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Practice Summary

Dan’s practice covers the full range of commercial litigation, arbitration and advisory work. He is regularly instructed in complex, high-value disputes, especially those with an international element. He brings particular expertise to energy and shareholder disputes from having worked at White & Case (London) and King & Wood Mallesons (Sydney).

Before joining chambers, Dan was an associate in the litigation and arbitration group of White & Case (London). While there, he acted in LCIA and ICC arbitrations across the energy, property and telecommunications sectors. Before that, he completed a training contract with the leading Australian firm King & Wood Mallesons, focusing on disputes and transactional work across the energy and construction sectors.

Of Dan’s led work, recent highlights include:

 

  • ICC arbitration – defending claims under a contract for the sale of aluminium fluoride.
  • Omers Administration Corporation v Tesco plc (ChD) – acting for institutional investors claiming hundreds of millions of pounds in respect of the profit overstatement that Tesco revealed in autumn 2014. The claim is the first under FSMA section 90A to proceed to trial. It alleges fraudulent misrepresentations by Tesco to the knowledge of senior management.
  • BGC Brokers LP v Tradition (UK) Ltd (QBD) – defending Tradition, one of the City’s main inter-dealer brokerage firms, from high-value and bitterly fought claims by one of its main competitors. The claimants alleged breaches of confidence and a “team move” of brokers. Dan was heavily involved in a string of successful pre-trial hearings and appeals, preparing factual and expert evidence, and then the trial in late 2019. The case settled during cross-examination of the claimants’ key witnesses.
  • Rosdale Pte Limited v Degevol UK Limited (Comm) – acting for companies that sought to recover Kazakh mining assets that had been misappropriated by the companies’ former directors and controllers. Dan was heavily involved in case strategy, drafting particulars of claim and preparing an application for permission to serve defendants outside the jurisdiction. The case settled shortly thereafter.

And as sole counsel in the High Court:

  • Kirk v Letschew (ChD) –acting for the claimant in contribution proceedings arising out of a judgment against a company and its shareholders for software infringement. Dan was recently the advocate for a full-day hearing, successfully resisting a jurisdiction challenge.
  • RateSetter Trustee Services Limited v Purvis (Comm) –defending a former company director from claims under his personal guarantee of a loan made to the company. The defence relies on misrepresentations by the lender and on collusion between the lender and the company’s subsequent controllers. Dan was the advocate at the CCMC, dealing with disclosure issues and costs budgeting. A three-day trial is expected in late 2020.
  • Norwich Craft Beer Company Limited v Evans (ChD) – defending the main shareholder and former director in proceedings against a minority shareholder for control of the Bullards brands of beer and gin. Dan drafted several pleadings and successfully obtained security for costs at the first CCMC.