Expertise
Alex is a Partner in the Finance Disputes team.
Ranked as a Future Leader by Who's Who Legal, Alex has particular experience of big-ticket, heavyweight banking and civil fraud litigation, as well as contentious regulatory work. Alex acts for a range of financial institutions, corporates and individuals on complex and high value international cases, with a particular emphasis on claims involving fraud, commercial lending, restructuring and insolvency, financial crime, payments and structured products.
Alex has completed secondments at three high street banks.
Relevant experience:
- Acting for Unitel S.A., an Angolan mobile telecoms company, in its £580m Commercial Court claim against Africa's former richest woman and daughter of the previous President of Angola, Isabel dos Santos, including successfully obtaining a worldwide freezing order against her.
- Acting for British International Investment Plc in its defence of £200m Commercial Court proceedings brought by Crane Bank Limited – a Ugandan bank – and its former shareholders, for alleged unlawful means conspiracy concerning the sale of Crane Bank's assets to DFCU Bank Limited.
- Acting for the municipal water authority of Leipzig in its successful defence of a multi-party, cross-jurisdictional series of claims worth over £500m relating to the sale of complex credit derivatives by UBS. The case involved allegations of bribery, dishonest assistance, breach of fiduciary duty and negligent portfolio management, as well as issues regarding rogue directors and intermediaries.
- Acting for a major high street bank in its defence of a £100m claim from a high-net-worth property investor covering allegations of economic duress, intimidation and breach of contract, as well as the role of the Asset Protection Agency at the height of the financial crisis.
- Acting for a major UK bank in £500m Commercial Court proceedings concerning a series of Italian structured tax derivative trades.
