The 'friendly, hardworking, and experienced' team at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner act on high-stakes contractual disputes, with impressive multi-jurisdictional capabilities. 'Very experienced' Graham Shear leads the litigation and investigations practice at the firm, alongside the business and commercial disputes practice. Shear is praised for 'thinking deeply and laterally... considering multiple different aspects simultaneously from several perspectives to develop powerful strategies'. 'Intelligent litigator' Oran Gelb is integral to the team, as is 'seasoned litigator' Joby Davies, and 'brilliant technical lawyer' Rachel Ziegler. The team was strengthened with the arrival of Ravi Nayer from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in July 2022 - he handles both commercial and group litigation.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘A friendly, hardworking and experienced team with consistently high-quality associates’
‘Joby Davies is a seasoned litigator who fights hard for his clients and is always looking for ways to win. Rachel Ziegler is a highly intelligent and commercially astute litigator who has excellent strategic judgement’
‘Graham Shear is a very experienced partner with a strong sense of the commercial context for a dispute.'
'Oran Gelb is an intelligent litigator who is immersed in the detail of a case.’
‘An all round superb team of lawyers who combine technical brilliance with excellent judgement and dedication to their clients' cause.’
‘Joby Davies - no commercial disputes solicitor has better judgement that Joby. He sees things others do not see and achieves fantastic outcomes for his clients.'
'Rachel Ziegler - a brilliant technical lawyer who is also incredibly commercially astute and wonderful with clients.'
'Andrew Street is an extremely knowledgeable and tactically able lawyer who is a tremendous asset to any team.’

Key clients

Kazakhstan Kagazy JSC
Vatche Manoukian
Asturion Fondation
Heathrow Airport Limited
BT
easyJet
Tata Consultancy Services
Kellogg Brown & Root Limited
Northern & Shell PLC, The New Lottery Company
Sportority, plc (trading as Minute Media)
The Ackerman Group and Barry and Naomi Ackerman

Work highlights

Advising Vatche Manoukian on English proceedings regarding the restriction of access to his accounts by two Lebanese banks.
Representing the Asturion Fondation in highly contested proceedings for the recovery of an ultra-high value property portfolio including property in London.
Advising EE Limited (part of the BT group of companies) on a £25m claim in the TCC against Virgin Mobile relating to the supply of 4G/5G services.