Nik Yeo

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.

Nik regularly acts for a leading crypto exchanges 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) - from disputes arising from the complex valuation of securitised assets to claims against solicitors, barristers 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.

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 been briefed by, or against, sovereign states in respect of 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.

BA (Hons), LLB (Hons) (Melbourne) and BCL (Oxon).