William divides his practice between domestic/cross-border insolvency and restructuring (contentious and advisory), banking and finance, commercial fraud/asset recovery, and general commercial/commercial chancery work.
William is an experienced trial lawyer (both led and unled), including appearing in the Lehman subordinated debt litigation (a dispute in relation to $8 billion of financial instruments), HSBC’s successful defence of a $2 billion professional negligence claim and numerous claims by/against officeholders (most recently defending an $850 million claim by the administrators of NMC which was withdrawn shortly before trial). He has extensive experience of interim/urgent applications (including freezing orders, disclosure orders, anti-suit relief and passport orders).
He frequently acts/appears in relation to restructuring plans/schemes of arrangement under the Companies Act 2006 (recent instructions include McDermott; Aggregate; Thames Water, Petrofac, Southern Water; and acting for HMRC in Great Annual Savings; Enzen; and OutsideClinic). He also has considerable experience of special administrations (including the Investment Bank Regulations; and Payment and Electronic Money Regulations).
Much of William’s work has an international dimension, and he has particular experience of cases with a CIS/Middle East nexus. He has been called to the Bars of the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar, appearing (both as sole/junior Counsel) in the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court and the Privy Council. He also appears and advises on cases in the UAE (the DIFC and ADGM), the Channel Islands and Hong Kong.
William is ranked in the legal directories in 6 areas: (1) Restructuring/Insolvency (2) Banking & Finance (3) Commercial Fraud (4) Commercial Litigation (5) Company and (6) Offshore. He has been described as: “A tenacious, gifted and hard-working lawyer”; “Strategically excellent, pragmatic and commercial”; “Very good in court……. extremely diligent and credible“; “Easy to work with, very commercial and his skeleton arguments are always excellent. He is very clever and very persuasive”; “Very intelligent and responsive with a great feel for the courtroom and the way the judge is thinking”; “he has an ability to cut through the noise and get to the crux of the issue”; “Astute, commercial, very clever and excellent drafting. Gets across the issues very quickly so great on urgent matters”; “a star junior barrister and very responsive – great to work with”; “William is bright, technically good and stands out as an advocate. He is strong and very persuasive in front of the court, and he has the respect of the Bench”.
Insolvency and Restructuring +
Banking and Finance +
Commercial Litigation and Arbitration +
Company +
Offshore +
Trusts and Property +
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