Nik Yeo

Practice Areas

Barrister specialising in commercial litigation and arbitration, particularly cross-border disputes and disputes arising from fintech, fraud and finance, including disputes over digital assets, cryptocurrencies, blockchains and ‘smart contracts’.

Comfortable with technological-intensive disputes of all kinds, Nik has been involved in a number of important cryptocurrency disputes. He acted for the English crypto market maker, B2C2, in the ground-breaking, leading case of B2C2 v Quoine [2020] SGCA(I) 02, on cryptocurrency / algorithmic trading before the Singapore International Court of Appeal. The case has been described as “landmark” by Oxford University’s Computer Science Dept. He represents the Bahamian liquidators of FTX, and represented an exchange defendant in the now-leading English crypto case of D’Aloia v Persons Unknown eg [2024] EWHC 895 (Ch). He led the English Counsel team which in 2024, through proceedings in England and New York, managed to recover US$450 million of hacked crypto (eg [2024] EWHC 1514 (Comm) & [2024] EWHC 2532 (Comm)). He was Legal 500’s Technology, Data & Crypto Junior of the Year 2023.

Nik regularly acts for leading crypto exchanges, blockchain intermediaries (eg bridges) and wallet providers. He represents a number of start-up crypto platforms, including one which is developing a DLT with far greater efficiency than blockchains. Nik regularly advises on the scope of applicable UK financial regulatory regimes to such platforms. Nik’s technology practice has also involved representing several leading mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia in various licensing disputes before the Courts and in arbitration.

Nik also has a particular focus on professional negligence (Chambers & Partners Professional Negligence Junior of the Year in 2016; and nominated for the same award in 2024 by both Chambers and Legal 500) - from disputes arising from the complex valuation of securitised assets to claims against solicitors, barristers, accountants, tax advisers and bankers. He acted for the claimants in what the press called the “valuation trial of the century”, Gemini v CBRE and King Sturge, arising out of a £1.2 billion commercial mortgage-backed securitisation, with an expert report running to 13,000 pages. He represented the claimants in tax case McClean v Thornhill [2023] 1 WLR 3802.

Nik’s financial disputes practice focuses on the most complex financial products, such as the Constant Proportion Debt Obligations (CPDO); he has represented Lehman Brothers Inc (the US broker dealer of the Lehmans group) in a various proceedings arising out of the global financial crisis, including a leading case on the operation of the capital markets. He is currently acting for a claimant in a multi-jurisdictional set of claims against former financial advisers, involving novel schemes for so-called investment.

Nik has acted for and against sovereign states in respect of their financial products: Nik was briefed by UK HM Treasury in the finalisation of the Asset Protection Scheme – the £1/4 trillion scheme for the protection of assets of RBS and Lloyds TSB. This was called by the press “the most complex and important mandate of the credit crunch”. Nik represented a significant holder of Greek sovereign debt in the Greek financial crisis. He represented a large foreign sovereign wealth fund in a multi-billion dollar cross-border fraud claim.

He also regularly litigates energy and natural resources; insurance and re-insurance disputes; private equity, leveraged financing and shareholder disputes. This includes shareholder disputes arising from internet-based businesses (drawing on Nik’s tech focus).

Nik is also an acknowledged expert in the law of legal professional privilege, having represented clients on that issue before both the English and Caribbean courts and being a co-author of the leading English law text Thanki (ed) The Law of Privilege.

Career

Called 2000, Middle Temple; also admitted as barrister and solicitor, Victoria; sometime lecturer in law, Wadham College, Oxford; prior to joining the Bar, practised as a solicitor with Slaughter and May, London, in a wide range of English and cross-border banking and finance-related areas.

Professional Memberships

Commercial Bar Association; LCIA; Chancery Bar Association.

Personal

University of Melbourne (LLB Hons, BA Hons); Wadham College, Oxford (BCL, First Class).