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Practice Summary

Sebastian is experienced and expert in complex and high value commercial disputes, in both litigation and international arbitration.

Recent cases include:

  • Acting (with Jonathan Crow QC, David Foxton QC and others) for Victor Pinchuk in his very high value LCIA Arbitration and High Court claims against Igor Kolomoisky and Gennadiy Bogolyubov; both of which were pursued successfully to settlement during and just before the final hearings.
     
  • Acting (with Laurence Rabinowitz QC) for the global investment management firm AllianceBernstein, defending a claim brought by the Philips Electronics Pension Fund.
     
  • Acting (with Daniel Toledano QC) for Centrica, one of the big six energy companies, in a dispute with the owner of the Medway power station, under the terms of a take-or-pay contract between them.
     
  • Acting (with Laurence Rabinowitz QC, Richard Gillis QC and others) for Boris Berezovsky in the case of Berezovsky v Abramovich.
     
  • Acting for the Liberian oil trader Aminata & Sons, defending claims by the Swiss oil and commodities trader Novel Commodities SA.

Main areas of practice include energy, commodities, banking and finance, civil fraud, and professional negligence.

Sebastian is recommended by Chambers & Partners UK for Commercial Dispute Resolution (“Robust and in-demand junior advocate”, “Extremely intelligent and has lots of clear ideas as to how to achieve various ends”) and Banking and Finance (“He's good at identifying unique arguments and thinking outside the box. He's great to work with, very responsive and commercially minded”, “He's very user-friendly, commercial, responsive and technically brilliant”).

He is also recommended by Legal 500 for Commercial Litigation (“He provides good strategic input and sound legal advice, and is very pleasant to deal with”) and for Banking and Finance (“Gets to grips with complex legal and factual scenarios very quickly and is a pleasure to work with”).

Sebastian was listed in the 2011 edition of Legal Week’s ‘Stars at the Bar’ feature, profiling ten highly rated junior barristers. Legal Week said “Commentators say Isaac is “extremely sought after”, as he is a “brilliant junior with fantastic legal acumen” who can “turn his hand to almost anything and is very responsive”.