Tech on FIRE

Professor Green was appointed as Law Commissioner for Commercial and Common law on 01 January 2020. She was previously Professor of Private Law at the University of Bristol.  Prior to that, she was Professor of the Law of Obligations at the University of Oxford, having been a lecturer at the University of Birmingham from 2001 – 2010.  Before embarking on her academic career, she was a software consultant at Accenture.  Professor Green has written books and articles on a variety of issues including virtual currencies, blockchain issues surrounding intermediated securities, smart contracts, sale of goods law as applicable to digitised assets, negligence and wage theft.

Steven Gee QC is a commercial litigator with nearly forty years’ experience. His practice covers a broad range of commercial litigation and arbitration including agency agreements, distribution agreements, commercial contracts, joint ventures, partnership, sale of goods, insurance, reinsurance, misrepresentation and civil fraud, shipping, shipbuilding, company law, and banking.

He has appeared as counsel in courts in Antigua, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, The British Virgin Islands, Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, Hong Kong, and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Ireland. Steven also has extensive arbitration experience which includes disputes involving: shareholders and reflective loss; joint ventures; ship building and chartering; interim remedies; agencies; distribution; commercial contracts; sale of goods; share sales; real property (specifically land and leases); banking and finance; private equities; securities; insurance and reinsurance; civil fraud and misrepresentations; fraudulent transfers of assets and tracing and partnerships. He also has experience of judicial supervision of arbitration in the commercial courts and enforcement of arbitration awards.

Paweł is a recognised Fraud Investigator both in traditional and blockchain space. He is the author of Coinfirm’s fraud investigation and AML methodologies which were proven in multiple investigations.

Pawel gained experience as a Head of Fraud Investigations in ArcelorMittal; AML Project Manager at the Royal Bank of Scotland; and Fraud Investigator at Ernst & Young. He holds the title of Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Internal Auditor.

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).

Jessica Lee is a partner in the Firm’s Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group.

Jess acts for both corporate and individual claimants and defendants in complex and high value commercial litigation with particular experience in civil fraud and asset recovery actions, company and shareholder disputes, and crypto and blockchain matters. Jess was named a Rising Star for civil fraud in The Legal 500 2023 having acted on a number of significant civil fraud matters, many of which have also involved advising on freezing, proprietary, and disclosure injunctions. Jess is also part of Brown Rudnick’s Supervising Solicitors team and having acted  on obtaining and executing multiple search, delivery up and imaging orders. Jess has also advised on significant investigations and compliance matters including investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice and the Serious Fraud Office. 

In The Legal 500 2023, Jess is described as having "a keen eye for detail, superb litigation knowledge and experience, and always the brightest attitude and mode of communication." She is also a recommended lawyer in The Legal 500 2023 in the categories of Commercial Litigation and Banking Litigation: Investment & Retail. Jess was also named as a future leader in commercial litigation by Who’s Who Legal in 2022.

Jess has a particular interest in digital asset disputes and is regularly invited to speak and write on issues including crypto fraud and blockchain disputes and regulation. 

Jess is a keen advocate for diversity and social mobility; she is part of the leadership team for the Firm’s Women’s Initiative and has mentored younger lawyers and law students, including on the IntoUniversity programme.

Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Jess was an associate at Baker & McKenzie where she also trained. Jess has undertaken a number of client secondments including a major international telecoms provider and a leading global financial institution.

Paul is a leading commercial silk in domestic and international litigation and arbitration.

A leading courtroom advocate, he has expertise in high-profile, heavy and sensitive commercial, financial and international disputes of all kinds. He appears regularly in the Commercial Court, Chancery Division, other specialised courts and the appellate jurisdictions in England; as well as in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), where he is called to the Bar.

He is regularly instructed in complex and ground-breaking international and domestic fraud and asset-tracing cases, often involving pre-emptive injunctions, disclosure, and jurisdictional and choice of law issues. He has substantial experience of litigation involving digital assets, hacking and cyber-fraud; and obtained the first Worldwide Freezing Injunction against Persons Unknown in the English Courts. Paul also has strong and overlapping practices in the fields of banking and finance, information technology and telecommunications, professional negligence, and media. He firmly believes in maintaining a broad commercial practice and regularly leads groups of barristers both within his core fields of practice and in diverse and specialist areas.

Bethan advises insurance companies and their insureds on all aspects of cyber breach response and technology litigation.

Having completed a 7 month secondment at a market leading cyber/tech insurer she has a unique insight into what clients require and is able to deliver commercially focussed advice on response strategy and legal/regulatory requirements. Bethan also has experience of advising on data protection and privacy matters generally.
 
Alongside a specialism in cyber, data breach and technology work. Bethan also has a broad range of experience in general professional negligence matters. This includes the defence of claims against construction professionals, solicitors and medical professionals with attendance at inquests. 

Valya is an experienced senior associate in the commercial dispute resolution team of international law firm Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP, with over a decade of dispute resolution experience. She assists clients on a broad range of complex, high value cross-border disputes, including commercial contract disputes, fraud, company disputes, breach of warranty claims, financial services disputes and professional negligence, with a particular focus on disputes in the technology sector.

Valya has a keen interest and specialism in the blockchain technology, and its application in relation to cryptocurrencies, NFTs and the metaverse, having recently completed the Blockchain Law, Regulation and Policy course at the Institute for the Future of the University of Nicosia, Cyprus.

Valya is an Editorial Committee member of the Tech Disputes Network.

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.

Catrin specialises in all aspects of media and information law. She has appeared in many of the leading cases in the fields of defamation, privacy, data protection, breach of confidence, and related human rights.

She acts for claimants and defendants; from private individuals to media and non-media corporates including national newspaper groups, broadcasters, global internet companies and public bodies including government. Her expertise [segues into related commercial, employment and public law and also] encompasses harassment, malicious falsehood, media reporting restrictions, contempt of court, media regulatory work and freedom of information.

Notable cases in which she has acted have included Lawrence v Associated Newspapers Ltd (‘phone hacking’ claims), Lloyd v Google LLC (for intervener in SCt), Wright v McCormack (Bitcoin cause celebre), Hijazi v Yaxley-Lennon (Tommy Robinson libel trial), Vidal-Hall v Google, the ‘plebgate’ libel case, and Naomi Campbell v MGN (foundation of privacy law).

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’.

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.

Rob Mindell is a Managing Director in the Strategic Communications practice of FTI Consulting and is based in London. Rob supports some of Europe's largest businesses and emerging technology companies, protecting and enhancing their corporate reputation. Clients have included BT, Dassault Systèmes, Dialog Semiconductor, Helios Towers, London Stock Exchange Group and Sage.

Since joining FTI Consulting, Rob has worked with clients through a number of high-profile disputes. In commercial litigation, Rob has provided public relations counsel to Nokia through multi-year patent disputes and supported WEX inc. through its landmark Material Adverse Effect case following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. On competition and merger control, Rob has successfully supported clients through processes before the CMA, DG COMP, FTC and a number of other international antitrust authorities. Rob's reputation management experience also entails working for high profile investors in the technology and digital media sectors, including Bauer Media Group, OTB Ventures and Learning Technologies Group.

Rob began his career as a strategy consultant at Accenture, working on governance projects for international clients and supporting due diligence for M&A transactions in the TMT and healthcare sectors. Rob read Law at St Catharine's College, University of Cambridge. His degree thesis, on the topic of privacy and online social networks, can be found in the Entertainment Law Review.

Michael Cumming-Bruce joined Bench Walk Advisors as Vice President in our London office.

Michael’s background is in commercial disputes and prior to joining Bench Walk Advisors, he was a senior associate at the litigation and arbitration boutique Cooke, Young & Keidan. Before CYK he was an associate at both a leading offshore and a Magic Circle firm. Michael has considerable experience acting across the spectrum of commercial disputes, including for and with litigation funders.

Michael is co-founder of the Tech Disputes Network, a leading global networking forum for contentious technology professionals. He has authored numerous articles for national, trade, and academic publications on law and technology; has developed various software and other innovations to assist with the disputes process; and is a graduate of Oxford University

Robert is the global head of Ankura’s Asset Tracing and Corporate Intelligence business.

Ankura is a leading provider of expert services across a range of investigative, legal, regulatory and economic issues. With over 2,000 practitioners in 35 offices across 11 jurisdictions, we combine global coverage with local knowledge. The Asset Tracing and Corporate Intelligence practice spans Ankura’s US, UK and UAE offices.

Robert’s clients include banks, investment funds, multinational companies and various international Government agencies. A particular focus of the team is high-value asset recovery cases involving sovereign states and former political leaders as well as collapsed investment funds and non-performing loan portfolios.

Prior to joining Ankura, Robert lead the consultancy asset tracing team at Burford Capital, the world’s largest litigation funder. Robert began his career with eight years working for the British Intelligence Services.

He has post graduate degrees from the University of Bristol and the University of Edinburgh.

Tom’s particular specialism is employee competition and disputes involving the protection of confidential information, post-termination restrictions and team moves.  Where litigation in these disputes cannot be avoided, Tom acts for clients in High Court proceedings, including in applications for urgent injunctions to restrain unlawful competitive activity.

Tom advises on severance issues for executive and c-suite employees, ensuring that financial terms are maximised and reputational exposure is managed.

In the Employment Tribunal, Tom has successfully represented clients in relation to the entire range of claims, including discrimination and whistleblowing claims.

Tom also advises on the employment aspects of corporate transactions and outsourcing situations. He has particular experience in advising on private equity investments, and the ongoing management of investee companies.

Much of Tom’s work has a cross-border element and he has particular experience of advising overseas clients wishing to establish a market presence in the UK.

Simon is Managing Associate at ONTIER’s London office. He represents clients from a variety of industries, including blockchain and technology companies and entrepreneurs, financial institutions, telecommunications corporations, financial free zones, and ultra-high net worth individuals. He regularly advises on a broad range of high profile national and international disputes.

Simon is regularly quoted in media outlets, including FT Adviser, Fraud Intelligence and The Law Society Gazette.

In 2011, Simon was judicial assistant to Mr (now Lord) Justice Briggs, before helping to launch a US firm’s London office in 2012. In 2015, Simon drafted the legislation establishing the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) Courts where he worked alongside former Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court, Lord Hope.  Since 2019, Simon has represented Bitcoin creator Dr Craig Wright in a variety of civil and commercial matters.

I am a partner within our forensic and investigations practice, and lead our digital forensics group. Our team of expert practitioners provide computer forensic, eDiscovery, data analytics and cyber response services across the globe.

I specialise in supporting bribery, corruption, competition law infringement and complex fraud investigations. I am an expert in data governance and have led data collection exercises across the globe. My team utilise cutting edge technologies, coupled with defensible methodologies to achieve timely and cost-effective solutions across the EDRM and the investigation lifecycle.

My team lead on complex data breach response activities and consults on international cyber-attacks and defending businesses from hackers. We are often engaged to address, investigate and provide regulatory responses on the very largest data breaches made public (1 billion+ records).

I have given evidence on crypto-currency forensics, computer forensics, data breach and data record identification and recovery, data segmentation and many other areas of corporate and data governance.

Prior to joining the firm, I trained as a barrister, worked in private legal practice, acted as a regulator at the Financial Conduct Authority and led the digital forensics practice of a boutique firm.

I co-authored the new Civil Procedure Rules on document disclosure (CPR 31B) and the protocols applied in the Technology and Construction Courts. I am a regular public speaker and author on digital investigations. I’m an avid technology enthusiast and passionate about the opportunities of the digital age!

James Thoburn is the EMEA Digital Forensics and Incident Response lead for Kroll. He has more than 11 years’ experience in Digital Forensics and Incident Response covering both the public and private sectors, including UK Government and Law Enforcement. This experience has covered a wide array of incident response engagements with clients across the Fortune Global 500 from all major verticals. Common themes for James and his team are Ransomware events, Business Email compromise cases and advanced threats.
James has presented and prepared evidence as an expert in Digital Forensics in cases for the International Court of Arbitration in Switzerland, the Crown courts in the United Kingdom, the Cayman Islands Grand Court and the High Court in England and Wales.
These matters have covered arbitration disputes, Intellectual Property theft and various criminal offences.
James’ experience allows him to offer several incident response services from active Incident Response and Digital Forensics to proactive services such as Table-Top Exercises, Incident Response Plan development, First Responder training and several other enablement services.

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.

Recognised by The Legal 500 as a “rising star” “headed for the very top”, and by Who’s Who Legal as a Global Elite Thought Leader for both Asset Recovery and Commercial Litigation, Jon specialises in high-value, complex international commercial disputes with particular expertise in civil fraud, enforcement and asset recovery (including both commercial and sovereign debt), and he has obtained a number of ground-breaking orders in this regard. Chambers & Partners describes Jon as “incredibly impressive” and “an incredible tactician”, recognising him for his civil fraud work. The Legal 500 has called Jon a “bright young gun with a shrewd mind and a calm approach” and states there is “complete trust and faith in Jon’s advice and his expertise”, recognising him as a leading individual for civil fraud, a next generation partner for banking litigation, and recommending him for premium commercial litigation, international arbitration and commodities disputes. Jon has an international practice with clients including states, financial institutions, corporate clients, high-net-worth individuals and insolvency practitioners, and has acted on a number of complex and high value Russian/CIS cases.