The Crypto in Disputes Forum - 3rd Annual

Stephen Palley is a litigation partner and co-chair of Brown Rudnick’s Digital Commerce group. Stephen is a seasoned litigator with over 20 years of extensive courtroom experience litigating and trying complex commercial matters. He has deep technical and U.S. regulatory knowledge, particularly in the digital asset space, and assists clients working on the frontiers of technology, including on deal work for blockchain and other technology enterprises. He is also a fellow of the American College of Coverage Lawyers, and uses his insurance knowledge and experience to advise clients on insurance coverage matters related to technology and other risks. Stephen has written extensively and been quoted widely on legal issues arising from the use of Blockchain technology, with appearances in both print and television media. He is an editor of the International Journal of Blockchain Law (IJBL), a law journal launched in November 2021 to help non-legal communities better understand Blockchain applications and digital assets. Before joining Brown Rudnick, Stephen founded his prior law firm’s Technology, Media and Distributed Systems Practice Group in 2017, which he also chaired. He serves as an outside general counsel to technology and media startups and as a trusted advisor to established businesses across a range of industries, with a focus on securities and financial regulatory law.

Carmel King is a Director in Grant Thornton UK’s Insolvency and Asset Recovery team, specialising in investigations, asset tracing and recovery actions for clients who have suffered a financial loss as a result of fraud. Carmel has a particular interest in cryptoasset fraud investigation and recovery strategies, and leads this practice area for the team. The practice combines blockchain analytics with corporate intelligence and digital forensic techniques to conduct investigations, alongside insolvency proceedings, court-appointed receiverships, other civil procedures and litigation funding to formulate legal claims and enforce judgements. She regularly presents on the topic and has published numerous articles.

Carmel is the Co-Chair of INSOL Europe’s Anti-Fraud Forum and the Vice Chair of CFAAR, the Crypto Fraud and Asset Recovery network.

Henry Farris is a partner in the litigation and arbitration team at Withersworldwide.

He has a broad commercial litigation practice, working on complex disputes in the financial services, banking and corporate sectors, often with an international or multi-jurisdictional element.

He has particular expertise in (i) disputes arising out of the private equity and investment fund sectors; (ii) brokerage and capital markets disputes (iii) disputes relating to banking services and (iv) shareholder and company claims.  He also has significant recent experience advising on disputes relating to cryptoassets and digital payment services.

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.

Chris has particular expertise in both contentious and non-contentious matters involving digital assets (including NFTs) and also cyber security (including both incident response and related disputes). He advises on global asset recovery strategies and the management/co-ordination of parallel litigation in multiple jurisdictions (including where injunctions and disclosure orders are required). Many of these cases involve parallel criminal proceedings in other jurisdictions.

Alex is a Partner in our London litigation group with extensive experience of domestic and international cases.

In the past four years he has conducted cases across seven jurisdictions with over US $9bn in contention. With a focus on pursuing or defending assets in complex civil fraud situations, Alex has pursued his clients’ interests in the UK, BVI, Cayman, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Gibraltar, France, Spain and multiple U.S. states.

Stephen is a partner in the Restructuring & Insolvency team. He advises lenders, corporates, directors, investors, insolvency practitioners and other key stakeholders in a range of domestic and cross-border restructuring and insolvency circumstances.  He has a mixed contentious and non-contentious practice, specialising in the technology, financial services and real estate sectors.  

Laura Douglas specialises in in advising financial institutions and other market participants on financial markets regulation, with a particular focus on payments and FinTech regulation, regulatory aspects of structured financing transactions and the implementation of regulatory reform measures. Laura also has expertise in advising on regulatory perimeter issues, regulatory licensing, post-trade activities including clearing and settlement services, and M&A involving financial institutions.

I am a partner and co-head of our International Dispute Resolution Group, as well as the London team.

I specialise in complex disputes, often of a cross border nature, and have particular expertise in the aviation & defence sector, commercial life science, and in matters involving fraud.

Heading-up Bird & Bird's fraud team, I have considerable experience in obtaining urgent remedies both in the UK and overseas to trace and preserve assets, asset recovery and in the recovery and protection of trade secrets. Fraud is not sector-focused and can hit businesses when and where they least expect.

Simon specialises in online financial services, e-commerce, IT, SaaS, privacy, personal data, cryptoassets, smart contracts and AI. His clients include e-money and payment services providers, consumer credit lenders and brokers, online peer-to-peer finance platforms, retailers, marketplaces and data providers. Simon is highly experienced in his field and has consulted as in-house payments counsel to WorldPay and Amazon.com.

Graham has practised commercial law in Manchester for over 30 years and in that time has handled most forms of commercial disputes. He has held positions of Managing and Senior Partner whilst always maintaining an active case load.

He handles complex commercial disputes including applications for urgent interim relief, professional negligence claims and shareholder disputes. His present cases include shareholder disputes in values of up to £200m. He works with international lawyers in cross border disputes as well as dealing with disputes governed by arbitration (where English law is applicable) and has recently handled significant disputes involving ship building and an international agency agreement in the Middle East.

He acts on contentious insolvency matters including claims against directors under the Insolvency Act. His work increasingly involves allegations of fraud and dishonesty and often in regulated industries and professions. He regularly receives instructions from Insolvency Practitioners who are involved in commercial disputes. 

Ioanna is a PhD student in law at King's College London. She also serves as a Senior Editor of the King's Student Law Review.

Ioanna holds an LLM with a business specialisation from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), an LPC/MSc from the University of Law, Bloomsbury and an LLB from the University of Warwick. She is a qualified lawyer in Cyprus, registered with the Cyprus Bar Association.

Ioanna's research aims at drawing conclusions and offering suggestions as to the potential regulatory framework that the UK should adopt to facilitate and support DAOs' application in the corporate world. More specifically, her research will delve into a comparative study between DAOs' and corporate governance, aiming at drawing conclusions as to the true governance benefits and implications of DAOs. In addition, her research aims at evaluating the legislature attempts of the EU, Switzerland, USA and a few other relevant jurisdictions in recognising DAOs.

Marcus is a leading telecoms and technology specialist.

Having spent over a decade advising technology, media and telecoms clients in Europe, Australia and the Middle East – including significant time in-house at a telco – he is well versed on the intricacies of these industries, the technical and commercial challenges they face and how to help his clients succeed.

He has a wealth of experience handling complex telecommunications and technology commercial arrangements relating to the delivery of next-generation networks and digital infrastructure. He has also worked on industry-shaping arrangements including a Europe-wide tower demerger, national telecommunications infrastructure carve-outs, fibre network build and wholesale services arrangements, subsea cable systems, smart city implementation projects and significant technology procurement and outsourcing agreements.

Laura has expertise in a wide range of business, commercial and contractual disputes such as SPA, warranty, agency, supplier and franchisee disputes.

She specialises in unlawful competition practices, business diversion & economic torts involving for example breaches of confidence, directors and fiduciary duties, poaching, post termination restrictions, inducement, conspiracy & deceit;  and in intellectual property disputes (trade mark infringement/passing off/brand protection).

Sivan is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution division in London and works predominantly within the finance disputes team. He specialises in complex finance, FinTech and financial crime related litigation.  He has developed both advisory and contentious experience in multi-jurisdictional matters relating to derivatives trading, prime brokerage agreements, facility agreements, hedging agreements, structured finance transactions and trade finance instruments.  In addition to his FinTech/finance related work, Sivan advises on matters relating to litigation financing and funding.  Sivan also regularly advises on general commercial cases and has worked with clients on claims involving fraud, negligence and contractual disputes. Sivan has dealt with claims all the way from the County Court through to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Andrew is an experienced solicitor specialising in banking and finance litigation, asset based lending and alternative finance lending, cryptocurrency asset recovery and commercial litigation. In addition, Andrew has extensive experience of dealing with complex commercial and crypto asset recovery litigation. He works alongside leading asset recovery experts to ensure quick, commercial and pragmatic steps are taken to assist victims recover their misappropriated assets. Andrew is a member of the Shoosmiths' crypto working group. 

Stephen is an experienced commercial litigator, with a particular focus on financial services and banking related disputes, and contentious regulatory matters. He has extensive experience acting for a variety of financial institutions, including hedge funds, brokers and investment managers. Stephen also has significant experience of professional negligence matters, involving professionals in a number of disciplines. He also regularly advises on a broad range of pensions related disputes.

Stephen has expertise in all forms of regulatory investigations and litigation – he regularly advises clients subject to investigation by the FCA. In addition to High Court trial experience, he often works with clients to resolve disputes through mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution.

Stephen’s experience working with financial institutions includes both in-house and private practice. Prior to joining CYK, Stephen worked in-house at a global derivatives broker-dealer, where he was responsible for litigation and contentious regulatory matters across the European business. These included, for example, significant disputes in relation to FX, equity and commodity derivatives, both exchange-traded and OTC, and involving counterparties, regulators and exchanges. Stephen particularly enjoys cases involving complex financial instruments and market conduct issues where his product knowledge acquired in-house is valuable.

Jonathan has acted in a wide range of international and domestic commercial disputes, with particular experience of banking and financial services litigation (and regulatory investigations) and litigation arising in the context of corporate restructurings and other insolvency proceedings.  He also specialises in the conflict of laws and jurisdiction.

Flavia specialises in international commercial law, fraud, and cutting-edge technology such as Blockchain, AI, Web3, FinTech, smart legal contracts, and digital trade.

Her practice combines years of trial experience and advocacy with deep knowledge and understanding of the technology. This has made her a sought-after advisor and legal strategist for traditional companies, start-ups, and SMEs, as well as blockchain-based businesses, DAOs, public, and private institutions, governmental and non-governmental institutions.

Flavia heads the legal consultancy at the think-tank Big Innovation Centre in London and has given evidence to Parliament at the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Blockchain adoption into industry and the legal challenges.

Flavia has been recognised as a leading barrister by acclaimed legal directories, Chambers & Partners, and The Legal 500 for the past decade. In the 2024 rankings Flavia was placed in Tier 1 for Crypto-assets and Blockchain and Tier 3 for Crime (General and Fraud).

Flavia is accredited to receive instructions directly from the public under the Public Access scheme and can be instructed in both contentious and non-contentious legal tech matters. For further details please contact her via the details listed above.