Annual Mourant and South Square Litigation Forum

Last week we hosted our annual Mourant and South Square Litigation Forum in London to deliver an update on key developments in financial litigation and insolvency and restructuring.

The event was well attended by delegates from UK and US law firms, in-house counsel and insolvency practitioners. Partner Peter Hayden acted as co-chair alongside David Allison QC from South Square, with Stephen Alexander and Jeremy Wessels delivering sessions throughout the conference. Guest speakers hailed from Macfarlanes LLP, Lipman Karas, Deutsche Bank, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance.

The first panel focused on fraud and asset recovery, calling upon lessons from recent offshore 'mega cases' including one of the largest frauds ever to be litigated, Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi & Brothers Company v Al Sanea & Ors. Speakers outlined some of the modern difficulties in dealing with fraud and took a closer look at the illegality doctrine and its relevance to fraud cases.

This was followed by a session looking ahead at legal risks and litigation in banking for the next 10 years, including the impact of Brexit on banking litigation, competition issues and the interaction of litigation, investigations and privilege.

The last session of the day saw speakers host a mock hearing, 'When a Restructuring Dispute comes to Court', judged by South Square's William Trower QC.

The conference rounded off with an insightful and entertaining keynote address from columnist and Associate Editor of The Times, Lord Daniel Finkelstein OBE, also a member of the House of Lords and an advisor to the Conservative Party. His talk provided a sharp and entertaining insight into the political landscape which has acted as the backdrop to the litigation discussed throughout the afternoon.

We would like to thank all those who attended for continuing to make this such a successful event and we look forward to seeing you again next year.