Litigation And Dispute Resolution

Areas of expertise

Our litigation and dispute resolution team combines sectoral expertise with strategic insight to achieve effective outcomes for our clients.

• Arbitration: Managing complex disputes under rules including those of the LCIA, ICC and ICSID.
• Art litigation: We have experience in significant art, antiquities and cross-border disputes.
• Civil fraud and global asset recovery: Extensive experience in tracing assets, claims involving Ponzi and advance-fee schemes, money laundering claims and obtaining worldwide freezing injunctions or defending clients against restraint and recovery orders.
• Business and commercial disputes: Specialising in business disputes including contractual claims, M&A and JV claims, shareholder disputes, director/shareholder conflicts and breaches of fiduciary duty.
• Cross-border disputes and enforcement: Conducting claims with international elements, enforcing UK judgments in foreign jurisdictions and securing the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments within the UK.
• Insolvency litigation and director disqualification: We handle all areas of insolvency litigation. We act for insolvency practitioners, directors, creditors and debtors. We issue and defend winding-up petitions, manage asset recovery and handle misfeasance and transaction claims. We defend directors against disqualification investigations and help secure permission to act while disqualified.
• Gambling sector litigation: We act in cases against operators to recover money inappropriately used for gambling.
• Professional negligence claims: Pursuing and defending claims involving breaches of duty by solicitors, surveyors, accountants, financial advisers and architects.
• Regulatory and compliance: Defending and advising clients on Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigations, sanctions compliance and statutory regulatory actions.
• Travel and tourism: A specialised practice representing tour operators, European and Caribbean insurers, national and international hotels and resorts in foreign accident and personal injury claims.

Our litigation philosophy

We Treat Every Case with Importance

We operate with the firm belief that every dispute merits careful and focused legal analysis, applying the same technical rigour to focused domestic claims as we do to high-value international disputes.

Resolving Disputes Efficiently

We focus on efficient dispute resolution. Many of our cases are settled before court proceedings are issued.

Through negotiation and Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), we seek to achieve effective outcomes without the cost and delay of going to court.

Notable cases

When litigation cannot be avoided, we provide focused representation through the court process.

Our litigation team has acted in many reported cases involving significant legal issues and are regularly cited in other judgments. Our court cases are frequently written about by the legal press and other law firms.

Examples of the recent reported cases we have been involved in include:

• Alsaady v Hamadani and Ors [2025] EWHC 1801 (Ch) – Successfully acted for defendants in high-value proceedings of approximately $30 million, concerning partnership, bailment and related claims involving valuable art and other chattels. Following the determination of the English proceedings, the defendants obtained an Iraqi anti-suit injunction.
• GLAS SAS (London Branch) v European Topsoho SARL and Ors [2024] EWHC 83 (Comm) – Acted for a defendant in Commercial Court proceedings arising from the default of €250 million secured exchangeable bonds and involving shares in SMCP S.A., a French fashion group.
• QIPCO and another v Phoenix Ancient Art S.A. and others: We acted for Phoenix in separate actions initiated in 2020 and 2023, regarding allegations of forgery in specific antiquities purchased a decade prior with related actions in Belgium, the USA and Switzerland.
• Allan v Ladbrokes Coral Group Ltd – We represented Mr Allan in a High Court claim concerning cross-border betting losses and whether claims arising from bets placed through Gibraltar-based operators could be pursued by reference to alleged breaches of Spanish gambling law.
• East-West Logistics LLP v Melars Group Ltd [2020] EWHC 2090 (Ch); [2022] EWCA Civ 1419 – We acted for Melars Group Ltd at first instance in cross-border insolvency proceedings concerning the determination of a company’s centre of main interests (COMI). The proceedings subsequently reached the Court of Appeal, which considered the statutory presumption that a company’s COMI is at the place of its registered office and the role of objective, third-party ascertainable factors.
• Wang v Darby [2021] EWHC 3054 (Comm) – Acted for the defendant in Commercial Court proceedings concerning cryptocurrency swap arrangements. On our client’s successful reverse summary judgment application, the Court held that the relevant contracts did not give rise to an express, resulting, constructive or Quistclose trust over the Tezos transferred.
• Lenkor Energy Trading DMCC v Puri [2021] EWCA Civ 770 – We successfully acted for Lenkor in this landmark Court of Appeal decision concerning the enforcement of a Dubai judgment in England and the rejection of a public policy / illegality defence based on alleged illegality in the underlying commercial transaction. The decision subsequently featured in UAE Ministry of Justice guidance concerning reciprocity in the enforcement of English and UAE judgments.
• Dhir v Flutter Entertainment plc [2021] EWHC 1510 (QB) – We represented the claimant in a High Court claim concerning tracing and restitutionary claims against a gambling operator, addressing whether misappropriated funds paid into a customer’s betting account could be recovered from Paddy Power’s parent company.
• Sevilleja v Marex Financial Ltd [2020] UKSC 31 – We acted for Mr Sevilleja in landmark Supreme Court proceedings concerning the scope of the rule against reflective loss. The judgment significantly clarified and restricted the application of that rule, particularly in relation to claims brought by creditors.
• Millicom Tanzania NV v Golden Globe International Services Ltd and another, BVIHCMAP2016/0036 (Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, 10 May 2017) – We successfully acted for Golden Globe at first instance in the BVI, in cross-border proceedings concerning forum non conveniens and allegations of a risk of injustice in Tanzania. The latter Court of Appeal considered the evidential threshold required to establish a real risk of injustice in a foreign jurisdiction.
• Wood and Anor v TUI Travel Plc (t/a First Choice) [2017] EWCA Civ 11 – We acted for TUI at trial and in the Court of Appeal proceedings concerning liability for illness arising from allegedly contaminated food and drink supplied as part of an all-inclusive package holiday in this landmark judgment.
• Mapfre Mutualidad Compañía de Seguros y Reaseguros SA and Hoteles Piñero Canarias SL v Keefe [2015] EWCA Civ 598; Hoteles Piñero Canarias SL v Keefe (Case C-491/17) – Court of Appeal decision on whether an English claimant could sue a Spanish hotel in England where the claim was joined to a direct claim against the hotel’s Spanish liability insurer under Brussels I insurance jurisdiction rules. At the Supreme Court, the case was referred to the Court of Justice of the European Union.
• Ikon International (HK) Holdings Public Co Ltd v Ikon Finance Ltd [2015] EWHC 3088 (Comm) – Commercial Court decision granting worldwide freezing and related interim relief in support of arbitration proceedings, applying the threshold for court intervention under section 44 of the Arbitration Act 1996.

Why choose Mackrell LLP?

• Accessible, jargon-free support: We demystify the legal process. You receive clear, plain-English guidance, direct access to our team and a strategic approach to your case, with a focus on resolving the issues efficiently.
• International collaboration: We support both domestic and international clients in cross-border disputes. We regularly collaborate with trusted firms abroad to protect our clients’ interests in foreign legal disputes. Equally, we act for the clients of foreign law firms in matters before the English courts, assist with evidence and disclosure and provide expert legal advice for use in foreign proceedings.
• International network: As a founding member of Mackrell International, we can work with lawyers across more than 60 countries to coordinate advice and legal action in multi-jurisdictional disputes.

Instruct our team

To safeguard your commercial interests, resolve an ongoing dispute, or seek urgent injunctive relief, contact our central London offices.