England - London • Dispute resolution
2

Banking litigation: investment and retail

Mayer Brown International LLP

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The practice at Mayer Brown International LLP has a ‘really bespoke and personal approach’ to banking litigation, paired with the ’resources and excellence of big international firm’. The team is instructed by major banks, corporates, investors, and corporate trustees on disputes related to complex financial products, sanctions, fraud, and ESG. Head of the team Ian McDonald  has a ‘commercially oriented approach’ and acts on high-value disputes linked to loan structures, structured finance, and derivatives. Chris Chapman advises on litigation and contentious regulatory issues, and ’combines good judgement with a real understanding of the business’. The ‘very smart and commercial’ Stephen Moi is also noted, along with the ’impressive’ Airlie Goodman, and Alistair Graham who has experience in fraud investigations, white-collar work, and asset tracing.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Very high overall standard of the lawyers but Ian McDonald stands out particularly. He offers a perfectly-pitched blend of hands on engagement and effective team management. Newly recruited partner, Airlie Goodman, is also impressive.’
  • ‘Mayer Brown bring all the resources and excellence of a big international firm, but with a really bespoke and personal approach to litigation.’
  • ‘Stephen Moi, partner in the London team, is absolutely first class. His outwardly polite and polished manner belie a steely and tenacious litigator.’
  • ‘The team is very well structured and thanks to the different areas of practice of the firm provides a comprehensive assistance, in terms of both litigation and capital markets/finance work. Members of the team have different seniority, adequate to their tasks.’
  • ‘Ian McDonald provides outstanding assistance. He is always well balanced, easily approachable and proposes effective solutions. He has a commercially-oriented approach that is very much appreciated. Airlie Goodman is also a very good lawyer, with strong analysis skills and dedication.’
  • ‘Chris Chapman is a very experienced and able litigator, especially dealing with investment banks in disputes involving derivatives. He combines good judgement with a real understanding of the business and a strong sense of what really matters.'
  • 'Lauren Theodoulou has a very bright future ahead.’
  • ‘Ian McDonald in particular provides effective and balanced legal advice in a commercial context. He considers the strength of legal arguments and the likely practical outcome of commercial situations in light of the legal arguments.’

Key clients

  • Société Générale
  • UBS
  • HSBC
  • Wells Fargo
  • BNY Mellon
  • Principal Global Investors LLC
  • Temporis Capital
  • eOne
  • Royal Bank of Canada
  • Banca Generali S.p.A.
  • Moorfields Advisory

Work highlights

  • Acted for Société Générale on an appeal against a judgment which found that it had wrongly maintained freezing orders against a Turkish counterparty between 2008 and 2016.
  • Acted for eOne with regard to an internal investigation into allegations of fraud arising out of currency trading. Later, we were instructed to act on the subsequent multi-million pound fraud claim in the High Court.
  • Acted for the joint administrators in court proceedings concerning the meaning and effect of retention of security provisions over the assets of Industrial North West LLP (in administration).

Lawyers

Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Alistair Graham
Hall of fameMayer Brown International LLP
Alistair Graham is a Solicitor Advocate and has represented clients in litigation in the High Court, Court of Appeal, House of Lords Privy Council and Supreme Court as well as in international arbitrations. He is also experienced in ADR techniques and is an accredited mediator. With a background in financial services disputes, Alistair has particular experience in white collar work advising both corporates and individuals directly. He also regularly advises on regulatory and fraud investigations and international asset tracing. He is sought after as a speaker and adviser on compliance issues under the 2010 Bribery Act: recent clients include investment banks and listed corporates.
Ian McDonald
Hall of fameMayer Brown International LLP
Ian McDonald is co-leader of Mayer Brown’s global Litigation & Dispute Resolution practice and a member of the firm’s global Cybersecurity & Data Privacy practice, based in London. He acts for banks and funds, particularly in high value disputes relating to loan structures, structured finance and derivatives, many of which have cross-jurisdictional elements and often managing large teams and competing priorities. Most recently he has been part of a cross-office, cross-practice team advising a financial institution on a cybersecurity incident, including leading on litigation aspects in the UK. He has also advised on cases for financial institutions involving allegations of mis-selling, misconduct, misrepresentation, deceit, fraud, breach of duty, contractual interpretation and breach of transactional documentation, as well as on matters of enforcement, rectification and restitution. He is co-leader of the firm’s International Banking and Financial Litigation Action Group. Ian also acts for licensed insolvency practitioners, noteholders, lenders, creditors, directors and borrowers in contentious insolvency matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Ian McDonald

Other key lawyers

Alistair Graham, Chris Chapman, Stephen Moi, Airlie Goodman, Lauren Theodoulou

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