Richard Swallow leads the commercial litigation team at Slaughter and May, which boasts a successful track record in multijurisdictional corporate litigation. The practice’s stellar clientele spans various sectors, including energy, manufacturing and financial services. Efstathios Michael boasts a broad commercial litigation practice – with a particular focus on multi-party disputes and mass claims – alongside Camilla Sanger. Damian Taylor plays a lead role on a number of key matters, advising on distribution, contractual and damages disputes and Richard Jeens is praised by clients. Jonathan Clark represents corporations across a range of sectors in both commercial and competition litigation and Jonathan Cotton co-heads the global investigation group and advises on contentious aspects of corporate transactions. Peter Wickham‘s diverse roster of clients includes a number of corporations and financial institutions; he has particular experience in energy and natural resources disputes. Smriti Sriram, who was promoted to partner in May 2023, Holly Ware, and Megan Sandler are other names to note.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Richard Jeens and Damian Taylor. They excel at managing prickly clients and prickly adversaries with professional excellence and courtesy.’
‘Peter Wickham and Smriti Sriram are excellent and hardworking lawyers.’
‘Efstathios Michael - clearly a major figure at the firm and hard to fault. Despite being in high demand, provides clear strategic input and time to his clients.’
‘Efstathios Michael is the best litigator I know! He is commercially minded and always gives sound advice.’
‘Partners on my current matter are Holly Ware and Peter Wickham. Both are unstuffy, highly outcome-focused, enormously knowledgeable, with sound judgment. The case is run day to day by Liz Jordan, a counsel who operates as a junior partner, with excellent competition law knowledge alongside strong litigation nous. She's efficient and personable and highly recommended. I've been very impressed by the junior associates working on the case: Xander Jackman and Orla Horan. They are capable of producing outstanding work product and are highly responsive.’
‘Strength right across partners and associates - names to mention include Efstathios Michael, Camilla Sanger, Megan Sandler.’
‘The team is best in class. They provide very good guidance on high-risk matters, balancing excellent legal knowledge with sound tactical guidance and excellent knowledge of the disputes market.’
‘Jonathan Clark has a formidable grasp of detail, is very user friendly and has sound judgment. Richard Swallow has very good knowledge of the industry and leads the relationship very well.’
Key clients
- Credit Suisse AG, Credit Suisse International and Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Limited
- British American Tobacco plc
- BHP Group
- Shell Plc and its Board of Directors
- Virgin America TM Limited and Virgin Enterprises Limited
- The Secretary of State for Defence (“MOD”) (also UK Government Investments Limited (“UKGI”) and Defence Infrastructure Holdings Ltd (“DIHL”))
- Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings PLC
- Gemfields Group Limited, Gemfields Limited and Kagem Mining Limited
- Diageo
- Rolls Royce
- Aker BP ASA
- INEOS Industries Holding Limited and INEOS Styrenics International SA
- Mark Bamford
- Aave Limited
Work highlights
- Acting for Credit Suisse in multiple claims arising from $2bn “Tuna Bond scandal”.
- Advising BAT in relation to a group claim brought by Malawian tobacco farmers, concerning allegations of child and forced labour on third party farms in Malawi.
- Advising BHP Group (UK) Ltd and BHP Group Ltd who are defendants to claims (involving over 700,000 claimants) arising out of the collapse of the Fundão dam in Brazil.
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.
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Camilla Sanger
Slaughter and May
Damian Taylor
Slaughter and May
Jonathan Cotton
Slaughter and May
Jonathan Clark
Slaughter and MayNext Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Richard Swallow