Mishcon de Reya LLP

Mishcon de Reya LLP is a law firm with offices in London and Singapore. Founded by Victor Mishcon in a one-room office in Brixton in 1937, it now employs more than 900 people, with over 500 lawyers offering a wide range of legal services to companies and individuals. Mishcon de Reya services an international community of clients and provides advice in situations where the constraints of geography often do not apply. The work the firm undertakes is cross-border, multi-jurisdictional and complex.

We appreciate the privilege of sitting alongside our clients as a trusted advisor. Building strong personal connections to our clients and their businesses is important to us. It is for these reasons we say ‘It’s business. But it’s personal’.

The firm: Mishcon de Reya prides itself not only on the diverse range of legal services that it offers as a practice, but also on the diverse range of people who provide those services. The central role played by the Academy, the firm’s in-house place of learning, development and new thinking, and in its active and innovative social impact strategy are reflected in The Sunday Times ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ list, in which Mishcon featured consecutively for thirteen years.

Types of work undertaken: Mishcon de Reya has acted in some of the most high-profile and ground-breaking cases in the industry. Some of our recent experience includes:

The corporate department advised the principal sellers of Calastone, the world’s largest funds network, on the sale of a majority stake to The Carlyle Group.

The competition group represented Sainsbury’s supermarkets in relation to its damages claim against MasterCard in the Supreme Court in relation to the overpayment of multilateral interchange fees.

The litigation department acts in an all-female team for the first and main defendant in one of The Lawyer‘s top 20 cases for 2020 and one of the largest disputes ever before the Commercial Court. The Public Institution for Social Security in Kuwait is pursuing 38 Defendants (including its former Director General, Mishcon client Fahad Al Rajaan) for $836m for alleged secret commissions spanning several decades. The case raises important issues of jurisdiction and Swiss banking secrecy law.

Mishcon Private acted for Jenny, The Accidental American (Mandatory Disclosure Regime case). Claims and complaints have been filed in several countries (UK, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg), as well as against financial institutions in connection with systems of automatic exchange of information from the EU to the US (‘FATCA’) and between non-US countries amongst themselves (’CRS’) as well as in connection with new public registers of beneficial ownership which are in the process of being introduced throughout the EU (the UK also has its own public register).

The employment department continues to represent Pimlico Plumbers at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, following the Supreme Court’s decision on the issue of worker status and remains one of the highest authorities on this issue. The department also advised Hyperion Insurance Group on one of the most significant team move claims of the year and the Jewish Labour Movement in relation to the referral of the Labour Party to the Equality and Human Rights Commission on issues of antisemitism. On the Senior Executives side, the department acted for a number of business founders, CEOs and Board Directors on market sensitive appointments, exits, high profile litigation and negotiating contracts and severance, including advising Nawaf Hasan, the former Middle East and North Africa Director at Arthur J Gallagher on a high profile team move dispute and Professor Marjan Jahangiri on a successful application for injunctive relief in the High Court.

The family department acted for a Kuwaiti business woman and a member of a wealthy Middle Eastern family in relation to a complex divorce, financial remedy and Children Act proceedings. The fundamental dispute was regarding the inherited nature of our clients’ wealth and her assets primarily held in the Middle East and offshore.

The real estate department continues to act for Delancey, APG, Qatari Diar and Oxford Properties on their ongoing programme of development for East Village, the former Olympic Village in Stratford, East London, on all property and asset management, the construction and financing of new development plots, retail lettings and planning matters.

The intellectual property department acted for Sky in a dispute that has been described by many as the most important case since the inception of the EU trade mark regime, Sky v SkyKick, including proceedings before the CJEU.