Legal Business

‘No justiciable defence’: Cleary, NRF and Quinn to go another round in $3bn Russian bond dispute

Posted on |
Litigation Cleary Gottlieb Steen & HamiltonNorton Rose FulbrightQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Partners from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Norton Rose Fulbright and Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan are set to go another round as Ukraine has vowed to appeal a pre-trial decision over a $3bn Russian bond repayment.

The High Court has ruled that Ukraine did not provide a ‘justiciable defence’ in the case, heard in London’s recently created financial court.

The case relates to a $3bn loan Russia made out to Ukraine in December 2013 in the form of a Eurobond. The Law Debenture Trust Corporation is the trustee of the bond, which was arranged by White & Case and Clifford Chance.

Ukraine argued the loan was made as part of wider Russian economic and military pressure to prevent Ukraine from signing an EU Association Agreement at the Vilnius Summit in November 2013. In March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea.

But following a pre-trial hearing, Justice Blair concluded: ‘The threats of the use of force by Russia which are relied upon by Ukraine as vitiating the Eurobond transaction fall within the foreign act of state doctrine as issues upon which the court should refrain from adjudicating.

‘This is a claim for repayment of debt instruments to which the court has held that there is no justiciable defence.’

Quinn partner Alex Gerbi lead for Ukraine and Norton Rose’s financial disputes partner Michael Godden acted for The Law Debenture Trust Corporation, the trustee directed by Russia’s Ministry of Finance to bring the case. Cleary acted for the Russian government, with a team including partners David Sabel and Jonathan Kelly.

Norton Rose instructed Brick Court’s Mark Howard QC and Oliver Jones. Fountain Court Chambers’ Bankim Thanki QC and Simon Atrill and Essex Court Chambers’ Malcolm Shaw QC were enlisted by Quinn.

In August 2015, Weil, Gotshal & Manges and White & Case acted as the lead advisers as Ukraine struck a debt-relief deal on its $18bn sovereign debt pile in a bid to rebuild its fragile economy.

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Revolving doors: Fieldfisher takes from Irwin Mitchell as Quinn launches in Perth

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Fieldfisher has given its personal injury team a boost with a hire from Irwin Mitchell, while Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and Gordon Dadds have all made appointments across the globe.

Jane Weakley, formerly of Irwin Mitchell, has re-joined Fieldfisher as a partner in the firm’s personal injury and medical negligence team. Weakley, who trained at Fieldfisher, is a specialist in acting for claimants with catastrophic birth injuries as a result of medical negligence.

Underlining her aptitude in the field, in December 2015 Weakley scored a £11.6m settlement for a five-year-old boy with cerebral palsy.

Fieldfisher’s head of medical negligence and personal injury Paul McNeil commented: ‘With over 20 years’ experience in medical law she is a leading practitioner in this complex area. Like all our lawyers, she is dedicated to ensuring that the interests and rights of our clients are maximised and compensation provides enough care and support throughout their lives.’

Staying in the UK, Gordon Dadds has strengthened its international litigation and gaming services by hiring partners Michael McCarthy and Andrew Tait. McCarthy arrives from Kennedys to Gordon Dadds’ litigation department bringing with him 25 years’ experience as a litigator. He is well-respected as an adviser in insolvency cases and spent several years working for the Insolvency Service of the DTI.

Tait joins Gordon Dadds’ betting and gaming department having spent 10 years as the general counsel (GC) of Mansion Group, a Gibraltar-based private internet gaming company. Tait has an expertise in intellectual property, compliance and contract negotiation.

Gordon Dadds managing partner Adrian Biles said: ‘Gordon Dadds is driven by a vision for the future of legal and professional services. Our new partner appointments are a reflection of the firm’s growth in diverse capabilities and expertise.’

In Australia, Quinn has opened in Perth, appointing Paul Evans as a partner. Evans is currently the state solicitor for Western Australia, having spent an earlier part of his career as a partner in Freehills’ Perth office. Evans is a seasoned litigator and has a history of handling a variety of complex cases.

Quinn managing partner John Quinn commented: ‘We have been trying to convince Paul to join us for the last couple of years. We are glad he finally did.’

Finally, Orrick has hired Charles Adams, the former US Ambassador to Finland, to head the firm’s international arbitration practice worldwide. Adams, who will operate out of Orrick’s Geneva office, was nominated as ambassador by Barack Obama in June 2014 and will assume his new role on April 3 2017.

Adams said: ‘Diplomatic service as ambassador to Finland was an amazing honour and a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

‘The firm is doing so many exciting things in technology, energy & infrastructure and finance all around the world, and I look forward to helping the team continue to build its world-class international arbitration practice centred in these sectors.’

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Quinn continues growth as disputes powerhouse posts 20% turnover jump in London

Posted on |
Financial results 2016/17 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

The ever expanding Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan saw a 21% spike in its London revenue for 2016 reaching £44.8m while London net profit sat at £32.8m.

The results come after the London office managed a 41% increase to £36.9m last year, up from a 33% increase in 2014 which saw City revenues sitting at £26.2m.

It’s been a busy year for Quinn which welcomed four new City based partners last year. The office launched both a long awaited corporate crime practice with Covington & Burling partner and former Serious Fraud Office prosecutor Robert Amaee and a UK construction disputes practice with Herbert Smith Freehills’ James Bremen. Competition partner Kate Vernon joined from DLA Piper and litigation and arbitration Paul Friedman arrived from Clyde & Co.

Partner and fraud specialist Mark Hastings will join the office from Addleshaw Goddard after leaving late last year.

However the firm lost partner Martin Davies to Latham & Watkins last month, the first lateral hire to leave the London office in around nine years. It is understood Davies has taken on a leadership role in Latham & Watkins’ London dispute resolution group.

To deal with a rapid rise in numbers, Quinn’s City office will increase its office space by half with a move into a floor of Olswang’s 90 High Holborn. London grew by 20 lawyers in the past year, counting 55 lawyers at the beginning of 2017. Partner headcount has increased from 15 to 20.

Quinn’s move to 90 High Holborn on 27 March this year will increase the amount of space it occupies from 18,000 sq ft to 27,000 sq ft.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Quinn prepares to mount shareholder claim against BT following accounting scandal

Posted on |
Litigation BTQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is investigating a potential class action against BT on behalf of its shareholders following an accounting scandal which saw almost £8bn, or more than a fifth, wiped off the telco’s stock value.

BT Group originally estimated a write-down of £145m last year citing ‘inappropriate management behaviour’ in its Italian business. The company later revised the figure to £530m in its third quarter results following an independent review by KPMG.

Quinn is speaking to its Volkswagen and RBS clients which are all major institutional investors and is looking to begin damages analysis.

It has not yet been decided whether it will be a funded case or whether Quinn will bring this as a Damages Based Agreement, where the shareholders will agree to pay the lawyer a percentage of sums recovered in a claim.

Quinn’s team on the case includes partners Ted Greeno, Richard East and Hamburg partner Nadine Herman. The team expects it will take around two to three months to put a claim together.

East (pictured) told Legal Business: ‘It’s very likely that a lot of our clients on the VW claim will have holdings in BT stock. These are large institutional investors and they will have an exposure to BT undoubtedly.’

Quinn is considering whether there is case under a section 90 of the Financial Services and Markets Act which provides for shareholder group actions or if there are other common law claims arising out of the accounting scandal.

Separately, litigation funder Bentham Europe also confirmed it opened talks with BT shareholders in October. However Bentham declined to comment on whether it had instructed legal counsel.

In 2015 Quinn was instructed by Bentham in a shareholder lawsuit against Volkswagen after the company lost as much as $33bn in market value in ten days after it admitted to cheating emissions tests. The US firm also teamed up with consumer rights firm Hagens Berman to file a class action complaint in Los Angeles.

Late last year claimants represented by Quinn settled their case in the long running £4bn shareholder group action against the Royal Bank of Scotland.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Quinn, Freshfields and HSF in drivers’ seat for firms defending truck cartel claims

Posted on |
Litigation Freshfields Bruckhaus DeringerHerbert Smith FreehillsQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Partners at a raft of firms including Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer are gearing up for potential damages claims against Europe’s biggest truck makers after they admitted to operating a 14 year price cartel.

Truck makers Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Paccar, Inveco and Volkswagen’s MAN were all fined after admitting to the cartel back in June 2016.

Quinn partner Boris Bronfentrinker is leading Daimler’s defence in the United Kingdom while Vovlo-owned Renault has enlisted Freshfields’ head of global antitrust litigation Jon Lawrence and partner Bea Tormey to co-ordinate defences for claims in several EU jurisdictions.

Inveco has instructed Herbert Smith Freehills partner Kim Dietzel while Slaughter and May is understood to be representing MAN.

Meanwhile, claimants include Royal Mail, the Road Haulage Association and truck owners represented by litigation funders Burford Capital and Bentham Europe.

Royal Mail has instructed Berwin Leighton Paisner in a specific claim against Paccar, with a team lead by partners Andrew Hockley and Edward Coulson. It is not known which firm Paccar has instructed as defence. The Road Haulage Association is also preparing a claim and has instructed Backhouse Jones Solicitors, and David Went of Exchange Chambers.

Burford Capital is funding Hausfeld, in a claim overseen by managing partner Anthony Maton.

Meanwhile, Bentham Europe also said it will fund separate claim, worth €100bn against the truck makers. The litigation funder has selected legal counsel but refused to comment on which firm is acting.

Bentham chief investment officer Jeremy Marshall said: ‘Bentham is determined to bring the opportunity to recover the overcharges to the attention of as many truck purchasers as it can and enable these victims of the cartel collectively to seek redress. Claims against the truck cartel are expected to be one of the largest ever compensation claims resulting from a cartel ruling.’

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

Latham continues City expansion taking Quinn litigator Martin Davies

Posted on |
Litigation Latham & WatkinsQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

In a rare exit, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has lost partner Martin Davies to Latham & Watkins. It is understood Davies (pictured) has taken on a leadership role in Latham’s London dispute resolution group.

Davies joined Quinn in late 2010 from Olswang where he headed up its litigation practice. He is the first lateral hire to leave the London office in around nine years.

Most recently Davies acted on the Royal Bank of Scotland’s £4bn rights issue litigation advising a group of claimants who settled late last year. Thousands of claimants represented by Signature Litigation will press ahead for trial next spring.

Quinn’s London co-head Richard East told Legal Business: ‘It is with great sadness that we have to announce that Martin Davies will be leaving us to join Latham & Watkins to head up Latham’s dispute resolution group. Martin, who was one of our founding fathers, will be sorely missed. He has had a fantastic career here at Quinn and we have no doubt that he will make a huge success of his move to Latham. We are certain that we will remain friends and will look forward to working with him in the future.’

Earlier this month Latham lost its London litigation chair Simon Bushell to boutique disputes outfit Signature Litigation. Prior to his move in 2013, Bushell spent more than 16 years as a partner at Herbert Smith Freehills, the firm he joined in 1987.

Latham London office head Jay Sadanandan said: ‘We are committed to building a leading disputes practice in the City to complement our formidable strength in the United States and other markets around the world.  Martin will help us do just that.’

But Quinn expects to continue its expansion. Last week Legal Business revealed the US firm will increase its office space by half with a move into a floor of Olswang’s 90 High Holborn premises as the TMT player heads toward its merger.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

 

Legal Business

Stewarts Law LLPs show top earner takes home £1.7m as overseas revenues exceed 20% of turnover

Posted on |
Financial results 2016/17 Latham & WatkinsQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

The highest paid member at Stewarts Law pocketed £1.7m over the 2015/16 financial year, according to the firm’s filings at Companies House.

This marks a 20% climb from the year prior when the highest paid member took home £1.4m. The average remuneration per member also saw a hike from £547,000 in 2015 to £624,000 in 2016, a 12% increase, while the firm’s executive committee took home £15.7m from £13.5m the year before.

The average number of members at Stewarts Law also increased from 51 to 55, with overall staff headcount rising from 243 to 263 over the year. Staff costs rose to £13.7m from £11.6m.

The report also reveals work from oversees clients generated £13.5m or about 22% of total turnover. This an improvement from £9m or about 17% of revenue the year before.

The litigation specialist saw a second consecutive year of double digit revenue growth. The firm saw revenue jump to £61.3m, a 17% increase from 2015.

With last year’s figure standing at £51m, revenue has increased by approximately £10m. This upsurge has been accompanied by an incline in operating profit, rising from £27.5m in 2015 to £32.7m in 2016.

The strong financial year for the firm follows an initiative to boost pay and incentives for junior lawyers, paralegals and business services staff. The strategy, announced in May 2016, saw the firm improve the salaries of all members of staff, but Stewarts Law declined to confirm exact figures.

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

Read more on litigation boutiques in:‘Focal points – Law boutiques and the art of focus’


Legal Business

‘Packed to the rafters’: Quinn to move to Olswang’s office after outgrowing London space

Posted on |
CMS UKQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

Quinn Emmanuel Urquhart & Sullivan will increase its office space by half with a move into a floor of Olswang’s 90 High Holborn premises as the TMT player heads toward its merger.

The US firm only had until October 2017 on its Dentons lease, but decided to make the move early after outgrowing its One Fleet Place location. Quinn’s move to 90 High Holborn on 27 March this year will increase the amount of space it occupies from 18,000 sq ft to 27,000 sq ft.

The litigation specialist’s office has grown by 20 lawyers in the past year, counting 55 lawyers at the beginning of 2017. Partner headcount has increased from 15 to 20.

London co-managing partner Richard East told Legal Business: ‘We need more space. We’re 55 lawyers, soon to be 60 by second quarter and we’re absolutely packed to the rafters. The new space gives us potential to have around 80 to 90 lawyers.’

The news comes after it was confirmed Olswang had signed a lease with its merger partners Nabarro and CMS Cameron McKenna to move into the latter firm’s offices at Cannon Place. The merged firm will be on two additional floors in the building.

Quinn welcomed four new City based partner last year, launching both a long awaited corporate crime practice with Covington & Burling partner and former Serious Fraud Office prosecutor Robert Amaee and a UK construction disputes practice with Herbert Smith Freehills’ James Bremen. Competition partner Kate Vernon joined from DLA Piper and litigation and arbitration Paul Friedman arrived from Clyde & Co. Partner and fraud specialist Mark Hastings will join the office from Addleshaw Goddard after leaving late last year.

In September 2016 it was revealed the firm was in talks to hire a team from Shearman & Sterling’s Brussels arm, including office head Stephen Mavroghenis. It emerged competition partner Trevor Soames would join Quinn in December.

However the firm was dealt a blow late last year as it lost Moscow-based arbitration partners Ivan Marisin and Vasily Kuznetsov to US rival Baker Botts, leaving Quinn’s ten-lawyer Russia outpost with one full-time partner.

Quinn is not the only US firm which continues to expand in the City, as Goodwin Procter moved into its new 100 Cheapside London office in January taking up over 40,000 sq ft, which more than doubled its size. The firm’s Europe chair David Evans said the office would support the firm’s continued growth across key practice areas.
Most recently Goodwin picked up King & Wood Mallesons’ influential funds team following their former group head Michael Halford’s decision to join the US firm. The firm took on 26 lawyers including six partners as KWM dropped litigation against Goodwin Procter and its former corporate partner Richard Lever.

madeleine.farman@legalease.co.uk

Legal Business

‘Riddled with rogues and corruption’: Quinn Emanuel’s Jagusch on modern arbitration

Posted on |
Litigation Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
legal-business-default

Arbitration today is full of routine corruption and rogue elements disrupting the process, argued Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s Stephen Jagusch QC (pictured) at Legal Business’s International Arbitration Summit in November.

The second annual arbitration event held at The Brewery saw a panel comprising a quartet of silks, including Jagusch, Boies, Schiller & Flexner’s Wendy Miles QC, Fountain Court Chambers’ Brian Doctor QC and 20 Essex Street’s Duncan Matthews QC.

The group discussed how arbitration has typically struggled to deal with corruption issues on cross-border cases, and whether authorities are typically less willing to provide information.

Jagusch told delegates: ‘Arbitration today is riddled with rogues and corrupt parties and I fear there are far more corrupt counsel and corrupt arbitrators than any of us are aware. A cursory review of the internet and taking some anecdotal evidence from practitioners will disclose that there is routine corruption in bidding processes, in maintaining investments, in protecting investments from scrutiny and local authorities. There is routine corruption in arbitral appointments.’

Citing one of his own cases this year, Jagusch noted that death threats were involved as well as a presiding arbitrator ‘being caught boasting generally about his ability to deliver a good result, providing the party appointing him was prepared to share the result with him’.

In the same case, he said ‘the controlling mind’ of the two parties on the other side was caught red handed boasting that he had bribed the chair of the tribunal with 10% of the awarded amount.

‘No longer are challenges to arbitrators unusual; no longer are allegations of corruption a surprise; no longer are findings of corruption a surprise. Corruption and guerrilla tactics are very much part of the arbitration lexicon these days, but they were not ten or 15 years ago. Corruption is here and it is everywhere.’

However, Doctor countered that while he had heard about corrupt arbitrators, he had never come up against one. He added: ‘Of course everybody believes the arbitrators before whom you are not doing very well must have taken the money to stop the absurd attitudes that they have.’

Despite the endemic problems that Jagusch highlighted, arbitration’s popularity in recent years has improved among clients, with the number of cases registered at the London Court of International Arbitration also increased last year, up 10% to 326 claims, while the number of new cases registered at the Singapore International Arbitration Centre rose by 22% to 271 in 2015.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

Read more: ‘Everything must go – the London arbitration price war’

Legal Business

Quinn Emanuel takes fraud heavyweight Hastings from Addleshaw Goddard

Posted on |
Strategic recruitment Addleshaw GoddardQuinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
legal-business-default

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has recruited Addleshaw Goddard partner and fraud specialist Mark Hastings, constituting a major blow to the latter firm’s disputes practice.

Trained at Herbert Smith Freehills, Hastings was appointed as head of Addleshaws’ civil fraud practice in 2014. He specialises in fraud and trust litigations, contractual and warranty disputes and shareholder disputes, as well as advising on pre-action third party disclosure orders, freezing injunctions and search orders.

High-profile mandates includes serving as lead partner for Boris Berezovsky in several cases, including in defending a claim brought by his former partner Helena Gorbunova, a $6bn commercial court claim against Roman Abramovich, and in Berezovsky’s related $3bn Chancery Division claims against the estate of the Georgian billionaire Arkady Patarkatsishvili and others.

He also acted for His Majesty King Abdullah of Jordan in a High Court action concerning allegations of breach of trust, which settled on confidential terms, and represented one of the largest property development companies in the Middle East and a Bahraini investment bank in a $1bn claim.

It is understood Hastings will not be taking any ongoing cases from Addleshaws with him to Quinn.

Quinn has made several strategic hires to its London office this year, most recently with Allen & Overy’s global co-head of arbitration Michael Young, alongside the Paris hire of Herbert Smith Freehills’ (HSF) Paris disputes chief Isabelle Michou.

Earlier this year the firm strengthened its competition disputes bench capabilities with DLA Piper’s UK competition head Kate Vernon. Other significant laterals included Herbert Smith Freehills’ James Bremen as its chair of the construction practice and Clyde & Co litigator Paul Friedman as part of a bid to expand its Israel practice.

London office co-managing partner Richard East said: ‘Mark is exactly the sort of young and hungry litigator we need to help us take this practice in London to the next level.’

Quinn also announced the promotion of 13 partners today across its international offices, with just one associate made up in commercial litigator Khaled Khatoun.

Yesterday (6 December) Legal Business revealed that Addleshaws made a play for three King & Wood Mallesons partners and one associate, taking on the firm’s former managing partner William Boss, as well as property partner Simon Tager and commercial real estate partner Michael Scott. Addleshaws has also hired commercial real estate managing associate Luke Harvey who joins as a partner.

sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk

For more on Hastings’ career, see ‘Perspectives’ from the 2016 Disputes Yearbook