The Tech Disputes Conference 2024

Sam is a Partner at Cooke, Young & Keidan. Sam’s core practice is technology, banking and fraud. In technology, his experience includes crypto disputes, software licensing and development claims, and breach of warranty claims in an M&A context. His banking experience is broad and includes claims for negligent investment advice, benchmark manipulation and other market abuse, intercepted payments, guarantees, loans and derivatives. Sam also has deep and practical experience of acting on applications for injunctive relief.

Legal 500 names Sam as a Key Lawyer in Banking Litigation, where he is highlighted for fintech disputes, and Commercial Litigation (Premium) and Financial Services (Contentious). Sam “… has that sought after (and very hard to find) combination of technical skill, client care, and case management. He is an exceptional commercial disputes lawyer”.

Sam co-founded and runs the Tech Disputes Network, and spends his spare time pursuing amateur interests in distance running and psychology.

Sam specialises in complex, high-value commercial litigation and arbitration. His practice has a particular focus on civil fraud / asset recovery, technology, energy / environment, banking, company, insolvency, and international trade. He acts as sole counsel (often against KCs) and as part of larger counsel teams.

Sam has experience of substantial litigation before the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court. He is regularly instructed (both led and unled) on interim applications such as freezing orders, search orders, prohibitory injunctions and Norwich Pharmacal/Bankers Trust relief. He acts in international arbitrations under a variety of rules (LCIA, ICC, SCC, LMAA etc.) as well as in English court proceedings in aid of arbitral proceedings and concerning the enforcement of arbitration award (frequently for, or against, sovereign states). He has a particularly strong civil fraud practice, having acted in several multibillion dollar fraud claims over the last few years.

Sam acted as a co-opted member of the Service Sub-Committee of the Civil Procedure Rules Committee and worked on the October 2022 revisions to the gateways for service out of the jurisdiction. He is a founding member of both ‘ThoughtLeaders4 FIRE Starters’ (an industry group for fraud, insolvency and asset recovery practitioners) and ‘CFAAR’ (the first global network for professionals working in the crypto-fraud field), and sits on the editorial committee of the ‘Tech Disputes Network’.

Matthew is regarded as one of the most sought-after commercial silks at the bar for technology disputes, with a focus on IT, IP, telecoms and related disputes (including software copyright, licensing, cyber risk, cloud, blockchain and fintech, AI and the internet). This is demonstrated in the directories, where he is ranked as a star individual for IT and is described as having “a great understanding of a lot of IT matters, and he’s very sharp and astute legally as well.” “He combines his knowledge of the law with a deep understanding of software issues. He’s brilliant with clients and his pleadings are accurate and well drafted” (Chambers & Partners 2022 – IT).

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.

Bill Thompson is a well-known technology journalist and advisor to arts and cultural organisations on matters related to digital technologies. He has been working in, on and around the Internet since 1984, thinking, writing and speaking about the ways digital technologies are changing our world and how the network can be a force for good. From January 2001 to April 2023 he was the regular studio expert on the BBC World Service technology programme Digital Planet (aka Go Digital and Click). He is an Adjunct Professor at Southampton University and member of the board of the Web Science Trust. Bill leads Public Value Research in BBC Research & Development, where he is a Principal Research Engineer in the Advisory Team. He is also the editor and CTO of the website w4mp.org, offering advice and support to staff working for MPs.

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 and for Liz Coll in collective proceedings against Google. 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 in relation to the Amazon/iRobot matter before the European Commission.

Andrew Spink KC is a highly respected advocate with 38 years’ experience at the Bar and over 20 years as a successful silk (QC/KC). He is a recent Chair of the Commercial Bar Association of England and Wales, was one of the Heads of Outer Temple Chambers for 9 years until October 2022 and is a part-time judge who has sat as a Deputy High Court Judge in the King’s Bench and Chancery Divisions of the English High Court and is a Justice of the Astana International Financial Centre Court in Kazakhstan. He also sits as an arbitrator.

Andrew has an extensive business law practice, specialising particularly in disputes or advisory work relating to the interpretation or breach of most types of commercial contract and trust deed, claims for breach of fiduciary duty, freezing injunctions & asset recovery, cross-jurisdictional issues, claims for damages & other relief in the context of pensions & other commercial trusts, banking & financial services, fintech & a wide range of other commercial contracts, professional negligence claims and company law and insolvency issues. Andrew was nominated as Legal 500 technology, data & crypto Silk of the Year 2023 (in which OTC also won “set of the year“).

As well as appearing as a leading advocate, he is highly sought after for the provision of expert technical and strategic advice to clients early in proposed litigation or arbitration and in non-contentious situations (such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate insolvency or regulatory issues) in all of the above areas.

Charlie is an international arbitration lawyer specialising in energy and technology disputes. He helps clients to resolve complex international disputes across a range of jurisdictions.

Lizzie Williams is a dispute resolution lawyer who advises on a broad range of corporate, commercial and individual disputes, with a focus on disputes in the technology, media and entertainment sectors.

Lizzie is a solicitor advocate and has extensive experience of litigation and arbitration from the pre-action stage to trial, including urgent injunctions, appeals, group litigation, mediation and settlement negotiations.

Lizzie has particular expertise in disputes involving technology companies or relating to innovative technologies or digital transformation, including:

• Contractual disputes for technology-focused businesses, from start-ups to large corporations
• Advising on the management, resuscitation and resetting of difficult digital transformation projects
• Disputes involving traditional IT contracts (e.g. hardware, software development, outsourcing, licensing)
• Disputes involving technology procurement (including under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015)
• Disputes involving blockchain technology (e.g. NFTs, cryptocurrency, smart contracts)
• Disputes involving the misappropriation and tracing of stolen digital assets
• Disputes involving investments in technology companies
• Disputes involving AI or other emerging technologies

Richard Kerr is a senior director in the Data Insights and Forensics practice, based in the London office. He is an expert independent advisor specializing in the rectification and avoidance of problematic technology, outsourcing and transformational-change implementations. Richard has over 30 years of experience in areas spanning local and central government, police, healthcare, hospitality, charities and third sector, telecommunications, manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, financial services, private finance initiative, education, joint ventures and strategic partnerships.

Lucy is a commercial barrister with a particular emphasis on product liability, property damage, property and related areas.

A substantial part of Lucy’s practice concerns group actions or other multi-party litigation. She has extensive experience in the procedure, tactics and reputational issues such cases raise, and is a contributor to the leading practitioner text, Hodge on Multi-Party Actions (2nd ed) (OUP, forthcoming 2022).

Lucy is particularly well known for her expertise in matters with a technology element. She has co-authored or contributed to The Law of Artificial Intelligence (1st ed) (Sweet & Maxwell; 2020), The Law and Autonomous Vehicles (1st ed) (Routledge; 2019), and An Introduction to Technology Law (1st ed) (Lexis Nexis; 2018). In 2021, Lucy co-authored the Bar Council response to the Law Commission’s third consultation paper on automated vehicle law. She is on the Consulting Editorial Board for Lexis Nexis Technology, Media and Telecoms.

Rebecca is a highly sought after junior with a broad commercial practice, with particular advocacy and advisory experience in the following areas:

• Technology & Intellectual Property
• Data Protection & Cyber Security
• Banking, Financial Services & FinTech
• General Commercial Disputes
• Energy & Construction
• Professional Negligence

Rebecca is ranked by Legal 500 as a “Rising Star” in IT & Telecoms and Financial Services Regulation. She is described as “excellent: efficient, detailed and commercial”. Rebecca was shortlisted as Technology, Data and Crypto junior of the year in the Legal 500 2023 Awards.

Rebecca has been called to the Bar of England and Wales (2017) and to the Bar of Ireland (2019).

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.

Robert's practice covers a great range of subject matters including medical devices, automotive technologies and electro-mechanical inventions. Robert also leads the litigation practice at Williams Powell.

He focuses on electronics related inventions as well as medical devices and inventions in motor vehicle and physics fields. Much of this is for direct applicants, which involves substantial amounts of original patent application drafting work and prosecution through Patent Offices around the world. His litigation experience and practice is also extensive, with over 100 completed opposition and opposition appeal proceedings at the European Patent Office, as well as a significant number of patent and designs actions in the UK, in other European jurisdictions and also further afield, including in the United States and China.

He is active within the IP pro-bono litigation scheme, both managing cases within the scheme and also acting for parties that could not otherwise afford to litigate their IP rights or defend themselves.

Robert is a regular visitor to R&D departments for a number of clients, working closely with inventors to follow their projects and provide guidance and invention disclosure write-ups to their management. He also sits on an assessment panel for an NHS trust's Enterprise department, guiding investment and development decisions. Robert is a former Visiting Fellow of Cranfield University for services in tutoring on Intellectual Property rights.

Robert is the author of the book "European Patent Decisions" which is a staple reference work, selling in 25 countries throughout the world.

Clara-Ann’s practice focuses on TMT and outsourcing, privacy and data protection, including audits and GDPR compliance, internal investigations, e-discovery, cloud computing and compliance. In addition to her advisory and transactional expertise, Clara-Ann also represents her clients in court proceedings, mediation and arbitration.

I am part of a team of specialist lawyers that supports our clients and colleagues by keeping them up to date with the latest UK and EU intellectual property legal and industry developments and their implications. 

I hold a PhD and an LLM in Intellectual Property Law. I am qualified as an Australian lawyer but have spent most of my career working in the UK and Europe. Prior to joining Lewis Silkin in 2022 I spent a decade in academia, where I taught and researched intellectual property law, privacy and internet regulation at universities in Australia and the United Kingdom. 

Chloë Bell is a highly sought after junior with a diverse commercial litigation and arbitration practice. Her skills have been ranked in legal directories from a very early stage of her practice.

Chloë is ranked as a Band 1 leading practitioner in digital assets and smart contracts. She is a renowned junior and is involved in some of the most seminal and cutting-edge cases in the area. Her cases have involved crypto-fraud and asset tracing, the regulation of cryptoassets and jurisdictional challenges presented by litigation involving cryptoassets and crypto exchanges.

Chloë is also regularly instructed by financial regulators. Recently she has been instructed by Lloyd’s of London (the regulator of the insurance market) as junior counsel to Farhaz Khan KC in ground-breaking cases involving non-financial misconduct (Atrium Underwriters Limited). She has also instructed in cases for private clients involving alleged breaches of the FCA’s general prohibition, breach of the rules on financial promotions and restitution orders under FSMA.

Chloë has significant advocacy experience for a commercial junior. She regularly appears unled in complex applications in the High Court including for freezing injunctions, disclosure orders, permission to serve out of the jurisdiction and jurisdiction challenges.

Chloë also has a busy civil fraud and arbitration practice. A number of Chloë’s cases involve allegations of misrepresentation, deceit and constructive trust. She has been instructed unled in an DIFC-LCIA arbitration and will appear in the High Court in July 2023 to challenge the recognition of an arbitration award on public policy grounds under section 103 of the Arbitration Act 1996.

Elizabeth regularly represents high-net-worth individuals and SME clients in financial services, banking and technology related disputes, and has experience in advising clients subject to regulatory investigations. She also has a wide advisory practice relating to all aspects of the law and regulation of cryptoassets, regularly advising clients on the application of UK regulatory requirements to particular cryptofinance products and services, and representing crypto-businesses who are subject to FCA enquiries in this field.

Elizabeth also has a particular interest in civil fraud disputes. She has expertise in obtaining all manner of urgent injunctive relief, including freezing orders, disclosure orders, passport orders and search orders. She is interested in matters relating to cybercrime, and is experienced in litigation relating to cryptoassets. She acts for the victims of major cryptocurrency thefts and has successfully obtained disclosure orders against crypto-currency exchanges to aid in the tracing and recovery of stolen assets. She has also advised respondent exchanges.

Darragh is a much sought-after commercial barrister combining approachability with sensible, pragmatic advice and effective advocacy. 

He has a busy commercial litigation practice with specific emphasis upon insolvency and asset recovery, civil fraud, contractual disputes and company law.

Darragh is at the forefront of developing the law in respect of cryptoassets. In this area, he has been consistently ranked in Band 1 of Chambers UK bar directory and Tier 1 of the Legal 500 Bar directory. He has appeared in many significant cases in this area, including AA v Persons Unknown [2019] EWHC 3556 (Comm), [2020] 4 W.L.R. 35, [2020] 2 All E.R. (Comm) 704 where the Commercial Court held that digital assets such as Bitcoin could constitute property for the purposes of English law.

He is frequently instructed in the Business and Property Courts in respect of complex claims concerning transactions at undervalue, breaches of directors’ duties and shareholder disputes.

Prior to joining the Bar,  Darragh worked for Goldman Sachs in London where he was involved in benchmark debt and equity capital markets transactions. His background brings particular understanding of financial businesses and products.

Christopher Leung is a Senior Associate in Fieldfisher's IP team.  His experience spans a broad range of IP rights including copyright, database rights, designs, patents & SPCs, and trade marks.

Christopher has a particular interest in litigation in the AI, technology and life sciences fields, and has represented clients in proceedings before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, High Court (including the Patents Court), Court of Appeal, Supreme Court and Court of Justice of the European Union.

Christopher has been involved in various high-profile soft IP cases across a range of sectors, including Getty Images v Stability AI (generative AI models), SkyKick v Sky (software), Genius Sports v Soft Construct (sports betting data), 77m v Ordnance Survey (mapping) and Karen Millen v Karen Millen Fashions (fashion).  He has also been involved in patent and SPC cases including ICON v Peloton (software for sports equipment), Master Data Center v The Comptroller General of Patents (pharmaceuticals) and Sandoz v G.D. Searle (pharmaceuticals).  He also advises clients on UK Intellectual Property Office actions and the management of their global trade mark portfolios.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Christopher studied chemistry at Imperial College London.  In 2017, he obtained a Postgraduate Diploma in Intellectual Property Law and Practice from the University of Oxford.

Christopher is listed as a “Rising Star” for patents in the 2024 edition of the Legal 500, and is also recommended for trade marks, copyright and designs.

Rosie Burbidge is an English qualified lawyer specialising in intellectual property (IP). Rosie helps clients to obtain and enforce their IP rights, particularly trade marks, copyright and designs.

Whether it is managing a trade mark portfolio or suing an infringer, Rosie will identify the optimum strategy to suit her client’s needs, timeline and appetite for risk. She gives clear, practical and pragmatic advice.

Rosie has experience advising on a breadth of IP matters relating to patents, confidentiality, malicious falsehood, RCDs, registered designs, licensing, brand protection, IP enforcement, litigation and branding.

Rosie has written an award-winning book on European Fashion Law and was named a trailblazer among WIPR’s Influential Women in IP 2019, one of only 20 global rising stars. She is also currently recognised by both the Legal 500 and Chambers directories.

Josephine specialises in all areas of commercial law and litigation. She has a unique skill-set combining:

depth of legal knowledge (notably in competition law, intellectual property law, shipping law and private international law);

• strong technical understanding based on her scientific background (BA in Physical Natural Sciences and MSci in Chemistry);
• extensive and diverse litigation (including urgent injunction work) and arbitration experience.

Josephine has strong advocacy experience covering both trial and interlocutory work. She has appeared as sole counsel in the Court of Appeal, the High Court (Commercial Court, Chancery Division and Queen’s Bench Division) and in international arbitrations and appeals from arbitration.  Her trial experience includes cross-examination on fraud allegations and of financial and engineering experts.

Josephine has notable expertise in relation to the conflicts of laws and injunctions (anti-suit, freezing and relating to confidential information) as well as the commonly associated contempt proceedings.

Her work covers a range of sectors including IP, pharmaceuticals, science, technology and IT, distribution, shipping, commodities, shipbuilding, and energy. Josephine is recognised by the legal directories for commercial litigation, shipping and commodities work.

Josephine’s cases involve sophisticated technical matters, where clients benefit from her scientific background (BA in Physical Natural Sciences and MSci in Chemistry) and her postgraduate qualifications in competition and intellectual property law.

Nicola is a commercial litigator with nearly 20 years’ experience, specialising in complex commercial and cross-jurisdictional disputes, particularly fraud and breach of trust claims. She is highly experienced in executing and advising on worldwide freezing orders and other forms of interim relief.

Nicola practised as a barrister for ten years before joining a leading boutique litigation firm, working on some of the most high-profile cases in the London courts and internationally over the past decade.

She is also called to the Bar in The Bahamas and has advised in relation to Bahamian law.

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.

Nick Ellison is a senior director in the Data Insights and Forensics practice, based in London. Nick leverages more than 14 years of IT technology consultancy and software development experience. He has assisted clients with web and software development projects, disputed delivery of projects, fitness for purpose assessments, IT security controls, digital forensics and cyber risk in the travel, manufacturing, wholesale and distribution, financial services, charities/third sector and hospitality sectors.

Clinton Smith (CIO), is an accomplished developer with over 15 years’ experience designing, developing and maintaining robust technical solutions and workflows to support collective actions – including development of case management applications, information gathering web interfaces, sophisticated quantum calculation programs and document management/review tools.

In addition to providing litigation support services to law firms, Clinton has worked with advertising and marketing executives handling high-through-put applications delivering location-based advertising and reporting.  Clinton has also worked with corporate clients and their lawyers analysing extensive, fragmented data sets from various sources in support of multi-party actions.

As a Microsoft Certified Professional, he brings extensive expertise in crafting technical solutions and case management databases to facilitate mass claim administration in the UK and Europe. With more than five years of specialised cloud computing experience, he excels in Microsoft's Azure Platform, particularly focusing on data protection and security.

His combined experience in both sectors is invaluable in designing notice and administration programs that are accessible to class members and drive participation.

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.