Litigation-only firm Stewarts Law LLP acts on large scale, complex, cross-border disputes, and is ‘one of the best in the market’. The team consists of a ’great selection of top-quality but nice and happy lawyers’, with Clive Zietman leading the team that consists of ‘complete package’ Ian Gatt KC, and ’highly organized and efficient’ Lorraine Lanceley. Lucy Ward is integral to the team, with specific expertise in complex securities litigation – a mainstay of the work undertaken by the team. The bench strength of the team continues to develop, with the arrival of Alex Leitch from Paul Hastings LLP.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

'With a scale, reputation, and success rate that belies its size, Stewarts' secret is a great selection of top quality but nice and happy lawyers.'
‘Keith Thomas is at the top in putting together and conducting securities claims. Harry McGowan is a very knowledgeable ex-banker.’
‘One of the best in the market. There is a consistent quality of the team from partners down. They achieve great outcomes for their clients, and totally focused on doing so.’
‘Lorraine Lanceley is superb with clients, a natural team leader, very commercial, and good on detail - a pleasure to work with.'
'Ian Gatt KC is the complete package, and there is nothing he has not seen. There is no one you would rather be in the trenches with.’
‘I found the breadth of experience in the team critical to both understanding the case process and the determine the most appropriate approach for me as an individual in the context of a multiparty dispute.’
‘I found the team to be sharply focussed and effective within their brief while always being alert to my needs relative to other parties wishing the dispute, including my former employer. I found Ian Gatt KC’s diverse experience across all aspects of dispute litigation to be invaluable. Lorraine Lanceley work highly effectively to deliver the breadth of the Stewart’s team in a highly organised and efficient manner.’

Key clients

Group action v Glencore Plc
Dr Geoffrey Guy, The Chedington Court Estate Ltd and Chedington Events Limited
Lipton Rogers Developments LLP
Maddox RP LLP

Work highlights

Representing investors in the circa £500m action against Glencore.
Representing a prominent property development firm to defend a High Court claim brought for purported unpaid service fees in relation to the development of 22 Bishopsgate – London’s tallest skyscraper.
Acting for the Guy Parties in wide-ranging and inter-connected proceedings which to date has entailed six sets of proceedings, four High Court trials, three Court of Appeal hearings and one Supreme Court hearing.

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.

Clive Zietman

Hall of fameStewarts Law LLP

Partner Clive is a well-known commercial litigator who has been involved in a wide range of complex and high-value claims including a number of high-profile frauds, insurance coverage disputes, professional negligence claims and banking disputes. His work regularly involves an international dimension. Over the past few years, he has been involved in several actions against banks, a task that most central London law firms are unable to undertake as a result of conflicts of interest. Clive also acts as a supervising solicitor appointed by the court in search order cases. He has been involved in several high-profile search order cases including the Ferrari secrets case and the Elton John stolen refuse dispute. Clive has acted in several well-publicised cases, including: Acting for 83 bankers in a case against Commerzbank regarding unpaid bonuses The RBS shareholder litigation concerning the 2008 right issue The high-profile diamond business dispute between Lev Leviev and Arcadi Gaydamak

Ian Gatt QC

Hall of fameStewarts Law LLP

Next Generation Partners

Lorraine Lanceley

Stewarts Law LLP

Partner Lorraine specialises in high-value and complex commercial disputes. She has worked on a number of high-profile cases including the group litigation concerning RBS’s £12bn rights issue. Lorraine specialises in general commercial disputes and has experience in a wide range of high- value contentious matters including banking and financial services litigation, fraud, shareholder disputes, insolvency, competition damages actions, judicial review, professional negligence, partnership disputes, and bribery and corruption. She also has experience in mediation, arbitration and expert determination. Lorraine’s experience includes: Acted for the liquidators of three venture capital trusts investigating allegations concerning the former manager and liquidators of the companies Acted for 313 institutional investors in the group litigation against RBS regarding its 2008 £12bn rights issue Advising a leading UK FinTech company in relation to various disputes including a potential multi-investor claim Advising a world leading asset finance software company in relation to a shareholder dispute Advising on a series of high-value contractual disputes with major banks and companies in respect of the misuse of core computer systems Advised a major tobacco company on the judicial review of the decision to introduce plain packaging of tobacco products and in relation to its challenge of the EU Tobacco Products Directive II Advised on a number of high-value multiparty private competition follow-on damages actions in the High Court representing various global enterprises including a major oil and gas company Acted on a large-scale multi-jurisdictional bribery and corruption investigation Acted on high-profile professional negligence claim in the Commercial Court ranked as one of the Lawyer’s Top 20 cases of 2014

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Clive Zietman

Other key lawyers

Ian Gatt KC, Keith Thomas, Harry McGowan, Lorraine Lanceley, Alex Leitch, Lucy Ward

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