England - London • Dispute resolution

Signature Litigation LLP

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The ‘cohesive, experienced, and effective team’ at Signature Litigation LLP acts for multi-party, multi-jurisdictional disputes, benefitting from support provided by a Paris office of the firm. The ’hard-working, diligent and able’ team is led by ‘leading player’ Graham Huntley, who regularly acts for banks, fund managers, and life assurers. ’Intelligent and skilled lawyer’ Daniel Spendlove is key to the team, alongside ‘stand-out individual’ Abdulali Jiwaji  and ’bright and careful litigator’ Simon Fawell.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Signature LLP are a cohesive, experienced and effective team. They get to the heart of the issues and communicate well (within the team and to clients). They fight hard when fighting is needed and are wise to the alternative solutions where available.’
  • ‘Graham Huntley is a leading player in the London litigation scene. He's clever, responsive, always fights his corner, and the opposition don't underestimate him.’
  • 'Daniel Spendlove is first class. Cool under pressure, a brilliant communicator and always with a practical solution to hand, he is also an intelligent and skilled lawyer. Simon Fawell is a bright and careful litigator with a keen eye to detail. He is also very commercial in his approach. Abdulali Jiwaji is a clever lawyer who quiet and calm manner inspires confidence.’
  • '‘Abdulali Jiwaji is super impressive. He is understated, authoritative, and effective. No matter how complicated or difficult a situation, he is calm and the still centre. Cool under pressure. Very effective in communications with clients and wonderful as a team leader.'
  • '‘Rory Spillman has excelled since deservedly stepping up to partner - unflappable, even under immense pressure, and produces consistently high quality work. A real eye for making sure that the detail is right.'
  • '‘I have extensive experience working with Daniel Spendlove and Ritwick Ghosh, as well as the wider team. Both are cool, calm, and collected and are able to deal with litigation in a diplomatic but forceful way. Both have handled high intensity situations with aplomb and know how to resolve both legal issues but also how handle funders and insurers in pressurized situations.'
  • 'Graham Huntley - a big presence in this sector, good strategy overview but will roll his sleeves up whenever necessary. Great with clients.’
  • '‘They are all very hard-working, diligent and able, and are not afraid of putting in the hard yards. They are also very flexible and adaptable due to being streamlined and agile.’

Key clients

  • Commission Recovery Limited
  • Privinvest companies and Mr Iskandar Safa
  • Claimants against Wind Energy Holdings Limited
  • Renault
  • Georgian Co Investment Fund
  • Bugsby Property LLC
  • Profile Security Services Ltd
  • Investors in Old Mutual & Friends Provident products
  • Global Growth (Atlanta Bidco Limited)
  • SG Group Claimants
  • Cellcom Telecommunications Ltd
  • Members of the Barclay family (UBOs of the Daily Telegraph, Yodel, and previously the Ritz Hotel)

Work highlights

  • Representing Commission Recovery Limited in a ground-breaking claim for recovery of alleged secret commissions earned from commercial referral arrangements.
  • Representing Privinvest in a high-value and hard-fought Commercial Court Claim brought by the Republic of Mozambique against Credit Suisse, Privinvest and others.
  • Representing the former management of the Thai company Wind Energy Holdings Limited (“WEH”) in an extremely high value and complex matter involving multiple parties with allegations spanning over three years.

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.

Graham Huntley

Graham Huntley

Hall of fameSignature Litigation LLP

Graham is a Founding Partner of Signature Litigation and a senior specialist commercial and banking litigator. With his time at Signature and previously as a partner in a major international law firm, Graham has over 35 years’ experience in commercial litigation. Graham has been consistently ranked as one of the UK’s highest ranked commercial and banking litigators and has been involved in some of the most significant cases of recent years. Graham acts for banks, fund managers and life assurers in relation to M&A disputes, regulatory disputes and private investigations, shareholder and joint venture disputes, as well as a range of economic tort claims. Graham also has extensive experience of warranty claims and professional indemnity work for a range of corporate and financial institutions as well as for professionals. His experience of ADR includes three of the UK’s most significant mediations involving financial institutions. Graham is a past Trustee and President of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and has served as a member of several judicial and professional working parties. He has rights of audience in the Higher Courts in England and Wales. He also has a long-standing commitment to pro-bono work, having served as International Pro-Bono Partner for ten years at his previous firm. He is currently a Director of the London Legal Support Trust as well as Chairman of the Capital Cases Charitable Trust.

Leading individuals

Abdulali Jiwaji

Abdulali Jiwaji

Signature Litigation LLP

Abdul has over 20 years of experience in litigation, arbitration and contentious regulatory matters, in London and Hong Kong. He regularly handles disputes relating to investment funds, shareholder agreements, joint ventures and M&A transactions. He also advises on a broad range of commercial disputes, including in the insolvency and insurance context, such as warranty and indemnity claims. On the financial markets side, he has advised on disputes relating to financial products and mis-selling, regulatory investigations and compliance issues, drawing on time spent on secondment to the compliance team of a wholesale bank.

Daniel Spendlove

Daniel Spendlove

Signature Litigation LLP

Daniel focuses on complex and high value commercial litigation and arbitration, both for claimants and defendants. He represents clients across a range of industry sectors, including financial markets, investment funds, mining, oil and gas, and insurance/reinsurance. Most of his cases are international in nature, and he has co-ordinated proceedings in numerous common and civil law jurisdictions. He is particularly experienced in disputes emanating from the CEE region. Daniel has been, and continues to be, involved in some of the largest and highest profile cases in the London disputes market. In recent years he has acted in several cases which have featured in The Lawyer’s “Top 20 Cases of the Year”. He has also advised in internal investigations and civil fraud cases. As a solicitor-advocate, Daniel has rights of audience in the Higher Courts of England and Wales. Daniel has published articles and delivered talks on a number of topical issues, and regularly comments in the trade and legal press. He is a Contributing Editor of “Getting the Deal Through: Complex Commercial Litigation”, and is a member of the Commercial Litigation Association, the International Bar Association, the British-Ukrainian Law Association, and the London Solicitor Litigation Association. Daniel also sits on the Litigation Committee of the City of London Law Society and is a member of the Global Partnership Family Offices.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Graham Huntley

Other key lawyers

Daniel Spendlove, Abdulali Jiwaji, Simon Fawell, Rory Spillman, Ritwick Ghosh