David was articled with Edwin Coe and qualified in 1980, becoming a partner in 1984. He was appointed Senior Partner of the Firm in April 2011. David specialises in commercial litigation including competition claims and claims on behalf of shareholders, and is Head of the Group Action Litigation department.He has developed a strong following in contentious competition work being involved in cases in front of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), High Court and Competition Commission. He has for many years advised sovereign states on disputes in international tribunals and particularly specialises in work involving governments in sub-Saharan Africa.David was appointed by the Lord Chancellor to the Civil Procedure Rules Committee in 1997. He was then appointed in 2002 as a member of the Civil Justice Council. He is the author of “Civil Procedure Rules”, an associate editor of “Civil Practice Manual”, on the editorial board of Butterworths’ “The Civil Court Practice” (“the Green Book”), a contributor to the Law Society’s “Civil Litigation Manual”, and the author of two titles for Atkins Court Forms.
England - London • Dispute resolution
Edwin Coe LLP
Edwin Coe LLP fields a ‘lean and nimble team which punches well above its weight in heavy duty commercial litigation', with over 30 years of experience in group claims across a wide array of sectors. Public law litigation is a key strength of the practice, which notably acted on the Post Office litigation concerning sub-postmasters. ’Charming and totally switched-on’ David Greene, a former President of the Law Society, leads the team that consist of ‘very efficient and perceptive’ Zahira Hussain, both with a wealth of experience representing claimants in collective actions. Other noted practitioners within the team include the ’very hard working’ Thomas Johnson, and Canadian-qualified senior associate Fred Sheppard.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
‘Lean and nimble team, which punches well above its weight in heavy duty commercial litigation. They have particular expertise on claimant side mandates in group actions.’
‘Thomas Johnson is very hard working, cuts through issues, and gets the practicalities of claimant side group litigation.’
‘One of the firm's most outstanding qualities is their ability to handle complex issues at the intersection of various fields of law (e.g., corporate and finance) and to use their vast collective experience in solving complex multi-jurisdictional problems.’
‘I've had a pleasure of working with David Green and Frederick Sheppard for several years. I am particularly impressed by their ability to identify and address quickly the most pressing issues in very complex transactions involving multi-layer corporate structures. And one of the qualities that stands out most is their almost instant availability for discussion of urgent matters despite their significant workload.’
‘The firm has considerable experience of group litigation and knows how to enter into billing and funding arrangements that work for both clients and the firm itself.’
‘David Greene is a very well known legal figure - a charming and totally switched on solicitor who is aware of and often ahead of the trends in litigation. Other notable individuals that I have dealt with are Zahira Hussain who is quietly very efficient and perceptive; and Fred Sheppard who I found to be totally on the ball.’
Work highlights
- Advising a group of 150 claimants in relation to their claim for damages and interest against various truck manufacturers, following a finding by the European Commission of a price-fixing cartel.
- Representing the Claimants who invested in, and became members of the Eclipse Scheme. The Defendant developed, marketed and implemented the Eclipse Scheme which was sold to the Claimants as an opportunity to invest in transactions with Disney in relation to film rights. The transactions entered into by the Eclipse Partnerships with Disney were a fraud. The value of the claim is £1.3billion.
- Representing consumers arising from the misspelling of Spanish timeshares. The claim is valued in excess of £8million.
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Practice head
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David Greene