Ben Thorp

Overview

I'm Counsel in Mourant's Jersey office.  I have broad experience in general commercial and trusts litigation, having worked on high-profile and ultra-high-value matters in both Jersey and the UK.  I also have experience of litigating in Mauritius.

Before joining Mourant in early 2017, I qualified and practised at a large transatlantic law firm in the UK (during which time I completed three different client secondments), and spent two years working in another top-tier litigation team in Jersey.

My extensive contentious trusts experience includes acting as part of the team advising the successful beneficiary plaintiffs in long-running breach of trust proceedings against individual and institutional trustees for around US$100 million (with proceedings in Jersey and Mauritius), acting for the incumbent trustee in representation proceedings brought by proposed new trustees in relation to trust assets totalling around €1bn, and acting for defendant institutions in high-value and long-running proceedings brought by two overseas companies against their former officers for breach of duty and against third-party institutions for dishonest assistance.   

I have also acted in a number of regulatory matters, including appeals against regulator decisions, disclosures to local and foreign authorities (including under the tax information exchange legislation), compliance with international sanctions and the drafting of bespoke anti-money laundering and client due diligence policies and procedures.

Professional qualifications

• Solicitor, England and Wales, September 2012 (currently non-practising)

• PhD in theoretical linguistics, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 2011

• GDL and LPC courses with distinction, Northumbria University

• First-class honours in English Literature and Linguistics, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 2003

Memberships

• The Law Society of England and Wales

Work highlights

• Acting for an overseas corporate protector in contentious ratification and removal proceedings arising from the administration of an ultra-high value trust whose assets include majority holding interests in globally-known companies and businesses.

•  Acting as Jersey counsel in a family trust dispute as to rightful ownership of assets accumulated during, and divided after, a former relationship with a value exceeding USD60million.

•  Acting for the Swiss corporate trustee and protector of a Jersey law trust with assets exceeding USD20million in relation to a contentious application for rectification of the trust, and resolving difficult issues of a divided beneficial class.

•  Acting for the incumbent trustee in representation proceedings brought by proposed new trustees in relation to trust assets totalling around €1bn (issues of trust law, criminal law, money laundering and international co-operation)

• Acting for the beneficiary plaintiffs in long-running breach of trust proceedings against individual and institutional trustees for around US$100 million (with proceedings in Jersey and Mauritius)

• Acting for existing beneficiaries in Mauritian injunction and substantive proceedings seeking the removal of an institutional trustee and professional protector, and the voiding of the proposed addition of a further beneficiary

• Advising institutional clients on the scope and extent of disclosures required by orders and directions issued by local and international tax and regulatory authorities, as well as advising on conflicting issues of confidentiality

• Acting for defendant institutions in high-value proceedings brought by two overseas companies against their former officers for breach of duty and against third-party institutions for dishonest assistance

What the directories say

In Legal 500 UK 2024, Ben is named as a Recommended Lawyer in Dispute Resolution.

Ben Thorp is listed as a Rising Leader in the Private Client Global Elite Directory 2023.