England - London • Dispute resolution
PCB Byrne
‘One of the strongest commercial litigation firms in London’, PCB Byrne has a strong track record in large Commercial Court cases, with the practice’s recent workload ranging from joint venture/shareholder disputes, to contractual conflicts involving the supply of IT services and commodities. Trevor Mascarenhas specialises in complex, high-value, cross-border disputes; Nicola Boulton‘s disputes practice focuses on fraud, dishonesty and corruption; senior partner Anthony Riem has ’outstanding strategic judgement‘; and Nick Ractliff’s expertise covers contractual, banking, shareholder and director disputes. The next line of active practitioners features Middle-East disputes expert Charlotte Bhania, and fraud and commercial claims litigator Catherine Eason, who were made partners in April 2022 and July 2023, respectively. Tom McKernan was also promoted to the partnership in mid-2023 and specialises in complex, multi-jurisdictional fraud claims in the Commercial Court. The team was recently boosted by the addition of two consulting partners from Brown Rudnick – Neil Micklethwaite and Olga Bischoff.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Very good value for money. Works harder than most teams. The partners are on the ball, both in terms of the law and client management.’
‘Nick Ractliff is a calm pair of hands and great with clients; and Trevor Mascarenhas has a brain the size of London, often spotting the answer to the knottiest points.’
‘Trevor Mascarenhas is one of the cleverest, and most tactically astute litigators in the London market.’
‘Anthony Riem - outstanding strategic judgement and almost unrivalled experience in the field of civil fraud - he is a standout lawyer.'
‘They are a hardworking team with deep knowledge of clients' needs. Consistently knowledgeable, very responsive and open minded.’
‘Talented and experienced lawyers with good judgement and creative problem solving.’
‘PCB Byrne has an extremely strong team - genuine experts in international fraud and asset recovery, who take a strategic approach and know all the angles. They are the go-to firm for difficult cases.’
‘One of the strongest commercial litigation firms in London. Able to go toe-to-toe with any firm in the market.’
Key clients
- Rusal
- PJSC PhosAgro
- ABFA Commodities Trading (formerly VTB Commodities Trading Designated Activity Company
- CargoLogicAir
- South Band Hotel Management
- Banco de Sabadell
Work highlights
- Acting for Rusal in a $3-5bn claim against Vladimir Potanin, which includes allegations of asset stripping, self-dealing, and environmental negligence.
- Acting for PJSC PhosAgro, which is alleged to have been party to an agreement with the claimants to pay sums of money and shares worth in excess of $200m.
- Acting for South Bank Hotel Management in a claim over ownership of a Central London building.
Lawyers
Next Generation Partners
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Anthony Riem, Nicola Boulton