Whitestone Chambers

Barrister

Practice

Samuel is instructed in a variety of different areas of law including:

Commercial litigation Arbitration (contracts, banking, insurance & re-insurance, shipping (dry) and commercial fraud) Jurisdiction disputes, Private international law (conflicts) Japanese law.

Commercial

Defending claims brought on guarantees. In the field of banking his specialties include the defence of claims brought by banks, particularly against small to medium sized businesses (those with an annual turnover of up to £50 million) where facilities are secured with guarantees and/or legal charges over the personal property of directors or shareholders.

Samuel has acted against almost every bank in the UK including Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC, Halifax/Bank of Scotland, Nat West, RBS, and many others both in the UK and abroad. Samuel successfully defended 14 applications for a bankruptcy petition against a single party brought by RBS Invoice Finance, and is currently involved in a claim against a major Indian bank for deceit by the President of the bank.

Insurance

In the field of insurance his specialities include: coverage disputes under legal expenses insurance and/or professional indemnity & maritime umbrella policies.

Reported cases:

Syndicate Bank v Dansingani [2012] (Ch.D):The Defendants and their company are pursuing defences and cross-claims against sums due under guarantees, and secured by a legal charge, for deceit by the president of the bank, including them to enter the legal charge. The bank unsuccessfully spent 3 days trying to strike out these cross-claims in December 2013. TICC v Cosco (UK) Limited [2001] (Court of Appeal):Successful claim by a freight forwarder for repayment of post season surcharges imposed by an international carrier of goods by sea and paid to its UK agent under duress. Important Car Specialists Limited v Chief Constable of Hampshire Constabulary & Others [2001] (QBD): Various claims against multiple defendants involving the recovery and re-sale in the UK of cars originally stolen in Japan worth about £60 million. Re Crookshank Limited [2000] (Administrative Court): Various claims against multiple defendants involving the recovery and re-sale in the UK of cars originally stolen in Japan worth about £4 million. Casio Computers Ltd v Sayo & Others [1998] (Ch.D): A fraud of about $100 million involving 20 defendants in multiple jurisdiction. Jyske Bank (Gibraltar) Ltd v Spjeldnaes & Others [1996] (Ch.D):A fraud of about £70 million involving 30 defendants in multiple jurisdictions. Re a Company (No 62 of 1995) [1996] (Ch.D): A technical point of procedure in presenting petitions to wind-up UK companies.

Scholarships, Awards and Prizes

1990-91 Faculty of law, Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan (Japanese Ministry of Education Award Scholarship).

1989-90 Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Osaka, Japan (Japanese Ministry of Education Award Scholarship).

EnglishJapanese

Call to the Bar, Inner Temple, 1989.

L.L.B. (Hons.), University College London.