Andrew has a well-established banking and financial services practice, specialising in high value and complex disputes relating to personal guarantees and indemnities; Andrew was successful in the Court of Appeal which provided guidance on the extent of an “all monies” guarantee in the important case of National Merchant Buying Society v Bellamy [2013] EWCA Civ 452; regulated mortgage contracts and claims for breach of trust, fiduciary duty and disputes regarding unregulated securities and cases involving commercial fraud including freezing injunctions and asset recovery, both for and against lenders. Andrew is frequently instructed on matters involving cross-border enforcement of judgments and anti-suit injunctions, arising from financial investment disputes; in particular, Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies.
Andrew is widely regarded as one of the foremost financial services juniors at the Bar with extensive experience of regulatory investigations and enforcement actions, having been involved in some of the most significant regulatory interventions post
Lehman, involving mis-selling of financial investments (such as group actions involving Keydata, Arch Cru, Sterling Mortimer and Harlequin); as well the interface between regulatory duties and enforceability of contracts under sections 19 and 26 of FSMA 2000 on Regulated Mortgage Contracts and cases concerning complex derivatives and the meaning and effect of complex securitisation, loan, security and ISDA documentation. Andrew was instructed on the judicial review of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme’s decision to levy £32 million on independent financial advisers, which is reported as R (on the application of ABS Financial Planning Ltd and others) v Financial Services Compensation Scheme Ltd reported at [2012] 2 BCLC 267.
Andrew is regularly instructed on matters relating to regulatory aspects of investments and loans, which engage FSMA 2000 and its regulations and additionally as to large-scale professional negligence disputes arising from mis-selling of investments;.Recently, Andrew acted as lead counsel in an 8 days’ trial relating to a Land Banking Scheme and successfully dismissed claims for an Unregulated Collective Investment Scheme and deceit.
Recent work includes:
The successful claim for summary judgment subsequent to obtaining a freezing injunctive relief against the thieves and their accessories and a proprietary freezing order against the wallet provider as well as a direction that service by a NFT airdrop into the blockchain was permitted in Gary Jones v Persons Unknown and Huobi Global Ltd [2022] EWHC (Ch).
The successful claim for a freezing injunctive relief against the thieves and their accessories and a proprietary freezing order against the wallet provider as well as a direction that a cross-undertaking in damages was not required in XY v Persons Unknown and Binance Holdings Ltd [2021] EWHC 3352 (Comm).
A claim for £3M in which various claims under FSMA 2000 and the RAO are raised relating to a loan agreement and involves a security in Belgium which was subject to proceedings in Brussels, in which Andrew was led by Richard Lissack QC.
Terracorp v Mistry [2020] EWHC 1645 (Ch), (reported in Estates Gazette 2020 2043, 42) and, on appeal, [2020] EWHC 2623 (Ch), [2020] Costs LR 1435, in which the claimant company, which had sold parcels of land to the defendant purchasers under a land banking scheme, appealed against a declaration that the true interpretation of covenants in the sales contracts meant that the defendants were not liable to pay “covenant charges”. Andrew was successful in defeating, at trial, eight out of nine heads of claim including a UCIS claim and a claim in fraudulent misrepresentation.
The widely reported breach of fiduciary duty and deceit case of BCS Acceptances Ltd and Ors v Daniel Terry [2019] EWHC 1645 (QB).