FIRE Starters in London

Tamlyn is a founding Partner of Edmonds Marshall McMahon. Tamlyn specialises in serious fraud, cyber-crime, asset recovery, international fraud, corruption and intellectual property crime. She is typically instructed by corporates, HNW victims of fraud, NGO’s, those involved in the investigation of national/international fraud and luxury brands.

Tamlyn was called to the Bar in 2000 and is a highly experienced prosecutor.Prior to founding Edmonds Marshall McMahon, Tamlyn headed up the Department of Health, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) specialist team of prosecutors, a role in which she gained an impressive reputation. Tamlyn was the lead lawyer in the largest-ever counterfeit medicines case prosecuted by the Department of Health, R v Gillespie and others (2011) concerning the importation of counterfeit, prescription only, life-saving medicines which eventually reached the legitimate supply chain within the UK, leading to a rare Class 1 recall by the MHRA.

Tamlyn has significant experience in restraint and confiscation, having dealt with a number of cases over the years including the largest ever confiscation order (£21 million) ever to be awarded in a private prosecution, R v Somaia (2016) (http://www.emmlegal.com/news/emm-secures-confiscation-order/). She also has experience in the area of extradition, both within and outside the EU.

Deborah is a commercial litigator with particular expertise in restructuring and insolvency law and financial services disputes. She has experience acting on complex and high-value matters, for insolvency practitioners, directors, debtors and creditors across a range of sectors and in relation to both domestic and cross border disputes and insolvencies.

Deborah holds Bachelor’s degrees in both Law and Psychology from the University of Otago, New Zealand and is admitted to practise as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court in New Zealand. Since qualifying, Deborah has practised at one of New Zealand’s largest corporate law firms, at a specialist litigation firm in London, and at Eversheds Sutherland where she was an associate in the restructuring team working on insolvency matters with a contentious element. She joined Enyo Law in May 2021.

Yves Klein’s main activity is litigating and coordinating transnational asset recovery proceedings on behalf of victims of economic crimes or parties seeking to enforce their claims against assets concealed in Switzerland or abroad. He develops strategies for the international search and recovery of assets, coordinates cross-border proceedings and represents his clients, including individuals, companies, foreign governments, and liquidators of foreign insolvencies, before civil, criminal and bankruptcy courts, in order to recover crime proceeds and obtain damages, notably from facilitators (banks, financial companies, fiduciaries, etc.).

Charlotte advises on complex, high-value litigation with both domestic and international elements.

She has experience of a broad range of commercial disputes but with particular expertise in the fields of civil fraud, asset tracing, freezing and recovery and shareholder disputes. Whilst Charlotte is an experienced trial lawyer she also has experience in the resolution of disputes by way of arbitration and mediation.

Annabel specialises in international dispute resolution, with experience in complex cross-border litigation and arbitration. She focuses on fraud and insolvency matters, her skills in which have been developed in HFW's London and Melbourne offices. She has experience in off-shore jurisdictions, including the BVI and Isle of Man.

Annabel also acts in an advisory capacity on insolvency matters, for example on directors' duties, company law, enforcement of debt/security, commercial contracts and asset realisation.

Recent work includes:

• Unicorn Worldwide Holdings Limited and others v Cochrane and another: acting for joint liquidators of various related companies. Advising on asset realisations and contentious matters. Recently made successful application for worldwide proprietary and freezing relief.
• Gorbunova v Berezovsky and others: acting for trustees in bankruptcy of Boris Berezovsky's insolvent estate. Recently made successful application for reverse summary judgment.

Ruzin is an associate in the litigation and arbitration team.

Ruzin is a dual-qualified associate (Turkey and England & Wales) and having previously practised in Paris and Istanbul, she has particular expertise in international arbitration, commercial litigation and both private and public international law.

In her international arbitration practice, Ruzin represents individuals, companies, States and State-owned entities in international disputes conducted under LCIA, ICC, DIAC, SCC, UNCITRAL and ICSID rules across a variety of sectors, including construction, energy, infrastructure, technology, pharmaceuticals and textiles. Ruzin also advises States on public international law matters such as the application of treaties, dispute resolution issues relating to international trade and investment, human rights and sovereign immunity.

In her commercial litigation practice, Ruzin advises both individuals and companies before the English High Court in complex shareholder disputes, disputes involving family businesses, debt collection and insolvency issues and litigation ancillary to arbitration proceedings including international enforcement of awards. Ruzin has appeared before the Turkish courts as an advocate in a range of commercial disputes and enforcement actions.

Lochy leads on sales and marketing activities as well as managing the FinLegal product.

He joins from a financial services background, having worked various positions at Close Brothers bank, before specialising in litigation funding with Novitas.

I have over 14 years’ experience working in our insolvency and asset recovery team specialising in global asset tracing, recovery and enforcement.

I have a specific focus on assisting beneficiaries, trustees and representatives in matrimonial, family, trust and probate disputes as part of our contentious estates and family disputes specialism with the support of my colleagues in the corporate intelligence, forensic, and valuation teams.

I lead personal and corporate appointments in this field and work closely with solicitors to identify, safeguard, value and recover assets across numerous jurisdictions on cross border recoveries.

I lived in the British Virgin Islands for two years where I led several high-profile feeder funds in liquidation, which enabled me to obtain experience in understanding and unwinding complex corporate and trust structures in offshore jurisdictions.

Mary is a dispute resolution partner at Kingsley Napley.  She is a commercial litigator with a specialism in civil fraud and asset tracing.  She acts for individuals, companies, insolvency practitioners and other law firms. Mary can supervise your search order, loves a freezing injunction and in recent years has developed expertise in cases involving bribery.  People say nice things about her in the directories including one comment which compared her to a dog.  Mary really needs a new photo as she has much more grey hair now.

Geoff Carton-Kelly is a partner and Licensed Insolvency Practitioner at FRP  in London. He has more than 35 years’ experience, and has been taking appointments since 1998. More recently his primary focus has been on contentious insolvency, international recovery projects, real estate, and charities. He advises boards and stakeholders, claimants, and government agencies on a range of asset tracing and recovery solutions including issuing proceedings against third parties in multiple jurisdictions.

She is Head of Insolvency and Litigation at Moon Beever running a substantial team of insolvency and litigation specialists.

She undertakes most areas of personal and corporate insolvency, specialising in contentious insolvency especially cases involving fraud, as well as provisional liquidations and injunctive work generally. She is a long serving member of the London Solicitors’ Litigation Association Panel of Supervising Solicitors with extensive experience of executing and supervising search orders and bankruptcy warrants.

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’.

I joined Grant Thornton in 2008 and head up the firm's proceeds of crime team, specialising in the management and tracing and recovery of assets. I regularly take appointments as Court Appointed Receiver in criminal and non-criminal matters as well as contentious insolvency appointments.

I have over 25 years of experience in insolvency and have specialised in contentious insolvency and the proceeds of crime for 15 years. Recent experience including a hostile appointment as liquidator in a multimillion pound tax fraud and numerous 'boiler room' frauds ranging from premier wine to property investments in Brazil.

Ben Wells is a Solicitor Advocate whose practice is centred on dispute resolution. He regularly represents clients in: (i) arbitral proceedings conducted under the auspices of leading arbitration institutions; and (ii) litigation in the English courts. He also sits as an arbitrator where all his cases have a cross-border element.

Issues that he resolves relate to commercial contracts, trading, investments, banking, joint ventures, company and shareholder disputes, cross-border insolvency, international civil fraud and enforcement.

Ben has a particular focus on sanctions, asset-tracing, contentious trusts and matrimonial disputes.

Ben is an executive committee member of the British-Kazakh Law Association, holds rights of audience at the Astana International Finance Centre and is listed as an international arbitrator.

Ben writes articles which are published internationally as well as having featured in articles for the Law Society of England and Wales. Ben is a frequent speaker at conferences.

Michael Redman is a Managing Director and co-leads Burford’s global corporate intelligence, asset tracing and enforcement business.

As the only legal finance provider with an in-house global asset recovery business, Burford can combine its capital and investment expertise alongside top-level global judgment enforcement. Mr. Redman is a leading authority on complex asset recovery with well over a decade of industry experience. He is fluent in Russian.

Mr. Redman began his career in the Lloyd’s of London political and credit risk insurance market and also spent time in the west African diamond industry. He has worked in complex asset recovery and enforcement for well over a decade, holding senior positions in both Moscow and London before co-founding a leading asset recovery advisory boutique. Mr. Redman has worked on many commercial and sovereign enforcement actions and has overseen asset recovery investments arising from distressed situations and insolvencies.

Mr. Redman earned degrees from University College, London and Cambridge and was called to the Bar of England & Wales.

Emma has extensive expertise in civil fraud litigation, in particular obtaining and defending worldwide freezing injunctions. As a result of her work on behalf of the Department of Health, Emma has experience in litigating private damages actions in competition cases alleging abuse of dominant position and entry into anti-competitive arrangements. In the competition litigation practice area, Legal 500 described Emma as “very sharp”.

Emma’s work often involves cross-border or international elements: amongst other things Emma was part of the team that defended the former CEO of what was Nigeria’s fourth largest bank, conducting 2 weeks of the trial of the claim in Lagos. Emma has also assisted in the taking of evidence from witnesses in Nigeria, made representations on behalf of clients at the United Nations In New York and drafted evidence in support of an anti-suit injunction seeking to prevent the continuation of a claim filed in Israel.

Luke co-founded Keidan Harrison LLP in May 2020, having formerly led a substantial and esteemed team at a mid-sized firm.

He is recognised by the leading legal directories as a “very commercial litigator with a real eye for detail” and “especially adept at insolvency-related commercial disputes” (Chambers 2019).

Luke’s practice covers a broad spectrum of commercial disputes, but he has particular expertise in contentious insolvency and restructuring advisory, fraud and asset recovery, banking and financial services, company and partnership, professional negligence claims and technology disputes. He also has substantial expertise in media, data protection and defamation claims. Luke has acted for large corporates as well as for small- to medium-sized enterprises and office holders (directors, trustees and insolvency practitioners). He works across all sectors, but has particular experience in recruitment, litigation funding, alternative lending, technology, construction and private equity.

Jane Colston's practice focuses on complex and high-value commercial banking, contract and tort disputes as well as company, shareholders and partnership disputes.

Jane has acted in numerous complex fraud cases and has extensive experience of forensic investigations, most of which have involved working with teams of investigators and accountants, and coordinating lawyers in multiple jurisdictions to trace and freeze assets. She has managed numerous cases involving freezing, search, disclosure, gagging and delivery up injunctions as well as breach of confidence claims. 

James has particular expertise acting for Claimants in tax mis-selling claims, group actions and cases involving commercial/corporate fraud.  He has a broad commercial litigation background having qualified and practised as a barrister for seven years at the start of his career, and now works alongside former HMRC solicitors and tax inspectors as part of Stewarts’ multi-disciplinary approach to tax disputes.

He has recently acted for large groups of investors in several high profile investment schemes against promoters, banks and advisers, including Eclipse, Scotts Atlantic Distributors, Ingenious and Scion, which are among the largest group actions currently proceeding through the courts.

Julia Mahoney leads the Litigation Risk Management team within the Restructuring and Resolution division at Howden Insurance Brokers.   She’s a qualified solicitor with over 25 years insurance industry experience. Julia specialises in litigation risk management planning, using her legal expertise to help clients mitigate against adverse costs and solve funding challenges.

Ben Davies is a partner in the civil litigation team.  He works principally on high value, complex fraud claims in the Commercial Court, which often involve ancillary proceedings in other jurisdictions. He has particular experience in the obtaining, policing and discharging of freezing orders.

Ben is ranked as a leading civil fraud lawyer in the current edition of the Chambers & Partners guide to the UK legal profession, which describes him as “brilliant” and “very knowledgeable about freezing orders”. He is also recommended as an asset recovery specialist by Who’s Who Legal, which describes him as “a skilled civil litigator who sources consider ‘a real star’ and ‘a measured, balanced and fair opponent’”. Ben is a solicitor-advocate and holds rights of audience in both the civil and criminal higher courts

Daniel is a Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution team advising on a broad range of complex and high value commercial litigation matters with a focus on civil fraud, contentious insolvency and asset recovery matters.

He is particularly interested in the crossover between insolvency and civil fraud and utilising the powers in each jurisdiction to maximise recoveries for clients.

Oli is a Managing Associate in the Fraud Group. His work focuses on complex, high value, cross-border disputes. 

He specialises in international asset tracing claims: using injunctions to locate, freeze and recover assets worldwide. Oli’s cases frequently involve allegations of fraud and dishonesty against opponents who have dissipated funds, mislead creditors, falsified records or unlawfully concealed property.

He works closely with specialist local counsel around the world, including in the International Fraud Group, to coordinate litigation strategy and manage disputes across multiple jurisdictions.

Oli’s clients include judgement creditors and banks enforcing non-performing loans. He acts for HNW families and listed companies, as well as other victims of fraud and cyber-crime. He has a wealth of experience with high profile claims, especially those with a complex political dimension.

Piers is a commercial litigator with over 10 years’ experience of complex and high-profile disputes.

Piers has a broad commercial practice with particular expertise in advising on  financial services and insolvency disputes.  

Piers joined Henderson & Jones in September 2019 from Freshfields where Piers spent seven years as a senior associate in the dispute resolution team.  During his time at Freshfields, Piers spent six months on secondment to the Litigation and Regulatory Enforcement team at HSBC. Prior to joining Freshfields, Piers spent five years at Mayer Brown.

Piers is admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. He has a law degree from the University of Birmingham.

Matthew has more than seven years’ experience supporting state-investor disputes, recovery and enforcement strategies, and bespoke investigations in the Former Soviet Union, Europe, and the United States.

His most recent case involved uncovering details of backroom deals and secret lobbying efforts attached to a clandestine campaign to acquire a high-value asset in the natural resources sector. He has also recently investigated a counterparty involved in manipulating government contracts by leveraging relationships with senior executives in a large state-owned corporation.

Prior to joining Raedas, Matthew was an Associate Director at S-RM, leading the Russia/CIS team in London. He previously spent four years at KPMG in Moscow and London during which he was the lead analyst on a multi-billion-pound receivership investigation to successfully recover stolen funds based in offshore bank accounts, real estate, and luxury goods.

Syed's great depth of experience in serious fraud, financial crime and multi-jurisdictional investigations has earmarked him as a robust solicitor. He is proficient in both civil and criminal cases, where there is an allegation of corporate wrongdoing. Syed has substantial experience in advising corporate entities and their directors and officers in relation to investigations conducted by all the major enforcement agencies. He has also built an impressive reputation in the field of asset-tracing and recovery, with a respected track record regarding international disputes where urgent relief is required involving freezing orders and recovering misappropriated assets.

Syed is recognised for his sector-leading, pioneering cryptocurrency work, having secured a number of significant legal firsts when representing institutions and individuals. His specialist expertise in civil recovery proceedings under Part 5 of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) has also led to him recording notable successes for clients in national and international cases.

Syed has a dynamic practice involving complex sanctions issues and related litigation. He has notable cases in this area, including representation of public limited companies (PLC’s) trading on the London Stock Exchange in relation to international sanctions on Russia, public joint-stock companies (PJSC’s) trading on the Moscow Stock Exchange regarding UK and EU sanctions on Russia and a major Russian power engineering company headquartered in St Petersburg relating to international sanctions advice. Syed regularly prepares licence applications to release frozen funds or economic resources for designated persons and entities. He is also adept at challenging sanctions designations.

He is known for his abilities in multijurisdictional, worldwide asset recovery cases – including obtaining and defending the full range of injunctions - high-stakes commercial and financial disputes and cross-border investigations involving attacks on clients’ interests by numerous governments or agencies. His skill in defending high-profile corruption, fraud and regulatory allegations and his ability to negotiate with investigators have ensured his clients receive the strongest representation.

The Chambers UK Guide regularly ranks Syed as an elite solicitor. It has called him “a very technically gifted lawyer’’ and has said he “gets on top of all the facts in complex cases’’. Chambers has described him as “very committed to the work he does’’ and said he “leaves no stone unturned and has a passion for what he does’’. It has repeatedly highlighted his expertise in POCA work and asset recovery proceedings. The 2023 edition of Chambers praises his ability to “forge ground in fast-developing areas’’ and his cryptocurrency case skills.

Syed’s clients include corporates and their directors, financial institutions, hedge funds, high net worth individuals and international private clients around the world. Syed has a particular interest in litigation arising from mergers and acquisitions, derivatives and securities offerings (IPO’s, SPAC IPO’s and debt offerings) and works with private equity funds and private sponsors for public companies.

He is adept at advising corporate entities and their directors and officers on their regulatory and compliance obligations and in investigations conducted by agencies such as the Serious Fraud Office, Financial Conduct Authority, National Crime Agency and HM Revenue & Customs. His ability to assess complex issues, establish the facts and analyse challenging sets of circumstances have seen him excel on internal investigations carried out for Rahman Ravelli’s corporate clients.

Syed routinely advises clients in FCA investigations into alleged market abuse, breaches of regulated activities and unauthorised trading. He is sought by asset management firms and chief investment officers at hedge funds facing enforcement proceedings and financial services litigation.

The Legal 500 has called Syed “a creative thinker’’, “a master of detail’’ and someone who “entirely devotes himself to his cases’’. It has drawn attention to the wide variety of global corporate wrongdoing and multi-jurisdictional bribery and corruption investigations he has worked on. It has praised his “incredible depth of experience when it comes to fraud matters, and in particular those with an international element or where the National Crime Agency are involved.’’ The 2023 edition calls him “one of the most well-respected names’’ in the legal world and emphasises his abilities in emerging areas such as SPACs and cryptocurrency fraud.

Syed is also in demand to work on cases where there is the possibility of securing a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) for clients. The Legal 500 has noted Rahman Ravelli’s expertise in advising on DPAs and recognised that Syed “goes the extra mile to get the best results for his clients in leading on a multi-jurisdictional matter concerning this area”.

His recent work has involved global energy sector corruption allegations, major financial services cases, fintech companies and many of the most complex worldwide asset recovery cases.

Simon is a Jersey advocate and specialises in high-value commercial and trust litigation, enforcement and asset tracing, and cross-border insolvency matters. He has been praised for his strong technical skills, attention to detail and for having a 'real world' approach to the law, and is regularly instructed by large onshore firms in complex cross-jurisdictional matters with a Jersey element. Simon has been involved in some of the Island's largest and most complex cases, most recently in the Privy Council in the Z Trusts saga.

Mark is a leading commercial disputes lawyer specialising in complex and commercially sensitive disputes involving fraud. Mark leads the Investment Fraud and Mis-selling team at Keller Postman.

Mark joined Keller Postman in 2021 from another international law firm where he led the Fraud and Investigations practice. His expertise is centred on bringing claims based on allegations of fraud both in the UK and beyond. Mark has significant experience of tracing and recovering the proceeds of fraud on behalf of claimants. He regularly acts in cases involving emergency injunctive relief such as freezing injunctions and search and seizure orders. Much of Mark’s work has an international element, and Mark is used to co-ordinating litigation in a number of different jurisdictions.

Mark has a deep understanding and extensive experience in acting in complex multi-claimant and multi-jurisdictional disputes as well as considerable experience of litigation solutions such as litigation funding and after the event (ATE) insurance.

Mark has been ranked in Chambers & Partners since 2006. The publication has described him as “a smart litigator who thinks strategically” with reference to his deep expertise on fraud claims which often require extensive multi-jurisdictional coordination.