Disputes, litigation and arbitration
Defending against threats, managing the risks.
The world’s biggest businesses trust us to defend them against serious commercial and reputational threats. Why? Because we have advised on some of the most politically sensitive, high-profile disputes in recent history.
We are recognised as a market-leader in financial disputes, competition litigation, global investigations and risk management. Our own hard-won reputation for cross-border work means we regularly support organisations through complex multijurisdictional investigations.
We draw on our extensive experience to find innovative solutions to the most challenging problems, wherever and whenever they occur.
Client successes
Successfully defending Raoul Weil, former CEO of UBS's wealth management division, in a US federal jury trial in which he was acquitted.
Mr Weil was the most senior Swiss banker charged in the US Department of Justice's long-running investigation of Swiss banks and bankers for allegedly assisting US taxpayers in evading billions of dollars of US taxes on assets secretly held in Switzerland.
Representing Crystallex during investment treaty arbitration proceedings against Venezuela.
Freshfields secured a $1.39bn award on behalf of Canadian gold mining company Crystallex International Corporation – one of the largest awards in the ICSID's history.
The tribunal awarded Crystallex damages of $1.202bn plus pre- and post-award interest due to Venezuela’s unfair and inequitable treatment and unlawful expropriation of Crystallex's investment in the Las Cristinas mining project.
Successfully advising Deutsche Bank in its strongly contested four-month trial against Sebastian Holdings.
We not only defeated Sebastian’s entire $8bn counterclaim, but also obtained a judgment debt and costs award of over $300m ([2013] EWHC 3463 (Comm).
These proceedings have since resulted in leading judgments on the English court’s jurisdiction to attach conditions to an appeal ([2014] EWCA Civ 1100) and in making one of the largest ever non-party costs orders ([2016] EWCA Civ 23).
Deutsche Bank (the bank) was then granted a Civil Procedure Rules Part 71 order, entitling it to cross-examine Mr Vik about Sebastian’s means of paying the judgment debt. The bank intends to apply for a suspended committal order against Mr Vik for giving untruthful evidence and failing to provide full disclosure of documents and information in that context.
In March 2017, the High Court handed down an important new judgment ([2017] EWHC 459 (Comm)), finding that 'special circumstances' existed to grant Deutsche Bank permission to serve its application for committal by alternative means.
We have also been helping the bank enforce the judgment debt against specific assets of Sebastian both in this jurisdiction and abroad, including proceedings:
- in Norway aimed at enforcing all of the shares in a Norwegian company, which Mr Vik had first caused to be transferred from Sebastian to himself, and then to his father. The Oslo Enforcement, Bankruptcy and Probate Court handed down judgment in December 2016 dismissing Mr Vik’s father’s complaint, upholding an execution lien in the bank’s favour over the shares and awarding the bank all of its costs claimed; and
- in England and Wales, by means of the bank’s successful application, in February 2017, for the appointment of receivers by way of equitable execution over interests in certain private equity partnerships that Mr Vik had caused to be transferred from Sebastian to closely connected entities. This receivership appointment was recognised by the Guernsey Court in March 2017.
Helping Sotheby’s fend off £11m ‘Caravaggio’ negligence suit.
In January 2015, the High Court decided that Sotheby’s, representing by Freshfields, had won its battle against Lancelot William Thwaytes, the former owner of an alleged ‘Caravaggio’ painting, ‘The Cardsharps’.
Acting for Econet Wireless in a dispute over its stake in Nigerian telco Vee Network Limited.
Favourable outcomes have been reached at every stage.
Representing one of the world’s largest banks in investigations by multiple enforcement authorities into an alleged scheme to manipulate the setting of the Libor and other leading benchmark interest rates in 14 countries.
Acting for Equion Energia in a five-month UK High Court trial brought by over 100 landowners in Colombia claiming environmental damage to 73 properties allegedly caused by the construction of the Ocensa oil pipeline.
Disputes, litigation and arbitration
- Administrative and public law
- Antitrust litigation
- Banking and financial services
- Commercial litigation
- Construction and engineering
- Environment
- Global investigations
- Human rights
- Intellectual property and data
- International arbitration
- Product liability
- Public international law
- Regulatory
- Restructuring and insolvency
- Securities and shareholder litigation
- White-collar defence and corporate crime
Our latest blogs
Blog posts
Our team
Georgia Dawson Senior Partner
新加坡, London
Noiana Marigo Global Co-Head of International Arbitration & Co-Head of Latin America Practice
New York
Norbert Nolte 合伙人
Düsseldorf
Sarah Parkes 合伙人
London
Dimitri Lecat 合伙人
Paris
Dr. Michael Rohls 合伙人
Munich
Erin Miller Rankin 合伙人
Dubai, 新加坡
Dr. Martina de Lind van Wijngaarden 合伙人
Frankfurt am Main
Nigel Blackaby KC Partner, Co-Head of Latin America Practice
Washington, DC
Matthias Koch 合伙人
Düsseldorf
James Kennedy 合伙人
London
Sylvia Noury KC 合伙人
London
Aaron Marcu Senior Counsel
New York
William Robinson 合伙人
London, 香港
Ali Sallaway 合伙人
London
Bea Tormey 合伙人
London
Nathalie Colin Partner
Brussels
Enrico Castellani 合伙人
Milan
Giuseppe Curtò 合伙人
Milan
Fabrizio Arossa 合伙人
Rome
Joaquin Terceño 合伙人
Tokyo, 新加坡
