Alexander Bryant

Alexander has a busy commercial practice. Whilst he has acted in a broad range of matters, he has gained particular experience in company, shareholder, and director disputes as well as in disputes with an international dimension.

Examples of his cases include:

• Acting as sole counsel for an executive of a bank concerning the non-payment of multi-million-pound contractual bonuses.
• Acting for a minority shareholder in a multi-million-pound unfair prejudice petition before the High Court (with James Bickford Smith) and related proceedings before the County Court.
• Acting as junior counsel to David Alexander KC (South Square) in a claim valued at circa $500 million concerning director’s duties, fiduciary duties and shareholder status before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court.
• Acting as junior counsel in an appeal before the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court concerning the compilation of the register of members of a company in liquidation.
• Acted as sole counsel for an international construction company in a contractual dispute arising from the sale of a Bulgarian bank.
• Acting as junior counsel to Charles Samek KC before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court in a dispute about the beneficial ownership of shares in a BVI company and a multi-million-pound property in London.
• Acting as junior counsel in a stay application before the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. The BVI proceedings were closely related to liquidation proceedings before the Courts of the Cayman Islands.
• Acting as junior counsel to James Bickford Smith in an appeal before the Court of First Instance of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) concerning (1) the correct jurisdiction for the determination of restrictive covenant disputes in the DIFC and (2) the requirements for a lawful judgment.
• Acting as sole counsel for a residential care company in a dispute concerning breaches of contract and breaches of director’s and fiduciary duties.
• As sole counsel, obtained injunctions and related relief in a director and shareholder dispute before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court.
• Acted for a CEO of an investment company in a dispute over his status in and contractual entitlement to a payment under a long-term incentive plan.
• Acted for the defendant director in a High Court, Chancery Division trial for a final injunction arising out of breaches of confidentiality (with Alexander Halban).
• Acted for directors of a demolition company in their defence of a High Court claim for breaches of contract, director and fiduciary duties claim (with James Bickford-Smith).
• Acted for the Respondents in the Supreme Court in Secretary of State for the Home Department v Wang [UKSC 2021/0125]. The appeal concerned the validity, for Tier 1 Investor visa purposes (visas for high net worth individuals), of a £100 million investment scheme (with Rupert D’Cruz KC).
• Appeared as sole counsel for a company in its application before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court to convene a meeting of creditors to approve a scheme of arrangement.
• As junior counsel to Daniel Burkitt (Ogier), obtained a stay of proceedings from the BVI High Court of a BVI breach of trust claim in favour of concurrent and similar proceedings before the High Court of Hong Kong.
• Assisted with the litigation of a multi-billion-dollar international crypto dispute.
• Acted for an ex-senior executive of a FTSE 100 company in an appeal to the EAT (with Lydia Banerjee) and assisting with the appeal to the Court of Appeal concerning the scope of the law of agency.
• Acted as sole counsel for and advising a wealth management company in a directors dispute, with proceedings before both the High Court and the Employment Tribunal;
• Acted (as sole counsel) for an international cloud computing and data services company in its applications for relief from sanctions and strike out.
• Advised high-net-worth individuals in a prospective fraud dispute.
• Acted as sole counsel in a short appointment hearing before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court.

Caribbean:

• Acting as junior counsel to David Alexander KC (South Square) in a claim valued at circa $500 million concerning director’s duties, fiduciary duties and shareholder status before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court.
• Acting as junior counsel in an appeal before the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court concerning the compilation of the register of members of a company in liquidation.
• Acting as junior counsel to Charles Samek KC before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court in a dispute about the beneficial ownership of shares in a BVI company and a multi-million-pound property in London.
• Acting as junior counsel in a stay application before the Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. The BVI proceedings were closely related to liquidation proceedings before the Courts of the Cayman Islands.
• As sole counsel, obtained injunctions and related relief in a director and shareholder dispute before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court.
• Appeared as sole counsel for a company in its application before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court to convene a meeting of creditors to approve a scheme of arrangement.
• As junior counsel to Daniel Burkitt (Ogier), obtained a stay of proceedings from the BVI High Court of a BVI breach of trust claim in favour of concurrent and similar proceedings before the High Court of Hong Kong.
• Assisted with the litigation of a multi-billion-dollar international crypto dispute.
• Acted as sole counsel in a short appointment hearing before the Commercial Division of the BVI High Court.

Middle East:

• Acting as junior counsel to James Bickford Smith in an appeal before the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) concerning (1) the correct jurisdiction for the determination of restrictive covenant disputes in the DIFC and (2) the requirements for a lawful judgment.
• Acted as sole counsel in an appeal to the CFI of the DIFC in respect of the test to be applied by the DIFC Court when an employee is dismissed during their notice period;
• Drafted a defence in maternity discrimination claim.
• Advised financial services executives in respect of their exits from DIFC companies.

Alexander acts for both claimants and respondents on employment law matters. He has experience of acting as counsel before the EAT, the Courts of the Dubai International Financial Centre, and the Employment Tribunal.

Recent work/highlights include:

England and Wales:

• Acting as sole counsel for an executive of a bank concerning the non-payment of multi-million-pound contractual bonuses.
• Acted for a CEO of an investment company in a dispute over his status in and entitlement to a payment under a long-term incentive plan.
• Acted for an ex-senior executive of a FTSE 100 company in an appeal to the EAT (with Lydia Banerjee) and assisting with the appeal to the Court of Appeal (with David Reade KC and Lydia Banerjee) concerning the scope of the law of agency and the test for justification for a claim of indirect discrimination.
• Acted for a defendant director in a High Court trial for breaches of confidentiality, which involved questions as to the impact of whistleblowing legislation on contractual confidentiality provisions (with Alexander Halban).
• Acted as sole counsel for JD Sports Fashion PLC in a five-day trial before the Southampton Employment Tribunal involving claims of sex discrimination.
• Acted as sole counsel for the United Colleges Group in a five-day trial before the London Central Employment Tribunal involving claims of race, sex, and religious discrimination and victimisation.
• Acted (as sole counsel) for a respondent in a complex (due to the contractual framework between the directors) unlawful deduction of wages trial.
• Acted, at trial, for an international investment boutique in the defence of a financial services whistleblowing claim brought by a director (with Lydia Banerjee).
• Acted (as sole counsel) for a respondent in a complex stay application.
• Successfully representing a respondent car manufacturer in claims of disability discrimination.
• Appeared in the Employment Tribunal for the successful claimant on a contested preliminary issue, namely to determine worker status.
• Appeared in the Employment Tribunal for a successful respondent, a household-name retailer, to determine jurisdiction.

Middle East

• Acting as junior counsel to James Bickford Smith in an appeal before the Court of First Instance (CFI) of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) concerning (1) the correct jurisdiction for the determination of restrictive covenant disputes in the DIFC and (2) the requirements for a lawful judgment.
• Acted as sole counsel in an appeal to the CFI of the DIFC in respect of the test to be applied by the DIFC Court when an employee is dismissed during their notice period;
• Drafted a defence in maternity discrimination claim.
• Advised financial services executives in respect of their exits from DIFC companies.

Alexander has acted in and assisted with a number of sports matters including:

• Acted as sole counsel in appeals against disciplinary decisions of British Gymnastics.
• Advised on the appeal to a sporting governing body of a selection decision for a national team.
• Investigated misconduct allegations against directors of a football institution (with Grahame Anderson).
• Assisted in an investigation into an international sports governing body (with Lydia Banerjee).
• Assisted in the provision of advice to a major sports institution (with John Mehrzad KC of Fountain Court).
• Assisted on several football disciplinary matters (with Lydia Banerjee).
• Drafted points of claim in a Rule K FA arbitration.

Alexander has a keen interest in sport. He has played competitive cricket, rugby, and hockey. He still plays cricket regularly and helps a number of local clubs in an administrative capacity.

Alexander has experience, acting on his own and as part of a larger counsel team, of complex and lengthy investigations. His experience includes:

• Conducting grievance investigations for a big-four accountancy firm.
• Assisting with a sexual harassment investigation in the financial services sector (with Carol Davis KC).
• Assisting with a race discrimination investigation in the information and technology sector (with Niran de Silva KC).
• Investigating misconduct allegations against directors of a football institution (with Grahame Anderson).
• Assisting in an investigation into an international sports governing body (with Lydia Banerjee).

2019:   Called to the Bar, Inner Temple

2018 – 2019:   Bar Professional Training Course (The University of Law, London)

2017 – 2018:   Graduate Diploma in Law (BPP, London)

2014 – 2017:   History Bachelor of Arts with Honours (University of York)

• Award for Outstanding Achievement in Civil Advocacy – highest BPTC mark (Sept. 2019)
• Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opinion Writing – highest BPTC mark (Sept. 2019)
• Scholarship from the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple for the BPTC (Mar. 2018)
• Scholarship from the Honourable Society of the Inner Temple for the GDL (Jul. 2017)
• Pegasus Access and Support Scheme Scholarship (Dec. 2017)