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Ben Johnson is a commercial litigation lawyer instructed on complex, high-value disputes, investigations and advisory work, particularly in financial services. He leads the North West financial services litigation practice and has particular expertise in payments disputes and regulation.
Ben’s particular specialisms include:
- Commercial litigation – Contract and other disputes arising out of commercial transactions.
- Financial litigation – Claims involving clearing banks, payment service providers, asset finance businesses and other regulated entities, in actions including injunctions, guarantees, anti-money laundering (AML) issues, fraud and security enforcement.
- Fraud – Disputes to retain and recover funds misappropriated through property fraud (including professional negligence), payment and cheque fraud, asset finance fraud and receivables finance fraud, including urgent injunctions and tracing of funds.
- Data breaches and group litigation – Advising on disputes, including mass claims following a data breach and other group litigation.
Legal 500 UK 2025 and 2026 have classified Ben as a Leading Individual in Banking Litigation.
Commercial Litigation
- Acting for a private equity house in relation to multimillion-pound claims made against it in Norway and the UK for nonpayment of £11 million of deferred consideration, following allegations of various breaches of the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) by directors.
- Advising an international technology business in connection with a claim from a major sports equipment retailer relating to its digital transformation project. The complex claim involves attempts to rescind the contract and claim millions of pounds in compensatory damages, alleging agreements were entered due to bribes.
- Acting for a private equity house in respect of a £46 million claim for breach of various warranties under an SPA. Advisnig in respect of the strategy and approach to an insurance claim under a warranty and indemnity (W&I) policy.
- Advising a bank in connection with the inadvertent breach of US sanctions by banking a Cuban financial institution, including resolving disclosures to the US regulators and managing away the impacted customers.
- Advising a major UK retail bank (merchant acquirer) in respect of the world’s largest global payment card data breach. This included advising regarding regulatory obligations, remediation/response, card scheme management, major retailer interactions and civil claims in various jurisdictions.
- Advising a payment service provider in relation to the UK’s leading case on merchant acquiring, and how it should deal with £2 million of funds processed by a fraudulent retailer.
- Advising a major UK retail bank in respect of various claims and an injunction application, made against it for racial discrimination by Iranian nationals following closure of their bank accounts for risk reasons. Claims under Race Discrimination Act and breach of contract.
- Advising banks in connection with AML risk reporting and management of bank accounts following suspicions of fraud, filing of a suspicious activity report (SARs) and litigation that follows, including disclosures to the noncompete agreement (NCA).
- Advising banks in connection with claims from corporate customers that have been the subject of major payment misdirection fraud by criminals, and who wish to recover sums from their bank. Defending multimillion-pound claims, advising on regulatory obligations and devising online banking strategy/policy. Separately advising corporate customers regarding the same issues.
- Advising a bank in connection with a £30 million fraudulent property scheme involving concealed back-to-back sub-sales. Issued professional negligence claims against solicitors and valuers, as well as advising on claims against a casino seeking to recover funds.
- Acting for circa 20 asset finance companies jointly defrauded in relation to a multi-refinance fraud, including injunction applications and international tracing of misappropriated funds.
- Acted for a major UK telecoms provider in respect of a data privacy breach, including systems remediation and extensive Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) engagement. Managed claims from circa 7,000 claimants brought by circa 30 law firms with a claimant cohort of circa 1 million individuals, with claims totalling approximately £5 billion.
- Advising on numerous data privacy claims for distress and other nonmaterial damage (as well as more substantive losses), alongside remediation projects, forensics instruction, ICO engagement/management and data subject access requests (DSAR)/freedom of information (FOI) strategy.
- Advising a major UK retail bank in respect of CCA. S.75 claims from a cohort of individuals who had funded breast implants (negligently undertaken) using credit.
Education
- University of Northumbria, LL.B. (Hons.), 1998
Admissions
- England and Wales, 2000
Legal 500 UK and Chambers UK testimonials include:
- Recognised by Legal 500 2025 and 2026 as a Leading Individual in Banking Litigation.
- Delivers “clear advice and is practical and very responsive”.
- “’The knowledgeable and very practical’ Ben Johnson is prized for his commercially minded counsel to clients on contentious matters including cyber-crime and fraud allegations. He has also been engaged for his advice on pan-European regulatory risks and unpaid professional fees disputes”.
- Co-author, Data Protection and Compliance (Second Edition), October 2021.