Specialist team:
Commercial Dispute Resolution
Experience:
Stephen specialises in national and international commercial litigation and arbitration. He also has a growing practice and reputation in professional negligence work.
Significant recent work includes:
running a number of successful cases against accountants and tax advisers, and claiming damages in the range of £1m-3m for negligent advice or performance on VAT/income tax/capital gains tax
leading a transnational legal team in a successful seven-figure breach of trust action against Channel Islands professional trustees and investment advisers
leading an international team of lawyers defending LCIA arbitration proceedings claiming over US$100m against a central European investment bank.
representing a charitable art foundation in English and (through New York lawyers) US proceedings resisting claims that a US $70m Picasso painting had been sold under Nazi duress.
Stephen joined Speechly Bircham as a partner in 1997 when the firm merged with Baileys Shaw & Gillett, with whom he had been a partner since 1980. He trained at Baileys Shaw & Gillett, and was admitted as a solicitor in 1978. Stephen obtained his law degree from Balliol College, Oxford in 1973.
Stephen is a founder member, committee member and Treasurer of the Association of Contentious Trust and Probate Specialists and a member of the International Bar Association. He is a CEDR accredited mediator. Stephen is recognised as a legal expert in Legal Experts 2009.
Recent articles include: Commercial disputes - litigation or arbitration?