Rosling King

Rosling King is a rapidly growing UK-based law firm specialising in serving the needs of financial institutions and the real estate, private equity and construction sectors.

The firm: Commerciality is at the heart of the firm’s advice and its lawyers have extensive experience of understanding clients’ objectives and commercial goals.

This expertise enables the firm to advise on commercial and corporate transactions, commercial and residential real estate acquisitions and disposals, commercial real estate finance, distressed debt and loan workouts, construction, restructuring and insolvency, and all forms of dispute resolution and insurance coverage issues.

From its offices in the City of London, the firm works across the UK and internationally and has links with law firms in over 100 cities around the world, enhancing its capability to handle global and cross-border transactions.

Types of work undertaken
Dispute resolution: As experts in dispute resolution for clients in the investment, private equity, financial, real estate and construction sectors, we always look at problems in the round, then put a plan in place to reach the earliest and most favourable resolution.

RK has resolved complex commercial disputes for corporates, banks, private equity funds, loan servicers and financial institutions for over 30 years, developing a wide range of expert services and specialist skills that can often pre-empt or avoid long drawn-out litigation.

RK handles all forms of company and commercial disputes the majority being in the tens, if not hundreds of millions in value. This includes investor and shareholder claims, breach of duties by directors and professional advisors, all forms of asset recovery and fraud, often involving cross-border and offshore locations.

RK advise on regulatory issues in financial and banking transactions and disputes in many areas of both commercial and consumer finance, including mis-selling, Ombudsman complaints, loans, repossessions, and PPI and CCA claims. RK also represented the lender in a number of leading cases in the lending arena and advised lenders and investors on disputes arising from fraudulent borrowing including mortgage fraud, money laundering schemes and employee fraud.

Professional negligence is an area of special expertise for RK’s dispute resolution group – they have a team of lawyers whose track record, acting for lenders in many leading cases, continues to attract major clients. RK’s experience in representing clients in claims against professionals has given it a deep understanding of the issues they face, and of strategies for bringing disputes to a swift, satisfactory conclusion.

In construction and real estate disputes, RK work closely with our specialist groups in those areas to offer clients thoroughly informed advice on the commercial realities of their situation. RK handle all forms of construction and engineering dispute, and have many years’ experience of resolving landlord and tenant disputes concerning leases, boundaries, planning and other issues. RK also handle claims for compensation, dilapidations and forfeiture.

Following a merger with Lax & Co, RK’s shipping department offers legal advice on a wide range of shipping-related issues including charterparty and contract of carriage disputes, shipbuilding disputes, ship sale and purchases, and salvage and casualty matters.

The team has worked for clients across the global shipping industry including shipowners, operators, charterers, commodity traders and their insurers and financiers and have worked on a range of high-value disputes involving terminations of long term charters, contracts of affreightment and shipbuilding contracts.

Banking and finance: The long relationships built up by the RK finance group with many UK and international lenders, banks, private equity houses, debt funds and loan servicers are proof of the quality of RK’s advice. This is evidenced by RK’s ranking by The Legal 500 as one of the leading real estate finance practices within the UK.

RK’s advice on secured and unsecured lending covers all forms of loan and security documentation, senior and mezzanine finance, warehouse financing, syndication and participation, leveraged finance, asset finance and project finance. RK advise a number of participants on CMBS and RMBS issuances, including noteholders, servicers, issuers and trustees.

RK are particularly expert in handling the sale and purchase of portfolios of secured and unsecured debt, and can offer specialist finance services to mortgage lenders, debt purchasers and loan servicers engaged in this kind of transaction. RK has an equally long track record of acting for corporate clients and individual investors, lenders and borrowers, particularly on issues concerning real estate finance and other forms of asset-based lending.

Commercial: The lawyers of RK’s commercial group are specialists in providing the kind of advice that can help clients protect and promote their interests and drive their businesses forward. And they provide it to some of the most ambitious clients in sectors such as private equity, hotels and leisure, insurance, technology, real estate and financial services.

RK’s practical, professional advice covers all trading activities of a business or organisation, such as contractual issues, commercial agreements including agency, distribution and franchise agreements, licensing agreements, joint ventures, sale and supply contracts, terms and conditions of business, IT and outsourcing contracts and sponsorship, merchandising and advertising agreements.

RK also offer clients all the legal support they need are intellectual property, where it advises on the protection, enforcement and exploitation of IP rights, and regulatory issues such as data protection and FCA compliance.

Construction: The RK construction group provides advice to clients at every stage of the development and construction process, from developers, banks, investors and owner-occupiers to consultants, contractors and potential purchasers and tenants. They all get the benefit of a seamless, rounded legal service that also draws on expertise from RK’s real estate, corporate and finance groups and deals with documents and disputes on all forms of commercial and residential project.

RK’s experience in drafting and negotiating construction documentation covers building contracts, guarantees, development joint venture agreements, collateral warranties, consultants’ appointments and novation agreements. In the area of construction and engineering disputes, RK has a long track record of achieving resolutions both for policyholders as part of an insurance coverage dispute and in conflicts that arise either during or after the construction phase.

RK have helped resolve many high-profile disputes in recent years, including those relating to the Great Eastern Hotel in London, the London Millennium Footbridge, the National Physical Laboratories, the Second Severn Crossing and the A55.

Corporate: In helping their clients negotiate mergers, acquisitions, disposals and every other kind of corporate transaction, RK know that availability, agility and responsiveness can be decisive.

Whatever the time of day and whoever we’re advising, whether it’s a bank, private equity house, financial institution, insolvency practitioner, SME, start-up or private individual, RK are ready to provide them with the expert service they need to get the deal that serves them best. That includes the input of lawyers in RK beyond their corporate group, in areas such as real estate and commercial, so that clients effectively receive the benefit of several specialist groups to best suit their requirements.

RK advise on shareholder and partnership agreements, joint ventures, share schemes, MBOs, reconstructions and reorganisations, share buybacks, statutory and regulatory compliance and corporate governance.

Between RK’s corporate and real estate groups, there’s a deep understanding of the real estate sector. RK act for clients in every kind of corporate real estate transaction, including share and asset sales and purchases, corporate joint ventures, devising acquisition structures and corporate restructuring.

Insurance: For well over 30 years, RK’s insurance group has been advising UK and overseas clients in the London market – insurers, reinsurers, other insurance professionals and policyholders – on coverage issues, claims, policy drafting and risk management.

RK have built a strong reputation in claims handling in particular, where they deal with policyholder claims in fields such as professional indemnity, construction and engineering, financial lines, manufacturing, property damage and business interruption. UK-based claims for overseas clients are a big part of their service.

RK stop at nothing to help their policyholder clients find solutions to their coverage issues, and regularly advise on forum, choice of law, jurisdiction and issues concerning conflicts of laws. RK also deal with disputes on coverage where the jurisdiction under the policy or agreement is English, and have taken several disputes to the House of Lords. In the case of LF v Agnew RK acted for a large Swedish insurer seeking reinsurance from the London market amid disputes over conflicts of international law. RK’s imaginative approach – raising new arguments on the interpretation of the Brussels and Lugano Conventions – was instrumental in achieving a positive result for the client.

That flair for inventive solutions is something RK bring to dispute resolution, too, where their long experience includes complex international litigation and arbitration. In the case of Orient-Express Hotels v Generali, RK raised novel arguments of interpretation of business interruption clauses in a policy and their effect on losses to a hotel in New Orleans after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

Real estate: Real estate is a core area of expertise for RK, and it advises banks, investors, private equity houses, developers and loan servicers, as well as property owners in the private and public sector. RK’s expertise in real estate finance has been recognised by The Legal 500 who have ranked them as one of the leading real estate finance practices within the UK.

RK’s advice covers issues and transactions spanning the entire property life cycle, from acquisition, planning and construction to financing, insurance, leasing, tax and final exit strategies. RK’s real estate group has extensive experience in acting for developers, lenders and corporate entities on every kind of property transaction. RK also specialise in landlord and tenant work, managing a number of shopping centres and multi-let buildings across the UK, and dealing with every angle of agency and lettings.

Restructuring and insolvency: Taking a distressed situation such as a troubled business or a non-performing business loan and putting it right means being quick on your feet. In advising on both contentious and non-contentious insolvency matters, deadlines are tight and RK have to be ready to act for new clients at just a day’s notice to achieve the outcomes they’re looking for.

Those clients – which include lenders, private equity houses, loan servicers, debt funds, investors and insolvency practitioners – are looking for expert advice on issues such as reorganisations and group reconstructions, asset sales of insolvent companies, administrations, LPA receiverships, voluntary arrangements, liquidations, insolvency litigation and enforcement.

Issues surrounding lending and borrowing are especially familiar to RK. They work on large portfolios of non-performing commercial real estate loans, using a range of restructuring and insolvency techniques to put loans back on track, or to secure the best recovery for the client. And RK work with businesses in financial distress to help them limit their losses to the benefit of all stakeholders and, in many cases, ward off the insolvency process altogether.