Partner
Appleby
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Partner and Chief Operating Officer
Co-head of our market-leading fraud and asset recovery team, Alan Bercow is “technically adept” and is “all over the detail - clients trust him because they know that he knows everything about their case” (Chambers UK 2021). He advises clients, including major corporates and high net worth individuals, in relation to litigating disputes as well as tracing and recovering assets across multiple jurisdictions. Alan's practice is international and The Legal 500 praises Alan, saying he “is particularly experienced in cases involving Russia and the CIS”.
Alan acts on a broad range of corporate and commercial disputes, which have included some of the largest cases before the English courts. His clients include companies, directors, high net worth individuals and insolvency practitioners. Alan has extensive experience of parallel, multi-jurisdictional cases involving Russia and the CIS, and also offshore jurisdictions such as BVI, the Cayman Islands, Cyprus and the Isle of Man.
Alan co-heads our market-leading fraud team, which is ranked in tier 1 by The Legal 500. He has significant experience of high value, complex fraud and asset recovery claims, often involving freezing orders, disclosure orders, anti-suit injunctions and gagging orders. He is listed as a leading individual by both The Legal 500 and Chambers UK.
Alan has significant experience of cases involving insolvency. He has acted for and against insolvency practitioners, both in the UK and abroad. He also advises regularly on directors' duties
Alex is Counsel in the Dispute Resolution team in Guernsey.
Alex has a wide range of dispute resolution experience, focussing on commercial disputes, contentious insolvency matters and regulatory enforcement issues and proceedings. These matters have also included the obtaining of emergency injunctive relief, both on notice and ex parte, in Guernsey and abroad.
Alex’s experience includes:
Acting for certain directors to defend claims in the region of USD 1 billion brought by the liquidators of a parent company based in Guernsey.
Acting for a fiduciary services provider and individual directors in respect of enforcement proceedings brought by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, including on Appeal.
Acting for the Plaintiffs in a contractual dispute involving claims and counterclaims in the region of USD 50 million.
Acting for a liquidator in a successful application for directions under s.426 of the Companies (Guernsey) Law 2008.
Advising a fiduciary services provider in relation to certain sanctions.
Advising the largest creditor within a liquidation in respect of funding the liquidators to pursue a multi-million dollar claim.
Advising a corporate services provider on a multi-jurisdictional employment related dispute, involving the obtaining of ex parte injunctive relief abroad.
Prior experience:
Acted for the defendant in Rusnano v CRGF, in connection with proceedings before the Royal Court and Court of Appeal of Guernsey to terminate a Limited Partnership.
The preparation of an unfair prejudice petition in respect of a claim amounting to tens of millions of GBP.
Successfully intervening on behalf of a class of investors in a Privy Council case: Pearson (Appellant) v Primeo Fund (Respondent) (Cayman Islands) [2017] UKPC 19.
Representing an international bank on a liquidation committee in connection with the solvent liquidation of a Madoff-related feeder fund.
Acting for defendants in a claim brought by the Madoff Trustee involving claims of up to USD 1bn.
Acting for defendants in connection with fraud claims in the region of USD 1 billion arising out of matters in South-East Asia.
Acted in a successful challenge of an LCIA Award under s.68 of the Arbitration Act 1996: K and others v P and others [2019] EWHC 589 (comm).
Alexandra is a Senior Associate within the Isle of Man Corporate team. joined Appleby in 2011 as a trainee and was commissioned as an Isle of Man Advocate in 2013 after a two year period of articles and passing the Manx Bar Exams.
Alexandra practices in corporate, aviation and commercial property law. Within the realm of corporate law, Alexandra assists with a diverse range of matters, including mergers and acquisitions, legal due diligence, banking and asset finance transactions and multi-jurisdictional corporate restructuring.
Alexandra co-wrote the Isle of Man chapter of Aircraft Finance Online, published by Thomson Reuters in 2018.
Partner
Partner and Group Head
Counsel
Partner
Anthony is Head of Dispute Resolution in Guernsey.
Anthony is an experienced trial and appellate advocate. He has significant experience in many areas of corporate litigation and dispute resolution. Anthony has a particular expertise in high value and complex commercial litigation, with particular focus on investment fund disputes, regulatory enforcement, contentious insolvency matters, asset-tracing and recovery work, and trust litigation.
Anthony’s experience includes:
Acting for certain directors to defend claims in the region of USD 1 billion brought by the liquidators of a parent company based in Guernsey.
Advising and acting in Aareal Bank AG v JJW Limited, at first instance [2020] GRC 046 and on appeal [2021] GCA 021 which involved the first reported case in Guernsey concerning a contested compulsory winding up application.
Acting for the successful Defendant in Rusnano v CRGF, proceedings before the Royal Court of Guernsey to terminate a Limited Partnership.
Acting in Rusnano Capital v Molard International [2019] GRC011 and in the Guernsey Court of Appeal [2019] GCA077, which involved the question whether a sole beneficiary of a discretionary trust can call for distribution of the trust assets under Saunders v Vautier where the protector has a power to add further beneficiaries.
Advising HSBC on the transfer of their banking business in Guernsey pursuant to a scheme of arrangement as part of a wider restructuring of the banking business in the UK. This was the first court sanctioned scheme of this kind in Guernsey.
Winning an appeal to the Guernsey Court of Appeal on behalf of a Trustee in relation to an application by a beneficiary to terminate the trust. This is the leading decision in Guernsey with respect to the application of the common law rule in Saunders v Vautier.
Winning an appeal to the Guernsey Court of Appeal on behalf of a Beneficiary in relation to an application to set aside various dispositions into trust. This is the leading decision in Guernsey with respect to the rule in Hastings Bass.
Winning an appeal to the Guernsey Court of Appeal in relation to the scope and applicability of Directors’ indemnities. This case created new law in relation to the presumptive basis on which Directors take the benefit of indemnities contained in the Articles of Association.
Appearing as trial advocate successfully representing a beneficiary of a trust in relation to a claim that certain trust assets be distributed to her. This case is the leading financial crime decision in Guernsey with respect to the scope and applicability of suspicious activity reports and the statutory “no consent” regime.
Appearing as trial advocate representing a former senior executive defending claims of fraud with respect to the ownership of an LP. The trial involved extensive cross examination of multiple factual and expert witnesses. The decision has been reserved.
Obtaining a freezing injunction and wide ranging disclosure orders as part of a worldwide claim arising out of complex and high value litigation in the UK.
Obtaining an administration order in in respect of a number of Guernsey investment companies, forming part of a wider UK property holding structure, as part of a plan of restructuring to rescue the group as a going concern. The reorganisation involved the proposed restructuring of a secured loan facility in excess of £700million, and the managed disposal of an extensive portfolio of UK commercial real estate assets.
Appearing for the acquirer in relation to the successful CAN$775million takeover of the NYX Gaming Group by way of contested scheme of arrangement.
Acting for a global bank in connection with claw back claims instituted by the US Trustee of Madoff and the Liquidators of Fairfield.
Acting on behalf of a number of Guernsey financial services businesses in connection with regulatory enforcement action for breaches of AML / CFT legalisation including advising with respect to compliance issues and remediation projects.
Associate
Counsel
Partner
Bermuda Managing Partner
Senior Associate
Counsel
Hall of fame
Caren Pegg is a partner in the Dispute Resolution department in the Isle of Man. She joined the firm in 2001 and qualified as an Isle of Man advocate in 2003.
She is an experienced advocate and deals with a broad range of civil and commercial disputes, including freezing injunctions, enforcement of judgments, asset tracing, Norwich Pharmacal applications, public law issues and director/shareholder disputes.
Caren also specialises in employment law and is the Global Head of the Employment team. She has extensive experience in dealing with both non-contentious and contentious matters, including redundancy, employment issues related to mergers & acquisitions, restructuring, unfair dismissal, sex discrimination and contracts of employment. Her clients range from leading global and local corporate entities to high net worth individuals. She also has experience in dealing with GDPR, work permit and immigration issues and also regarding the employment aspects of shipping law, including crew contracts.
She has been actively involved in liaising with the Isle of Man Government as part of the consultation process for both the Isle of Man Law Society and the Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce for all the employment legislation that has been introduced over the last twenty years including the Employment Act 2006 and the Equality Act 2017.
Associate
Partner
Partner
Charles Davies is a partner within the Dispute Resolution department in the Isle of Man. He joined Appleby in October 2007 and became a partner in 2010.
He specialises in complex corporate and commercial disputes. Since joining the firm, Charles has advised and acted for clients in a variety of commercial, corporate and trust disputes. Clients have included regulatory and governmental bodies, insurers and city firms of solicitors.
Prior to joining the firm, Charles practised from 1996 to 2007 as a barrister in a commercial set of chambers in London (Stone Chambers), specialising in all aspects of commercial and shipping litigation, including arbitration.
Chris Cheng is a partner in the Corporate department of Appleby’s Hong Kong office and he leads Hong Kong Capital Markets team. Chris has more than 20 years of offshore and onshore experience, having previously worked at an international law firm in Hong Kong specialising in capital markets transactions.
He has substantial experience in the area of capital markets, specialising in private and public offerings of debt and equity, private equity, mergers and acquisitions, privatisation as well as bank financing and other corporate and commercial law related transactions. Clients include Bermuda, Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands entities, many of which are listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, as well as banks and financial institutions.
Christopher Cope is a Consultant in the Dispute Resolution department in the Isle of Man.
Prior to joining the firm Christopher practised as a barrister for 10 years. In 2001 he relocated to the Isle of Man and joined the firm and was appointed as a partner in 2004.
Claire Milne is a partner within the Corporate department in the Isle of Man. She is Team Leader for the Intellectual Property and Science & Technology teams in the Isle of Man.
Claire has over 20 years´ experience (both in-house and in private practice) of all aspects of contentious and non-contentious IP rights across the spectrum and has dealt with all aspects of commercialisation of IP rights for businesses ranging from start-ups and university spin-outs to large multi-national pharmaceutical companies. She has also worked on major bespoke software and hardware development projects, especially for the financial services and gaming sectors. Claire specialises in advising online gaming and gambling operators, e-business companies and telecoms companies and also advises on data protection and outsourcing issues. Claire was Chair of the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission from 2007 – 2012. She is also founding member of the Isle of Man Data Protection Officers´ Forum.
Some examples of Claire’s work include advising: the government of the Isle of Man to review the island’s IP legislation and recommend amendments thereto; a number of international banks and insurance companies on the international transfer of their customer personal data; various major brand owners on their trade-mark strategies and licensing strategies in the Isle of Man and Europe; a major bank on the establishment of its e-money service; and a number of international banks and insurance companies on major outsourcing deals.
Claire Corkish is Partner and an experienced litigator within the Isle of Man Dispute Resolution department. She has extensive experience in a broad range of commercial litigation matters. In particular, she advises on injunctive relief, search and disclosure orders, cross border mutual legal assistance actions (including anti-suit injunctions), jurisdictional issues, fund disputes and insolvency matters. Claire also advises and appears on behalf of clients in high profile take over and transfer schemes.
Since qualifying in November 2009 Claire has appeared before the Isle of Man High Court (at first instance and appellate levels) on a variety of contentious litigation matters. Claire also has significant experience in representing clients at mediation and joint settlement meetings.
She completed a six month secondment from the Isle of Man to Hong Kong with Appleby in 2014. Whilst in Hong Kong, Claire assisted a number of Chinese and Korean clients in relation to corporate disputes involving BVI and Cayman incorporated entities.
Partner
Counsel
Partner
David is the Managing Partner of the Hong Kong and Shanghai offices and Local Corporate Group Head. He is also head of Asia Private Equity, M&A, and Corporate Restructuring.
Partner
Partner
Associate
Dylan is a Partner in the Corporate Department in Guernsey.
Dylan has considerable expertise in a wide range of corporate, banking and investment fund matters. He specialises in banking and finance (including real estate finance, fund finance and security enforcement), M&A and investment funds.
He also advises on insurance matters including captives and reinsurance structures.
Dylan trained at Maples and Calder in Dublin. Prior to joining Appleby, he was a Partner at an international law firm in Guernsey.
Eason Huang is a partner and registered foreign lawyer (England & Wales) of Appleby’s Shanghai office and Hong Kong office respectively, and a member of the Corporate Department.
Eason has almost 10 years of offshore experience specialising in the structuring, formation, organisation and operation of all types of open- and closed-ended funds, including private equity and hedge funds, and their related investment management entities. He counsels funds in all stages of their operations, and regularly advises them on fund formation and governance matters.
Eleanor Harding is Counsel within the Corporate department in the Isle of Man, specialising in banking and asset finance transactions, including property, aircraft and ship finance matters. She joined the firm as a trainee and after completing her two year period of articles, Eleanor qualified in February 2011 as an Isle of Man Advocate.
Eleanor has particular experience in providing opinions on Isle of Man companies, dealing with cross-border security and insolvency issues and providing advice on all aspects of ship and aircraft finance and registration in the Isle of Man. Eleanor acts for many international financial institutions, law firms and corporate service providers, advising on a full range of the key and complex legal issues that affect both their own businesses and those of their clients.
Eleanor assisted Andrew Webb in preparing the Isle of Man chapter for Aircraft Finance Online published by Sweet & Maxwell Limited which covers the registration of aircraft, the registration of aircraft security and the enforcement of aircraft mortgages lease registration in the Isle of Man.
Eliot Simpson is a partner and Group Head of the Dispute Resolution department in Hong Kong.
He has extensive experience in commercial litigation and insolvency, including corporate disputes, fund disputes, and corporate bankruptcy, insolvency and restructuring.
Eliot is Solicitor Advocate in the British Virgin Islands and a registered foreign lawyer in Hong Kong. He has also been admitted as an Attorney in the Cayman Islands, an Advocate in Jersey and a Solicitor Advocate in England & Wales.
Erin is Counsel and practices a broad range of commercial litigation working in Appleby’s Dispute Resolution teams in the Isle of Man and Jersey. Having trained and qualified in the Isle of Man, Erin joined Appleby in October 2015 after gaining several years’ experience at a leading offshore firm in Guernsey.
She specialises in trust disputes and general trust advisory work including advising trustees and beneficiaries on a wide range of contentious trust and estates issues and regularly presents to trust service providers on the obligations of trustees. She also undertakes commercial litigation work including insolvency matters and advising regarding restraint orders in the Isle of Man under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2008.
Some recent examples of representative work include:
advising trustees in respect of potential disputes with beneficiaries;
advising trustees and beneficiaries in applications for rectification and/or rescission on the grounds of mistake;
advising beneficiaries in an application for a variation of trusts under the Variation of Trusts Act 1961;
advising trustees and executors in relation to applications to the Court for directions;
advising executors and administrators in relation to the contentious aspects of the administration of estates;
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Partner
Associate
Fiona Chan is a partner in the corporate department of Appleby’s Hong Kong office, leading the Banking and Finance practice in the Hong Kong office as well as Appleby’s Technology & Innovation Group in Asia. Fiona has over 20 years of offshore and onshore experience in the Asian market and advises on the laws of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands.
Her broad offshore law practice spans banking and finance transactions including acquisition, leveraged and project financing, privatisation financing, shipping and aircraft financing, structured products, fund financing, bond issuance and restructuring of corporates and financial institutions.
Fiona is routinely instructed by major international and Asian financial institutions, listed and private companies, securities providers and leading law firms.
Garry Manley is a partner in the Isle of Man office who advises on a broad range of Isle of Man and BVI corporate transactions. He has extensive experience of advising on domestic and cross-border mergers & acquisitions and venture capital/private equity investments, with a particular focus on regulated financial services and insurance businesses.
In addition to his M&A practice, Garry is one of the Isle of Man’s leading regulatory lawyers, with a particular focus on insurance companies, banks and corporate service providers. Garry’s insurance work sees him advising many of the Isle of Man’s leading insurance groups and insurance managers on the full spectrum of matters including M&A transactions, portfolio transfers, new authorisations, change of control applications and ongoing business regulation, including solvency issues. In addition to the regulation of traditional sectors, Garry advises on a range of novel and developing regulated industries, including payment services and cryptoassets. He is a pre-eminent thought-leader in respect of the regulated cannabis sector on the Isle of Man and is also distinguished in the area of economic substance, having been the only lawyer on the Isle of Man government’s public-private working group since 2019. He also supports clients in contentious regulatory matters, including regulatory investigations and enforcement proceedings, alongside colleagues in Appleby’s market-leading disputes team.
Garry has a first- class law degree from Oxford University, and before joining Appleby he practised for almost a decade as a mergers & acquisitions and transactional private equity specialist in the London, Hong Kong and New York offices of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.
In addition to his advisory work, Garry frequently provides input into legislative developments across a broad range of topics. He was closely involved in the development of the Isle of Man’s first merger control regime, and he has also been consulted about legislative developments in the areas of company law, cannabis regulation, economic substance and beneficial ownership.
Partner
Gemma is Counsel within the Corporate department in Jersey.
Corporate
Iain specialises in all aspects of corporate and private equity work, M&A, banking, debt finance and real estate finance matters.
Iain has substantial offshore experience advising on all aspects of commercial real estate deals and private equity acquisitions, including some among the largest and most complex to have been undertaken in Jersey.
Prior to joining Appleby, Iain worked for over 15 years in private practice in Jersey and London, in one major offshore firm and a leading onshore practice. Iain is admitted as an English Solicitor (non-practising).
Partner
James Gaudin is the Office Managing Partner in Jersey and a partner within Appleby’s Corporate department. He specialises in all areas of offshore corporate, finance and restructuring work within Appleby’s strong equity and capital markets practice.
His extensive experience covers banking and asset finance, real estate investment structures, public and private debt and equity issues, securitisations, repackagings and initial public offerings, as well as structures involving Jersey limited partnerships and unit trusts. More recently James has advised on some of the largest corporate restructurings to have occurred in the Jersey market. He also advises banks and other global financial institutions in relation to the Jersey elements of complex cross-border insolvencies. The majority of his time is spent on real estate finance and funds.
He has contributed to numerous publications, and regularly presents to conferences, seminars and clients. James also participates in numerous industry steering and consultation groups.
Some examples of work includes advising: Acting for Credit Suisse (Europe) Limited as Joint Lead Managers and Bookrunners in relation to the offer of £266,500,000 8% Senior Secured Fixed Rate Notes due 2020 and £150,000,000 Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due 2019 by Hastings Insurance Group; Acting for Credit Suisse (USA) LLC as Initial Purchaser in connection with the issue by Georgia Wordwide PLC of its €700,000,000 4.125% Senior Secured Notes due 2020, €850,000,000 4.750% Senior Secured Notes due 2023, US$600,000,000 5.625% Senior Secured Notes due 2020, US$1,500,000,000 6.250% Senior Secured Notes due 2022 and US$1,100,000,000 6.500% Senior Secured Notes due 2025; Acting for Deutsche Bank AG London as lead arranger in connection with the BVI, Jersey and Mauritian aspects of the US$600,000,000 bond issue by Severn Energy together with further participations by Vitol SA, Ashmopre Group and a syndicate of African banks headed by FBN Capital
Senior Associate
Managing Partner
Jeremy Berchem is a Group Partner in the Corporate team. From April 2020 to April 2023 Jeremy was the Office Managing Group Partner in Guernsey. Jeremy has extensive experience of all areas of banking and finance work including advising both lenders and borrowers in relation to all aspects of subscription, acquisition, property and asset finance transactions.
In addition Jeremy advises on the issuance of bonds and other debt instruments and their listing on the TISE, the sale and purchase of companies, corporate governance matters and the restructuring of corporate and debt structures. He also has a broad corporate and commercial practice and advises on general corporate matters.
Notable transactions include:
Acting as Guernsey counsel to HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA in connection with its acquisition of HSBC’s private banking business in Guernsey.
Acting for Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Plc acting as agent for a syndicate of 3 banks in the accession of various sub-funds to, and amendments to, existing subscription facilities of up to EUR 4,000,000,000 currently made available to a major Guernsey fund.
Acting as lead counsel to The Royal Bank of Scotland International Limited in respect of various investor backed loan facilities made available to Lakestar funds.
Acting as Alderney counsel to a syndicate of lenders (including Deutsche Bank AG New York Branch, Lloyds Bank plc, NatWest, Barclays Bank PLC, JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A. and Santander) in connection with the amendment and restatement, including a facility increase, of a £1.5 billion facility and a USD 2 billion facility.
Acting as Guernsey counsel to the States of Guernsey in putting in place with Lloyds Bank plc a bilateral £100,000,000 facility to replace the States’ existing £250,000,000 syndicated facility.
Acting regularly for Investec Bank plc in connection with funds finance and property finance transactions. He has acted on 16 transactions during 2022.
Acting regularly (in excess of 15 transactions during 2022) for the private bank division of HSBC Guernsey in lending to high net worth individuals and their structures.
Partner
Partner and Head of Bermuda's Dispute Resolution practice
John Bisson is a Partner within and leads the Property department in Jersey.
He joined Appleby in 1971, and became a partner when he qualified as a Jersey Solicitor in 1987. He is a former Chairman of the Executive Board and Group General Counsel.
John specialises in commercial and residential property development and has advised on many major and innovative commercial property developments in Jersey. He is widely acknowledged as the leading commercial property practitioner in the Island.
Senior Counsel
Counsel
Juan Thornley is Partner in the Corporate department with a broad corporate practice. He has extensive experience in M&A, restructuring and regulatory matters, with particular focus on the financial services sector.
He heads the Isle of Man Regulatory and Insurance & Pensions teams. He also has a wealth of experience acting on public M&A transactions.
Juan is an Isle of Man Advocate, BVI Attorney and a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales (non-practising). He is also a Notary Public. In addition to this, he is a member of the Isle of Man’s Bank Resolution and Recovery Technical Advisory Group.
Judy Lee is a partner in the Corporate department of Appleby’s Hong Kong office. Judy practises a wide range of Bermuda, Cayman and BVI corporate law, specialising in corporate finance and investment funds. She is responsible for our corporate administration and fiduciary services business Appleby Global Services.
Judy has over 25 years of offshore and onshore experience in listings on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Singapore Stock Exchange as well as mergers and acquisitions, private equity investments and other corporate finance transactions. Judy leads Hong Kong Capital Markets team which is recognised as one of the offshore market leaders for their specialist IPO and listing work advice in Hong Kong as well as overseas. Under her leadership, the team was able to complete consistently more than 50 listings on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2018, representing close to 40% of the market share. In addition, she has extensive experience in the structuring and setting up of Cayman investment funds in Asia. She also advises on Bermuda and Cayman court-sanctioned shareholders privatisation schemes of arrangement.
Juliette Ally is Counsel in the Corporate department in the Seychelles.
Senior Associate
Katherine is Counsel within the Corporate department in the Isle of Man, specialising in Isle of Man funds.
Katherine regularly provides regulatory advice, including assisting with a number of change of control submissions to the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority for regulated insurance and financial services entities. She is a member of the data protection team at Appleby and has also acted on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and listings.
Katherine joined Appleby in 2011 and was commissioned as an Isle of Man advocate in 2013 after being awarded a commendation in the Manx Bar Exams. She has previously undertaken a secondment to Appleby’s Guernsey office.
Keira is Partner within the Dispute Resolution department in the Isle of Man. She is dual-qualified as a Manx Advocate and a Barrister in England and Wales. Keira was a tenant at a leading Chambers in London prior to joining Appleby in 2018.
Keira is an experienced litigator who deals with a broad range of civil and commercial cases, including professional negligence, injunctive relief, and director/shareholder disputes. Keira regularly appears before the High Court in complex and high value cases. Keira is also a specialist in employment and discrimination law. As a Barrister, Keira appeared for a wide range of clients in the Employment Tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal in England. During her time at Appleby, Keira has represented clients in respect of employment disputes proceeding in the Employment and Equality Tribunals of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
Keira also delivers bespoke training in a number of areas including: Employment Law, Discrimination Law, and Dispute Resolution. She is co-author of the English Law Society’s Employment Law Handbook (5th and 6th Editions).
Counsel
Kitty Chan is a Partner and Legal Manager (pending admission as “Registered Foreign Lawyer”) of Appleby’s Shanghai office and Hong Kong office respectively, and a member of the Corporate Department.
Kyle Sutherland advises on both the laws of the BVI and Isle of Man, and specialises in a broad range of offshore corporate law in those jurisdictions, ranging from joint venture work, restructurings, mergers and acquisitions, real estate finance transactions, private placement and listing work.
Kyle has been qualified for over 20 years with both onshore and offshore experience. Prior to re-joining Appleby in 2010, Kyle spent several years working in the corporate department of a leading British Virgin Islands law firm, where he was involved in a wide spectrum of cross-border transactions, and was lead lawyer on a number of high-profile deals.
Kyle now heads up Appleby’s BVI (GMT) team, servicing clients with BVI legal advice in a European friendly time zone.
Counsel
Lara is a Senior Associate in the Dispute Resolution department at Appleby Jersey. She advises on all aspects relating to commercial litigation including trust disputes, insolvency proceedings and corporate disputes involving directors and shareholders.
She advises a number of different stakeholders including government entities, private companies, insolvency practitioners, directors and shareholders.
Prior to joining Appleby, Lara worked at a leading national law firm in Johannesburg advising on major litigation matters involving insolvency, business rescue, restructuring, commercial disputes and business crimes.
KEY CAPABILITIES:
Advising on general and commercial litigation strategy, including all forms of dispute resolution relating to trust law, contract law, property law, mining law, banking law, asset recovery, insolvency and consumer law;
Advising on directors’ and shareholder liabilities and disputes;
Conducting winding up proceedings of companies and individuals; and
Conducting investigations and enquiries into the affairs of financially distressed companies particularly in relation to fraudulent conduct.
Senior Associate
Partner
Lorinda is an international restructuring specialist with over 30 years’ onshore and offshore experience in cross-border restructuring, insolvency and workouts of distressed companies and financial institutions, advising banks, funds, accountancy firms, leading onshore law firms and regulators. She has extensive experience in dealing with various types of financial instruments and structures, including asset based lending. She also has significant experience in all aspects of offshore schemes of arrangement.
Malcolm Moller is the Group Managing Partner at Appleby.
Group Managing Partner
Malcolm Moller is the Group Managing Partner at Appleby. Malcolm has been with Appleby since 2003, having worked previously in the Appleby Bermuda office and led the opening of the Appleby offices in Mauritius and the Seychelles. He is a member of the Corporate department and both the Insurance and Structured Finance teams. He specialises in advising financial institutions on financial regulation, regulatory capital issues, financial institution M&A, and insurance-related transactions. He advises on private equity funds, hedge funds, derivatives transactions and securities offerings, as well as a range of corporate and corporate finance transactionsHe has extensive experience representing corporations, financial institutions and other entities. His experience spans public and private M&A, credit, restructuring, bankruptcy, capital markets, fund formation and winding-up, a variety of strategic and advisory corporate assignments.Malcolm has worked on a number of transactions for financial institutions, private equity and hedge fund clients, including Corsair, Wellington Management Company, LLP, Brevan Howard, Monsoon Capital, Black River Group, LaCrosse Global Fund Services, Platinum Equity, LLC, Goldman Sachs, Avago Technologies, Calyon Financial SNC, Commscope, Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, HSBC Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, AIG Group, New York Life International, LLC, DAMAC Holdings Co., LLC, Kerzner International Group, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Bank of New York, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, UBS A.G, Fortress Investment Group, Swiss Re, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, Axis Bank Limited, ICICI Bank Limited, Macquarie Bank Ltd, National Australia Bank Limited, Westpac Banking Corporation, Standard Bank Group, General Motors Corporation, Lehman Brothers Group, Intelsat Corporation, The Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance Company, Nedbank Group, Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa, Altirah Telecoms (the common investment vehicle of Altirah Capital and the Oppenheimer family´s private equity portfolio), Standard Chartered Bank Group, China Development Bank and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ.His experience in credit transactions has included representing both banks and borrowers in multi-billion-dollar secured, unsecured and commercial paper facilities for companies. In addition, his experience has included advising on strategic, regulatory, corporate governance, and director and officer liability issues for clients.
Counsel
Marc Parrott is a Partner in the Corporate Department of Appleby’s Hong Kong office.
He maintains a diverse funds practice that includes structuring, formation and advising on the ongoing operation of offshore investment funds in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and British Virgin Islands, including liquid asset funds (such as hedge funds, credit funds and crypto funds), private equity (including LBO, growth, and real estate), private debt (including mezzanine and distressed) and venture capital funds. He also regularly assists with the establishment of offshore investment management businesses in these jurisdictions. His clients include international and Asian financial institutions, listed and private asset management companies, and leading onshore law firms. He also advises institutional, fund of funds, and high-net worth individual investors in relation to making investments into Cayman Islands, Bermuda and British Virgin Islands fund structures, together with seed-capital investments in fund managers and acquisitions of interests in investment management businesses.
Marc has over 25 years of offshore and onshore experience, including having lived and practised in the Cayman Islands for approximately 8 years prior to relocating to Hong Kong in 2014.
Mark Holligon is the Managing Partner of the Isle of Man office and head of Appleby’s Isle of Man Dispute Resolution team. His expertise spans the contentious and non-contentious arenas, both onshore and offshore, with a focus on commercial litigation, insolvency and restructuring.
He began his career in England, qualifying in the City of London in 1995 and gaining experience with two further leading UK firms before moving to Walkers in the Cayman Islands in 2003 and on to the Isle of Man in 2008.
Mary-Louise is an associate within the Isle of Man Corporate Department. She qualified as an Isle of Man Advocate in February 2017, joining the firm in May 2018.
She has experience in a wide range of corporate matters, including banking and asset finance. Her practice also extends to providing regulatory, pension and insurance advice.
Mary-Louise acts for a variety of international financial institutions, law firms and corporate service providers, advising on a full range of the key and complex legal issues that affect both their own businesses and those of their clients.
Partner
Partner
Melissa is a senior associate within the Corporate department in the Isle of Man, specialising in Private Client & Trusts work and Commercial Property.
Melissa acts for international financial institutions, law firms and corporate service providers, advising on a full range of complex legal issues which affect both their own businesses and those of their clients.
Melissa deals with all aspects of trust, foundation and estate related matters including trust and corporate transactions, restructuring, provision of advice to trustees, council members, beneficiaries and protectors, assisting executors and beneficiaries with Isle of Man probate and providing legal opinions on the authority and capacity of trustees and foundations to enter into a variety of transactions.
Counsel
Counsel
Michelle Brook is Counsel within the Corporate department in the Isle of Man, having joined Appleby in 2002.
Michelle has been advising on Isle of Man insurance matters and transactions for over 15 years and has built up a wealth of experience in dealing with the often complicated and multi-jurisdictional legal issues that face Isle of Man insurers. She is well versed in dealing with everything from the day to day dealings with the Isle of Man regulator, as well as advising on some of the biggest and most high-profile acquisitions involving Isle of Man insurance companies. She has also advised on a number of insurance business transfer schemes.
Michelle also has experience in a broad range of matters arising in the corporate finance, banking and asset finance and financial services regulation sectors.
Michelle acts for many insurance companies, international financial institutions, law firms and corporate service providers, advising on a full range of the key and complex legal issues that affect both their own businesses and those of their clients.
Michelle has previously undertaken a secondment to a leading international bank.
Senior Associate
Counsel
Niall MacDonald is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution department in Appleby’s Jersey office.
He advises on all types of commercial dispute and has extensive advocacy experience ranging from representing clients regarding trusts and multi-jurisdictional issues (before the Royal Court of Jersey and Court of Appeal) to resolving local employment disputes (before the Jersey Employment and Discrimination Tribunal).
His practice now focuses on the following specialisms: commercial & contractual disputes; employment & regulatory matters; trust litigation; together with fraud, asset tracing & insolvency cases. The breadth of his experience equips him particularly well when such issues overlap, for example with misconduct investigations concerning regulatory matters.
His clients range from high net worth individuals and executives, to leading global and local corporate entities.
The cases which he has resolved over the last 15 years have involved a broad range of other areas of the law (including company, contract, criminal, data protection, insolvency, insurance, planning, professional negligence and regulatory).
Senior Associate
Office Managing Partner
Partner
Partner
Richard Grasby is a partner in Appleby’s Hong Kong office, leading the Private Client, Trusts and Family Office practice.
Richard advises trustees, ultra-high net worth individuals, private trust companies and family offices on the establishment, restructuring and administration of trusts, including special trusts i.e. BVI VISTA, Cayman STAR and Employee Benefit Trusts. He regularly assists in estate administration, succession planning and family governance. Private clients and family offices instruct Richard to advise on the use of corporate vehicles for asset holding and succession planning purposes. Richard is an expert in regulatory law including AML, AEOI, economic substance sanctions and licensing and risk management for trust companies. He also advises on collective investment funds, particularly unit trusts and private label funds.
Richard is a Partner in the Dispute Resolution team at Appleby, specialising in corporate, trust and commercial litigation and regulatory matters. His regulatory focus is on data protection (including cyber), AML and compliance, technology and eGaming. Richard is one of the global leads for Privacy and Data Protection at Appleby and is the Guernsey lead for the firm’s Technology and Innovation practice group.
Richard has acted for a range of local and global institutions on complex, cross-border disputes involving funds, banking and investment relationships and trusts. Many of the cases he has worked on involve fraud, asset-tracing and applications for injunctive relief, or regulatory issues (such as enforcement, AML, bribery or sanctions), often resulting in ground-breaking judgments, both in Guernsey and England. He is Vice-Chair of GACO (Guernsey Association of Compliance Officers) and involved in the current review of changes to Guernsey’s financial crime regime and preparations for the island’s MoneyVal assessment.
He has been heavily involved in trust litigation, appearing in the trial of the Tchenguiz litigation in Guernsey, also advising on trustee removal, mistake and momentous decision applications, working along the firm’s private client team. He has recently appeared in a three-day trial of a will construction matter which will become the leading authority on such issues, and is working with the Jersey team in defending a novel claim involving reconstitution of a trust.
Richard has been working on data protection and cyber matters for many years and is recognised as being at the forefront of advising on Guernsey´s Data Protection regime and GDPR. He sits on the States of Guernsey´s GDPR Industry Working Party, is involved in policy development and is both a committee member of the Islands’ Data Governance Forum and a qualified GDPR Practitioner. He is instructed by insurers in relation to cyber/incident response and managing breaches from initial discovery to remediation.
Richard sits on the Digital Guernsey Panel and has been involved in providing input into the island’s Electronic Agents legislation, believed to be a “world first” in terms of setting a regulatory framework. He has also been involved with the Guernsey Financial Service Commission’s G-FIN working group and their wider initiatives at engagement with the local business community on fintech issues. He has historically been involved with the first use of blockchain in the private equity marketplace, spoken at the island’s first blockchain conference and advised on several digital identity, digital wallet, connected vehicles, cryptocurrency and e-CDD projects.
Richard has written and spoken about GDPR/privacy extensively, both in the Channel Islands and further afield, working on projects including guidance on Guernsey´s data protection regime, co-authoring a guide to the impact of GDPR in the Channel Islands and contributing the Guernsey chapter to global law firms and legal subscription databases. He has also provided input to STEP UK on their GDPR guidance for trustees and fiduciary office holders, OneTrust on various articles, and Business Brief on regulatory/technology topics.
Richard is the Managing Group Partner in Guernsey and member of the Dispute Resolution team, specialising in advising clients on employment law and regulatory issues.
Richard leads the Channel Islands employment team, and is one of the pre-eminent employment lawyers in the region, advising on all areas of employment law including, strategic advice, litigation, transactional support and director / shareholder disputes, as well as advising on matters such as executive severance, employee share schemes, pensions, restrictive covenants, bonus disputes and trade union issues.
In addition, Richard has advised on a number of major contentious regulatory matters including in particular enforcement action by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission (GFSC) against both companies and their directors, and has a particular expertise in the field of complex investigations into regulatory issues. Richard has a growing reputation in the field and has been the lead adviser on a number of regulatory enforcement cases over the years such as Blenheim, Richmond and Artemis, representing those companies through the enforcement process. Richard also regularly represents directors at voluntary interviews with the GFSC.
Over recent years Richard has conducted a number of complex investigations for clients, relating to potential employee frauds, breaches of fiduciary duties, compliance around sanctions as well as sexual harassment in the workplace.
Richard’s experience includes advising;
A global financial services business on the investigation and dismissal of a senior director in respect of allegations of sexual harassment
A tech business in relation the exit of a senior employee, and successfully defending claims before the Tribunal of discrimination on the grounds of sex and maternity
The successful appellants in the case of Domaille & others v Guernsey Financial Services Commission in overturning on appeal before the Royal Court, regulatory enforcement sanctions imposed by the GFSC.
A 50% owner of a professional services firm in relation to a dispute with his fellow owner, including successfully exiting the other party from the firm, as shareholder, director and employee.
A former director of a fund administrator in relation to regulatory enforcement action taken by the GFSC, including successfully negotiating a private reprimand rather any form of public censure.
A international financial services business on a post-acquisition integration restructure, including harmonisation of terms and conditions.
Partner
Partner
Counsel
Partner and Co-Head
Partner
Partner
Partner
Simon Harding is a partner in the Corporate department. He has a focus on funds, financial services, regulatory and insurance matters, as well as being involved in a range of mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions.
Sophia is a senior associate in the Corporate department in the Isle of Man with a broad and varied practice.
Sophia has significant experience in corporate finance matters regularly advising on multi-million asset finance, domestic and cross-border security and debt restructuring to leading financial institutions and corporate borrowers. She also has a wide range of experience in general corporate and regulatory transactions, including advising on pensions, multi-jurisdictional mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, corporate governance, voluntary liquidations and migrations. Her practice extends to trust law including advising both local and international clients on the establishment and restructuring of trusts and the use of trusts in corporate structures.
Sophia’s clients include international financial institutions, corporate service providers, listed and private companies, high net worth individuals and onshore law firms.
Sophie is a senior associate within the Corporate department in the Isle of Man, specialising in banking and asset finance transactions, including ship finance matters. She joined the firm as a trainee and after completing her two year period of articles, Sophie qualified in November 2017 as an Isle of Man Advocate.
Sophie acts for many international financial institutions, law firms and corporate service providers, advising on a full range of the key and complex legal issues that affect both their own businesses and those of their clients.
Stuart Tyler is a Partner and Group Head within the Corporate Department in Guernsey. Stuart deals with a number of corporate and commercial matters including fund raising, acquisitions, debt finance, financial services regulatory matters, insolvency, shareholder arrangements, insurance structures and the commercial aspects of trusts and foundations law.
Counsel
Associate
Senior Associate
Senior Associate
Partner
Senior Associate
Partner
Tom Brook is Partner within the Corporate department and specialises in advising clients on a wide range of debt finance, equity finance, M&A, and restructuring transactions.
Tom spent seven years in the banking and finance teams of two UK based international law firms before moving offshore and joining Appleby in 2011. Tom has experience of advising on domestic and cross-border debt finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and corporate governance issues. His clients include onshore law firms, international financial institutions, listed and private companies and high net worth individuals.
Partner and Co-Head
Associate
Partner
Vincent Chan is a partner in the Corporate department of Appleby´s Hong Kong office. He has more than 15 years of offshore law experience specialising in IPO/equity & debt capital markets, pre-IPO restructuring & financing, public & private mergers & acquisitions, privatisations (by way of schemes of arrangement, mergers and tender offers & compulsory acquisitions), private equity investments & venture capital, joint ventures and corporate reorganisations. Clients include Bermuda, British Virgin Islands (BVI) and Cayman Islands companies listed on stock exchanges in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, New York, NASDAQ and London, as well as private companies, banks, financial institutions, private equity houses and asset management firms.
Partner
Ashley Oogorah
David Bulley
Farzanah Nawool
Melissa Virahsawmy-Naik
Vaishali Damonaiko