The Shareholder & Securities Disputes Forum

Described by counsel as a very talented solicitor with a stellar career ahead, Laura acts for individuals and corporations in complex commercial disputes and investigations with a particular focus on the financial services sector

Dan advises on high-stakes commercial disputes and investigations, particularly in the areas of investment and finance, complex commercial litigation, contentious restructurings and insolvencies, and bribery and corruption. Dan develops comprehensive dispute strategies early in line with clients’ business objectives, and achieving those objectives through litigation or alternative dispute resolution.

Lucy has extensive experience of managing international, cross-border litigation, working frequently in the Chancery and Queen’s Bench Divisions of the English High Court (including Commercial Court) and Court of Appeal. She has also conducted several commercial arbitrations under the LCIA, ICC and ad hoc rules and most recently, was instructed on an LCIA arbitration in the aerospace sector.

Kate Allass is a partner in the Farrer & Co Disputes Team with more than 20 years of commercial litigation experience, advising a broad range of clients on complex, sensitive and high value disputes.   She is ranked in both Chambers & Partners and in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame.

She has particular expertise in corporate and shareholder disputes including those relating to shareholder, investor and joint venture agreements; claims by minority shareholders for unfair prejudice; boardroom and partnership disputes; claims for breaches of directors’ duties and misfeasance; insolvency claims; and disputes arising out of corporate acquisitions including breach of warranty, indemnification and earn-out issues.   

Her clients include private businesses, HNW and UHNW investors and shareholders, financiers, private equity firms and senior executives.

She is a commercial litigator with a particular focus on financial services litigation, insolvency disputes, and securities actions. She represents private and corporate clients, including a number of international and domestic investment managers and advisers. She has extensive experience working with clients to put in place litigation funding and ATE insurance in order to facilitate access to justice for her clients.

Her practice combines High Court litigation and arbitration.

Jenny is regularly asked to speak on class actions and group claims and has written in the legal press on litigation funding and costs issues.

I head up our Dispute Resolution group. I specialise in the resolution of complex commercial disputes.

Much of my work has an international focus and I work regularly with lawyers from different jurisdictions. I have extensive experience of international and domestic litigation, including at appellate level.

I am among a small number of lawyers ranked in Chambers for Commercial and Corporate Litigation (2019-2024). I've been described as "a master in [my] field", demonstrating "considerable aptitude in complex cross-border cases", with "great judgment [and] a very good sense of what is commercial”, a "respected practitioner" and "well known in the market for handling a broad spread of corporate and commercial litigation”.

Juliet leads the dispute resolution team. With her City expertise and contacts, Juliet brings a high level of client focus and service capability to our excellent dispute resolution practice.

Juliet’s practice comprises a broad spectrum of commercial disputes, but she has particular expertise in insolvency, banking litigation, private equity and professional negligence claims. Juliet regularly handles high value litigation in specialist divisions of the High Court, often being instructed to act against or alongside major UK or international firms and has been involved, acting for the claimant, in a number of high profile cases in both the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Juliet’s focus is on insolvency litigation, private equity and the alternative lending markets, as well as shareholder and boardroom disputes. Juliet also has extensive experience in acting for lenders and insolvency practitioners on high profile professional negligence cases.

Peter is an accomplished litigator, and since qualifying in 2001 has acted for a range of clients, from small businesses to multi national corporations in the resolution of their disputes.

Peter takes a pragmatic and commercial approach to the disputes that he handles.

Peter is a general commercial litigator, with a particular interest in complex contractual disputes, shareholder disputes, banking disputes and professional negligence claims.

Peter is active and well known in the West Midlands business community.

Peter is a qualified and accredited mediator, having qualified in 2019. His mediation CV can be made available on request.

Janet is a Partner in Mishcon Private and Heads up the Private Commercial Litigation group.

Her practice centres on commercial disputes for a wide variety of clients including high profile individuals, High Net Worth individuals, successful entrepreneurs, owner-managed businesses, families and family offices. The claims she works on are invariably complex, high value, usually multi-jurisdictional and often include allegations of fraud.

Janet has significant in-depth experience of director and shareholder claims and acts as a trusted advisor on wide-ranging business and partnership disputes, trusts issues and large-scale contractual matters across a wide range of sectors. She has wide experience in the issuing and defending of freezing injunctions and asset protection, as well as partnership issues and general contractual matters.

An experienced litigator and solicitor-advocate, Simon specialises in cross-border commercial litigation & arbitration, insolvency & company disputes, sports law, and public law. He also has expertise in construction disputes; regulatory disputes, often acting for professionals & directors; and reputational risk.

With significant experience acting for a range of household names, Simon provides practical and commercially focused advice.

Simon has conducted litigation in most civil divisions of the English High Court; in the Court of Appeal & the Supreme Court; and has gained significant experience in domestic, international, and industry-specific arbitrations. He deals with disputes across all commercial sectors, and has particular experience in environmental energy, construction/insurance, technology, pharmaceutical, and commercial sport & media.

Prior to joining B P Collins LLP, Simon was in-house counsel for a global FTSE 30 ‘fast moving consumer goods’ company, focusing on commercial and regulatory disputes.

Matthew Reach’s dispute resolution practice covers a broad range of commercial (business and finance related) litigation and high-value, complex securities group actions and financial services claims. Matthew is also well versed in the use of various alternative dispute resolution procedures, such as mediation.

He acts for international companies, pension and hedge funds, UK corporates, SMEs and high-net-worth individuals with claims in the High Court, Court of Appeal and various arbitral institutions. Matthew’s work often includes a cross-border element.

He is regarded as an expert user of third-party litigation funding, legal costs insurance and no-win no-fee style engagements. Matthew is adept at helping his clients turn their litigation risks into contingent assets.

Matthew joined Fox Williams in 2022 after seven years at Keystone Law. Previously, Matthew worked in-house as Head of Legal for a third-party litigation funder where he was instrumental in placing funding and insurance for high-profile claims some of the UK’s largest financial institutions.

Yulia Barnes is our Managing Partner and an experienced solicitor of more than 20 years. She specialises in commercial and corporate law, dispute resolution and corporate governance for commercial clients and high net-worth individuals.

Experience

‍Yulia  first qualified in Russia, before then qualifying in England and Wales. Following this, she worked at a large international law firm, before becoming a partner at a regional law firm heading up the Dispute Resolution department.

Daniel is a highly regarded experienced specialist commercial litigator and defamation expert

Daniel has acted in a variety of claims dealing with specialist defamation and privacy matters such as Al-Ko Kober Ltd & Anor v Sambhi [2017] EWHC 2474 (QB), obtaining creative and unusual solutions for clients.

Daniel also has wide experience in corporate litigation handling claims by or against shareholders and directors, across owner managed businesses, SMEs to plcs, in claims ranging in value from thousands to over £200m. His experience has secured excellent results for clients.

Daniel’s experience includes acting in a wide range of disputes for clients that have included household names such as Jaguar Land Rover Limited, Tata Technologies, Caparo, Volvo Financial Services; high profile individuals including plc directors and celebrities; and in arbitration, international arbitrations, and across multiple jurisdictions.

Sarah is a partner in IBB’s Commercial Dispute Resolution team and Corporate Restructuring & Insolvency team.  Sarah is an experienced commercial litigator, who specialises in company litigation, predominantly involving the Companies Act and Insolvency Act and high-value professional negligence actions.  Sarah regularly undertakes high value commercial and insolvency litigation, partnership and shareholder disputes and contractual claims.

Stephanie Lee is a partner in the Dispute Resolution Department at Travers Smith LLP. She is a commercial litigator, acting for domestic and international clients across a broad range of contentious matters, often involving high-profile and complex claims of significant value. She has wide-ranging experience covering both litigation and contentious regulatory investigations, with particular expertise in ESG-related litigation and matters involving allegations of fraud.

Stephanie has recently acted for Hewlett Packard group companies in relation to accounting fraud claims arising out of the US$11 billion acquisition of Autonomy Corporation plc in 2011. The trial – billed as the "tech trial of the century" – was one of The Lawyer's top cases of 2019 and ran for 10 months.  Earlier this year, the Court found that the Hewlett Packard companies had "substantially succeeded" in their fraud claims against Mike Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, the former CEO and CFO of Autonomy respectively.

Jason Epstein specialises in commercial litigation, acting on a broad range of complex disputes for large corporates and regulated entities, often involving a cross-border element.

Jason has particular expertise in group litigation, including defending large shareholder and financial services claims, as well as sports disputes and regulation.

Chris advises on high-stakes corporate and commercial disputes for international corporate clients, financial institutions, family offices and entrepreneurs, in the English Courts and international arbitration.

Chris’ practice covers all major areas of commercial law, including banking and finance, funds, insurance/reinsurance, shareholder disputes, technology, cryptocurrency, fraud and insolvency. Chris has a wealth of experience advising on post-M&A claims, directors’ duties, derivative actions and unfair prejudice petitions. 

Clementine is a Legal Director specialising in contentious trusts and estates and commercial litigation.

She is recommended in both fields by The Legal 500 2024.

Clementine is particularly experienced in matters involving complex corporate / trust structures, company law issues and multi-jurisdictional elements, having begun her career as a corporate solicitor specialising in private equity and also spent time on secondment at the investment funds Oaktree Capital and Hambro Perks.

Clementine trained and qualified at Weil Gotshal & Manges, practising there and subsequently at Farrer & Co before joining Payne Hicks Beach in 2022.

She read English at Cambridge before completing the GDL and LPC (both with Distinction) and also has Higher Rights of Audience.

I lead the firm’s dispute resolution (business & personal), civil litigation and commercial mediation practice. I am well known for handling judicial review cases and challenging the decisions of public bodies.

The litigation I handle is complex in nature and is undertaken for companies of all sizes, owner managed businesses, educational institutions and private individuals. Many of my cases involve international issues.

I am a mediator with a success rate of over 90% in settling disputes. I am a trustee of a number of charities.

I enjoy sport, especially tennis and football, and history.

Robert is a Jersey Advocate, and English and BVI barrister, specialising in trusts, company, commercial and insolvency litigation.

Robert has extensive experience of acting for and advising clients in high-value commercial matters in particular involving breach of trust claims, directors’ breach of duty claims, trust disclosure and other administrative proceedings in relation to trusts, enforcement of foreign orders in relation to trusts, actions to remove trustees and protectors, unfair prejudice claims, freezing injunctions and insolvency procedures. He has acted for beneficiaries, shareholders and other individuals in disputes with larger institutions such as trust companies, banks and other lenders. He is experienced in obtaining litigation funding where necessary for impecunious clients. Robert also acts for some major trust companies, and advises trustees and directors on their duties, including in insolvency situations.

Robert is a graduate of Oxford University and was called to the English bar in 2006, practising at Radcliffe Chambers in Lincoln’s Inn. Between 2012 and 2015 he worked for a major offshore law firm in BVI. Robert has advised on a broad range of trust, company, commercial, fraud and asset-tracing and insolvency matters and appeared regularly in interim applications, trials and appeals in the County Court, High Court, English Court of Appeal, BVI Commercial Court and Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal. Robert’s Caribbean experience means that he is regularly instructed in international litigation which involves a number of offshore centres.

Robert moved to Jersey in 2015 and worked for a Jersey Law firm where he became a partner in January 2019. He joined Bedell Cristin as a partner in December 2020.

In November 2020 Robert was named IFC Partner of the Year at the Citywealth Future Leaders Awards in recognition of the results achieved for his clients over the previous few years.

Greg Leonard coheads Cornerstone Research’s finance practices. He also heads the firm’s London office. Dr. Leonard has nearly two decades of experience consulting for clients in complex litigation and regulatory proceedings. On behalf of clients, he has led regulatory investigations on both sides of the Atlantic, managing teams and simultaneously supporting experts across multiple related matters. Dr. Leonard has substantial experience directing analyses of large and complex high-frequency financial data sets, from both private entities and trading exchanges.

Ronnie Barnes heads Cornerstone Research’s international arbitration and litigation practice. Dr. Barnes is an expert in accounting, damages, and valuation. He specializes in cases that raise complex valuation issues, including the estimation of the cost of capital, the determination of country risk premia, and the valuation of complex financial instruments such as derivatives and structured finance products. Who’s Who Legal has recognized Dr. Barnes as a leading expert witness in legal arbitration and a Global Leader in assessing the quantum of damages in the financial advisory and valuation field.

Jeremy is the Chief Investment Officer and Managing Director of Winward Litigation Finance, a dispute resolution funding company he launched in conjunction with a US asset manager in 2024. Winward is currently investing in cases in the UK and Europe. Jeremy has been involved in every facet of litigation funding for over 15 years. Whilst in private practice, his cases were funded by the likes of Therium, Vannin and Woodsford. He has been a Senior Investment Manager with Omni Bridgeway and a director of its UK business. He has also been the Chief Investment Officer of Bentham Europe Limited (now Innsworth Advisors) which was a joint venture between IMF Bentham Limited and Elliott Management. 

Birgitta is very experienced in the field of chancery/commercial, with long-standing particular expertise in insolvency. Usually acting as sole counsel, comfortable acting for professional clients, individuals and/or companies, Birgitta is a “safe pair of hands”, a persuasive advocate, an excellent and thorough barrister, with a great manner with clients and enjoyable to work with. She is a good choice for complex cases and is qualified to accept instructions on a direct access basis.

Michael is a partner in Penningtons Manches Cooper's commercial dispute resolution division focussing on the financial services sector.

In his near 30 year career, Michael has worked in-house for financial institutions and in private practice where he has conducted group litigation for investors, acted in international arbitrations and litigation in a number of high profile cases arising out of financial and economic crises. He has also represented businesses and individuals in anti-money laundering and civil fraud cases.

The extent of a banker’s duty of care has featured in two of his more recent appeal cases: Playboy Club London Ltd v Banca Nazionale del Lavoro SpA [2018] UKSC 43, where he acted for the successful defendant bank before the Supreme Court and in Philipp v Barclays Bank UK Plc [2022] EWCA Civ 318, where he acted for The Consumers’ Association Ltd as an intervening party in the successful appeal.

Appointed Silk in 2013, James has over 30 years’ experience of all aspects of corporate, insolvency, banking, partnership, financial services and general commercial law.

James’ work is predominantly contentious dealing with all forms of corporate disputes, including arbitration, appellate work and overseas disputes (he has rights of audience in overseas jurisdictions). He is particularly sought out for his expertise in joint venture and shareholder disputes, contentious insolvency matters, claims against directors, and disputes arising out of business acquisitions. He also maintains a strong corporate advisory practice including contested schemes of arrangement.

He is also a CEDR Accredited Mediator.