Giles Wheeler QC

Barrister information

Practice Areas

Giles has a broad commercial practice with a particular emphasis on banking, professional negligence (including claims against directors) and civil fraud (including freezing injunctions). He has wide-ranging experience of financial litigation, including mis-selling claims and Fintech-related disputes. Giles also routinely advises on matters relating to the professional conduct of solicitors and acts in proceedings before the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Giles recent and ongoing work includes: a pending appeal to the Privy Council concerning the scope of the duties owed by banks to beneficiaries of trust accounts; defending numerous interest rate swap mis-selling and LIBOR manipulation claims; and acting and advising on several Fintech related disputes; several guarantee claims; and a wide variety of general commercial litigation. The more substantial claims in which Giles has been instructed in the recent past include acting for the Claimant in Bluewaters v Ecclestone (and others), a claim for over US$100m raising allegations of bribery in connection with the sale of commercial control of Formula One motor racing; Montvale Invest v Terra Raf Trans Traiding Ltd, a claim by a liquidator in respect of intra-group debts against the former director and another group company; the trial of a director’s breach of duty claim in Guernsey arising out of the collapse of the Arch-Cru investment funds; acting for a multi-national company defending a claim at trial for over £10m for breach of a software distribution agreement; defending a substantial claim for the mis-selling of a fixed rate loan (including allegations that fixed rate loans are regulated as contracts for differences), which settled on the eve of trial; Goldman Sachs International v Videocon Global Ltd [2016] 1 CLC 528, a leading Court of Appeal decision on the interpretation of the close-out provisions of the 1992 ISDA Master Agreement; SPL v Arch Financial Products LLP and Farrell [2014] EWHC 4268 (Comm), acting for investment funds in pursuing a claim for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty against their former investment manager (and claims of dishonest assistance against its principal) which was entrusted with the management of assets in excess of US$150m.

Career

Called to the bar by Middle Temple, 1998; took silk in 2020. In practice at Fountain Court Chambers since the completion of pupillage.

Professional Memberships

COMBAR, LCLCBA

Personal

St Olave’s Grammar School; Pembroke College, Cambridge University (1996 BA; 1997 LLM).