Group Litigation and Class Actions 2023 - The 3rd Annual Forum

Boris Bronfentrinker heads Willkie’s Antitrust & Competition Litigation practice in London. He is a solicitor advocate practicing in complex commercial litigation, with particular experience in competition litigation. He has represented clients, both as claimants and defendants, in leading and high profile cases in both the High Court of England & Wales and the Competition Appeal Tribunal, as well as coordinating competition litigation proceedings in other jurisdictions globally. Regularly acting for both claimants and defendants gives Boris a unique perspective and insight into the conduct of competition disputes from both sides. Boris is experienced in not only litigating cases to judgment but also resolving claims through alternative dispute resolution, such as mediation. Boris is recognised and highly ranked by Who’s Who Legal, Chambers UK, Chambers Europe, Chambers Global and The Legal 500, placing him among the best globally in the area of competition litigation.

Bridget Lucas KC is a “team player and experienced advocate” who applies a commercial, common sense approach.

She has a broad commercial / chancery practice and specialises in civil fraud, company and insolvency law. She appears for individuals, corporations and officeholders, and is regularly retained in cases involving serious allegations of misconduct including breach of fiduciary duty; applications relating to wrongful and fraudulent trading, transactions at an undervalue and disqualification cases. She frequently appears in unfair prejudice proceedings and boardroom, joint venture and LLP disputes. She acts on breach of warranty and misrepresentation claims arising out of business acquisitions and investments.

Experienced in large scale litigation, she acted as lead counsel in Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company v Saad Investments Company Ltd, successfully defending the AwalCo defendants at the year-long civil fraud trial in the Cayman Islands, leading a substantial team of junior counsel, London solicitors and local attorneys.

She frequently advises on the interpretation of complex commercial agreements in various industry sectors (e.g. energy and telecommunications), and on technical issues arising in specialist areas (e.g. insolvent law firms, cross-border merger applications and insurance business transfer schemes).

She has “a track record of offshore fraud cases”, and regularly advises clients in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Guernsey and Jersey.

Bridget has presented a number of lectures and seminars on a range of subjects connected with her practice.

Daniel specialises in complex, high value commercial disputes, acting for both claimants and defendants.  He has handled, and continues to handle, some of the largest and highest profile cases in the London litigation market, with his cases often involving multiple jurisdictions.  He is ranked in Chambers and the Legal 500, with commentators recognising him for being “an exceptionally skilled lawyer with an eye for detail and a strategic focus” and “an outstanding litigator”. 

Daniel’s current caseload includes acting for a large group of investors in the first major opt-in group claim in the Isle of Man.  Daniel also acts for the class representative, Commission Recovery Limited, in opt-out proceedings to recover alleged secret commissions on behalf of current and former clients of Marks & Clerk.  The Court’s judgment in that case is widely recognised as one of the most significant decisions on the scope of the English representative action regime.

Andrew has been at the forefront of developing securities litigation in the UK since 2014, identifying potential recovery opportunities for shareholders in UK public companies.

Andrew drove the launch of the UK’s first such claim, the high-profile case against Tesco PLC for a large group of institutional investors, following Tesco’s admission of a profit overstatement in late 2014 (at his previous firm, Stewarts).  That case received widespread press coverage until it settled successfully in 2020, after he joined Fox Williams, where he then launched a second securities litigation claim against Tesco arising out of the same facts, for a larger group of institutional investors, which settled successfully in September 2021.

Andrew is currently leading Fox Williams’ second (his third) major securities litigation case against Glencore PLC, for more than 200 institutional investors, arising out of the coordinated global settlement by Glencore in 2022 of an array of investigations brought against it and its group companies by the US DoJ, the UK SFO and other agencies, which has so far seen t pay more than £1billion in penalties, for admitted bribery and corruption on a global scale.

Together with new Fox Williams’ partner, Matthew Reach, Andrew spearheaded the building and launch of the firm’s third (his fourth) securities litigation claim against Petrofac Limited, for more than 70 institutional investors, in May 2023.  This latest case arises out of the guilty pleas entered by Petrofac to seven counts of breach of the UK’s Bribery Act in October 2021, for Petrofac’s bribery and corruption over a sustained period of many years from October 2011. 

Andrew is dual-qualified in the UK and Australia, having worked at global law firm Baker McKenzie in Sydney before relocating to London in 2012.

Anna Morfey is a partner in our antitrust, regulation and foreign investment practice.

Anna is a Solicitor Advocate with 20 years’ experience in Brussels and London advising on EU/UK competition law issues and litigating competition damages claims, both in relation to abuse of dominance and cartels. Her litigation experience extends across the High Court, Competition Appeal Tribunal, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and, at European level, before the General Court and Court of Justice.

Anna has represented household-name clients – claimants and defendants – in some of the most high-profile EU and UK cartel investigations and damages claims including Trucks, Automotive Bearings, High Voltage Power Cables, FX, LIBOR, PU Foam, Smart Card Chips, Industrial Bags, Carbon & Graphite Products, Elevators & Escalators, Gas Insulated Switchgear and Marine Hoses. She has been involved in many of the antitrust cases concerning investigations of abuse of dominance by big tech, including Google and Microsoft.

Anna also has extensive expertise in collective actions in the UK, with particular insight from the claimant perspective having acted for a number of proposed class representatives prior to joining Ashurst.  She is currently acting for defendants in the Motor Finance and Mobile Handsets collective actions filed last year in the CAT.

Jennifer is a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Management Team at Eversheds Sutherland. She handles a broad range of complex disputes and investigations for clients in the financial and professional services sectors. Jennifer recently defended an international bank in the Ingenious Litigation, a funded group action involving over 350 claimants which featured in The Lawyer’s top 20 cases for 2022, and is noted for her work on group claims in Legal 500.

Jonathan is a commercial chancery junior specialising in complex and high value litigation in the fields of private client, company, civil fraud, and general commercial disputes.

In recent years, Jonathan has been instructed in some of the most high-profile pieces of litigation before the English courts, including Pakistan v Prince Muffakham Jah (the Hyderabad Fund dispute) and Munícipio de Mariana and oths v BHP Group (the Fundão Dam disaster litigation). There is an international dimension to much of Jonathan's work and he is frequently instructed to provide advice in respect of matters proceeding overseas as well as in this jurisdiction.

Francesca Richmond is a partner in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team and Global Lead for Competition Litigation. She specialises in the litigation and investigation of high value commercial and regulatory enforcement matters with a focus on class actions and mass torts litigation. Her practice spans ethics, governance and human rights in addition to litigation of antitrust, consumer and data privacy law. 

Francesca litigates all types of competition action (stand alone and follow-on damages claims; actions on abuse or unfair trading conditions, resale price maintenance, selective distribution and predatory pricing) and has expertise in financial services, tech, manufacturing and consumer goods. She has extensive expertise in defending class actions claims including opt in/bundled claims and opt out collective proceedings before the CAT. She led the defence for Barclays Bank of civil claims for damage following on from regulatory investigations on FX, including the unsuccessful applications for opt out class actions made by O'Higgins and Evans (heard on appeal in April 2023). 

Ian Thompson is an Associate Director at Economic Insight.  He provides advice and expert economics evidence in relation to a range of competition law and litigation matters, including competition collective proceedings, follow-on damages claims, mergers, and abuse of dominance cases.  Ian has worked on several high-profile competition cases, including providing expert economics evidence to several claimants (including Royal Mail and BT) in litigation cases associated with the Trucks cartel, and supporting multiple Collective Proceeding Order applications for opt-out consumer collective action claims at the CAT.

Miguel Sousa Ferro is an academic and a lawyer with over nearly 20 years’ experience in EU, Competition and Regulatory law. He is a leading expert in Portugal on collective redress and Antitrust law, with special focus on private enforcement and consumer protection.

Miguel’s career took him through law firms in Brussels – Cleary Gottlieb, Uría – and Lisbon – Vieira de Almeida, Sérvulo, Paz Ferreira – and through the General Court of the European Union.

Miguel filed the first ever opt-out class action in Portugal to defend consumers for an Antitrust infringement, in 2015, and has been / is lead counsel in more than 10 class actions filed before the Competition Court under the new Antitrust Private Enforcement Act.

As an academic, Miguel is a Professor at the University of Lisbon Law School, where he has lectured since 2008. He has also lectured at the Universities of Toulouse, Bialystok and East Timor, at the College of Europe, and at Universidade Europeia (Portugal). He is Co-Director of the Portuguese Competition & Regulation Journal, and has published 7 monographs and over 100 papers in national and international journals. His most recent books are “Research Handbook on Private Enforcement of Competition Law in the EU” (Edward Elgar), “The EU Antitrust Damages Directive: Transposition in the Member States” (Oxford University Press), and “Market Definition in EU Competition Law” (Edward Elgar).

Miguel has authored numerous Legal Opinions on Competition Law and EU Law for courts and arbitrations, in Portugal, France and in the Netherlands.

Miguel is also a Judge at the European Nuclear Energy Tribunal (2020/2024).

Seamus is a commercial litigator specialising in international litigation and arbitration, and is the founder of Velitor Law. The firm is a culmination of his 30 years’ experience of international disputes work, and forms the bedrock for an all-star team, which catalyses a diversity of styles and specialisms. Velitor’s goal is to deliver the highest value knowledge, judgment and advocacy in the resolution of disputes.

A leading practitioner, Seamus has disputes experience at all levels of civil tribunal in the UK, the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands. His cases have ranged from the world of hedge funds to the film industry, from shipping to fine art, and from intellectual property to contracts, trusts and torts. He has spoken widely on the subjects of trust litigation and anti-money laundering laws.

Seamus launched his career at the English bar with Dean’s Court Chambers, then practised as an Attorney at Law with Walkers, moving on to become a Barrister with Clifford Chance. He then went on to become a founding partner of SCA Ontier. Seamus is ranked as a Leading Individual for Commercial Litigation in ‘The Legal 500’ directory.

My research covers a range of areas in the sociology of law with a focus on legal mobilisation, access to justice, class actions and collective redress, and legal group formations in different socio-juridical contexts. I draw on a range of approaches and traditions, including comparative sociology of law, sociological jurisprudence, social movements, environmental justice, and political and sociolegal theory. Main subfields of inquiry are forms of lawyering and legal actors associated with class and collective actions, internal/external legal cultures and juridical fields of contestation in this context, and critical analyses of broader accessibility reforms and retrenchments. Current research particularly addresses legal opportunity structures and the material, human, and organisational resources associated with collective actions and legal mobilisation in comparative perspective.

John A. Yanchunis leads the Class Action Department of Morgan & Morgan. Mr. Yanchunis’ practice— which began after completing a two-year clerkship with United States District Judge Carl O. Bue, Jr., Southern District of Texas—has concentrated on complex litigation and spans over 40 years, including class actions for over two-thirds of that time. Mr. Yanchunis served also as lead counsel for the insurance regulator for the state of Florida during the state’s investigation of the insurance industry for bidding rigging , price fixing and undisclosed compensation in the sale of insurance in the state. He has been   continuously recognized as a Florida Super Lawyer.  His work in the area of privacy began in 1999 with the filing of the Doubleclick class action , and since that time , he has held leadership  positions in most of the largest data breach cases to date, including Yahoo, Equifax, Capital One , Google, Home Depot and Target.  He has been recognized by Law360 as an MVP in the cybersecurity practice area, and in 2020 he was awarded  the Daily Business Review’s  Attorney of the Year award for the state of Florida for his work in the privacy and cybersecurity. He is a frequent lecturer nationally and internationally on the topics of privacy and cybersecurity. 

Wessen specialises in large-scale competition damages litigation, on behalf of both corporate entities and consumers in opt-out claims. She is passionate about access to justice, and also plays a key role in our human rights & environmental practice. 

At Hausfeld, she has conducted litigation before the Competition Appeal Tribunal, High Court and the Court of Appeal, and has extensive experience on both traditional competition damages claims and collective actions. Examples of the former include some of the most well-known competition cases of recent years such as the MasterCard / Visa interchange fee litigation and the Marine Hose cartel. In the collective sphere, she is acting for Christine Riefa Class Representative Ltd in proposed collective proceedings against Apple and Amazon. She also acted for the proposed class representative, the Consumers’ Association (Which?), in an abuse of dominance claim against Qualcomm on behalf of a class of UK consumers. Finally, she acted for Privacy International in its intervention before the Competition Appeal Tribunal in relation to the Meta / Giphy merger and is acting for them in the Amazon/iRobot matter before the European Commission.

Kim is a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills advising on the full range of EU and UK competition law issues, including strategic consideration across jurisdictions.  Kim has particular expertise in competition litigation before the English High Court and the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, and has also represented clients in front of the EU courts in Luxembourg.  Kim is a qualified solicitor-advocate and appears as an advocate in the Competition Appeal Tribunal. In recent years, Kim has built a strong practice acting in particular for defendants in precedent-setting competition damages cases, and is currently involved in defending several collective actions in the UK.

Kim advises a range of clients, including in the tech, transport, aviation, financial services, consumer goods and industrial sectors, advising on litigation, enforcement cases and merger control. She is a committee member of the Competition Law Association, the LawSociety Competition Section, the City of London Law Society committee on private actions, and the International Chamber of Commerce, working partly on private actions.

Kim regularly speaks at international conferences and has published extensively on competition litigation issues, including notably as co-author of the Sweet & Maxwell text book "Class Actions in England and Wales", the leading publication in this area recently updated in 2022. She is highly rated by the major legal directories across both Competition law and Competition Litigation, recognised by Legal 500 as a 'leading individual' and lauded most recently by clients as 'experienced and tenacious'.  Who's Who Legal: Competition describes her as 'a clever and strategic operator', who is praised for her cartels and litigation practice. Kim is also listed as an "Acritas Star" in the Acritas Star Report, a report on stand-out lawyers nominated by clients worldwide.

Daniel is a counsel in our London office. He advises clients on significant commercial disputes and all elements of contentious competition law.  He has acted in the English and European Courts at both first instance and on appeals, and has extensive experience of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (including in both individual proceedings and mass claims).  Daniel also acts on investigations by competition and sectoral regulators and advises on compliance with antitrust law requirements (including horizontal, vertical, and dominance matters).

Daniel is a member of our global antitrust litigation and collective and class action skills groups.

Daniel has an active pro-bono practice and has acted for several NGOs on public interest interventions in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Dr. Peter Davis is a Principal and Leader of the European Antitrust & Competition practice at The Brattle Group. He is an expert on competition damages actions, mergers and acquisitions, cartels, and market investigations; and is a former Deputy Chairman of the UK Competition Commission (CC), now a part of the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Dr. Davis has provided written or oral testimony in matters before the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal, the High Court of England and Wales, the Directorate-General for Competition, the CMA, the CC, the Office of Fair Trading, the Financial Conduct Authority, and the Competition Commission of South Africa.

Kenny Henderson is an experienced litigator who represents sophisticated and blue chip clients in high stakes disputes, frequently with a multi-jurisdictional element. He is solutions-oriented, and deploys litigation strategies tailored to deliver commercial objectives. He has particular expertise in regulated sectors, including pharmaceutical and technology claims.

Kenny has acted on many of the highest profile follow-on claims issued in Europe to date. Unusually, he has led matters both on the claimant and the defendant side. He is also active in the developing area of class and group actions, counselling clients both in defending claims and also on strategies for reducing overall exposure in opt-out and opt-in collective proceedings.

Mr. Mansfield is Partner at Scott+Scott London. Mr. Mansfield specialises in acting for businesses and consumers who have suffered losses because of anti-competitive conduct and also works on general commercial and securities litigation. Mr. Mansfield works closely with other members of the firm’s Antitrust and Competition and Securities’ practices, including evaluating and developing claims–often on a multi-jurisdictional basis. 

Prior to joining Scott+Scott, Mr. Mansfield spent over six years in the London office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP and completed a stage a (internship) at the Legal Services of the European Commission in Brussels. 

Simon specialises in commercial and competition litigation. He has extensive experience of group litigation, both in the context of commercial disputes and in private damages actions for competition law breaches. Simon advises clients in relation to both High Court trials, proceedings in the Competition Appeal Tribunal and alternative forms of dispute resolution.

His practice includes co-ordinating and advising in relation to English law issues arising out of overseas proceedings, as well as in proceedings brought in the English Courts, and he advises corporates, international banks and private wealth funds as well as certain high-net-worth individuals.

Simon is a member of the Financial Services Lawyers Association and is recommended in the Legal 500 directory for EU/competition and competition litigation. Simon studied at Jesus College, Cambridge (M.A. Cantab (2004)) as well as at BPP Law School in London before joining Macfarlanes LLP in 2007. Simon is a SolicitorAdvocate

Nik Yeo is a highly experienced trial and appellate advocate in litigation and arbitration.

Directories describe Nik as a “powerful and persuasive advocate”. His diverse practice includes fraud, fintech and finance. He frequently litigates and advises on “smart contracts”, cryptocurrencies and other tech disputes, financial regulation, private equity, leveraged financing and shareholder disputes. He is particularly strong in professional negligence – from disputes arising out of the complex valuation of securitised shopping centres to claims against solicitors, barristers and bankers. Nik is also experienced in insurance, reinsurance, art, and energy.

Nik has been instructed in many of the largest and most complex structured finance and derivative cases from the global financial crisis, including representing Lehman Bros Inc, RBS, Goldman Sachs and HM Treasury in the bank bailout scheme. He is regularly consulted on questions of legal professional privilege, conflict of laws and jurisdiction.

A former solicitor with a magic circle firm, he understands the demands and requirements of corporates and entrepreneurs.

Nik was awarded “Technology, Data & Crypto Junior of the Year” at The Legal 500‘s Bar Awards (2023), “Professional Negligence Junior of the Year” at the Chambers & Partners Awards (2016) and he was previously named “up-and-coming Star at the Bar” by Legal Week.

Elena Rey is a partner in the Firm’s Finance Practice Group and a senior member of the Special Situations and Litigation Funding Practice Groups.

Elena represents litigation funders, private equity funds, lenders and borrowers on complex cross border disputes & class actions funding arrangements, portfolio and law firm financings as well as general financings and debt restructurings.

Elena is a founder of the Litigation Funding Working Group tasked to prepare model documentation for the litigation funding market.

Elena holds a law degree from Harvard University and is fluent in French and Russian. She is admitted to practice in England and Wales.

James has extensive experience acting on behalf of corporate and financial services institutions in connection with the defence of group litigation and class actions, and in connection with contentious competition.

James’s work defending clients against group litigation covers a variety of topics, including allegations concerning ESG, financial misconduct and competition law. James is instructed on some of the most complex and high-profile disputes in this area, in particular where those disputes involve cross-jurisdictional elements.

James has a particular depth of expertise in connection with disputes concerning allegations of breaches of competition law, having been, and continuing to be, involved in many of the key cases before the English courts over the last decade as this area of litigation has emerged in England.

Marit Bosselaar is a senior associate in the litigation department of Loyens & Loeff’s Amsterdam office in the Netherlands. Marit advises and litigates on commercial contracts and liability law matters, including ESG related issues. Marit has vast experience in class action litigation and advising on collective settlements. Marit regularly publishes in scientific journals on the Dutch class action regime.

Paul Stuart’s practice focuses on competition law and litigation, including competition litigation before the UK courts, European Commission and UK antitrust and merger proceedings, and appellate litigation before the EU courts.

He has advised clients on a wide range of disputes and investigations and represented clients in proceedings before the EU General Court, the European Commission, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, and the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Simon P. Walsh is special counsel in Cadwalader’s Global Litigation Group.

Simon focuses on high value international commercial arbitration and complex cross-border litigation and has acted for clients in the telecom, private equity, financial, maritime, offshore, power and aviation sectors. Simon has acted on some of the world’s largest international arbitration disputes in the telecoms sector.

Simon has represented both claimants and defendants in the English high court and in arbitrations under the LCIA, ICC, AAA, UNCITRAL, ICSID, SIAC, LMAA and VIAC rules. Simon also has extensive experience of managing multi-jurisdictional litigation in the offshore courts in Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands as well as in Europe and Russia. Simon’s experience extends to restructuring and insolvency matters, and to regulatory and civil/criminal investigations under the U.K. Bribery Act and the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Simon also has detailed knowledge of the enforcement and annulment of international arbitral awards and judgments. 

Simon has been recognised as a leading practitioner by Legal 500 UK and Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom.

Prior to joining Cadwalader, Simon was Senior Investment Officer with Woodsford Litigation Funding in London, where he was responsible for global litigation and arbitration investments. Simon had a particular focus on shareholder activism and group/representative litigation in England & Wales, such as claims brought under section 90 and 90A FSMA as well as collective actions before the Competition Appeal Tribunal.

Prior to joining Woodsford, Simon was a senior associate in the international arbitration and litigation group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (UK) LLP.

Simon is a solicitor, admitted in England & Wales, and has acted in matters before the English courts (including the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Privy Council) and has carried out advocacy before international tribunals. He holds a Masters Degree in International Trade and Maritime Law from the University of Southampton.

Jason is a senior associate in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution team at Clifford Chance specialising in commercial litigation, with particular expertise in defending group litigation claims.

Jason advises banks, corporates and financial investors on a wide range of complex disputes, regulatory investigations and arbitration, often involving a cross-border element.

Jason has particular experience of shareholder claims under sections 90 and 90A FSMA and he is currently acting for Link Fund Solutions Ltd in connection with investor claims relating to the Woodford Equity Income Fund.

Teaming a creative approach, innovative strategies and ground-breaking solutions, Nick continues to test the legal boundaries – working on some of the largest cases commenced and conducted in the English High Court.

Nick works across a broad range of high-value, multi-jurisdictional disputes involving civil fraud, asset recovery, enforcement, banking litigation, arbitration, insolvency and shareholder claims. He has particular expertise in obtaining freezing, search, and disclosure orders.

Nick is consistently singled out for his work in international fraud and banking litigation, including high-profile cases for CIS banks. His hands-on approach and measured demeanour are welcomed by clients, who turn to Nick as a trusted manager of large-scale litigation.

The directories say:

Nick is recommended for his work in civil fraud, asset recovery, commercial litigation and banking litigation, and is described as ‘dedicated and thorough’ and commended for his ‘hands-on approach’.

Who’s Who Legal

Nick is recognised as a Thought Leader for Asset Recovery in the 2020 edition and is described as ‘a superb asset recovery lawyer’.

Legal 500

The 2021 edition recognises Nick as a Next Generation Partner for Commercial Litigation and describes him as knowing ‘his stuff’, ‘calm and measured’ and an ‘experienced, diligent and able litigator’.

He is identified as a key lawyer for Civil Fraud and Banking Litigation and recognised for his ‘expertise in commercial and civil fraud cases involving freezing, search and disclosure orders’. His role as lead counsel to Russian state liquidator the Deposit Insurance Agency in its pursuit of fraud claims against Georgy Bedzhamov resulting in a High Court order freezing £1.34 billion in assets is highlighted.

Previous editions describe him as ‘highly rated’, ‘incisive and very strong minded’ and ‘a highly effective manager of long-running litigation’.

Claire Van der Zant is Director of Strategic Partnerships at Shieldpay, responsible for developing relationships with financial institutions, legal firms and technology businesses to advance and innovate high-value payment solutions for clients globally.

Fred joined Edwin Coe in October 2018 and is a Senior Associate in the Litigation & Dispute Resolution team. He was previously an Associate in Gall Legge Grant Zwack LLP’s Civil Litigation department and is a Canadian-qualified lawyer.

Fred is experienced in commercial and civil litigation, having appeared before all levels of court in British Columbia and in administrative tribunals.

In addition to a Canadian law degree, Fred holds an LLM from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where he received the Otto Kahn Freund Prize for Best Performance in Labour, Family, Conflict of Laws, Comparative and European Law.

Roger Cooper leads Cleary’s securities and M&A litigation practice.

He has successfully litigated more than fifty shareholder, class action and derivative actions arising out of securities, M&A, corporate governance, and other commercial disputes.

Roger is internationally recognized as a leader in corporate litigation by ranking publications including The Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, and Chambers USA. Client testimonials attest to Roger’s reputation as a “terrific strategist, with a vast knowledge of his field of expertise,” “very talented,” “really spectacular,” “excellent and smart attorney,” who is “very detail-oriented and conscientious,” and “really understands the facts and the case law in securities matters and we can rely on his judgment and assessments.” He is “client oriented,” demonstrates “great judgment,” “has great advice as to strategy and potential settlements,” is “a very, very thoughtful guy,” and “a pleasure to work with and a terrific litigator.” Roger’s clients value his representation for “professionalism and responsiveness in the highest degree” and rely on his “thoughtful and creative” advice. He leads a team that clients describe as “very responsive and easy to work with,” and “extremely professional and creative in their work, flexible in their implementation and cooperation.” Clients turn to Roger and his team for “a very international approach and a lot of experience in cross-border matters.” In sum, “they are first-rate in terms of intellectual and legal acumen. They’re first grade in securities.”

Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., chair of Duane Morris’ Workplace Class Action group, has nearly four decades’ experience of practicing law and has defended some of the most significant bet-the-company cases ever filed against corporate America. Mr. Maatman has represented companies, executive teams and boards across the country in class action litigation, ranging in size from thousands to hundreds of thousands of claims by employees. Among his accomplishments, he defended and defeated the largest systemic enforcement action ever brought in the history of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the first Attorney General prosecution of a Wall Street company for workplace discrimination and harassment, and the largest wage & hour class and collective actions ever brought in Florida and New York. While he is known to be a fierce litigator, he also helps his clients anticipate large-scale litigations risks before they happen to prevent issues that could turn into litigation. Mr. Maatman pioneered the process of conducting employment-practices audits to assist employers in structuring effective and practical personnel policies and protocols. Profiled in The Wall Street Journal, these audits are designed to minimize the incidence of employment-related class action litigation and to maximize management discretion and workplace productivity. He has served as a legal commentator on PBS, NPR, MSNBC, CNBC and U.S. talk radio, and his comments have appeared in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Business Insurance, USA Today, Fortune and Forbes.

Carla A. Peak specializes in the design and implementation of notice programs with plain language notices and expert opinions and testimony on the adequacy of notice. She has been involved in hundreds of effective and efficient notice programs reaching class members and claimants in almost every country, dependency and territory in the world, and providing notice in over 35 languages. Ms. Peak has presented on and written numerous articles about class notification programs, the design of effective notice documents as well as industry trends and innovations. She is also a certified professional in Social Media Marketing, Digital Fundamentals, Digital Sales, and Google Ads Fundamentals. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Temple University and a Master’s in Business Administration from West Chester University.

Steffen is a financial markets spceialist and a founding partner of Fideres, where he has acted as expert in a number of high-profile financial markets and securities litigation cases in the US, the UK and Europe. His professional expertise includes fixing income securitites, derivatives and structured products. Steffen has provided expert testimony on market efficiency and damages quantum.

Prior to Fideres, Steffen was a director at the Royal Bank of Scotland, working within the Exotic Credit Derivatives and Structured Capital Solutions team. Before joining RBS he worked 5 years in a similar role at Deutsche Bank. He has 9 years of experience in structured credit and complex derivatives across all major fixed-income asset classes.

Steffen holds an MSc-level degree in Mathematics (Diplom) from the University of Erlangen, Germany, the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge, UK and an MSc in Financial Engineering and Quantitative Analysis from the ICMA Centre at the University of Reading, UK.

David heads Pinsent Masons’ TMT Disputes Practice and focuses on data privacy litigation. According to Chambers and Partners, “David is one of the leading technology and internet law litigators in the UK. He is relied upon by giants of the tech sector to represent them in closely watched cases that go to the heart of how the digital economy functions.”

David led the team which acted for Google in Lloyd v Google, a novel attempt to pursue an opt-out class action on behalf of a claimed class size of around 5 million individuals with a claimed value of around £3 billion. The claim was ultimately unsuccessful following a unanimous decision of the UK Supreme Court. This is now widely regarded as the leading case on the representative action procedure. David also acts for data controllers defending claims by data subjects following cyber attacks. Of particular note is his team’s success in Warren v Dixons, a case which is widely regarded as having reset the litigation funding landscape in the this jurisdiction.

Desiree has extensive litigation PR experience, which includes representing high profile group claims in the High Court and in the CAT, and she has a strong network of relationships across the mainstream business and financial media, as well as the legal press.

As well as advising on a wide range of litigation matters, capital markets transactions and crisis situations, Desiree has earnt a strong reputation for helping companies to build and protect their profiles and her work has been award winning.  Prior to founding Questor Consulting over a decade ago, Desiree was Head of Corporate Communications for Europe and Asia at Jefferies Investment Bank. Desiree started her career in the City, advising US companies on raising European equity capital and she was also a partner at a leading City PR firm as head of their Financial Institutions Group.  Over her 25 year career, Desiree has worked with a wide range of clients from investors to professional services firms as well as multinational corporates across a wide range of sectors including technology, consumer, healthcare, industrials, energy, financial services and legal services.

Desirée has an MBA from The London Business School and a BSc Hons in Politics from the University of Bristol.

Desirée Maghoo and Questor Consulting are both ranked by Chambers and Partners, as a notable practitioner and as a leading provider of Litigation PR respectively in the field of litigation support.

Anya has a broad practice spanning privacy, media, sports and employment law. In recognition of her work as a leading media and privacy specialist, Anya was named “Media, Defamation, Privacy and Data Protection Silk of the Year” in the 2021 Chambers & Partners Bar Awards. Anya is named as a Leading Silk in the directories in recognition of her work in the privacy, media and employment spheres. She is listed as a “Star Individual” in Chambers & Partners in recognition of her leading role the data privacy field, and is also listed as a “Spotlight Silk” in recognition of her leading expertise in the field of data privacy class actions. Anya was also named in the Lawyer’s “Hot 100 Lawyers 2019”. The nature of Anya’s practice is such that she is equally at home conducting lengthy, witness-heavy hearings as she is arguing complex points of law before the appellate courts. Anya’s clients include individuals; corporations; media organisations; NGOs; statutory regulators and a wide array of public authorities.

Gus is founder of Byfield Consultancy. He provides reputation counsel to legal and professional services firms and to companies and individuals facing reputational risk. Gus is relied upon by clients to help build and protect their reputations through effective brand building campaigns, and to manage reputational risk in sensitive and often business critical situations. He is a litigation PR specialist and works closely with litigators, in-house PR teams and senior management teams in managing the reputational aspects of disputes. Gus has significant experience of working with third party litigation funders and represents clients across a broad range of disputes nationally and internationally, including class actions where he has a particular interest. Gus is also well known for advising professional services firms and their partners who are subject to regulatory investigations.

Gus is founding chairman of the PRCA Legal PR group and is passionate about the development of legal sector communications as a valuable and specialist branch of public relations.

Jennifer has a wide-ranging commercial chancery practice with a particular emphasis on business disputes. These frequently involve company law, breach of fiduciary duties, joint ventures, partnerships, insolvency and real property issues. She is particularly adept at assisting in cases where these practice areas intersect. She has been involved in a number of group claims in recent years that involved professional negligence, cross-border, fraud and insolvency issues.

Jennifer has appeared as sole counsel in a number of leading cases and is well placed to deal with complex legal issues. She has appeared both led and alone in appeals to the Court of Appeal, High Court and County Court. Jennifer also has significant trial experience and is a skilful cross examiner.

Vicky is a Manager in Frontier’s competition practice. She has over ten years of experience advising clients on a range of competition issues, with a particular focus on the economics of tech firms. Vicky has worked on cases before the European Commission, national competition authorities in the UK, and in the US, spanning merger cases and competition disputes. Her litigation work includes cases before the Competition Appeal Tribunal in the UK, including Merricks v Mastercard, Lovdahl Gormsen v Meta, and Pfizer and Flynn v CMA. She has previously worked in the US, where she focused on competition and tax disputes

Stewart is a dual qualified barrister and solicitor with nearly 30 years' experience.  Since 2001 he has practised exclusively in the fields of Data Protection, Privacy and Cyber Security, most recently as the global leader of the legal services business in a Big 4 accountancy firm and the joint global leader of the multi-disciplinary data protection business.

He is recognised by the legal directories as one of the country’s leading lawyers in these areas, having acted in many high-profile cases and written or co-authored a number of influential textbooks.  

In 2017 he was invited to give evidence to Parliament on the impact of the EU data protection regime on Brexit. He is also a past winner of the Financial Times Legal Innovator of the Year award, co-founder of The Cyber Security Challenge UK and President of the National Association of Data Protection Officers.

Simon Latham is an Investment Manager based in Omni Bridgeway’s London office where he is responsible for sourcing, evaluating, negotiating, and monitoring investments through to resolution. Simon has a particular focus on competition/antitrust disputes and collective redress across the UK and Europe.  Simon has arranged financing for multinationals, class representatives, law firms and SMEs.

Widely regarded as a thought leader in the industry, Simon’s expertise has been recognised by The Legal 500 (Litigation Funding) and Who’s Who Legal: Thought Leaders.  He is a frequent speaker and panelist on the topics of litigation funding, competition litigation and collective redress and was formerly the editor of The Third-Party Litigation Funding Law Review.

Prior to joining Omni Bridgeway, Simon was Head of Competition investments at another global litigation funder.  Before his career in funding, Simon was a solicitor at Hausfeld in London, acting exclusively for claimants in competition and commercial litigation, often across multiple jurisdictions.  He holds an LLM in intellectual property law and a postgraduate diploma in competition law from King’s College

Michelle Clark is a partner in Willkie's Antitrust & Competition and Litigation practices in London. Her areas of practice include competition litigation, UK and EU regulatory investigations and GDPR/Data Protection Act 2018 compliance and litigation.

Michelle is recognised in the market as a leading competition lawyer with particular experience in competition litigation. Acting for both claimants and defendants, she regularly coordinates multi-jurisdictional litigation with a particular focus on collective actions, cartel damages and abuse of dominance claims, often involving intellectual property and FRAND issues. Her experience includes litigating in the English High Court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal. Michelle also advises clients in relation to competition investigations, both infringement proceedings and market sector inquiries, and consequential appeals and judicial reviews following decisions of competition and regulatory authorities. Michelle's vast experience spans multiple industries, with a particular focus on the financial services, automotive, retail, sports, media, pharmaceutical and technology sectors. Michelle also provides strategic and general competition counselling advice. Alongside her busy competition litigation practice, Michelle is a highly regarded data protection lawyer. She regularly advises US/EU companies on GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018 compliance, data transfers, breaches and data protection litigation.

Michelle is recognised by Law.com in its "Rising Stars 2022: The UK's Best Up and Coming Female Lawyers" list, as one of the UK's top 25 female lawyers under age 40. Michelle was also ranked as a "Next Generation Partner" by The Legal 500 for Competition Litigation in 2022. BAR ADMISSIONS Michelle is admitted to the England & Wales and Scotland Bars.

Michelle received an EU Competition Law Masters from King's College London in 2017, a Diploma in Legal Practice from University of Glasgow Graduate School of Law in 2007 and an LLB (Hons) from University of Glasgow in 2006.