Stephen practises principally in the fields of insolvency and restructuring, civil fraud, commercial dispute resolution and banking and finance. He has also appeared in cases concerning company law, real property, insurance and financial services.
Stephen has substantial experience of conducting heavy trials (in both the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court) and arbitrations, and he has also been involved in a considerable amount of appellate work, including numerous cases in the Supreme Court/Privy Council (Bedzhamov, Candey v Crumpler, Lehman Waterfall I, BONY Mellon v LBG Capital, PwC v Saad, Singularis v PwC, Rubin v Eurofinance, Landsbanki v Heritable, Nortel/Lehman, EL Trigger) and the Court of Appeal (Bedzhamov, AA v BB, Peak Hotels, Fraser Turner, Titan, IBRC, Lehman Waterfall I, Lehman Waterfall II, Firth Rixson, Tambrook, Ovenden Colbert, Tiuta).
Stephen has been instructed in most of the major insolvency cases over the last fifteen years, including London Capital & Finance (for the administrators), Carillion (for the official receiver and the special managers), Debenhams (for the administrators), Thomas Cook (for the official receiver and the special managers), Corbin & King (for the monitors), London Oil & Gas (for the administrators), Peak Hotels (for the liquidators), African Minerals (for the administrators), London Mining (for the administrators), Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (for the administrators), Kaupthing (for the winding-up board), Afren (for the administrators), IBRC (for the liquidators), Landsbanki (for the winding-up board), Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities (for the SIPA trustee), Hellas (for the liquidators), Rangers (for the administrators), Luminar (for the administrators) and MF Global (for the Chapter 11 trustee).
Stephen is recommended in five practice areas by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners UK Bar. Recommendations include: “Stephen is an absolutely excellent barrister. He is a detailed and creative thinker … He is a very impressive advocate – one who quickly gains the trust and confidence of the tribunal”; “He is really good, can cut through the noise and helps bridge solutions to get matters resolved quickly and pragmatically”; “Intellectually at top of the game, he is a pleasure to watch on his feet, delivering legal arguments in his quietly unassuming but assured and persuasive manner”; “An innovative and brilliant barrister”.
Called 2001 (Lincoln’s Inn).
ILA, COMBAR, Chancery Bar Association.
Christ Church, Oxford University (BA Modern History, First Class).