Withers LLP

Peter Wood

Peter has 30 years of experience and is currently the lead partner in a number of cases in which the amount at stake totals nearly £700 million. Peter specializes in commercial litigation and arbitration, restructuring, insolvency, credit and asset recovery, particularly in regard to company disputes, often advising on shareholder and joint-venture issues. Peter leads the firm’s global dispute resolution teams comprising over 60 partners, spanning commercial litigation, international arbitration, criminal litigation and white collar investigations, employment, trust and inheritance disputes, family and divorce, with teams based in litigation centres across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Peter is fluent in Italian and specialises in advising Italian clients, he is a member of the British Italian Law Association and the Italian Chamber of Commerce.

Tatiana Menshenina

Tatiana is an experienced commercial litigator, working on both court cases and arbitrations, with market-leading experience in complex cross-border disputes. She has worked on a range of high profile cases for both corporates and high net worth individuals. Her main areas of expertise are company and shareholder disputes, commercial contract disputes, construction, civil fraud and asset tracing, equity and trusts disputes, injunctive relief (including related to ICOs), International Arbitration. Tatiana has worked extensively across Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the CIS related disputes. Tatiana qualified as a Solicitor – Advocate with Higher Rights of Audience, Civil Proceedings (England and Wales). She is also qualified as a Russian Advocate and was called to the Moscow City Bar in 2002.

Roberto Moruzzi

Roberto is experienced in dealing with commercial litigation and arbitration involving international and domestic contractual disputes, fraud and asset tracing, loan recoveries and debt collection. He leads the insolvency team, advising insolvency practitioners and directors of distressed companies, as well as creditors.Roberto is experienced in High Court pre-action strategy, such as applying for and defending applications for worldwide freezing orders, through to enforcing judgments in the UK and abroad. His clients include Racing Point Limited, Troika Media Group, Diesel, Liu Jo, and Duferco Participations. He also acted for Renault Sport SAS in the High Court litigation brought by HMRC against the Lotus F1 Team Limited, the successful conclusion of which allowed the acquisition of Lotus F1 Team Limited by Renault F1.In terms of arbitration, Roberto has arbitrated cases both in the UK and abroad for international clients, including pursuant to the rules of the ICC, LCIA, LMAA and UNCITRAL. He also has experience of enforcing arbitral awards in foreign jurisdictions pursuant to the New York Convention.Roberto also has experience in advising in privacy and defamation matters. His cases include Elite Model Management (New York) & Elite Model Look (Paris) v BBC which at the time was the largest defamation action brought before the High Court in London. He negotiated the successful outcome of this action.  

Lesley Timms

Lesley trained with Withers and became a member of the Commercial Litigation team in 2009. In her 12 years at Withers, she has developed a broad commercial practice with a focus on complex contractual disputes. She is a fluent Italian speaker and is passionate about helping Italian individuals and businesses with interests in the UK as part of her ambition to continue developing Withers’ long Italian tradition. Lesley has been involved in numerous mediations, arbitrations and High Court cases where she has acted in a number of leading cases. Lesley co-heads the Withers Luxury Brands Special Interest Group, which focuses on developing, maintaining and protecting a client’s brand. She therefore regularly advises start-up companies on their contractual arrangements and any risks with a view to avoiding the risk of future litigation. She has also developed a particular experience in commercial agency and distribution arrangements. As part of her broad commercial practice, Lesley also regularly advises on issues of company and personal insolvency, including liquidations, bankruptcy and Company Voluntary Arrangements (CVA’s).