritime security and international law and undertook Directed Studies on International Private Law at The Hague Academy. She further took part in the Global Solutions Program at Singularity University at NASA Ames and attended the International Space University Summer Space Program with the Aerospace Engineering Department at the University of Delft, The Netherlands.

Prior to joining the Bar she worked in both US and UK firms in London, before developing a commercial law practice with secondments in Korea, China and Japan.  She is a Teaching Fellow at the College of Law on international arbitration and is also Founder of NewSpace2060.

Elaina Bailes is an experienced commercial litigator who has acted on a number of high-profile and ground-breaking cases in the High Court and in leading offshore jurisdictions, including Cayman and the BVI.

Elaina acts for companies, financial institutions, and high net worth individuals on a wide range of high-value commercial disputes. Her main practice areas include banking and securities litigation, complex fraud and asset tracing, insolvency claims and commercial disputes relating to sanctions. Elaina acted for claimants in two of the UK’s leading securities litigation cases, the RBS Rights Issue litigation and the Tesco accounting fraud litigation.

Elaina is recognised in the Legal 500 as a “next generation lawyer” in the field of Banking Litigation and is Vice-President of the AIJA Insolvency Law Commission.

Sarah Bishop is a U.S. and UK-qualified lawyer who advises companies on ethics and compliance programs, compliance with anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws, business and human rights (BHR) and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters, white collar investigations, and suspension and debarment.

Sarah’s compliance advisory practice includes helping multinational corporations develop and test the robustness of ethics and compliance programs, conducting risk assessments, conducting transactional and third party due diligence, supporting post-acquisition compliance integration projects, and delivering compliance training. She has particular expertise advising on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and UK Bribery Act and has advised companies in the energy, mining, pharmaceutical, healthcare, technology, and consumer goods sectors, among others, on anti-corruption compliance risks and program development.

As a member of Covington’s Business and Human Rights practice group, Sarah advises companies on the developing legal and enforcement landscape related to the corporate responsibility to respect human rights. She advises on enforcement risks under Withhold Release Orders (WROs), the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA), and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) in the United States, as well as developing ESG due diligence and reporting requirements in Europe. Sarah has helped multinational corporations in the healthcare, technology, automotive, energy, mining, and consumer goods sectors develop human rights due diligence programs, navigate human rights-related enforcement matters, and report on human rights due diligence efforts.

Tom is a partner in Ashurst's dispute resolution practice. He has represented clients on a range of disputes across sectors including finance, energy, infrastructure, transport, mining and technology.

As a member of Ashurst's cross-practice ESG group, Tom's experience includes advising on matters involving climate change, business and human rights, modern slavery, parent company liability, international sanctions and bribery and corruption. 

Sybille is Protect’s legal director, an experienced employment solicitor and a compelling speaker. She is a leading specialist whistleblowing lawyer working alongside employers, regulators and whistleblowers.

At Protect, she co-directs the charity’s legal case work and policy work. She has in-depth knowledge of the law and the practical realities of whistleblowing. She has spearheaded several successful legal interventions at the Court of Appeal and Employment Appeal Tribunal levels. She has a key role in Protect’s current legal reform campaign, pushing for innovative and much needed improvement to the UK whistleblowing legal framework. She also has wide-ranging expertise in helping organisations improve their whistleblowing arrangements and ‘speak up’ culture. She creates and delivers bespoke training and board briefings, conducts specialist whistleblowing audits.

Sybille believes that collaborative, transparent, and safe workplaces make excellent business sense, and that freedom of expression is the bedrock of the rule of law and democracy.

Protect is the UK’s whistleblowing charity and is a leading authority on whistleblowing in the UK. It was established as a charity in 1993 and has to date individually advised more than 45,000 whistleblowers and helped hundreds of organisations. It regularly provides evidence to Parliamentary Select Committees and government departments. It has successfully intervened in numerous important appellate cases involving the interpretation, scope and application of whistleblowing legislation.  It has unparalleled insight and unique expertise in how whistleblowing works in practice.

Anthea is a senior associate in our dispute resolution practice and a member of the financial institutions disputes group. 

She advises on a wide range of complex commercial and financial disputes, and on contentious regulatory matters.  Her clients include leading financial institutions and multinationals. 

She has expertise in sustainable finance, including in relation to ESG-related regulation and disputes, and has recently spent time on secondment in the Litigation and Regulatory team at Goldman Sachs. 

Tom is a co-founder and director of Factor Risk Management. He started his career in financial services as a graduate trainee for a multi-national life insurance company before joining a boutique insurance consultancy and brokerage in the City. With more than 20 years in the industry, Tom has a wealth of insurance experience, from arranging policies and providing underwriting services to consultancy on catastrophic loss projects for clients such as Equitas, Lloyd’s run-off company. With the advent of the Woolf Reforms,

Tom joined one of the first independent brokers specialising in After-The-Event insurance and became a director in 2006 making him one of the most experienced practitioners in the ATE industry. As part of a successful team that placed over £1bn of insurance cover, Tom works with a wide range of clients including solicitors, company directors and insolvency practitioners. He uses his depth of knowledge, extensive contacts and expertise to assist clients with independent advice on a range of insurance and funding requirements.

Tom has a particular specialism in placing insurance to support claimants with consumer rights actions against manufacturers, financial services companies and negligent medical practitioners. He also arranges comprehensive coverage to UK insolvency practitioners that is tailored to the nuances of officeholder litigation and realising of assets for creditors.

Tom still harbours a dream of running a sub-20mins 5k.

Belen has over a decade of international experience in ESG consulting and in-house sustainability and human rights work. She joins S-RM from Positive Luxury where she worked as a Sustainability Client Services Director advising luxury goods clients on diverse ESG reporting frameworks and how to mitigate risks across their value chains. Her proficiency lies in the strategic management and execution of ESG strategies for both private and non-profit organisations such as Sainsbury’s, International Personal Finance (IPF) or Amnesty International. She has also taken varied roles for UNHCR and UNESCO in Costa Rica, the Washington DC based think thank The Center for American Progress (CAP),  and The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) conducting border research in Mexico and Ecuador. She holds a MSc in International Migration and Public Policy from The London School of Economics (LSE), a MA in Responsible Management and Sustainable Economic Development from the United Nations University for Peace and a first class Journalism degree from the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). She has been an active speaker at The London School of Economics about ‘Women in Human Rights’ and other sustainability topics across European and Latin American universities and for the Institute of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability.

Margherita is a Consultant (Barrister) working in Mishcon Purpose.

Margherita is a barrister specialising in climate and environmental justice, and equality and discrimination. She is developing a specialist practice in strategic climate litigation and is instructed in novel climate and nature litigation, as detailed below. She is experienced in providing advice on case strategies from origination through to funding and development and combines creative thought with climate literacy to assist clients wishing to develop innovative litigation strategies.

Margherita has experience advising on a range of issues across public, human rights, civil and corporate law in the context of climate litigation and experience working with non-judicial mechanisms like the OECD. She is currently seconded on a part-time basis to Mishcon Purpose, where she is assisting the Purpose Litigation team in developing a methodological and informed climate litigation strategy. Margherita is accustomed to working with litigation partners in the UK and abroad, and continues, in her spare time, to work with lawyers, scientists and journalists in Italy, her home country, where she hopes to incentivise greater public and legal engagement with the climate crisis.

Sudhanshu practices arbitration, commercial and public international law. He has acted in leading and landmark cases across his areas of practice.

Sudhanshu’s commercial practice encompasses shipping, international trade, energy, natural resources, banking and insurance and sanctions. He has particular experience of group and tort claims against multinational corporations, having acted in several of the important English cases. His work often involves challenges to jurisdiction, enforcement and applications for freezing orders and other urgent relief. He also has significant experience of cases with a connection to India and is co-chair of the India Committee of the Commercial Bar Association.

His public international practice has included some of the leading cases of recent times, both in the English courts and in international courts and tribunals. His practice includes investment arbitration and related court proceedings, immunities, foreign act of state, law of the sea, international environmental law and human rights. He has acted for various states (including as lead counsel for the United Kingdom), for state officials, for corporations and for NGOs.

Drawing on his background in public international and commercial law, Sudhanshu has developed expertise in climate change. He has been acting in two of the major international test cases (see “Recent work” below), which have attracted worldwide media coverage. He has also lectured extensively on climate change law, both in relation to states and corporations.

Sudhanshu has been recognised as one of The Lawyer magazine’s “Hot 100” lawyers and is described as “A superb strategist and technician, one to keep on speed-dial for important cases” (The Legal 500 UK Bar 2020).

Sudhanshu accepts appointments as an arbitrator.

Razzaq Ahmed is an associate in the Firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group and a member of the Firm’s Brand & Reputation Management group in London – two of Brown Rudnick’s pillars. Razzaq has a wide level of experience handling high-stakes disputes and contentious situations (on both the claimant and defendant side), and acts for both businesses and individuals on an international scale. Recently, Razzaq has advised both corporates and charities on reputational, governance and litigation risks arising from employee and senior management conduct, as well as other ESG-related factors.

Jamie is a litigator who specialises in commercial and corporate disputes before the courts, in arbitration and by means of alternative dispute resolution (including expert determination). Jamie’s practice is commercially focused. Jamie advises a range of clients (from international car manufacturers and software companies through to SME’s and high net worth individuals) in respect of contract, duty of care and other issues including those arising from the provision of goods and/or services. Jamie has specialist expertise in respect of claims under the Commercial Agents (Council Directive) Regulations 1993, automotive industry disputes, consumer focused disputes (from a corporate perspective including, sale of goods, food labelling and food safety) and also technology disputes. Jamie also leads the firm’s debt recovery practice which focuses on high value, complex and disputed debt both in the UK and internationally. Jamie is admitted to practise in England and Wales.

Jane is an innovative commercial/projects lawyer with experience in both private and public sector in the UK and the Middle East and previously a partner at Wragge & Co (now Gowlings) for many years.

With strong commercial acumen and proven legal track record in complex arrangements, the hallmark of Jane’s experience is innovation. The transactions she led were often strategic, complex and highly sensitive projects which were legal firsts with no real precedent and advice included liaising with key commercial stakeholders.

She is Executive Vice-Chair of Lawyers for Net Zero, an inspiring non-profit with a mission to raise the profile of net zero across the legal sector and to support General Counsel and their teams of in-house lawyers to take climate and ESG leadership.

She offers a unique combination of legal skills and consulting experience to act as a ‘bridgebuilder’ between Conexus and its clients to facilitate the co-creation of climate-friendly innovative solutions and appropriate climate and ESG risk management and governance systems.

Frances is a managing associate in the international Dispute Resolution department in London. She specialises in litigation and arbitration arising out of commercial contracts and complex transactions involving multiple jurisdictions. Her experience includes litigation in English and overseas courts.

Robert is special counsel in the litigation and arbitration team.

Dr Robert Kovacs specialises in public international law, international arbitration and business and human rights. He has represented individuals, companies, States, and State-owned entities in international disputes across a range of sectors, including energy, mining, construction, banking, mergers and acquisitions, sport, property and technology. He has a focus on Europe, Asia-Pacific and MENA.

Robert holds a PhD in international law, is the former Co-Chair of the Asia-Pacific Forum for International Arbitration and is a senior fellow at the Melbourne University Law School.

Sinéad is an environment & product stewardship regulatory practice lead, based in CMS’s London office, and a core member of the firm’s international ESG group. Her prior experience includes head of the UK, Irish and EU environment practice of a multinational US law firm, and vice-chair and founding member of its international ESG practice. Her work spans a broad range of national and international legal areas and sectors, including environment, consumer/industrial products, chemicals, life sciences, technology, energy, food and real estate. She has built up particular experience in relation to chemicals and hazardous substances, novel technologies, innovative and borderline products, plastics, and product safety.

She has developed a unique contemporary and multi-disciplinary practice, in particular, assisting companies with fast-moving sustainability/ESG requirements and strategies, including implementation and audit of compliance programs, non-financial reporting and disclosures, green claims, pledges and commitments, and supply chain due diligence. She has also developed a solid but cutting edge ESG and sustainability M&A due diligence offering.

Stuart has over 20 years’ experience advising industrial, commercial and public service clients on all aspects of environmental and health and safety (EHS) law, providing:

• strategic and operational compliance advice
• regulatory enforcement advice and representation and
• advising on EHS issues in the context of transactions and projects

He regularly provides thought leadership on developments in EHS law, for example speaking on diverse subjects such as:  sustainability and the competitive business; EHS governance; regulatory implications of Brexit; developments with EU environmental liability, water quality and permitting legislation; climate change law; and off-shore decommissioning.

Based in London, Jo leads the development of the Anthropocene Fixed Income Institute (AFII)’s research, which supports fixed income investors in aligning their portfolios to climate and sustainability goals.

Jo joined AFII from JPMorgan where she worked for 18 years in fixed income markets. She has extensive experience trading structured, flow and index credit products, and in the modelling and valuation of derivatives.

Jo has an MA Hons Mathematics & Management Studies from Trinity College Cambridge and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Management Accountants. She serves as trustee and advisor to a number of charities and social enterprises in the UK.

After 10 years practicing in a major international law firm, Sylvie became one of the founding partners of the Paris office of Signature Litigation and heads its product liability / industrial risk practice.

Sylvie is both an Avocat à la Cour in France and a Solicitor in England & Wales. She is specialised in all complex disputes linked to products, namely product liability, product safety, toxic tort, mass litigation/class action, regulatory compliance and environment/climate change. She is involved in several very high-profile French industrial disaster pending cases.

Sylvie also assists the manufacturers she works for in commercial litigation (e.g. sudden termination, unfair competition, significant imbalance cases) and contract / Terms & conditions review.

Sylvie represents a variety of globally recognised manufacturers from industries such as automotive, electronic products, life sciences, cosmetics, new technologies, steel, energy, food, toys, consumer goods, etc.

In this scope, she has developed strong regulatory knowledge, putting together innovative defences. She is working on very technical legal issues such as the dieselgate, the generalisation of the anxiety damage, alleged planned obsolescence, the liability of marketplaces, class actions and climate justice claims – always representing the manufacturer.

Maryse has worked within financial services for over 18 years and gained a wealth of knowledge and experience ranging from product development and support, to product management, pre sales and sales. Starting her career at Hewlett Packard, progressing onto Logica (CGI) and then London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), Maryse now represents RepRisk as a Partnerships and Business Development Manager, leading the UK and Ireland Sales team, as well as being responsible for Global Partnerships within the consulting and technology sectors. Prior to this, Maryse spent 10 years at LSEG, Data and Analytics with various roles in Business Development in both London and New York. Her solution expertise cover fixed income analytics, ESG and sustainable investment analytics, global regulatory compliance, risk management, and data solution offerings. Having been responsible for driving revenues across North America, leading market, industry, and product research, Maryse actively contributed to the growth of the LSEG business, providing thought leadership, building relationships and ensuring products and solutions aligned with industry appetite.

Maryse plays an active role in several diversity and inclusion initiatives and supports RepRisk’s Diversity and Inclusions committee. At RepRisk she is the chair for the DEIB committee, at LSEG she was Vice-Chair of the Women’s Inspired Network (WIN) for 5 years, and Co-Lead the Black Employees Inspired Networking Group (BEING) in the Americas for 2 years. Maryse placed 1st on the EMpower Ethnic Minority Role Model List as 2021 Future Leader, and previously won the 2017 Markets Media Women In Technology Rising Star in Regulation and 2018 LSEG CEO Award for Integrity as part of WIN Americas.

Emily is a Partner in Mishcon Purpose, and co-leads Purpose Litigation. She is focussed on climate and ESG based litigation, often including groups of claimants and is passionate about the law's ability to effect change. Her background is as a commercial litigator for HNW and UHNW individuals in their family and business disputes, a practice which centred on complex, often cross-jurisdictional, commercial cases. She has acted for a wide range of clients including individuals, families, companies and not for profit organisations. She has experience across a range of commercial and strategic litigation and in a variety of forums, often acting for international clients in complex and multi-faceted disputes. In particular she has experience in breaches of contract, confidence and fiduciary duty, fraud and misrepresentation claims and shareholder disputes. This wealth of experience she now brings to Purpose's litigation practice.

Emily also has a significant public law practice, with experience in judicial review, administrative law and public affairs. She is accustomed to acting in complex political disputes, often in the glare of the media and is noted by her clients for providing excellent strategic advice. Notably, Emily acted for Gina Miller in both of her successful landmark constitutional judicial review cases against the Government – the first in 2016 in relation to parliamentary approval of the triggering of Article 50 and the second in 2019 in relation to the legality of the Prime Minister's prorogation of parliament.

Dan Leader specialises in international human rights and environmental law, with a particular focus on business and human rights.   He has extensive experience of cases against parent companies, complex group actions and mass tort claims, as well as cross-border disputes and jurisdictional issues.

Dan has a longstanding interest in public policy in business and human rights and was external expert member of the UK Government Steering Board which oversees the implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (2014-17).  Since 2018 he has been a Board Member of the Corporate Responsibility Coalition (CORE).   He is a member of the Steering Committee of the comparative law project on civil liability for human rights violations at the Bonavero Institute, Oxford University and a member of the Advisory Board of the British Institute for International and Comparative Law’s Human Rights Due Diligence Forum.  He writes and speaks widely about business and human rights issues at conferences and universities in Britain and internationally.