England - London • Crime, fraud and licensing
Herbert Smith Freehills LLP
Herbert Smith Freehills LLP has ‘a long pedigree as a leader in disputes generally’, with its civil fraud practice stated to be ‘unrivalled’. The team is particularly adept at handling multi-jurisdictional, high value and complex fraud cases, and specialisms include fraud cases in the cryptocurrency sector, as well as acting for sovereign wealth funds on misappropriated assets in different jurisdictions. Practice head Jeremy Garson is ’one of the best in the business‘, and has recently been active in complex cross-border cases pertaining to allegations of unlawful and dishonest conduct, including bribery, dissipating assets and sham transactions. ’Stand-out partner‘ Natasha Johnson specialises in proceedings related to the financial services industry, including alleged financial misstatements, financial and consumer mis-selling and director misfeasance. ’Outstanding‘ William Turner, specialist for fraud matters involving offshore trusts, as well as Chris Bushell and associate Heather Rankin are further key members of the team.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Herbert Smith Freehills' practice is unrivalled. The firm has a long pedigree as a leader in disputes generally, and its civil fraud practice includes many of its stand-out partners and fee earners.’
‘Jeremy Garson is one of the best in the business. Extremely clever and always gets to the difficult points before anyone else in the room. He is also a superb strategist and draftsman.’
‘Superb team, very well led. Strength in depth - all levels are excellent.’
‘Jeremy Garson is a standout practitioner. He is responsive, thinks strategically and has a razor sharp intellect.’
‘Quite simply the smartest team on the market.’
‘Jeremy Garson is fiercely intelligent, very hard-working and always has client’s interests at heart.’
‘Brilliant legal team; hands on, creative and solid deep analysis.’
‘Jeremy Garson is best for civil fraud / tort claims. Dave Philips and Will Turner are very good.’
‘Natasha Johnson is a stand-out partner. Natasha is measured and incisive, with great judgment, and a superb team-builder.’
‘Jeremy Garson and William Turner are both outstanding. Technical ability, approachability, responsiveness, all very good.’
Key clients
- Jinxin Inc
- Certain of the former non-executive directors of Carillion
- Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Production Corporation (SIPC); Addax Petroleum UK Limited
Work highlights
- Acting for Jinxin Inc in ongoing fraudulent misrepresentation claims brought in connection with its US$661m acquisition in 2016 of a majority stake in Media Partners & Silva, a sports rights media business, which went into insolvency shortly after its acquisition.
- Acted as advisors to certain former non-executive directors of Carillion plc in relation to proceedings brought by the Secretary of State, where claims against the directors include that they engaged in alleged financial statement fraud.
- Represented SIPC and Addax, subsidiaries of the Sinopec Group, in highly complex fraud proceedings arising from the 2012 purchase by SIPC and Addax of a 49% stake in a significant upstream business in the North Sea. The respondent is Repsol, SA. The claim is valued in excess of US$ 4 billion.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Jeremy Garson