Mishcon de Reya LLP

Managing Partner: James Libson

Number of partners: 177

Number of other fee-earners: 500+

Total staff: 900

Acquisition Finance: Raji Bartlett

Africa: Saul Sender

Art: Karen Sanig

Asia: Gary Miller

Betting & Gaming: Nick Nocton

Business Crime: Johanna Walsh

Charities, Not For Profit & Philanthropy: Alexander Rhodes

Commercial Contracts: Lewis Cohen

Commercial Litigation: Richard Leedham

Competition: Sarah Houghton

Construction: Simon Hunter

Contentious Regulatory & Enforcement: Adam Epstein

Corporate: Kevin McCarthy

Corporate Finance & M&A Taxation: John Skoulding

Corporate Lending: Raji Bartlett

Corporate Tax: John Skoulding

Data Theft: Robert Wynn Jones

Development: Nick Minkoff

Digital Security: Joe Hancock

Director & Shareholder Disputes: Rowena Herdman-Smith

Dispute Resolution: Kasra Nouroozi

Employment: Daniel Naftalin

Employment Tax, Remuneration & Incentives: Stephen Diosi

Entrepreneurs: Kevin McCarthy

Family: Barbara Reeves

Family Office: Nick Davis

Fashion & Retail: Sally Britton

Finance & Banking Disputes: Derval Walsh

Financial Defence: Michael Armstrong

Flotations & Corporate Finance: Ross Bryson

Fraud: Hugo Plowman

Funds & Financial Services: Charlotte Wilson

Immigration: Kamal Rahman

India: Kamal Rahman

Information Technology: Adam Rose

Insolvency & Recoveries: Danny Davis

Insurance Litigation: Sonia Campbell

Intellectual Property: Jeremy Hertzog

International Arbitration: Louis Flannery QC

International Franchising & Brand Extension: Lewis Cohen

Israel: James Libson

Latin America: Adam Rose

Litigation: Kas Nouroozi

LLPs & Partnerships: Kevin McCarthy

Mediation: Rowena Herdman-Smith

Mergers & Acquisitions: Nick Davis

Planning & Environment: Anita Rivera

Private Equity: Nadim Meer

Private Wealth Disputes: Mark Keenan

Professional Negligence: Richard Gerstein

Property Litigation: Daniel Levy

Public Advocacy: James Libson

Real Estate: Stephen Hughes

Real Estate Finance: Nick Strutt

Real Estate Taxation: Jonathan Legg

Recruitment Services: Nick Davis

Regulatory & Compliance: Adam Epstein

Reputation Protection: Emma Woollcott

Residential Property: James Liffen

Russia & CIS: Hugo Plowman

Shareholder Activism: Saul Sender

Sports: Simon Leaf

Tax & Wealth Planning: Andrew Goldstone

Trade Marks: Sally Britton

Wills: Andrew Goldstone

THE FIRM 

Mishcon de Reya LLP is a law firm with offices in London and Singapore. Founded by Victor Mishcon in a one-room office in Brixton in 1937, it now employs more than 900 people, with over 500 lawyers offering a wide range of legal services to companies and individuals. Mishcon de Reya services an international community of clients and provides advice in situations where the constraints of geography often do not apply. The work the firm undertakes is cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and complex.

Mishcon de Reya prides itself not only on the diverse range of legal services that it offers as a practice, but also on the diverse range of people who provide those services. The central role played by the Academy, the firm’s in-house place of learning, development and new thinking, and in its active and innovative social impact strategy are reflected in The Sunday Times‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list of 2020 — the 13th consecutive year Mishcon has featured.

AREAS OF PRACTICE 

Dispute Resolution 31%

Private 20%

Corporate 8%

Real Estate 18%

Employment 9%

Innovation 14%

PRINCIPAL AREAS OF WORK 

Mishcon de Reya continues to act in some of the most high profile and ground-breaking cases in the industry.

The Employment Department: 

■ Representing Pimlico Plumbers on the thorny issue of holiday pay with the case due to be heard by the Court of Appeal in December 2021. This case follows on from the Supreme Court's decision on worker status and subsequent decisions of the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal Tribunal on the calculation of holiday pay in the gig economy.

■ Advising Howden Insurance on one of the most significant team move claims of the year.

■ On the Senior Executives side, the department acted for a number of business founders, Executive Committee members of FTSE 100 companies, and non-executive directors on market sensitive appointments, exits, high profile litigation and negotiating contracts and severance.

The Dispute Resolution Department: 

■ Acting for the Federal Republic of Nigeria in challenging a substantial arbitral award won by a British Virgin Islands entity from a failed gas deal, on the basis that the award was procured by fraud. The matter is of significant importance for the Nigerian state due to the size of the award - US$6.6 billion plus interest, which at today's date is greater than US$10 billion inclusive of interest.

■ Advising the Hospitality Insurance Group Action (HIGA) through its participation in unprecedented legal proceedings brought by the FCA against eight insurers in the High Court, and then subsequently the subject of a leapfrog appeal directly to the Supreme Court. The proceedings were the first brought under the financial markets test case scheme and relate to the refusal of many insurers to pay business interruption insurance claims arising as a result of Covid-19.

The Innovation Department: 

■ Successfully represented Sainsbury's in the Supreme Court in its case against Mastercard. The appeal related to Sainsbury's award of circa £70 million by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in 2016. This was the first substantial competition damages judgment to be handed down in Europe and is the leading case on recovery of interchange fees.

■ Advised Sky on its wide-ranging trade mark dispute with Skykick - recognised as the most significant EU trade mark case since the regime began in 1996.

The Private Department: 

■ Acted for Jenny, The Accidental American (Mandatory Disclosure Regime case). Claims and complaints have been filed in several countries (UK, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg), as well as against financial institutions in connection with systems of automatic exchange of information from the EU to the US (‘FATCA’) and between non-US countries amongst themselves (‘CRS’) as well as in connection with new public registers of beneficial ownership which are in the process of being introduced throughout the EU (the UK also has its own public register).

■ Representing the Wife in financial remedy proceedings involving complex offshore corporate and trust structures in BVI, Jersey, and Switzerland and undertaking a forensic investigation with tax, corporate and property colleagues.

The Corporate Department: 

■ Advised the principal sellers of Calastone, the world's largest funds network, on the sale of a majority stake to The Carlyle Group.

■ Advised Charlie Mullins on the sale of Pimlico Plumbers to Neighborly Inc.

■ Advising JPJ on £490m acquisition of Gamesys Group.

The Real Estate Department: 

■ Continuing to act for Delancey, APG, Qatari Diar and Oxford Properties on their ongoing programme of development for East Village, the former Olympic Village in Stratford, East London, on all property and asset management, the construction and financing of new development plots, retail lettings and planning matters.

■ Principal legal adviser on Capco’s Covent Garden portfolio (valued at up to £2 billion) with a remit focused on acquisition and asset management, assisting Capco in its tenant upgrade strategy.