Simon Davenport KC

Simon’s practice incorporates commercial work in both the Chancery Division and the Commercial Court, and he advises on various international aspects of Commercial and Insolvency Law, examples include: advising on the position relating to British litigation against the Icelandic banks, the Icelandic Moratoria and the Treasury Freezing Orders and Licenses; representing US companies with UK assets resisting pursuit by English liquidators; the investigation of Panamanian and Bahamian Trust assets as part of a masking operation within a complex fraud; a trust claim within the Lehman Brothers Administrations and litigation including considering a negligence claim against administrators arising out of a huge value Ponzi scheme.

He is able to advise on all aspects regarding the Bribery Act and, in particular, compliance

In commercial actions he has considerable experience of acting in Russian/CIS and Anglo-Indian trade contracts.

He conducts arbitrations as both advocate and arbitrator. He was recently appointed an LCIA arbitrator in an international money exchange claim and has been nominated in a Russian v Russian LCIA commercial reference. He conducted a shipping arbitration (export of steel) as an advocate, Foreign Exchange (Forex) contracts (Open and Closed Forwards) and issues relating to the terms of Letters of Credit as well as a hydrocarbons contract dispute.

Featured Commercial cases

• One Blackfriars Ltd [2021] EWHC 684 (Ch): Acting for the claimant liquidator in a £250m claim against the former administrators of One Blackfriars for, amongst other things, selling the landmark building at an undervalue. The longest virtual hearing to take place in July 2020.

• IV fund and related litigation: This involves two cases interrelated to allegations of fraud in investments by Russian parties (the victims) where the UK party is alleged to have been defrauding circa £30 million.

• National Trust bank v Yurov: Assistance with pre-trial for one of the three former directors of National Bank Trust, one of Russia’s largest retail banks, against whom claims valued at over US$1 billion are being made in the Commercial Court as a result of the allegedly dishonest management of the bank. The claim was heard at a nine-week trial in late 2018 and was listed as one of The Lawyer’s Top 20 Cases of 2017/18. $1.4 billion fraud.

• Gorbachev v Guryev: These involved two large fraud investigation cases of a value of over $1.5bn.

• Confidential: Concerns of fraud within a company that has been heavily invested in (for the largest non-founder shareholder). An extensive forensic exercise and Shareholder pressure.

• BACOL v T&T: This is an ongoing case under the CARICOM treaty before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) and are claims of discriminatory payments out of investments/policies in the English-speaking Caribbean, arising out of the collapse then bailout of CLICO insurance and investment company.

• CLICO v T&T: Challenge to the emergency powers used by the Trinidad government and the central bank of Trinidad and Tobago in relation to the nationalisation of CLICO. Commercial Judicial review and action to restore in effect the privatisation of a nationalised company.

• Shell v Gazprom: five billion-dollar ongoing claim relating to Nord stream 2 and loans.

• Re-Derek Quinlan: linked Chancery and insolvency proceedings relating to Spanish financial centre property control, $220 million debt and hold harmless deed compliance;