Financial, Banking & Hedge Fund Disputes

We are one of the few leading London litigation law firms who sue the banks in substantial finance related litigation.  We are practically free of conflicts of interest which prevent most top litigation law firms from suing the financial institutions. Our specialist team acts, at the cutting edge of this field, in bringing and defending claims in cases against banks involving a wide variety of financial instruments including loan agreements and facilities, letters of credit, guarantees, performance bonds, collection facilities, derivatives, total return swaps, credit default swaps, interest rate swaps, repo agreements and various forms of collateralised debt obligations including mortgage-backed securities. We have particular expertise in acting on claims relating to the mis-selling of complex financial products. 

What the directories say

The firm is recognised in the legal directories as being one of the undoubted leading firms of solicitors in this area. Further, all of the firm’s partners in our specialist banking litigation team are individually recognised in the directories as being leaders in the field.

The Chambers and Partners Guide (2012 edition) commented as follows:

"This boutique firm is made up of "great tacticians" who "quickly get to the heart of complex matters." It has considerable experience of acting for hedge fund clients, and represented Highland in a dispute with RBS concerning a financing facility provided by the bank for CLO securitisation. Other recent work includes advising on the mis-selling of interest rate swaps by retail banks to commercial clients."

Further, the directory singled out the firm for its standards of client service in this area of working giving it a special ranking recognising this and including the comment "We were impressed by their sterling client service and expertise".

The Legal 500 directory (2011 edition) elevated the firm to a higher ranking than that given the previous year and commented as follows:

"Relatively new four-partner boutique firm Cooke, Young & Keidan specialises in acting against the banks, and has made a sustained impact in the market. The firm is ‘responsive and client focused’, and ‘able to take on any of the biggest players in complex commercial litigation’. Philip Young and Marc Keidan are leading a team acting for funds managed by Texas hedge fund Highland Capital Management, in a £35m dispute with RBS regarding financing for a CLO securitisation."

The Legal 500 directory (2010 edition) had also ranked us as a leading firm, commenting that we are "a match for the large, well-known firms" in this field.

Our work

We use litigation, arbitration and ADR to help hedge funds, banks, borrowers and investors resolve their financial disputes. Much of our practice has an international dimension and we often work in conjunction with leading boutique litigation firms in the United States, in particular.

In the fall-out from the financial crisis of 2008, we have been engaged in advising hedge funds and other entities on both bringing and defending various claims, including some of very high value, against investment banks and other financial institutions, relating to bonds, derivatives and other complex financial products. Our cases have involved disputes arising under ISDA agreements, GMRAs and warehousing facilities and our opposition in these cases is typically drawn from the large  London law firms, who act for the banks. We are one of only a very small number of firms to possess substantial experience of acting in high stakes litigation of this sort against the banks and are well known in the City of London and further afield, for our work in this area.

Some examples of the cases which our lawyers have dealt with include acting: 

  • For funds managed by Highland, a major hedge fund, in a US$70m dispute with Deutsche Bank involving complex derivative securities and repo agreements. Highland prevailed in the Court of Appeal in 2009 in a jurisdiction battle involving anti-suit injunctions and a non-exclusive jurisdiction clause;

  • For funds managed by Highland in defending a US$52m claim brought by RBS concerning a purported auction of leveraged loans in a CDO.  Highland succeeded at trial in late 2010 in persuading the Court that RBS had deceived it and was in breach of contract as well as its mortgagee duties of good faith - and the Court found the auction was a "sham";

  • For the successful claimant in Shinhan Bank Ltd v. Sea Containers Ltd & Anor, the leading English judgment on collections facilities; 

  • In a leading English Court of Appeal case on bills of exchange; 

  • In over-turning on appeal a judgment based on novel points of English guarantee law; 

  • For a major Swiss bank in enforcing pledges in various bills of lading; and

  • For UK and offshore companies in disputes with their lenders relating to substantial loan facilities.  This work includes acting against a number of the UK retail banks in respect of mis-sold interest rate swap products, regularly provided by the banks to their customers in conjunction with such facilities and purportedly as a hedge against interest rate fluctuations. The mis-selling of such interest rate protection products by banks was widespread in the years up to 2009 and we are handling a significant number of instructions in this specialist area. For more information on Interest Rate Swap Mis-Selling Disputes please click below: Interest Rate Swap Mis-Selling Disputes

 

 

Primary Contacts