Abel Lyall

Partner

"A stand out practitioner"

Legal 500 UK

Overview

Overview

I am a Partner and the Practice Leader of our Guernsey Litigation team.

My practice covers all areas of private client and commercial disputes, with a focus on trusts, financial services and investment funds. I regularly appear before the Royal Court of Guernsey and the Guernsey Court of Appeal.

I advise trustees, settlors and beneficiaries on all aspects of contentious and semi-contentious trust matters including breach of trust claims, trust applications and regulatory issues.

I also have extensive experience in insolvency and restructuring, and act for creditors, directors, shareholders and insolvency practitioners on all aspects of contentious insolvency and asset recovery.

My work includes acting in a number of contentious and non-contentious schemes of arrangement, including appearing in both the Royal Court and Court of Appeal for the shareholder who successfully opposed the sanction of the Puma Brandenburg Limited scheme of arrangement, the first of its kind in Guernsey.

I am also experienced advising on regulatory issues and have acted for financial institutions and individual directors in a number of significant regulatory investigations and proceedings.

Work highlights

Acted for the liquidators of Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited in relation to claims, exceeding US$1.4 billion, brought against its directors over the collapse of the fund in 2008. Appeared as Counsel (with Jeremy Wessels) in the Royal Court of Guernsey on the six-month trial of the claims in 2016.

Acted for the Trustees of the St John Ambulance and Rescue Service Pension Scheme on their application to sanction a substantial restructuring of the scheme – Re St John Ambulance Pension Scheme [2019] GRC 066.

Appeared in the Royal Court of Guernsey and the Guernsey Court of Appeal as counsel for a shareholder on its successful opposition to the sanction of a scheme of arrangement by Puma Brandenburg Limited.

Appeared as Counsel for EFG Private Bank in proceedings regarding claims to assets held by the bank in relation to BC Capital Group Limited and the alleged fraudulent investment scheme conducted by Nikolai Battoo.

Acted for Norway’s largest bank, DnB, in relation to a contested administration application against Propinvest Group Limited, arising from circa £200 million owed under guarantees.

“Abel Lyall is highly professional, gives sharp advice and knows how to guide clients through complex situations.”

Chambers and Partners UK 2026

“Abel is very experienced and knowledgeable. He’s a clear thinker, rational and excellent at seeing through complex situations and coming up with solutions.”

Chambers and Partners UK 2026

“Abel Lyall and his team are flexible, knowledgeable and comfortable in their abilities. This allows them to provide salient advice on potential avenues at each juncture. The differentiator here is the people.”

Legal 500 UK 2025

“Abel is a standout professional and delivers top quality on all interactions.”

Chambers and Partners UK 2025

“Abel’s advocacy is second to none.”

Chambers and Partners UK 2024

“A stand out practitioner who is ‘unflappable’ and extremely calm under pressure.”

Legal 500 UK 2023

“It was great to witness Abel Lyall in the courtroom fighting our case. Abel also handled communication to our board of directors very well in a calm and consistent matter, accepting the highly distressed state of the board members and the challenges they faced in understanding the legal technicalities.”

Legal 500 UK 2022

Memberships

Society of Trusts and Estates Practitioners (STEP)

The Insolvency Lawyers' Association

Association of Business Recovery Professionals (R3)

Director and Executive Committee member of ARIES (the Channel Islands member association of INSOL International)

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