Baker & Partners

Firm Details:
Senior Partner: Stephen Baker
Number of partners: 5
Other fee-earners: 14

Contacts:
Civil & Commercial Litigation: Stephen Baker, Simon Thomas, William Redgrave, Lynne Gregory, Charles Sorensen
Contentious Trusts: Stephen Baker, Simon Thomas, William Redgrave, James Sheedy, Lynne Gregory
Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery: Stephen Baker, Simon Thomas, William Redgrave, Julian Gollop, Cyril Whelan, Charles Sorensen, Lynne Gregory
Regulatory: William Redgrave
Matrimonial: Simon Thomas

Firm Overview:
Baker & Partners is a specialist offshore litigation and dispute resolution practice headquartered in Jersey with a physical presence in London and the Cayman Islands. The firm has been at the forefront of some of the most complex and high value litigation in the Island. The firm specialises in fraud, asset tracing and recovery; civil and commercial litigation; trust disputes; regulation and insolvency; criminal defence and prosecution; and matrimonial matters. Clients include governments, high net worth individuals, professional services firms and local and international financial institutions. Baker & Partners’ lawyers have extensive practical experience in the courts of Jersey, England and Wales. Their skills, both inside and outside of the courtroom, allow the firm to achieve clients’ aims in an efficient and cost-effective way.

Areas of Practice:
Civil & Commercial Litigation: 30%
Contentious Trusts: 20%
Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery: 25%
Crime: 10%
Regulatory: 5%
Matrimonial: 5%

Civil & Commercial Litigation:
Baker & Partners has a leading reputation for resolving high-value, and often complex, civil and commercial disputes. The firm acts for local and international businesses, banks and financial institutions as well as consumers in a range of actions including shareholder disputes; banking litigation; civil fraud claims; breach of contract/covenant claims; injunctions and disclosure orders; conflict of laws and jurisdiction disputes; and financial product mis-selling claims.

Contentious Trusts:
Baker & Partners act for beneficiaries, trustees and other fiduciaries on a range of contentious trust matters; including acting in a long running litigation relating to the administration of a substantial family charitable trust which resulted in orders for the removal of the corporate trustee. The firm currently acts for BNP Paribas Jersey Trust Corporation in Crociani v Crociani, one of the biggest trust disputes in Jersey in recent years. The firm acted for the plaintiff in a £30 million claim for breach of fiduciary duty against a former director of a Kenyan company and against a major Jersey financial services provider for its role in dishonestly assisting in a fraud that lasted over 30 years. The firm regularly advises and acts for trustees and beneficiaries in respect of breach of trust claims; asset tracing and constructive trust claims; trustee applications for directions; disputes over trust administration and the exercise of powers; and the removal and/or substitution of trustees.

Fraud, Asset Tracing & Recovery:
The firm has unparalleled experience in bringing and defending major international fraud claims and asset recovery actions before the Jersey courts. The firm acts for foreign governments, NGOs, multinational corporations and private individuals in some of the most complex and high value political corruption, forfeiture and judgment enforcement actions, including asset tracing claims; confiscation proceedings; freezing injunctions; disclosure orders; search and seize orders; civil fraud claims; and fraudulent breach of trust claims. The firm has successfully acted in ground breaking asset tracing litigation to secure a judgment for US$30 million for the Federal Republic of Brazil, and in separate litigation brought by the Republic of Mozambique to recover the proceeds of bribes.

Regulatory:
The firm is regularly instructed by regulators, financial institutions and private individuals to advise and act in an array of often highly complex and challenging situations.